Speaker Turner: "The hour of 12:00 having arrived, today February 24, 2010. We shall be led in prayer today by Major Randall Polsley, who is the General Secretary of the Salvation Army Midland Division in St. Louis, Missouri, which includes the southern portion of Illinois. Major Polsley is the guest of Representative Jackson. Members and guests are asked to refrain from starting their laptops, turn off all cell phones and pagers and rise for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Major Polsley."
"Shall we pray. God, our Father, it is with grateful hearts that we come today thankful for this land that we share, a land that is of hope and opportunity. We're also thankful for this state that we call home and for the Leadership in this room that… that makes important decisions every day for its people. But most importantly, this day, we are thankful for the men and the women, the boys and the girls who united make this state great. We thank You for each one. And today we are cognizant of their… of their hopes and fears, their dreams and disappointments and it is for them, today, that we ask that You grant wisdom in decisions, grant… grant peace in times of concern and grace in times of action. Lord, as we gather in this name and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen."
"We shall be led in the Pledge today by the Gentleman from Marion, Representative Cavaletto."
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it 09600103.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
"Roll Call for Attendance. The Lady from Cook, Representative Currie."
"Thank you, Speaker. Please let the record reflect that Representatives Boland, Durkin… Dunkin and Mell are excused today. I'm sorry. Scratch that. It wasn't… it wasn't Representative Dunkin. It was Representative Dugan who is excused today."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Jackson, Representative Bost, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank… thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let the record reflect that Representative Mathias is excused on the Republican side of the aisle today."
"And the record will so reflect. There are 113 Members present, a quorum is present and the House will proceed with business. Mr. Clerk."
Clerk Bolin: "Committee Reports. Representative Smith, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate for House Bill 5302, House Bill 5322, House Bill 5515 and House Bill 6079. Representative Jakobsson, Chairperson from the Committee on Human Services reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate for House Bill 5124, 5204, 5223, 5459, 5755, 5821, 5859, 5861, 5871, and House Bill 6006; do pass as amended Short Debate for House Bills 4922, 5331, 5517, 5764, 5891, and House Bill 5905; recommends be adopted House Resolution 138, House 09600103.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 Resolution 560, and House Resolution 772. Representative Burke, Chairperson from the Committee on Executive, to which the… that reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: recommends be adopted House Joint Resolution 101 and House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment #50. Representative D'Amico, Chairperson from the Committee on Vehicles & Safety reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate for House Bill 4796, House Bill 4820, House Bill 5712, and House Bill 5761; do pass as amended Short Debate for House Bill 4873; do pass Standard Debate for House Bill 5720; and recommends be adopted House Resolution 871. Representative Reitz, Chairperson from the Committee on Health Care Licenses reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate for House Bill 5190; do pass as amended Short Debate for House Bill 4974, 5079 and 5691. Representative Fritchey, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary I- Civil Law reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass as amended Short Debate for House Bill 4931, House Bill 5144, House Bill 5282, House Bill 5285, House Bill 5429, House Bill 5469; do pass Short Debate for House Bill 5161, House Bill 5234, House Bill 5509, House Bill 5888, and House Bill 5894. Introduction of Resolutions. House Resolution 952, offered by Representative Sacia. This Resolution is referred to the House Rules Committee."
"The Lady from Lake, Representative May, for what reason do you rise?" 09600103.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Thank you, Speaker. I would like to ask the Body to recognize the Chicago Botanic Garden that is in Springfield today. This world-renowned institution is in my district and as a special guest along with President Sofia Siskel and Ginny Hotaling, the Government Relations person, we have Joan Hopkins. If they would stand, please. Joan Hopkins, your constituent, Representative Turner, is a graduate of the Windy City Harvest program developed in coordination with the Chicago Botanic Garden and she's coordinator of the Cook County Sheriff's Boot Camp program. This is… this program creates jobs and opportunity and hope by training participants to produce high value organic produce that they not only eat, but then they also donate to the Chicago Food Repository, I think up to six thousand pounds a year. So, Joan was the participant in the program, got her training and now she has a job in this program. So, I'd like to salute the Windy City Harvest program, Joan Hopkins and the Chicago Botanic Garden. Let's welcome them."
"Welcome to Springfield. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to move to the Order of Third Readings… Third Readings on page 5 of the Calendar. Third Readings is the Order, we're in business. And on that Order, the first Bill we'll call will be Representative Brauer, House Bill 3323. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 3323, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Menard, Representative Brauer." 09600103.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Mr. Speaker, if I could, I'd like to move that back to Second."
"The Gentleman asks leave to bring that Bill back to Second Reading. Leave is granted. And the Bill will be returned to the Order of Second Reading. On the Order of Third Readings, we have House Bill 3762. Representative Walker. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 3762, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Walker."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. House Bill 3762 amends the Code of Civil Procedure to allow a military member to request and receive a stay of foreclosure proceedings for 90 days upon request of the court, if that person has served overseas in a combat or a combat support hosting in the past 12 months. This is a specific idea for that specific situation only and is not related to other delays related to foreclosure proceedings."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 30… I'm sorry. The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Gentleman yield?"
"He indicates he will."
"Representative, staff has indicated that there may be a… a potential difficulty. There's already a 90-day foreclosure moratorium signed by Governor Quinn that's already gone into effect. So, is there a contra… a 09600103.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 contradiction between the current 90-day moratorium and… and your Bill or do you seen it… do you see it adding to the Bill? What we don't want to get into is a moratorium on a moratorium…"
"Right."
"…or having something end up in court. Well, wait a minute. I'm already covered under this and now you say I'm covered under that. The person saying that would be the lender, of course, not the… not the individual."
"Right. I understand that issue. My understanding is there is a 60 to 90 day delay in foreclosure proceedings for the purpose of renegotiation and then for the purpose of counseling if necessary. That is not related to this. This is at the foreclosure proceeding itself; a military person can request an additional stay of 90 days. It's only for people that have served in combat or combat support operations overseas."
"How would the individual, the soldier and the lender know which part of the law was applicable, and nobody wants to deny a veteran, a combat veteran, any access to relief, but the Public Act gives you a 90-day grace period in which the lender cannot begin foreclosure and then your Bill clarifies the 90-day moratorium? So, how does the lender know… is there one 90-day period or in the case of a combat veteran, could there be back-to-back 90-day moratorium periods?"
"The intent of the Bill is that for the combat veteran it could be adigent. It is taken as a… an individual case 09600103.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 for that situation whether or not a previous stay was issued."
"Okay. Did… did the House Democrat technical and review staff… I assume they do… review the Bill as to any legal complexities because we're… we're going to have two 90-day moratorium statutes and I just want to make sure that your Bill doesn't run into…"
"Right."
"…well, wait a minute, which one is applicable?"
"This issue was brought up by your staff to our staff, in fact, and we did review it."
"Well, we have a very excellent staff…"
"Yes."
"…as do you."
"As do you. And they reviewed that and believed that this Bill does not cause that confusion."
"All right. The only other question I have then, the… the ability of the soldier, does he or she have to state to the lender which of these 90-day moratoria he or she is going to go under? Is it the veteran's 90-day or the current 90-day? Or could they say they want both?"
"If they say they want both, they can get both, is my understanding, but this has to be requested of the court at the beginning of a…"
"All right."
"…foreclosure proceeding to cause this stat."
"So, do you see a possibility that a veteran could, in effect, then get a 180-day moratorium?"
"I see that possibility." 09600103.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Okay. And again, we're not…"
"Yeah."
"…opposed to your Bill."
"Right."
"I intend to vote for it. I think perhaps you can check with your legal staff before it… I mean, you know, before it comes up in the Senate. We just want to make sure we don't create a… situation where the court says, well, you can't take advantage of both, so you'll have to take advantage of one or the other. And if the soldier is in route or on active duty or just returned, I don't think they need that hassle. So, you just…"
"Right."
"…you just may want a clarification to make sure that the soldier is not inadvertently harmed."
"Yeah. Thank you for your… your request and I will check it."
"Okay."
"My… the legislative intent for this is clear for me and that is that I want them to have 90 days in addition to any other stay that's granted."
"Okay. All right. Did Heather answer any of my questions or is she taking it under review?"
"I am… I will discuss it with her."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Seeing no further questions, Representative Walker to close."
"I believe this is a straightforward Bill. It fills a need for our military families for people that are 09600103.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 sacrificing in a real way both overseas and at home waiting for people to return from overseas. They don't need to worry about foreclosure proceedings in that situation. I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"So, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 3762?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Dunkin. The Clerk shall take the roll. On this question, there are 113 voting 'aye', 0 'noes', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Riley, we have House Bill 4220. Out of the record. Representative Bradley, House Bill 3869. Out of the record. Representative Kosel, House Bill 4627. Out of the record. Representative Monique Davis, House Bill 4647. Out of the record. Representative Bassi, we have House Bill 4654. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4654, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Bassi."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. The… a little background on House Bill 4654 is that the Seniors Free Ride program was put together by an Amendatory Veto with the… Governor Blagojevich. With the stroke of a pen, he undid what actually was two years of negotiation to try and make sure that the RTA system was functional. Unfortunately, we did add… a week or two after that we passed a Bill by 86 votes in the House to rescind that Senior Free Rides Program. We… but it never got 09600103.doc 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 called in the Senate. Last year, we tried to run it again; we're unable to get it out of committee. This year it passed committee with a vote of 19 to 4. The program itself is financially unsustainable. What we're talking about is a cost to the RTA, that is currently looking at a $90 million hole in their budget, of $50 million. That $50 million could recoup, if we were able to rescind the Senior Free Rides, would allow a $37 million recoup. That is not going to solve the $90 million hole in their budget, but it will create or help to prevent any additional problems down the road. We are looking at senior populations doubling between now and 2030. There is no way that the RTA system can continue with that amount of a loss. We are looking at doing a Circuit Breaker Program. This would be a means tested program to allow those who are Circuit Breaker eligible to continue to ride for free as will the disabled. Circuit Breaker is currently $27,610 for one person or $36,000 for a family of two. They will continue to ride for free; all other seniors will ride for half fare. The transition program would be, once the Bill is finally signed into law, would be approximately 180 days from the time it is signed into law and until they can reprogram the current cards. There would be no… oh… no problem whatsoever for those who currently have cards that the timeframe for changing it over is going to be involved with the RTA. So, at any rate, all seniors would continue to ride for free. Those who are disabled or Circuit Breaker eligible would ride for half fare. I stand ready to answer any questions. And I would ask for your support." 09600103.doc 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Osterman, for what reason do you rise?"
