"The hour of 10:00 having arrived, the House will be in order. 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 Alliance. We shall be led in prayer today by Pastor Shaun Lewis, who is the Illinois State Director of the Capitol Commission serving the political leaders of Illinois. He is the guest of Representative Brauer. Pastor Lewis."
"You would bow with me in prayer. Robert's 3, 5 and 6 is trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not in your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Father in heaven, You are the invisible God and though You are not seen, You speak here and act and You spoke our world into existence. You established the institution of government and You selected each Member of this chamber. It was not luck of the draw or anything of that sort that won their election, but ultimately it was Your intent. And as they consider pieces of legislation, may they trust in You and not their understanding to achieve what is good and what is pleasing in Your sight and what is a blessing for our state. Now, Legislators seek Your glory and honor in all that they do. May they look to Your son for grace and may they seek Your face before seeking Your hand. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen."
Speaker Mautino: "The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Representative Brauer."
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, 09700034.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
"Roll Call for Attendance. The Gentleman from Jackson, Representative Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let the record reflect that Representative Beaubien, Fortner, Jerry Mitchell, Mulligan, Durkin, Osmond and Pihos are excused at this time on the Republican side of the aisle."
"Majority Leader Currie."
"Thank you, Speaker. Please let the record show that Representative Burns, Representative Gordon, Representative Harris, Representative Jefferson, Representative Mendoza and Representative Osterman are excused today."
"Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 answering the roll, a quorum is present and the House is prepared to do its business. Mr. Clerk."
Clerk Bolin: "Introduction of Resolutions. House Resolution 236, offered by Representative Currie. House Joint Resolution 24, offered by Representative Soto. And House Joint Resolution 25, offered by Representative D’Amico."
"Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions."
"Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 237, offered by Representative Barickman. House Resolution 238, offered by Representative Osmond. House Resolutions 239, and 240 offered by Representative Cole. And House Resolution 241, offered by Representative Nybo."
"Representative Currie moves adoption of the Agreed Resolutions. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'yeses' have it. Agreed Resolutions are adopted. 09700034.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Representative Phelps, House Bill 2875. Out of the record. Representative Sente, House Bill 1871. Out of the record. Representative Thapedi, House Bill 2853. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2853, a Bill for an Act to revise the law by combining multiple enactments and making technical corrections. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This is House Bill 2853. It's a relatively straightforward measure. This is an initiative of the LRB and this is their first 2011 general revisory Bill. Please be advised that the Bill makes no substantive changes whatsoever in the law. It simply does two things. It combines and revises enactments of the 96th General Assembly and it additionally makes technical corrections and changes in the body of statutes. I do have a memo. If there are any questions about any particular provision that have been rectified, I'm happy to answer any questions."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 2853. No one seeking recognition, all in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. And the voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Rose. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 2853 is declared passed. Representative May, House Bill 3236. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3236, a Bill for an Act concerning business. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Lake." 09700034.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Thank you, Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. 3236 expressly authorizes the organization and operation of health care cooperatives in Illinois. It's an initiative of the Department of Insurance to help our small businesses, schools and agricultural groups access $6 billion in federal money to start up health care cooperatives. Finally, we can help our small businesses access affordable health care for their employees. I ran a small business myself for 20 years and one of my biggest problems was finding health insurance options for my staff. As we talked to small business owners in our district, always, always they tell us that health care is one of the biggest problems, finding affordable health care for their staff is the biggest problem. Small businesses pay 18 percent more per worker than large firms. A leading proponent of House Bill 3236 is the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce which is endeavored to create health insurance cooperatives for many years, but start-up costs were a stumbling block. It will be the first in line to apply for a grant to create a health care cooperative for its 2600 members. The Chicagoland Chamber's model can be a model to be used in other states. Our neighboring states such as Wisconsin and Minnesota have successful health care insurance cooperatives for decades. We need to do the same for the small business and citizens of our state."
"The Lady moves passage of House Bill 3236. On that question, the Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy."
"Thank you, Speaker. Would the Sponsor yield?" 09700034.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Indicates that she will."
"Representative May, I think the intent here is to allow access to individuals who currently have difficulty or are paying very high premiums individually or seeking out coverage to pool together to be able to form cooperatives."
"To form a cooperative, yes, member driven."
"Now, when we discussed this yesterday, did you… did you think this could also have a positive effect on farmers, small cooperative groups, maybe, that farmers belong to?"
"Yes. In other states and because farmers are basically small businesses for schools, for farmers and for small businesses could all benefit."