"In… or question of the Sponsor."
"She answ… she indicates she'll answer."
"Representative Bassi, I just wanted to, if you would, if you could reiterate for the Members that the measure in the Bill takes it from the current free rides for all to a means tested process where low-income seniors would be eligible for the free rides, but all seniors, yourself when you hit that age…"
"This… this week."
"…would be eligible for the half fare the way it was previously?"
"Correct. The half fare is a federal program that has been in place for the last 20 years. All seniors would continue to ride for half fare. Those who are disabled or Circuit Breaker eligible, that is, those who are at $27 thousand and some change, $27,610 for a family of one or those who are at $36,635 for a family of two. That is the Circuit Breaker eligible. They would continue to ride for free."
"And the service boards would have a 180-day period to let seniors know, based on where their status is, Circuit Breaker or not, what they would be eligible for and what card that they would have so that they would minimize any confusion about that. Then the seniors that don't know would have the ability to get the correct card."
"Precisely." 09600103.doc 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Okay. To the Bill. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not somewhat an easy Bill to vote for. There are seniors that have grown accustomed to getting the free rides, but the reality is, is that this Bill will take into account those low-income seniors who need this the most and they will still be eligible for a free ride. And all senior citizens would be eligible, at least, for half fares which they would previously had been getting. What this will do is prevent multimillionaires like Sam Zell and others from getting free rides whether it be Metra, CTA, or another measure. This will not solve the public transportation crisis for funding; however, I think that this will create some savings and I say this to those service boards that it is vitally important that any savings recouped from this that that money goes back in to restoring service cuts. And that the Members in this Body are going to be watching very closely about how those funds are recouped and how they're used. So, with that, Mr. Speaker, I would encourage a 'yes' vote."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Riley, for what reason do you rise?"
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates she will."
"Representative Bassi, I really couldn't hear so I don't know during your comments what you mentioned the overall fiscal impact of… what will be the overall fiscal impact in the aggregate of passing this measure?"
"The recoup for the RTA system would be…"
"Yes." 09600103.doc 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"…approximately $37 million, 25 of that would go to CTA, 10 to Metra and 2 to Pace. The system actually costs about… right now, is costing about 50 million. They're not going to be able to recoup it all because more seniors are riding, but seniors riding at half fare would at least mitigate some of that problem. The biggest problem is not even necessarily today, Representative, but going forward when we're looking at the doubling of the senior population. It is going to take the whole system down if we don't correct it now."
"Thank you very much."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Currie, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Speaker and Members of the House. In my view, in the best of all possible worlds, the bulk of funding for mass transportation would come from the public not from the farebox. When people use public transportation, we all benefit. There's less congestion on the highways, there's less pollution in the air that we breathe. We don't do it that way in this country and the reality is that the RTA is thoroughly broke and I do appreciate the financial problem. But I think there are some issues that are worth discussing on this Bill today. The RTA estimates that more than 50 million free rides happen because of the Senior Free Ride Program from March of 2008 to June of 2009. Fifty million seniors on their way, some living in isolation finally able to get out and visit their family and visit their friends, some traveling to shops to movies to concerts contributing to the economy, 09600103.doc 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 some out of their cars, no longer clogging the roadways and polluting the air. And I would argue that it wasn't just the cost that explains these 50 million rides. I would argue that it's also about the convenience. Finally, the RTA made good on its promise, the premise of the RTA of a universal transit card, a seamless system. The Senior Free Ride card is just that, a single card that works on the CTA and it works on Metra. No fuss, no hassle, no searching for change for the farebox, a universal fare card, a card, unfortunately, that the RTA tells us it cannot duplicate should the half-price fare go back into effect. Some of the downstate systems already offered free senior rides and they will again. I'm not sure why they can afford to and the RTA cannot. I'm not sure why the RTA cannot experiment with free rides for everyone during non rush-hour traffic, but they tell me that that is a nonstarter. I'm not sure why we don't do a better job of funding mass transit, clean air, clean roads. These are goals we should support with public subsidies. Some say, why seniors, why should they be singled out for this nice freebie? Well, for good or for ill, it's something of a tradition to single out seniors for all kinds of goodies. Free camping in the state parks, half price rides on public transit, although that apparently was not enough incentive for the 280 thousand seniors who signed up only after the rides became entirely free and those 280 thousand live in the RTA service territory. I don't know how many more joined downstate. I hope that, should this Bill become law and I understand the financial reasons why many think it should, 09600103.doc 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 I hope those 280 thousand seniors in the RTA region alone don't drop out. I hope they don't stay home isolated staring at the four walls. I hope they don't skip a shopping trip or a movie and at least as much, I hope they don't hop back into their cars making for more road congestion and dirtier Illinois air. Thank you."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Hamos, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Bill. I am, as everybody here knows, committed to as much mass transit as we can provide in the State of Illinois and really in the ideal world it would not be what Representative… the previous speaker said, it would be free rides for everyone because the truth is that if we were able to afford that, we would actually have a system with fewer cars, less congestion, less pollution and more people would, in fact, take transit. That is the nature of what this is, but that's not the world we live in. It's the ideal world, but it's not where we are right now. And actually, this is the moment in time to examine what we're doing because we know that the systems around the state are having a problem. It's not just the RTA system, Ladies and Gentlemen. The downstate transit agencies, for whom many of their riders are, in fact, the disabled and seniors, are not collecting any fares. They're having a similar problem in providing service, real basic service to their constituents to their riders and that's the world that we're in right now and this is the time to examine it. I commend the Sponsor. Even a year ago, I had hoped we wouldn't need to do this 09600103.doc 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 for a few more years, but what we see is, in fact, a system that depends on riders but depends on riders to pay fares, fair fares, not free rides but fair fares. And I believe that in this world seniors understand that as well as anyone else. In fact, when the disabled community came to us, after we had already passed the main Bill, and said now we want some free rides as well, that's only the right thing to do. They said, we don't want it for everyone. We want it to be means tested just for people who need, who really are low-income, and need that kind of service. And for disabled people right now in the State of Illinois we have a system, a two-part system, which is half fare for everyone but free fares for the low-income, disabled. This would put seniors on that same par. Seniors in our districts understand this. And Ladies and Gentlemen, just one more point I would like to make. Right now, in the political climate we're in… in the political climate we're in, voters are looking for fiscal responsibility. That's what they're expecting from Democrats and Republicans and they're expecting bipartisan solutions which are fiscally responsible. And this is an example of a fair and fiscally responsible approach to providing more mass transit to more of our riders. I urge a strong 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Monique Davis, for what reason do you rise?" Davis, M.: "Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"Thank you." 09600103.doc 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 Davis, M.: "Representative, how much money will be saved by eliminating these senior rides?"
"Thirty-se… $37 million, Representative." Davis, M.: "Will that mean that in Chicago they won't have the massive layoffs or the cuts in service?"
"Unfortunately, this is not going to be the answer to their layoffs that have occurred. It is an attempt to keep it from getting any worse." Davis, M.: "So, this legislation will not prevent the curb in service in the Chicago area."
"It will not be able to restore the service cuts that are already there. They are looking at a $90 million hole, Representative. This is a $37 million recoup which really will not happen probably until the end of this year by the time it goes all the way through the system." Davis, M.: "And it will not reduce the layoffs that are promised or is taking place?"
"I don't think it can reduce the layoffs that are currently in place, no. However, Representative, I do have a letter from the Amalgamated Transit Union specifically saying and this is from Darrell Jefferson, saying, we are appealing to you and your colleagues to rescind the Free Rides Program for particular groups of people. It's costing the state more than $38 million annually and the state can't afford it when it faces a $13 million budget. Signed, Darrell Jefferson."
Speaker Turner: "Continue. The Gentleman from Williamson, Representative Bradley, for what reason do you rise?"
"To the Bill." 09600103.doc 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"…Bill."
"I think a lot of us were concerned about the way this came about several years ago, but I think in this time when people are out of work, when people are suffering, when seniors can't pay their bills. When the seniors are struggling, day-to-day to get by, I think this sends the wrong message that instead of requiring these systems to get better oversight to be more responsible to spend our taxpayers' dollars more wisely, their solution is to kick seniors out. And so, if you're telling me am I going to be with bureaucrats am I going to be with bloated government, if I ain't going to be with irresponsibility, am I going to be with lack of oversight or am I going to be with seniors, my choice is I want to be with seniors."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from McHenry, Representative Franks, for what reason do you rise?"
"To the Bill, if I may."
"To the Bill."
"I just listened to the previous speaker and the others and I appreciate it and I've thought long and hard on this Bill and I talked to Representative Bassi last week and I've done some soul searching since then. And I hate it how this came about. If you remember, this Bill was held hostage by the former Governor and he… and he changed it at the last minute and tried to be the white knight and I actually voted against it for the… for the free rides. But then, this last weekend I was at our expo in McHenry and I was talking to many of our seniors who avail themselves to this… to this privilege and every one of them told me how 09600103.doc 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 this had helped the quality of their life, how they had been more active and had gone out more and had done things that they hadn't done before. So, I did some searching yesterday and looking at kind of numbers and it looks… and I know that Representative Currie had said there's 280 thousand seniors and that could be higher and the numbers that I had seen were almost 400 that are benefiting from this program. And then I look at where we're cutting in our budget and who we're not paying and people who are on fixed incomes and having trouble determining whether they're going to buy all their groceries or being able to buy their prescription drugs and they're put in that position and though we do have a very good Circuit Breaker Program, there is a cutoff and many people just can't get by because they don't qualify for our state programs with these red lines and I don't want to put our seniors in more peril. And as a result, I'm going to vote 'no' on this Bill and I want you to think about that as well for those of you who aren't sure how you're going to vote because a 'yes' vote isn't going to solve any of the problems that our transportation folks have. I really think it ought to be addressed through more over… more oversight and more responsible… and more responsible spending because there's no guarantee that if we do this that they won't be here tomorrow or the next day or next week or next month with these Draconian cuts that they're… that they're threatening. So, I'm not sure I… after thinking long and hard on this, this is not the way to go. And I'd encourage a 'no' vote." 09600103.doc 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from McHenry, Representative Tryon, for what reason do you rise?"
"Mr. Speaker, to the Bill. If we go back and think to when free rides for seniors got imp… implemented, it was from the former Governor. We passed a Bill out of this chamber and out of the Senate that never had free rides in it. We knew when we passed that Bill we were raising taxes. He gets it. He had made a play… pledge that he would not sign any Bills that raised sales taxes. He would not sign any Bills that raised income taxes and he had to go back on his promise. And he said the day that he signed it, this isn't a good Bill 'cause it's a tax increase and when I get something like lemons, I make lemonade. So, I'm going to amendatorally veto it, so that seniors ride for free. Now, I think that is insulting because seniors always rode for half price and if we means test seniors who were riding free now to ensure that they… they are being taken care of that they can't afford riding mass transit. I think we have upheld the spirit of making sure seniors have accessibility to transportation. What's really bad is a single mom who doesn't have a job who has two kids. She doesn't get any subsidy, but a senior citizen that is a millionaire is going to ride to and from Woodstock or to and from Park Ridge for free. I mean, that doesn't make any sense. I mean, come on. If we can't agree to make a cut in this section, we can't agree on means testing, how are we going to make cuts in the budget? You're going to be left with raising taxes in a climate that nobody wants to raise taxes in. We have a lot of tough decisions to 09600103.doc 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 make. This isn't that tough. Seniors who are poor, seniors who can't afford to ride, will ride for free, other seniors will ride half price and that's, I think, good public policy. I would hope that we could at least agree to revise this and make it work the right way."
"The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. Not much I can say after Representative Tryon's cogent explanation. If you'll sit back and remember how this Bill… how this free ride program came along and as the Representative discussed, it was one of the most cynical pandering displays I've seen in my years here. And that's from a Governor who could be a panda bear at the Washington Zoo, when the pandas have to go back to China. The man knew how to pander. Now, I've heard some things, oh, we'll endanger seniors. Well, if you don't stop the cuts in CTA and RTA, how are you helping the seniors? Fewer buses, fewer routes, slower routes, you're not helping them by… by letting RTA and CTA continue to lose 35 to 50 million dollars a year. Is there a guarantee that they won't be down here tomorrow? No. They've had more doomsday scenarios in the last three years than a Stanley Kubrick movie. It's always doomsday for Chicago and RTA. If you don't like the way they run it, then go up to Chicago, rather than try to do it from Springfield, and ask the Chicago Transit Authority and the Regional Transit Authority to do a little better job of how they run their system. But when you siphon money away from them so that 09600103.doc 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 Bernie Madoff, if he should ever get out of prison, could ride the Chicago Transit Authority for free, that just doesn't make any sense. I'm a senior citizen. I have a card. I can ride the CTA for free, but I don't and I won't. So, when I park my car to go to Wrigley Field or White Sox Park, I pay the fare. I'm well over the age of the senior citizen and all I have to do is go get a card and I can ride for free. That's not right. That's not what we intended when we passed this Bill and if we sit here today and vote 'no', then what you're really doing is endorsing one of the former Governor Blagojevich's most cynical and pandering displays that I've ever seen. Means testing worked for years. It can work again. There is no free lunch. Haven't we figured that out yet with a $13 billion budget deficit? And as the previous speaker said, if you can't make this change, then I have no clue on how we're going to address the deficit budget, $5 billion in unpaid bills and all of the other problems that we should be talking about every day in a Committee of the Whole, two and a half or three hours every day. That's what we should be doing down here is speaking, talking, discussing and debating the budget rather than some of the Bills we're discussing on Third Reading. This Bill makes eminent good sense in the middle of a fiscal crisis. It corrects something that never should have been done and would never had been done had we had somebody in the Governor's Office who could shoot straight, talk straight and see straight. But to all the school kids out there, if you run for office 09600103.doc 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 and you get impeached, don't worry, you can always end up on a reality TV show."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Jasper, Representative Reis, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates he will."
"Representative, we often get off on side discussions here when some of the speakers talk, but there will be means testing with this, correct?"
"Yes."
"So, a single person making up to $27,600 a year will still get their free rides, right?"
"Correct."
"A family of two making $36,600 will still get their free rides, right?"
"Correct."
"Now, we've all read in recent weeks that the CTA and RTA system, even though we passed the… the so-called miracle Bill that was going to alleviate the doomsday, is still short, coming to the General Assembly asking for more money. This savings will go directly to the RTA, right?"
"To the RTA system, to the entire system."
"Yes."
"It will be approximately 25 million to CTA, 10 to Metra and 2 to Pace. So…"
"The comments that the poor people, we don't want to rain on them, add an extra burden on them. That's not going to happen because they're still going to get their free rides. And what's really funny is that these same people will vote 09600103.doc 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 for a tax increase. They'll vote for a driver's license increase. They'll vote for all sorts of fee increases on their seniors, but yet we can't implement a cost-saving measures like this where the needy people are still going to get their free rides, but the Gold Coast people making 500, a million dollars a year, heaven forbid, we take their free ride away."
"They'll still ride for half fare, Representative."
"They'll still ride for half fare, how about that."
"Right."
"Thank you very much, Representative. I stand in support of this. As it's been said on the floor before, if we can't make a simple commonsense cut like this that is truly going to still help the people in need, I don't know how we can make anymore cuts this year. Think about it, folks. I rise in support of this Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Thapedi, for what reason do you rise?"
"Mr. Speaker, will the Sponsor yield?"
"…she will."
"Representative, I have a couple of hypothetical scenarios to ask you about, just to get some clarification with respect to this legislation. I want you to assume that we're talking about a 77-year-old woman living in seclusion. Fair enough?"
"Fair enough."
"All right. Her household income is no more than $28 thousand, okay?"
"Yep." 09600103.doc 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Would she ride for free?"
"No."
"Let me give you another hypothetical scenario."
"She will ride, however, for half fare."
"All right. But she will not ride for free anymore, correct?"
"Correct."
"All right. Another hypothetical scenario. A couple…"
"Although at that… Representative, at that point, I would send her to the senior center in her area to see if there weren't something they could do to adjust that income by $380… $390."
"Fair enough. Let's assume a couple, he's 90 years old, she's 85 years old, okay?"
"Okay."
"Their combined household income is $37 thousand, okay?"
"Mmm mmm."
"Would they ride for free?"
"No, but I would do the same with them and send them to their senior center to see if they couldn't adjust that for, again, the less than $400 that they would need to be able to make that free ride."
"These are…"
"They'd still ride for half fare."
"These are real life scenarios that I deal with on a consistent basis after talking…"
"Mmm mmm." 09600103.doc 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"…to my constituents. Based upon your answers, I'm fighting for them today. I'm fighting for those people who are not multimillionaires. I'm talking about an elderly woman, 77 years old, living in seclusion, making no more than $28 thousand. I'm talking about that elderly couple in Inglewood, she's (sic-he's) 90 years old, she's 85 years old. They're living, basically, from paycheck to paycheck. Their combined household income is no more than $37 thousand a year. I'm fighting for them today and I'm voting 'no'. Thank you."
"Representative Bassi to close."
"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen. A few final points: one is that there is no mass transit system in the world that uses a universal fare card at this point in time. There are a number of places that are testing them and in fact, the RTA system is going to have a test run for a universal fare card later this year. But the technology is not there yet; they are working on it. Another point is that 30 percent of seniors will continue to ride for free. The RTA system has a $90 million hole. This is a $37 million recoup. The biggest problem is not even necessarily today but the fact that all of us are aging. The population for seniors will double within the next 20 years. The income from the RTA system comes from sales tax and real estate transfer tax both of which obtained. There is no money from the state to give them any money back and I would remind you all, there is no free ride if there's no bus. There is no free ride if there's no bus. Please vote 'yes'." 09600103.doc 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"So, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4654?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 83 voting 'aye', 27 voting 'no', 3 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Gentleman from Lake, Representative Sullivan, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"…your point."