"So, if in the agricultural world, we have individuals who belong or can form cooperatives, this would allow them to pool together and have some type of group health insurance coverage…"
"Yes."
"…rather than the high costs that they now face as individuals seeking that coverage?"
"Yes. And the stumbling block were the start-up costs, so the federal cost would allow us to benefit our citizens without using one penny of state money."
"You mentioned the fact that the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is in support of this legislation?"
"Yes. They've been a driving force behind it as well as AARP, the State Medical Society, the Academy of Family Physicians and other groups."
"Thank you, Representative. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, to the Bill. We are faced in this country with 09700034.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 rising costs of health care to a point that individuals, as we know, are having trouble finding coverage. This is an attempt to allow for individual who now have that… that facing them to form cooperatives and lower the cost and pool in an effort to… to cover those people in this country who, quite frankly, either can't afford it or are paying those high costs. I think it's a good idea. There is some concern on the insurance company's part; however, I think the larger important concern here is making sure those folks have coverage and this will help them in many, many ways toward getting that coverage. So, I urge an 'aye' vote."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman from Jasper, Representative Reis."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates that she will."
"Representative, you came over and talked to me about this and I was unaware that you had amended the Bill. I just wanted to ask about some of the opposition under… that was against the underlying Bill. And all that opposition's been removed now?"
"I don't believe so. As Representative Eddy mentioned, the insurance industry still, to the best of my knowledge, is not supporting it. I have reached out to them, as you may recall. They did not testify in committee. Their concerns are not known to me other than in general nature, but I think you know me well enough that if they would come with any Amendment that would help, I am certainly amenable to that. But this is not an exchange; it is not a pool; it is 09700034.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 a carefully designed cooperative that has certain safeguards in place and we will use the experience of the Chicagoland Chamber, also, to make sure that it's successful."
"Okay. Well, thank you very much with… for your work on this. And I misspoke yesterday. I will be supporting your Bill today."
"Thank you very much."
"Further discussion?"
"And thank you Representative Eddy for your support."
Speaker Mautino: "The Lady from Cook, Representative Yarbrough."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Lady yield for a question?"
"Indicates that she will."
"Representative, I just walked in the room, so could you just kind of walk through with me very quickly how the cooperative works."
"Yes. The director of the Department of Insurance would approve a geographic cooperative. And then it is on its own to formalize its procedures as far as membership and the… the members will be involved in the design and the plan which is different than pooling. And there are certain safeguards that… that they have to sign up for three years and this will help ensure some success. If they leave early there is a penalty, but it is member driven."
"Thank you. To the Bill, Mr. Speaker. I've gotten a number of phone calls, e-mails about this Bill from small business people who are just so happy that this General 09700034.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Assembly is doing something about helping people who own businesses and one of the biggest problems they have is identifying insurance for themselves and for their employees. So, I want to applaud the… the Sponsor of this Bill. I know that she's been working for years on trying to help small business. Representative, I'll be supporting your Bill and I know the people in my district are real excited about this proposal passing."
"Representative May to close."
"Yes. Thank you very much. I would like to thank Representative Eddy and Representative Coladipietro who has been sort of a fan of this Bill and working the other side of the aisle. We have strong bipartisan support because all of us realize that we need to help the small businesses in our state and also it'll give the employees of the small businesses in our state access affordable health care. Again, the Chamber… the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is the leading proponent along with AARP, the State Medical Society, Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, Protestants for the Common Good and the Sargent Shriver Center for Poverty Law. I really appreciate your support and ask for this to help our small businesses and other groups."
"The Lady's moved passage of House Bill 3236. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. Voting's open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Nybo. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 100 voting 'yes', 5 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 3236 is declared passed. 09700034.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Representative Brauer, House Bill 19… excuse me. House Bill 1593. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1593, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Menard."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This provides a liability for a automatic traffic light violation as opposed on the lessee as opposed to the lessor. This is agreed to Bill with the City of Chicago. I know of no opposition. I'll answer any questions."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 1593. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. Voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 1593 is declared passed. Representative Cunningham, House Bill 1458. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1458, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I rise to present House Bill 1458. It is an initiative of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago. It amends the Illinois Power Agency Act to include biogas and biosolids as renewable energy resources, but only if they are produced by government wastewater treatment plants in the state. The Water Rec District can and has harvested biogas and biosolids for energy to the point of using it to power buildings in-house in their 09700034.doc 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 filtration plants. We believe this Bill would advance the state's goal of expanding the use of renewable energy by tapping sources that are currently not being used in their full potential in Illinois. There was no opposition in committee and I know of no other opposition. And I would appreciate a 'yes' vote."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 1458. No one seeking recognition, the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Riley, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 104 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 1 voting 'present', House Bill 1458 is declared passed. House Bill 195, Representative McAuliffe. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill."