"I'd like the Body to know that our former colleague, former Representative Joe Dunn, is in the chamber here today. He looks a little different with the beard, but everyone give him a warm welcome."
"Welcome back, Joe. Representative Monique Davis on House Bill 4647. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4647, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Davis." Davis, M.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Bill requires the Chicago Board of Education to establish the Chicago Public School Violence Prevention Hot Line in conjunction with the anticrime advisory council and the Chicago Police Department. Currently, there is no provision that requires the board to have a prevention… violence prevention hot line. The purpose of the hot line is to receive anonymous phone calls on information that may prevent violence in 09600103.doc 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 Chicago Public Schools. Phone calls made to the hot line would be answered by the Chicago Police Department and recorded and investigated by the Chicago police. The Bill requires that the hot line and the numbers receive anonymous calls that will help to prevent violence in our schools. I'll answer questions, Mr. Speaker."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Reboletti, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"…cates she will."
"Representative, we talked about this in committee. Did you have a chance to talk to the Chicago police or the City of Chicago as to what the cost estimate may be for them to put this extra line in and man the line 24 hours?" Davis, M.: "No, we haven't discussed that, but we do know that when Mr. Holder came from Washington, that he was going to leave about 30 million for prevention of violence. Now, currently, the board… we do have a text system where students can text information, but as you know texting is not anonymous. So, this would be the only…"
"So, there… there's a federal stimulus grant for this program or it…" Davis, M.: "Yeah."
"Do we know…" Davis, M.: "We're hoping they'll use part of that. They will have that available to them."
"In the City of Chicago, the aldermen and the mayor would determine if that money was used in that capacity." Davis, M.: "I don't think the aldermen have any say-so." 09600103.doc 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"It would just be the mayor then?" Davis, M.: "The City of Chicago and the public school system."
"Thank you, Representative." Davis, M.: "You're welcome."
"Seeing no further questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4647?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Lyons. Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 112 voting 'aye', 1 voting 'no', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Ford, we have House Bill 4683. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4683, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Ford."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Gov… I mean, thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Bill, House Bill 4683 creates an African- American employment plan. And it is now supported by SEIU, AFL-CIO, AFSCME and the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government. And I think this is an appropriate time to pass such measure. And I would ask for a favorable vote. Thank you."
"The Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield for some questions?"
"Indicates he will." 09600103.doc 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Representative, does… does the Bill mandate any… any type of state agencies to… to have any hiring quotas based on this position? Does it go that far?"
"No."
"What… what exactly or why exactly do you feel this position is necessary with other laws that are in place related to… to employment that protect individuals from discrimination? Why is… why is this necessary?"
"Just a disparity that's present in Illinois. The disparity that we see in Illinois, our work force."
"Do you have examples… specific examples of that disparity that you could share?"
"I do. I do have specific examples. In each department there are… there's a huge disparity in every agency and Illinois departments such as the Department of Corrections. The Department of Corrections, the African Americans have just under 3 percent of the members working there being African American."
"Was… was there a problem with the initial or the original language that the VFW had that you addressed? Could you explain what that's…"
"The… I removed veteran preference."
"Well, I understand that, but could you explain what their concern was and the action you…"
"Veteran preference was the concern."
"So, you deleted the language that was contained in the original Bill that stated one of the purposes of the Act was to increase the number of African Americans hired… or veterans hired by state agencies. You…" 09600103.doc 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Well, it's not quite to look at reasons why African Americans are not being considered for more job opportunities whether it's qualifications or whether it's that they are not applying. I think we should just know why there is a disparity in the number of African Americans employed by the State of Illinois."
"Well, I think the… the point that the VFW made and…"
"But the VFW now is not an issue because they're out of it and…"
"I understand. But they thought that the Bill, original Bill, would place more importance on hiring one veteran over another. So, is the intent of your Bill to place more importance on hiring African Americans rather than any… any other person? Is that…"
"Absolutely not."
"So, you removed from the language of the Bill the objection that the VFW had related to a specific concern, but you don't think that that same specific concern exists for everyone else."
"No, because there is no preference here. The Bill, the Act will do… will do nothing but set up a advisory council to look at the issue of disparities of African Americans in government employment."
"Okay. Now, we have a position that's going to be created by this and the position is at CMS and it's a full- time position?"
"Well, the Bill doesn't say that a position must be created. It just says that CMS must identify someone to deal with the issue." 09600103.doc 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Representative, I'm looking at the legislation and the way this reads, 'the department shall have a full-time position designated as the African-American employment coordinator to monitor compliance with the African-American employment plan'. So, I guess the way I read that is that it creates a full-time position."
"Well, I mean, if you're reading it technically, it doesn't say create. It says designate. So, that means someone from the department that's there now could be moved to work in that capacity."
"Well, I think… I think your intention here and the way the Bill is written pretty clearly states the fact that there'll be some full-time position."
"That's right."
"So, do you have any idea what this position would pay? Are… are you envisioning a certain… What's your intent there?"
"My intent is to take this Bill and move it out of the House today and work with the Senate's Sponsor to make sure that it spells out specifically that no position will be created for the purpose of this new Act, but that a position must be designated for this Act. So, if the CMS decides that they will like to shift someone to this role, then they can do that, but they will have the responsibility of carrying out the Act."
"Okay. So, the underlying Bill also creates the African- American employment plan council. Is that right?"
"Yes."
"And that council consists of 11 members…" 09600103.doc 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Right."
"…every one of whom according to the language in the Bill must be an Afr… African-American subject matter expert appointed by the Governor."
"Okay."
"Is that correct? You're going to have an 11-member council that all of which must be an African American and they must be someone who are experts on the subject matter."
"Yes."
"Representative, I… I understand your concern and I think that you probably can come up with some statistics that show that…"
"Bring your remarks to a close."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will very quickly. That African Americans may not have the same numbers in certain po… I think, though, that this is… this is kind of the wrong way to do that and it almost creates a greater chasm than exists today by setting the council up. I'm going to listen to the rest of the debate on this. I understand your concern and where you're going, but I'm not sure this is the right way to do it."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Fritchey, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"…cates he will."
"Representative, you and I've known each other long enough. I know that there are few, if any, Members down here that have as sincere a commitment to providing 09600103.doc 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 employment opportunities to your constituents and I know that's what you're trying to do by virtue of this. There's something that strikes me as just somewhat odd, I guess, and I'm just trying to get my… get my head around. I've seen a lot of efforts in the past made at increasing minority employment numbers and minority participation and minority opportunities. This seems, I think, unintentionally to almost bifurcate that by separating out, let's say, African Americans as opposed to Latinos as opposed to Asians or whatever affected minority there may be. I'm just wondering how you would reconcile that issue."
"Well, this measure was sort of taken from the Hispanic employment plan, so I thank them for having a vision for something such as this. And we've also set up a minority task force to work with all minorities that's been women, that means… been anyone that is identified as a minority in the state, so there is a task force right now."
"Well, but… I apologize for interrupting. I understand that, but you would also specifically require an African-American employment coordinator and listen, I've stood by you and a number of my other colleagues on these types of efforts time and time again over the years, so you know, I know that you don't question my commitment or sincerity as a goal. I'm just wondering if this is the right way to get there or if… you know, by splintering the minority community we actually weaken efforts to increase minority participation and hiring."
"Yeah." 09600103.doc 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"You see what I'm saying?"
"Well, I said, you know, I don't know who we're splitting. This Bill is modeled after the Hispanic…"
"Well, let me use… does CMS have and maybe, you know, maybe I should have done my homework first. Does CMS have a Hispanic or Latino employment coordinator?"
"Yes, they do already."
"They make what… they what? You do?"
"Yeah."
"Is there… is there a reason that… Listen, the reality is this. We see a lot of territorial issues that come up here whether it's between professions, whatever it may be. Would it not maybe make more sense rather than have a Latino employment coordinator, a minority… or an African-American employment coordinator, a female employment coordinator, whether we mean to have just a minority employment codrdin… coordinator to make sure that there's opportunities to be provided to everybody rather than having separate coordinators. I mean, you can… you can see a situation where there's going to be an Asian- American employment coordinator. There's going to be one for numerous various subsections and I just don't know that that's the most effective way for us to get at our goal or for you to get at your goal. And somebody… my comments are not intended to be negative at all… at all."
"All right. I respect them and that's a good idea. That's why before I introduced this Bill, I asked Members of this Body to join me in being responsible for a minority task force to increase job participation and contracts for 09600103.doc 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 minorities. You know, every person, every race has their own problems, although we are one race. And we cannot look at every race and say that we could combine their problems. We have to look at each one separately so that we can get to the goal, if we want to solve the problem. Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, whites, we all face different challenges and if we plan to meet the challenges, then we have to look at them directly."
"I… I guess I understand that. You know, I would like to think that, you know, maybe I'm so naïve but that our similarities outweigh our differences. And what we're looking to do here is to bring on opportunities. I don't want to belabor my point or take up more time in this debate. I just need to what we feel… Our ultimate goal is to have equal opportunity for everybody, not special opportunities, equal opportunities for everybody and we need to work to get there and I understand that. And this may be one means of getting there, but I would just submit that maybe it's more efficient to have the various groups get together and say, listen, there are strength in numbers, there is a commonality of interest and rather than having separate employment coordinators for all these subgroups that we have a more centralized and focused coordinator to take a look at why there are still differences based on skin color, gender, ethnicity, whatever it may be. I applaud the sincerity of your efforts and what you're trying to do. I just hope you take my thoughts into consideration. Thank you." 09600103.doc 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Bond, Representative Stephens, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. I was on the committee that this came from and I was a 'no' vote. And in explaining my 'no' vote in committee… Gee, I almost spilt something on the House Floor. Wouldn't that be a shame? I…"
"It sure would be."
"Yeah, of course because as you… as you remind me all the time, this very expensive carpet is not protected like everyday carpet in yours and my home and we paid extra for that privilege. I don't know, but… but I digress. This Bill was amended in committee at the request of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and they were… I was so proud of them because they get it. They understand and in committee when they asked to have the Bill amended they wanted the language deleted from the original Bill that stated that the purpose… one of the purposes of this Act was to increase the number of African-American veterans that would be hired by state agencies and the VFW in simple eloquence said we want everyone treated the same and so, they… we removed the language referring to veterans. And after the committee, one of our Mem… one of the Members that disagreed with me asked me, well… well, Ron or Representative, don't you… said don't you think that then veterans are a special group? And you said you'd… you don't think anybody… any group should be singled out but veterans are. Well, think about that. Veterans are a special group because they come in all colors and all 09600103.doc 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 religions, some from the south of our state, some from the north, some from the city, some from the small towns, some black, some white, some women, some men. And so, the veterans in their opposition to the… to their reference in the Bill really spoke to the greater issue of what the Bill is about. This Bill is about the… the… is the most racist thing that we could do in this General Assembly. And I would beg the Gentleman to reconsider working to hire more… people of all colors is a noble effort. I don't object to that at all, but to single out one group as… well, it… it defiles the dignity of all. And so… so, I would ask the Members of the Body to consider what the VFW considered and that is that we should all be treated the same. That's, I think, the goal of the Bill, but it's not what the Bill does. The Bill is racist by its nature and I stand in opposition. Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Macon, Representative Flider, for what reason do you rise?"
"It's a point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize some wonderful people from my county and my community, Decatur, Illinois. They're here with the Boys and Girls Club today. We have the Youth of the Year, Mathew Joiner and the Youth of the Month, Latrice Williams along with Robert Crawford and Pat West of the Decatur Boys and Girls Club. Please give them a Decatur welcome. Thank you."
"Welcome to Springfield. You're out of order. The Gentleman from… the Lady from Cook, Representative Hamos, for what reason do you rise?" 09600103.doc 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Bill. I have no problem with the substance of this Bill and really support and have always supported what the Sponsor is trying to do with social justice. This is something he values and something I value. But with this Bill I want us to look and say, stop. This is a budget increase any way you look at it. It really does say the department shall have a full-time coordinator. It might be a small budget increase, but I believe that this is the year that we need to assert some public response… some fiscal responsibility and not increase our budget. We're going to have a hard enough time decreasing our budget, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is the year when we should look across the board at all the good ideas that people bring to us and say, this is not the year to expand the budget. It's what the voters are telling us, but it's what we as policymakers should instinctively know. Now, if this Bill had, in fact, started at a later on section that just expects more from the state agencies to create a affirmative action plan is a good way to start in a tight budget year. I could support that, but this is the year we should say, stop and let's not expand any budget and let's not support anything that puts some pressure on our budget on our very fragile budget. Let's listen to all of those groups out there who have already done the analysis before we already have who understand the precarious position we're in that we're on the verge of bankruptcy that we have a tough budget year that we're going to be now… if we don't want to increase taxes as nobody here wants to, we're going to be cutting 09600103.doc 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 our budget to the bone that we're going to be placing unbelievable demands on our school districts and our human service providers to do more with less. This is not the year to expand the budget in any way, shape or form. I reluctantly stand to vote 'no', not just on this Bill, but on every Bill that's going to expand the budget."
"The Gentleman from Champaign, Representative Rose, for what reason do you rise?"
"To the Bill, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen, I… I'm in complete agreement with Representative Hamos. Hell must be freezing over, but Julie Hamos is right. We would welcome you to our side of the aisle, Representative. That's exactly the point. We're broke. We don't have any money, none. I can't say it more eloquently than she did. Thank you, Representative Hamos. Thank you so much for expressing what we've been saying for about seven years on our side of the aisle. We're out of money. We can't afford it. Representative Ford, you're a nice guy. I'm sorry. I can't vote for this. We don't have any money. Thank you."
"We've heard from approximately eight people already. There's another seven that want to speak. I'm going to recognize two more and then we will close. Representative Flowers, the Lady from Cook."
"Thank you… thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I support the Gentleman's Bill. I understand the fact that the state… we can't afford to expand our budget, but unfortunately we cannot afford to continue to be discriminated against either or discriminate 09600103.doc 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 against people of color. When you look around at each one of these agencies, there's very few if any minorities and you have to take into consideration that we are people as well, we pay taxes as well and therefore, we are entitled to be hired just like any other group of people. We're not asking for anything special, so we don't want you to make us special by keeping us from being employed. So, this Bill is merely asking and what… what is already the law, the State Employment Record Act, that find that efficient, responsible and accountable disbursement of state services is best facilitated by a diverse state work force. That's already the law. That's under the State Employment Records Act. And also to provide for state officials, administrators and the people of the State of Illinois with information to help guide efforts to achieve a more divers work state. So, what this Bill will be doing, Ladies and Gentlemen, is keeping in compliance with what is the law already. And I support the Gentleman 100 percent. Thank you, Sir."
Speaker Turner: "And the Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield very briefly?"
"He indicates he will."
"Representative, you've stated that you'd like to move this Bill and work out some of the difficulties in the Senate. Third Reading deadline is a month away, March 26. I would ask if you would consider taking the Bill out of the record, working with people on some of their concerns. 09600103.doc 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 You have plenty of time and you're in the Majority. You could bring this Bill back with an Amendment or two or you may decide not to amend it at all, but I think you would be better served and your concept would be better served because you have plenty of time to work on it. Take it out of the record today, do a little work on the Bill and bring it back at some point 'cause you have plenty of time before Third Reading deadline."
"Point taken."
"Are you will to do that?"
"I'm not willing to do it."
"All right. Okay."
"All right."
"Mr. Speaker, I'll… let me just speak briefly to the Bill. I'm not an attorney, but this looks like an equal protection under the law lawsuit just waiting to happen. Where's the Caucasian coordinator? Where's the Latino coordinator? Where's the… where's the gay community coordinator? Where's the Italian coordinator? Where's the Polish coordinator? The real question here is not this Bill, although I think Julie Hamos said it correctly, it does create or require a full-time position and this will be the tip of the iceberg. Everybody will want one of these. The real issue that the Representative needs to focus on is the fact, as a previous speaker said, there are too many people in State Government hiring that don't follow the law today and they're not going to follow the law if this is created. I… I just turned in two complaints to the Office of the Inspector General on the way people 09600103.doc 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 were hired in my district at… at the local prison. They're both Caucasians, but the position wasn't posted, nobody was interviewed and you just find out all of a sudden that somebody's working at the Danville Prison for $70 thousand a year and the job wasn't even posted. That's not right. We have the Rutan decision when Governor Thompson was sued. You've got the Shakman decree in Chicago that is widely ignored. You know, at what… I think more than creating a position that some bureaucrat will figure out how to get around, it's time for certain entities and organizations… and I don't like lawsuits and I'm not a particular friend of the Trial Bar… but dog gone it, it's time to start filing lawsuits on bureaucrats and state agencies that thumb their nose at the law. They do discriminate. They do pull fast ones. And it's wrong, but this Bill isn't going to correct it. What's going to correct it is enough people being taken to court and say, we're not going to put up with this anymore. You don't need a coordinator to do that. You need a good judge or you need a good Inspector General. The laws, as earlier state… as a early speaker said, the laws are on the books. This coordinator won't change any of the law and in my experience here, the people who do the hiring in the dark of night won't pay any attention to this coordinator anymore than they try to pay attention to the Rutan decision or the Shakman decree or anything else. I'll join you, Representative, in lawsuits and in complaints to the Office of the Inspector General. Enough is enough. Politicized hiring was supposed to be done away with years ago. We all know it hasn't. We all 09600103.doc 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 know it hasn't happened. But this coordinator's position isn't going to put a stop to that and isn't going to help it. And all you'll do is create a demand for almost every group who considers themsel…"
"Bring your remarks to a close. Representative Ford to close."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And respectfully, to all those that have their opinions, this Bill has been tested with Hispanics and there has been no lawsuits. And I believe that to say that this Bill is the ultimate racist Bill that we can have is disrespectful when I know that there is a disparity in employment for African Americans in the state. Studies show that African Americans are unemployed at the rate of the majority of the population during the Great Depression and so that's a problem. And if we're here to look at problems and come up with solutions, then this is your Bill. And if you want your neighbors to benefit, if you want your neighbors to pay taxes, this is not asking for any handouts. This is saying we want to work. This is saying will you look at why a certain group of people are unemployed at a higher rate than others. If you want to reduce prison population because people who have no employment and things they do they do it because they… our unemployment some people say. This is the Bill to help all of us especially during the time of a recession. If you say that you want to increase revenues and jobs in the State of Illinois and have people pay taxes, then this is the Bill. And for another speaker that said that it's time to hold the line, I believe the previous speakers voted for 09600103.doc 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 a Bill that will cost the state $18 million with the mass transit. So, I have no idea why we need to hold the line on this Bill at this time, but I ask for a favorable vote. And I will ask you to vote your conscience because you know that it's a problem, I know it's a problem and this Bill does not create a position. And if we need to clean it up a little bit in the Senate to say that there… that the CMS cannot create a position, I've committed to that, but once again, there's no lawsuit that will come forward and if it does, it's already been proven through the Hispanic plan that it… it's tested and proven. And anybody can throw a lawsuit. It doesn't matter. We can throw lawsuits any day about anything. So, I ask for a favorable vote and the people all over the State of Illinois will benefit from this, not just the people in the 8th District. So, I ask you to vote your conscience. Thank you."