"House Bill 195, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 195 is in respect to a township director that a conviction in any court in the State of Illinois or U.S. of an infamous crime shall constitute a resignation from that office. I pulled this Bill out of the record a couple of days ago, talked with staff and now we agree that this Bill is ready to move forward. And be happy to answer any questions. And ask for a 'yes' vote on House Bill 195."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 195. All… And on that question, the Gentleman from McHenry, Representative Franks is seeking recognition." 09700034.doc 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates that he will."
"Representative, what's the reason for this Bill?"
"The reason for this Bill is currently, right now, if you were a felon and you're holding a municipal or a village office, you're not barred from being a township official. There's current case law before… many years ago saying that a township official could still… couldn't hold a… the official position, but we thought that was still weak and this would make it stronger. So, if you get convicted of an offense of an infamous crime like… that violates the public trust, you could be removed from office."
"Is there a list of infamous crimes?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Is there… do you have a list of what the infamous crimes are?"
"No. But there… the definition I… that I receive from infamous crime in regards to this Bill is a… would be a trust. So, if you would… if you'd committed forgery, perjury…"
"Embezzlement."
"Yeah. Things like that nature."
"Okay. But let's assume it was a crime of passion. Someone had injured someone, you know. Upset, they came home, they see a spouse in a compromising position…"
"No."
"…and beat up the other… other person that that person was with…" 09700034.doc 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"I don't… I don't…"
"…and they were convicted of that crime. Would that person then be barred from being a township official?"
"No, I believe it wouldn't. Again, it's a public trust. So, I think it would be like a perjury, a bribery, a forgery, a case like that."
"All right. Thank you."
"Thank you."
"Further discussion? The Lady from McDonough, Representative Hammond."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative, can you tell me where are the township officials on this Bill? Have they weighed in?"
"No, they haven't. I passed this Bill out last year. It passed unanimously out of the House. I didn't hear from them then. And again, this year we testified in committee, went back to committee, put on an Amendment that the Attorney General's Office… that we worked with with them and they did not comment either way on this Bill."
"Okay. Thank you."
Speaker Mautino: "Further discussion? The Lady from Cook, Representative Monique Davis." Davis, M.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates that he will." Davis, M.: "Representative, can you enumerate those crimes that are listed in your Bill?"
"They called it infamous crime and looking back at case history they use the word 'trust', public trust. So, we're identifying that and I believe in this Bill that if a 09700034.doc 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 township official, which could be like an assessor, if they were convicted of bribery, a forgery, things of that nature, that that could help remove them from office." Davis, M.: "You said remove them from office?"
"If they were convicted or pled guilty." Davis, M.: "Well, I would think so 'cause wouldn't they be going to jail?"
"Yes. If you remember, Representative, about 10 years ago, we had an alderman that was convicted… a Chicago alderman… that was convicted and entered a guilty plea. He admitted that he was guilty. However, he was able to hold office for 4 more months until he went to the federal penitentiary and still collected a salary." Davis, M.: "Well, I know this is a well-intentioned piece of legislation, but I kind of think our judges are setting sentences and I don't know if they set a sentence that say… some of them may say, you can never hold public office again."
"In that case…" Davis, M.: "You know, and I think… I think if they're convicted of a crime, it's like, I'm sure the voters would know not to vote for them, wouldn't they?"
"Not necessarily." Davis, M.: "No kidding."
"Yes." Davis, M.: "Even though a person had been convicted of bribery, falsifying documents."
"No. From what I believe, they would still be able… they could probably still be able to run for township 09700034.doc 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 official office, if no one protested against them. Now, today, I don't know if you noticed, today in the State Journal-Register, there's an official that's running for an office next Tuesday in the county next to Sangamon and he actually got pardoned from the Governor in Wisconsin of something he did years ago. So… so, he would be fine with this." Davis, M.: "What… what did he do?"
"They didn't explain in the paper, but it was a felony I think when he was probably young, 18 years old." Davis, M.: "You know, I'm going to have to vote 'present'…"
"Oh, no. He was… robbery. It was rob… arm… it was robbery." Davis, M.: "How long was his sentence?"
"That I'm not sure of." Davis, M.: "But he was a teenager when it happened? So, you don't think he should hold office as an adult?"
"Yeah. He got a pardon from the Governor, so he's able to hold…" Davis, M.: "So…"
"…he's able to hold office or run for office." Davis, M.: "…you think that's okay?"
"As long as he got a pardon from the Governor." Davis, M.: "As long as he got a pardon."
"Yeah." Davis, M.: "Yeah. You know, I'm going to vote 'present' on this Bill because I just think that once a person has served his or her sentence that hopefully they have been rehabilitated in some instances. Now, surely, we wouldn't want a bank 09700034.doc 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 robber to go and work as a teller in a bank, but you know I think some of the other… not that crime should ever be not considered important, but I just don't think that we should continue to move in the direction of once you commit a crime in America or in Illinois you are forever a criminal, forever a criminal. You can never have a life again. And I don't think… I don't want to be a part of that anymore. I think people should be able to earn a living. I think… 'cause somebody's going to have to take care of them. Either they're going to commit another crime in order to sustain themselves, they're going to commit another crime to sustain themselves or one of our agencies will have to send checks to them and their families to take care of them. These people will have to work. If a judge sentenced you to 10 years, once you've served your time that should be it. You should be able to wipe that slate clean and become a good taxpaying citizen. So, if we don't want to do that, I don't know what we expect to do. I'm going to vote 'present'."
"House Bill 195, Representative McAuliffe to close."
"I just ask for a favorable vote."
"All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Feigenholtz. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 95 voting 'yes', 3 voting 'no', 7 voting 'present', House Bill 195 is declared passed. Representative Winters, House Bill 2105. Read the Bill." 09700034.doc 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"House Bill 2105, a Bill for an Act concerning health. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Winters."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 2105 requires that any county in the state that has a health department but does have no mental health program or a mental health… it requires them to form a mental health advisory committee, the volunteer seven- member committee appointed by the county board chair. There is an exemption for Cook County townships that already have a mental health program, but townships in Cook County would also come under this. There is no opposition. It basically is a way to try to get the county boards focused on the lack of mental health programs in their counties. And would urge its adoption, be happy to answer any questions."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 2105. On that question, Representative Franks."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Yes."
"Representative, I'm just looking at this for the first time and I see that in our summary that you say it's either a county board chairman or a township supervisor."
"Yeah…"
"Which township supervisors would be allowed to do this?"
"Well, what we're doing in this is counties outside of Cook would be under this and then within Cook County townships. So, that's why we have to mention that it's the 09700034.doc 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 township supervisor. But if you're in a county outside of Cook, the townships are not required to do anything."
"Thank you."
Speaker Mautino: "The question is, 'Shall House Bill 2105 pass?' All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. Voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative May, Representative Saviano, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 2105 is declared passed. The Chair's intention is to go now to Bills on Second Reading. House Bill 3090, Representative Arroyo. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3090, a Bill for an Act concerning public health. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 has been tabled. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Arroyo, has been approved for consideration."
"The Gentleman from Cook."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Members of the House. I would like to adopt Floor Amendment 2 to House Bill 3090. Disposable and prescription drugs, expired drugs, people will be able to dispose of prescription drugs in a proper way."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman moves adoption of Floor Amendment #2. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. The Amendment's adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed." 09700034.doc 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Third Reading. Representative Bradley, House Bill 1152. Out of the record. Representative Crespo, House Bill 2084. Out of the record. Representative Monique Davis, House Bill 2086. Out of the record. Representative Will Davis, House Bill 1607. Out of the record. Representative Feigenholtz, House Bill 3134. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3134, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Flowers, House Bill 223. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 223, a Bill for an Act concerning health care. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Flowers, has been approved for consideration."
"The Lady from Cook on Amendment #2."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. Amendment #2 just add a clarification as to how it could be expanded to add other entities to access to care."
"The Lady moves adoption of Floor Amendment #2. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. Amendment #2 is adopted. Further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Coladipietro, House Bill 1960. Out of the record. Representative Morthland, House Bill 3522. Read the Bill." 09700034.doc 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"House Bill 3522, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Morthland, has been approved for consideration."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman from Rock Island on Floor Amendment #2."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Members of the House. We added Floor Amendment 1 after talking with prosecutors. We introduced this apparently it was kind of a baby bear size Bill. Floor Amendment #… or House… Committee Amendment #1 made it kind of a daddy bear sort of Bill and we now have Floor Amendment #2, after talking with the Department of Corrections, that takes the truth in sentencing provision from 100 to 85 percent, mommy bear size Bill, said just right."