"So, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4683?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. This Bill, having received 51 'ayes', 51 'nays'. The Gentleman… Representative Ford asked that the Bill be put on Postponed Consideration and the Bill will be Postponed. The Gentleman from Winnebago, Representative Jefferson, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege, please."
"State your point." 09600103.doc 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"I'd just like to take this opportunity to recognize two of Rockford's finest: Maria… Mariah Jones and Patrick Jensen, who is here serving as Pages today. I would ask that you would be very generous with them… they're right here in the well… when you place your orders. Remember they're two of Rockford's finest. If we could recognize them and welcome them to Springfield. Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Clerk will distribute Supplemental Calendar #1. On the Order of Supplemental Calendar #1 and under the Order of Resolutions, we have House Joint Resolution 101. Speaker Madigan."
"Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, HJR101 would create a joint committee concerning the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority in Chicago. I think we're all familiar with reports of inefficiency in operations and the problem with financial stability at McCormick Place. Earlier… a few weeks ago, we provided for the removal of the old board at McCormick Place and the appointment of a new one and the purpose of this committee would be to work with that new board and to generate its own ideas so that we can move legislation that would provide for an improvement in the fiscal condition of the Authority and improve the efficiency in its operations. This is very important because I think we all agree that McCormick Place and the Pier are really important for the commerce of Illinois and Chicago and all of us would be much better off if we could improve its operations. And therefore, Mr. Speaker, I request an 'aye' vote." 09600103.doc 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Joint Resolution 101?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative May. The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 113 voting 'aye', 0 'noes', 0 'presents'. And this Resolution, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. On the Order of Third Readings, on page 6 of the Calendar, we have House Bill 4798, Representative Mautino. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4798, a Bill for an Act concerning Corrections. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Bureau, Representative Mautino."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This is a trailer Bill. We passed legislation which gave Illinois Correctional Industries their financial officers back and their financial reporting system took them out of shared services or change the way that structure worked. The Bill has been amended and basically, it just reflects what we want it to do and it's the follow- up language that I had promised. It's agreed through… it's agreed to. This addresses a lot of the audit findings. I would ask for an 'aye' vote and be ready to answer any questions."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4798?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now 09600103.doc 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Feigenholtz. The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 111 voting 'aye', 2 voting 'no', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Ramey on House Bill 4704. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4704, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Ramey."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4704 is set up to create the Soldier's Medal Plate here in Illinois. Currently, we have the Medal of Honor Plate, but the Soldier's Medal is given to soldiers who do acts of heroism in peacetime. A special fee will be placed on the plate and added to the Secretary of State's revenue source. I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4704?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 108 voting 'aye', 5 voting 'no', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. On the Order of Third Readings, we have Representative Moffitt on House Bill 4779. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk. I'm sorry. 4710, 4710. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk." 09600103.doc 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"House Bill 4710, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Knox, Representative Moffitt."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4710 is a technical correction from legislation we plast… passed last year that created the interest free revolving loan fund to build, rehab and remodel fire stations. That legislation said it would be up to a 25-year loan up to $2 million, but that you paid back five percent of the principal each year. Well, if you paid back five percent for 20 years, the loan's repaid. It's a 25-year loan. This changes five percent per year back to four so it truly is a 25-year loan. Other terms are the same. This is… would be a way to create jobs around the state. We've already passed that, but it… it should… if it's a 25-year loan, you'd only pay four percent per year. Appreciate your support. Entertain any questions."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4710?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 113 voting 'aye', 0 'noes', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Tryon, we have House Bill 4758. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk." 09600103.doc 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"House Bill 4758, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from McHenry, Representative Tryon."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4758 essentially gives counties the same statutory authority that we gave municipalities last year and it essentially allows a county to enter into agreements with property owners to lend them money to do solar or alternative energy projects and place the increments of paying that off on their tax bill. It's kind of a concept of pace funding, a property assisted energy Bill where… or energy financing Bill that will allow them to do the same thing we allow our cities to do. If there's any questions, I'd be glad to answer them."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4758?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Tryon. Representative… The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 112 voting 'aye', 0 'noes', 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Moffitt, we have House Bill 4779. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 47…"
"Out of the record. Out of the record, Mr. Clerk. Representative Chapa LaVia on House Bill 4780. Out of the record. Representative Ramey on House Bill 4807. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk." 09600103.doc 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"House Bill 4807, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Ramey."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry to be late for my seat. Let's call… What the House Bill 4807 attempts to do is to allow a victim's statement at the placement of a person who is found… been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Last year we passed a Bill which I sponsored that allowed victim's statements at the hearings. And now we find that when they place these individuals in the specialty care that the victim's statement wasn't allowed there. So, this is just to… to make that available and this is a Bill written by DHS. And I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4807?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk will take the record. On this question, there are 113 voting 'aye', 0 'noes', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative D’Amico on House Bill 4860. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4860, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative D’Amico."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4860 basically would make it illegal for a tow truck operator to solicit a 09600103.doc 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 tow at the scene of an accident. He need… he needs to be called there either by the owner of the vehicle that was involved in the accident or by the policeman on the scene. I'll be free to answer any questions."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Miller, for what reason do you rise?"
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"…cates he will."
"I just have a question. Representative McCarthy and… had had other language in regards to this in the past. What's the difference and I know there seems to be a problem in other legislation."
"I actually think it's pretty much the same exact language. I think that Bill was just tied up with the Rules."
"Okay."
"That's what I was told because the same people that brought it to him brought it to me."
"There was an issue dealing with tow trucks basically taking cars and not explaining the fees and what… you have to re… maybe remind me of what…"
"Right."
"…what the situation…"
"Well…"
"…was was that they were basically preying on people at a time of…"
"What… I can give you an example of one thing that happened. What… when, you know, when you're in an accident, obviously, you're a little distraught. You don't 09600103.doc 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 know exactly what's going on. These tow truck… these wreck chasers is what they call them… show up on the scene and basically just hook up your car without you even see… even without your approval. Then you'd win… then they show you a piece of paper. You signoff on it. They take your car. It looks like they're taking it to a legit pound. You try to find your car. Sometimes it takes three, four, five days to find your car. One guy had a Jaguar, was involved in an accident, it cost him $6 thousand to get the car out of this guy's pound by the time he found out where his car was."
"Wow."
"So, this would eliminate that."
"Well, what happens if you're by yourself, and particularly in terms of women and it's at evening and their sense of security may, and a tow truck comes along and you just say, go ahead. You know, in a sense of safety or in a sense of… you just want to move on with whatever the process is."
"Well…"
"Is there an option?"
"Obviously, yeah, if the owner gives the okay and signs the release, that's fine. What we want to try to do is eventually try to create districts just like they do on the tollway where the toll… the tollway authority actually calls the tow truck to the scene. We'd like to do the same thing probably with the policemen throughout the state is fine." 09600103.doc 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Okay. And last question. Is there any disclosure in sense of the same circumstance that they have to tell you or they're going to tell you make sure where the vehicle is being towed, what their fee is, what the process of whatever it has to do. What you do."
"There is and currently, what happens when these tow truck… these wreck chasers show up on a scene, they fold over the application and they hide it. So, you don't know exactly what they're going to charge you. And this here, what we would try to do is establish probably a list and you would know that you're dealing with reputable tow truck companies. They're not there to scam you like the wreck chasers are now."
"Okay. Thank you… thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Fritchey, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"…cates he will."
"Representative, a few questions. I know what you're trying to get at and I think all of us know individuals that have probably been victimized by unscrupulous towers. I think there may be a couple of drafting issues here that I just want to go through with you. In response to the previous speaker's questions, with respect to disclosures, that's not mandated in this language right."
"No."
"There's nothing in here about them having to disclose what the costs are going to be or where the car is going to be taken to." 09600103.doc 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"We passed that Bill, previously. That's already in the law."
"Correct."
"All this… all this is doing here is making sure that the wreck chaser cannot come to the scene and tow your vehicle unless you, the owner, involved in the accident called him or the police officer."
"Right. Here… and I get that. I guess I'm concerned about the law of unintended consequences here and that's this. Somebody is in a disabled vehicle roadside, maybe it's in a snowstorm, maybe it's in a relatively remote area, whatever it may be. You may have even a reputable tow truck driver. They may want to come by, pull over, and say, hey, do you need any help? You know, are you in distress? Do you need your car towed, anything else? The way this is drafted they are prohibited from stopping to even ask you if you need help. The way… the way the Bill's drafted right now it says that they cannot stop at or near a damaged or disabled vehicle for the purpose of soliciting the owner. And so, you know, we have a situation where, yes, they should be called. We have a situation where, yes, we've said that if they are called that they have to provide certain disclosures. Here's what the fees are going to be. Here's where your car is going to be, et cetera, et cetera. But the way this has been draft… the way this has been drafted right now though is they can't even stop… You know, you may have and I don't want to generalize, but let's say that you have a woman who is stranded in a remote area at night in a broken-down 09600103.doc 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 vehicle. A tow truck driver comes and says, you know… you know, can I help you? He can't do that under this, could he?"