"Okay. The Gentleman moves adoption of Floor Amendment to House Bill 3522. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. And the Amendment's adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments, but a fiscal note and a correctional note have been requested on the Bill as amended and have not been filed."
Speaker Mautino: "Leave this Bill on Second Reading. Representative Reboletti, House Bill 2051. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2051, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee 09700034.doc 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Reboletti, has been approved for consideration."
"The Gentleman from DuPage on Floor Amendment #1."
"Thank you, Speaker. I'd ask that we adopt Floor Amendment #1. This was a request by Representative Pritchard and the committee to make all the trustee positions six years for the county of DuPage. My Bill had it at four years and we're moving it back to six."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman moves adoption of Floor Amendment #1. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. And the Amendment's adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Jones, House Bill 1415. Out of the record. Representative McGuire, House Bill 3040. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3040, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments have been approved for consideration. No Motions are filed."
Speaker Mautino: "Third Reading. Representative Rita, House Bill 3403. Representative Rita. Out of the record. On the Order of Second Readings, Representative Beiser, House Bill 1326. Representative Beiser. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1326, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendments 1, 2 and 3 have been tabled. Amendment #4 was adopted in 09700034.doc 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 committee. Floor Amendment #5, offered by Representative Beiser, has been approved for consideration."
"The Gentleman from Madison on Floor Amendment #5."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Floor Amendment 5 is a technical Amendment and I'd ask for its adoption."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman moves adoption of Floor Amendment #5. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. And the Amendment's adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Berrios, House Bill 3385. Out of the record. Representative Barickman, House Bill 2362. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2362, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Rose, has been approved for consideration."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman from Champaign on Floor Amendment 1. Representative Barickman."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Floor Amendment 1 becomes the Bill for this Bill. Floor Amendment 1 provides that certain medical records will be available to a therapist. This carves out an exception to the Mental Health Code. I'd move the Bill to Third Reading and ask for…"
"The Gentleman moves adoption of House… of the Amendment 1 to House Bill 2362. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. The 'yeses' have it. In the opinion of 09700034.doc 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 the Chair, the Amendment is adopted. Third… Any further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. The Gentleman from Morgan, Representative Watson."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"State your point, Sir."
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, last night, prior to the Final Four festivities, they had the national dunk championship and a 5-foot-11 kid from Carlyle, Illinois, who goes to school in Jacksonville, Illinois, won with three 50 scores. The kid has a 50 inch vertical leap. His name is Jacob Tucker. He'll be here next week. You can YouTube and look at it. It's got over 3 million hits. Unbelievable athlete. For the House Republican staff, I recruit him to play on our team in a couple weeks. Thank you."
"Returning to the Order of Second Reading, House Bill 1391, Representative Bradley. Out of the record. Representative Coladipietro, House Bill 2017. Out of the record. Representative Hammond. Out of the record. Representative Chapa LaVia, 1216. Out of the record. Representative Colvin, 3408. Representative Marlow Colvin. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3408, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed." 09700034.doc 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Third Reading. Representative Monique Davis, House Bill 1195. Out of the record. Representative Flowers, House Bill 286. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 286, a Bill for an Act concerning children. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Flowers, has been approved for consideration."
"The Lady from Cook on Floor Amendment #1."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. Amendment #1 once again has set forth guidelines as to what doctors would have to do before they give psychotropic drugs to wards of the state and the permission that must be gotten and the… Thank you."
"The Lady moves adoption of Floor Amendment #1. All in favor will say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. Voting is op… Excuse me. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. The Amendment's adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Moffitt, House Bill 1398. Out of the record. Representative Morrison, House Bill 3539. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3539, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
Speaker Mautino: "Third Reading. Representative Nybo, House Bill 3294. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3294, a Bill for an Act concerning schools. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 09700034.doc 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 has been tabled. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Nybo, has been approved for consideration."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Nybo on Floor Amendment #2."
"Mr. Speaker, Amendment 2 becomes the Bill, but I'd like to move for its adoption but hold this on Second Reading after that."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman moves adoption of Floor Amendment #2. All in favor will say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. The Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
Speaker Mautino: "Hold this Bill on Second Reading. Representative Reis, House Bill 2054. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2054, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendments 1 and 2 have been tabled. Floor Amendment #3, offered by Representative Reis, has been approved for consideration."
"The Gentleman from Jasper on Floor Amendment #3."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. Floor Amendment #3 simply removes the Class X penalties from the underlying Bill. And I ask for its adoption."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman moves adoption of Floor Amendment #3. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. And the Amendment's adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed." 09700034.doc 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Third Reading. Representative Mayfield, House Bill 1571. Representative Mayfield. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1571, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was tabled. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Mayfield, has been approved for consideration."