"Well, I think he could because you would… you would be giving the approval. You would call him over to tow your vehicle."
"No. What this is… What I'm talking about is a tow truck driver that happens to be driving by. He can't stop to ask you if you need help under this Bill, if I had your law."
"If you had your hazards on and you flagged him down, I would imagine that would be considered calling him over."
"But that… but that's not and John, I'm not trying to trip you up here. I want to make sure that the law as drafted does what you want it to do. What you want it to do is excellent, but right now it simply says that they cannot stop for the purpose of soliciting you. End of story. And I don't think that's what you want to do. Listen, I'm going to support you, but I really think that either here or in the Senate you really want to fix that somehow because this… this would make even the best intended tower violating… violate the law by simply trying to say, do you need help? Or even, that tower right now could not stop to say, do you need help and do you want me to call law enforcement? Do you want me to call a police officer over here? Because right now, simply calling and asking if they needed help would be a violation of this law." 09600103.doc 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"And I… I understand and I appreciate the comments that you're making and I guess it really depends on where you're broken down, too, because obviously if you're in the City of Chicago or in Cook County and that's where most of this fraud has taken place, there's plenty of places available for you to get to a phone if you don't have a cell phone to call a police officer or to call a tow truck."
"Well, yes and no. I mean, I agree there's more about while I'm thinking about it a car that may be stranded on the Eisenhower or on the Stevenson or even on the Kennedy somewhere and a driver… a tow truck's coming by. They're going to say, you know what, I'd love to stop and help this person. I can't even stop and ask them if they need a tow because the very act of trying to help…"
"Well, there again, even when you're talking about on the tollway and on the… the Kennedy, the Eisenhower. There's tow trucks that have assigned routes and they have that emblem on a side of their truck that says they do the work for the tollway. So, they are… they will be allowed to pull over and make that tow. Now, I don't know if that's included in the Bill itself, but they have assigned sections of the road where they do tow."
"Well, understood. I guess, and again, I don't want to go around in circles. I think I've… I've at least tried to make my point."
"Thank you."
"What you want to do and what this says right now aren't the same thing. I think that you're going to be 09600103.doc 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 happier with the final product, if you clarify that provision somewhat to at least…"
"I will work on that."
"All right. That's all I can ask. I appreciate it. Thank you."
"The Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy, for what reason do you rise?"
"Would the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates he will."
"Representative, does this just apply to certain counties?"
"No, it applies to the entire state."
"So, the… I think the Illinois… the commercial safety towing law that was passed in '08 was limited to a certain number of counties."
"It was limited to five counties."
"Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will and Winnebago, I believe. But what you're saying is, this legislation does not… is not limited to the counties that the Act… the overarching Act affected? I guess that's my question for clarification. If this… this applies to the entire state or just those five counties that the original…"
"It does apply to the whole state."
"It does?"
"Yes."
"Okay. That's why… And the other thing is, if IDOT or some other authority wants to get a vehicle moved and if the person in the accident… and I think Representative Fritchey brought up some excellent points to clear up, I 09600103.doc 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 think it will help… but they can have that vehicle moved. This doesn't in any way require the consent of the person necessarily, does it?"
"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that, Representative?"
"This doesn't necessarily require the consent of the person, if that person is not able to make a decision…"
"No."
"…related to the towing of their vehicle?"
"No, absolutely not. There could be a police officer involved. He can… he can require the tow as well."
"Okay. So, you're… you're really just trying to stop the solicitation at that time that a person…"
"Exactly. It's basically a consumer protection Bill because of what… what's happening and it's happened a lot more probably in Cook County than it has happened in the rest of the state where we have these wreck chasers and I can point out points in my district where they sit on the corner, listen to the scanners and all they do is just wait for a little fender bender. They get up there, and hook the car up and before you know it, people don't even know where their car went."
"And it doesn't hinder in any way official authorities acting to make sure things are cleared up. This… and if someone's unconscious or they've…"
"Right."
"…been taken away…"
"That's different."
"…a decision can be made. This is just to stop the solicitation. Okay. Thank you for the clarifications and 09600103.doc 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 I really do think that Representative Fritchey's points about some of the language are good points and…"
"They are."
"…and something to be cleared up. Thank you."
"The Gentleman from Champaign, Representative Rose, for what reason do you rise? Rose?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"…cates he will."
"Representative, you know, I did the Boy Scouts hundredth anniversary last Saturday night and they had a speaker who's a guy who's been to the North or the South Pole 27 different times, one or the other, and he's actually a member of the Royal Expeditionary Society or whatever those things are from the start of our people who discovered the Poles and somebody asked him a question about how we handle things down here versus up in the Antarctic where he lives. And he said, well, you know… he laughed and he said, you know what, you guys just don't get it. He says, let me give you an example. He says, a month ago our mailman died. There's only 20 of us that live in a 50-mile radius of this, but the mailman died. So, you know what we did? We dug a hole and tossed him in and that was that. There wasn't any law; there wasn't any coroner; there wasn't any rule; there wasn't any law. We just dug a hole, tossed him in and then they drew straws to figure out who was going to be the new mailman. We address problems that frankly aren't ours to address. I mean, honestly, I would hope if I'm… if I'm stuck on the side of the road, I would hope somebody would pull over and try to help me out." 09600103.doc 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"I agree with you."
"So, why are we saying they can't do that?"
"Just… As you've brought Bills here because of constituents in your district, correct?"
"Yes."
"This is a Bill that's brought forward to me because of a constituent that their car got towed. They were charged $6 thousand. Do you… can… you think that was right?"
"Six thousand dollars?"
"Six thousand dollars because their car got towed from the scene. The guy did not disclose where it was being kept. It wound up… it took him…"
"But okay."
"…six days to find out where that car was."
"So, let's talk about that, Representative."
"Yes."
"Let's address that problem 'cause I would agree with you, that's unconscionable. I mean, you're taking care… I mean, somebody who's in a state of duress, perhaps medical emergency…"
"That's it exactly."
"…and taking advantage of them. But as I read this, and maybe there's an Amendment that hasn't made its way into our analysis, but as I realized, as I read this, it says you're not able to stop. You can't stop at the scene of an accident to ask if you can help. I mean, why don't we address what you just said…"
"Because…" 09600103.doc 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"…'cause I would agree with you, that's wrong."
"…what we want to es… what we want to establish where this is going is we'd like to create a list, just like the tollway has, where there are tow truck companies that they use. You have to use the companies that are on the list. These are reputable companies. And we want to do the same thing with our police and law enforcement in the Chicago, Cook County and throughout the state. These wreck chasers up in Chicago; it's a very, very big problem. They just hook up your car and take it away. And it's something that we're trying to correct here."
"Well, let me… let me ask you this…"
"And I will try to address some of these issues that Representative… the previous Representative had brought up."
"And I guess, Representative, I have no problem trying to address your constituent's issue. That, to me, makes sense, but that's an issue of enforcement against and untoward the company or individual. But let me give you a hypothetical. If they're not allowed to stop, let's say you're on the Dan Ryan, or what do you call those up… the Kennedy, is that one?"
"Yes."
"You're on the Kennedy and you're driving along and you see a car stuck in the middle of the four lanes, sitting. Now, is that an… is that a accident waiting to happen, Representative?"
"I think, currently, the way it sits, the wreck chasers, tow trucks, they're not allowed to do that 09600103.doc 62 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 anyways. They have to use the IDOT tow trucks or the tow trucks that the companies that are assigned to those roads…"
"They couldn't pull over and pull that off to a safe location to avoid an accident?"
"Pardon me?"
"They would not be allowed to stop and get that vehicle out of the…"
"I don't think they can do that now. It would have to be IDOT or one of those companies that are assigned to that road."
"Well, Representative, God love you and the rules that you all in Chicago deal with 'cause I would hope that if I was stuck, you know, in the middle of I-57, someone would just pull over and help me get off the highway and to safety. So, you know, Representative, I'll probably vote for your Bill 'cause like you said it's from a constituent. I, quite frankly, am not convinced that it addresses that issue completely, but you're a good person and if you're convinced that it does, I'll go with you on that."
"Thank you."
"I just don't… I mean, I can't for the life of me imagine we'd want to set up a scenario in which a tow truck couldn't pull somebody out of an imminent danger situation."
"But… again, like I'm saying. Currently, they couldn't do that now. And what's to say that this tow truck company wouldn't pull over and charge the guy $10 thousand just to pull his car off the side of the road." 09600103.doc 63 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Well, then…"
"There's nothing stopping them from doing that."
"Then I guess you could start pushing."
"Right. Yeah."
"All right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Representative."
"The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"…cates he will."
"John, just to show you I've been paying attention, your constituent had a Jaguar, right?"
"Yes."
"Lesson number one, don't drive an expensive Jaguar in the Chicagoland area. That would solve that problem. But, seriously, when Representative Eddy asked you if there was any population threshold, I thought there was and now that it… you've explained that it is statewide, I understand the problem that you're having in the metropolitan area. I… I subscribe to the Chicago newspapers and I read all the time about some of these predatory tow truck operators. However, in my case, and I think Representative Rose was touching on this, if I leave Springfield late in the evening if we adjourn and it used to be we often didn't adjourn until 11:30 or midnight and so you start home and you can be on I-72 which at 1:00 in the morning, or for that matter 1:00 in the afternoon, can be a rather desolate stretch of interstate highway. But if my car conks out 09600103.doc 64 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 early in the morning on a miserable evening and I can call the Chicago Motor Club or I can call OnStar. This has happened to my wife. It can take two and a half, three hours for a wrecker to come out and tow the car to the nearest garage. Now, if, in my area, if… and I know most of these people, we don't have the problem you do… if Carpenter's Wrecker Service or Bill Smith Autos or Shepherd's Wrecker goes by and we're waiting for heaven knows how long I would like the ability to either flag them down or to have them pull up in front and say, do you need… do you need a tow or do you need to go to whatever garage you want? In my area it's a little different. I mean, we're… we're going to know most of those companies. I'm just afraid if your Bill passes the way it's drafted, and I think Representative Fritchey gave you some good advice, that I could… I could see somebody I know go by in a Carpenter or a Tatman's Wrecker and he's going to say, I can't stop. I've got to go back to the dispatch center or I've got to back to the garage or I have to wait until the sheriff or somebody contacts me to go get that car. And I would, in a rural area, I'd want him to stop to just get me off the road at 1:00 in the morning if it's 10 below zero."
"And Representative, I'm going to take those considerations in and try and work on that in the Senate, but I guess really… I guess it depends on what your definition of calling somebody is. If somebody is driving by and you're flagging them down or yelling to them, I think you are calling them. I don't think the Bill says you have to call them on a phone." 09600103.doc 65 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"All right. So, there may be some room in there…"
"Yes."
"Okay. And I… I know you're going to work on it and I've worked with you before. I know you're a man of your word."
"Thank you."
"Bu I… I think with a tweak here or there I'm a lot more comfortable with the Bill than in its current language. I… and I apologize. When I first saw this, I thought it was only in Cook and the collars is where they really had a problem and I understand the problems that you've had. Thank you for your indulgence."
"Thank you."
"The Gentleman from Boone, Representative Wait, for what reason do you rise?"
"John, would you answer a question?"
"Sure."
"Yeah. John, I was just thinking about, in fact, I had trouble the last couple times coming down here and I will say I had a pretty cheap wrecker anyway, only $40. But I was wondering, what if we just made it against the law for a tow truck to give out a card that was not accurate or something like that. Why don't we make it a $2 thousand fine if they don't have on the card the number to call and they have to have on the tow truck, you know, where to find it, but you know, something like that so anybody would know where it is. Wouldn't that solve the problem? And you'd still then would give the individual the choice if somebody did want to stop, but they had to give you the accurate 09600103.doc 66 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 information. I know, in towing in Chicago, they towed it away and we didn't know where it was. So, we changed the law to say it has to be publicized there where they're going to tow it to and give a number to call. Couldn't we do that?"
"You know what, and I agree with you, and that would be something I'd be glad to look at, but I think what… I think what happens at some of these wreck chasing accidents, they give the false… they give a false number because they don't want you to find your car for a few days, so they could come back and give you an inflated bill, you know."
"Okay. So, why don't we make it a $5 thousand fine to give a false number or something like that?"
"That would… that would be something to look at."
"Okay. I would strongly suggest you do that. I think that would solve the same problem and still give Bill Black and myself, who would like to have somebody driving by, you know, that was willing to help us that they could help us."
"Right."
"Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Bureau, Representative Mautino, for what reason do you rise?"
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates he will."
"Are there… Now, I see that the… the Professional Towing and Recovery Operators of Illinois had signed on to the Bill, but a few years back there… and that's mostly the City of Chicago guys, the… there was another smaller group 09600103.doc 67 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 of tow truck operators. Are they still around? Have they looked at this?"
"All the tow truck groups were in committee and supportive of the Bill that I know."
"Okay. That's…"
"There was nobody in opposition to it."
"The last time we had a tow truck Bill I found that there were some lines had changed and my guy's going to, for example, McHenry County to pick up a car had to, all of a sudden, pay a $600 permitting fee. Now, that's something that we never knew at that time, but usually the smaller tow truck company operators who were represented wouldn't let us know when those things were out there to a lot of the downstate guys. I don't think we've had as many of these problems, but I have some of the same concerns that Representative Fritchey and Representative Black and some of the other Members have… have mentioned. It's… it's well-intentioned, but if someone's coming along, if my car's broken down on Route 6, I don't want Happy's Super Service because the wrecker is going by, to not be able to legally stop. We don't… we don't have that problem or at least I haven't seen it as much and so, I have concerns on that. And I just…"
"Well…"
"…wish I had heard a little bit more from my local people because the last time I voted for a Bill that the Association agreed to, I got called from our 34 guys that said, we no longer can actually go pick up these cars." 09600103.doc 68 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010
"Well… and again, I think it comes down to what your definition of calling someone is. I mean, if the guy's driving by and you're yelling to him or flagging him down, I think that's a definition of calling the guy over. I mean, it doesn't say that you have to make a phone call or contact him by radio."
"No, no. But it says that this person can't stop. I mean, that's… that to me is, and maybe that's a regional distinction and difference in the problem, but I think that's a material flaw in the Bill. And you know, if we're trying to fix unintended consequences, I'd kind of rather fix it here in the House since, if I were to vote 'yes' on the Bill at this time which I'm not prepared to do, it could go to the Senate and go as is. You know, we don't have control within that other chamber and I… you're a friend, your word is good on here, but I see a material flaw that in a Bill that is similar to a Bill that bit me before."
"I underst…"
"So… so, with that, I'd just like to consider that maybe we could amend it and put in there something to address that. Thank you."
"I understand. And I will work on this, if we get it out of here to the Senate. This is the same language that we passed before. This is from the Attorney General's Office. And I will do whatever I can over in the Senate to try and amend this."
"Seeing no further questions, the question is, 'Shall the House pass House Bill 4860?' All those in favor 09600103.doc 69 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 89 voting 'aye', 23 voting 'no', 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Gentleman from Cook, Representative D’Amico. Mr. Clerk, committee announcements."
Clerk Bolin: "One committee for this afternoon has been canceled. The Adoption Reform Committee scheduled for 2 p.m. has been canceled. One committee for tomorrow morning has been canceled. The Youth & Family Committee scheduled for 9 a.m. tomorrow has been canceled. The following committees will meet this afternoon. At 2 p.m., Business & Occupational Licenses Committee, the Labor Committee, the State Government Administration Committee, and the Juvenile Justice Reform Committee will meet. And at 4 p.m., the Environment & Energy Committee will meet, Higher Education, Disability Services, Fire Protection, Job Task Force, and Consumer Protection will all meet at 4 p.m. today."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Rita, for what reason do you rise?"
"Correction on that. Business & Occupational Licensing will not meet this afternoon, will not meet."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Soto, for what reason do you rise?"
"A point of personal privilege, Speaker. Thank you. This Friday… This is… I'm making an announcement. This Friday, February 26, I am cochairing, along with Senator 09600103.doc 70 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 Maloney, a college affordability summit. This will be held at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Room C at the UIC Forum Building at the corner of Roosevelt and Halsted. The program will start from 9 and it will go through to 3:00. Lunch will be served by IS… by ISAC. Experts from the National Senate for Higher Education Management System and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education will lead discussion. So, if anyone needs any information and you don't have it, feel free to call me and I will also make sure that you receive it. Thank you."
"And at the end of Session, if the Ladies in red will stick around for one minute, they want to take a picture before you leave. The Ladies in red, if you'll come down to the front gallery before you leave, they'd like to take a picture before going to committee. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions."
Clerk Bolin: "Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 948, offered by Representative Crespo. House Resolution 949, offered by Representative Schmitz. House Resolution 950, offered by Representative Senger. And House Resolution 951, offered by Representative Watson."
"Representative Currie moves for the adoption of the Agreed Resolutions. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Agreed Resolutions are adopted. Now, seeing no further business, Representative Currie moves that the House stands adjourned until Thursday, February 25 at the hour of 11 a.m., February 25, 09600103.doc 71 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 Thursday at the hour of 11 a.m. Allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk, the House now stands adjourned."
"House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Committee Reports. Representative Colvin, Chairperson from the Committee on Consumer Protection which reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate is House Bill is 5701. Representative Franks, Chairperson from the Committee on State Government Administration reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 1026, House Bill 4553, House Bill 4685, House Bill 4976, House Bill 5230, House Bill 5232, House Bill 5255, House Bill 5507, House Bill 5516, House Bill 6015; do pass as amended Short Debate House Bill 4586, House Bill 4639, House Bill 4795, House Bill 5193, and House Bill 6059; recommends be adopted as amended is House Joint Resolution 83; recommends be adopted is House Resolution 839, House Resolution 658, and Senate Joint Resolution 67. Representative Golar, Chairperson from the Committee on Disability Services reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: recommends be adopted House Resolution 856. Representative Moffitt, Chairperson from the Committee on Fire Protection to which the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: reports do pass as… Short Debate House Bill 4846, House Bill 4868, and House Bill 5958. Representative Jakobsson, Chairperson from the Committee on Higher Education reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5294. Representative 09600103.doc 72 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 103rd Legislative Day 2/24/2010 Holbrook, Chairperson from the Committee on Environment & Energy reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5203. Representative Collins, Chairperson from the Committee on Juvenile Justice Reform reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Standard Debate is House Bill 5916; do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5913. Representative Osterman, Chairperson from the Committee on Labor reports the following committee action taken on February 24, 2010: do pass Short Debate is House Bill is 5247, House Bill 5376 and House Bill 5458. Introduction and reading of House Bills-First Reading. House Bill 6620, offered by Representative Yarbrough, a Bill for an Act making appropriations. First Reading of this House Bill. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 09600103.doc 73