"The Lady from Cook on Floor Amendment #2."
"Basically what this does it changes a word and it takes out all mandates, and it basically states that a school will promote reading opportunities for those children that are one grade level or more behind."
"The Lady moves adoption of Floor Amendment #2. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' have it. The Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk, further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Mussman, House Bill 2891. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2891, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. The Bill was read for a second time on a previous day. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments have been approved for consideration. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, if I could have your attention. Speaker Madigan in the Chair. And we would ask the Members to take their seats. And we would ask the staff to withdraw to the rear of the chamber. We have a very distinguished guest with us today. So, if staff to the rear 09700034.doc 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 of the chamber, Members in their seats. Our guest today is Robert Chatterton Dickson, who is the British Consul in Chicago. He was appointed on July 26, 2010. Previously, Robert was the joint head of the Counter Terrorism Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. As joint head, he shared the leadership of a team of over 80 staff responsible for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office contribution to counterterrorism policy and operations. From 2004 to 2007, he served as British Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia. Earlier diplomatic experience included working on Iraq, NATO, UN peacekeeping in London and postings to the British Embassies in Manila and Washington. Before joining the FCO, he worked as an analyst in UK and international investment manager for Morgan Grenfell & Co., which is a merchant bank in the City of London. Robert is married to Teresa Alborg, an artist who was born in the United States. They have daughters age 14 and 12. And I would ask all of you to give a warm welcome to Mr. Dickson."
"Well, thank… thank you all very much, indeed, for that very warm welcome. And thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for your welcome and for making my presence here today possible. I'm very conscious of the honor that this represents, very conscious of the place that this Legislature and Springfield more generally has played in American history and of course, in the careers of two distinguished American presence… Presidents, the current incumbent of the White House and of course, President Lincoln. So, it's wonderful to be here. I've just 09700034.doc 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 got some very plain and simple messages really about the connection between the State of Illinois and the United Kingdom, which I'm privileged to represent, across 13 states of the U.S. Midwest. More than half of the team in my Consulate, I've got about 30 people working for me and more than half of them do trade and investment because it's really the trade and investment relationship, the mutually beneficial relationship that we have right across commerce and industry and financial services, which is really at the heart of what I do here. But I also represent, written in the political sphere, the cultural sphere, higher education and the whole range of wider relationships which exist between the State of Illinois and the United Kingdom. But as I said, the trade relationship is really at the heart of this and we already have very strong links on which to build. There are more than 175 British companies operating here in Illinois employing more than 55 thousand people and of course, paying a lot of tax. We have big names like HSBC, British Petroleum, Willis Group, Diageo and smaller more innovative companies like Dyson and Xchanging and between them they're really contributing in a major way to the economy, to the life of the State of Illinois. And going in the other direction, we're lucky enough to have major Illinois companies, Illinois-based companies, like Boeing, like Kraft, like Caterpillar, like Allstate, like AON doing exactly the same thing for us in Britain providing jobs, paying taxes, contributing to the grace of our economy. And if you look at the trade relationship, it amounts between us to $3.4 billion with almost exactly 09700034.doc 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 equal flows between Britain and the State of Illinois. So, it's already a tremendously powerful trade and investment relationship and it's really promoting that, developing that, making it grow, which I see as my core task for the three years that I'm going to be based in Chicago. If I say just a few words about the political context. This is actually a very exciting time to be representing Britain in the United States and particularly here in the Midwest. And I don't say that just because we have a royal wedding coming up at the end of this month, although that is going to be very exciting for all of us. The reason why it's exciting politically is because since May of last year we've had, in a way, an experiment going on in Britain. Traditionally since the second World War, we've had governments by one Party or the other, but for the first time since 1945 we now have a coalition government composed of Liberals and Conservatives, which is a slightly less surprising pairing in Westminster than it would be perhaps in the United States but is nonetheless something new and something that we're all learning to live with. But what I would say about this alliance is that it's already proving by what it's doing to be much tougher and much more durable arrangement than you might have predicted a year ago, if you'd been told that after May there would be a coalition government. This is a government that's going to last its full term and it's a government that knows what it wants to do and is getting on with doing it. And right at the heart of what this government is doing is maintaining the very strong traditional defense and security relationship with 09700034.doc 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 the United States. We don't need to look at our televisions every morning to be reminded that the world is a very fast- moving and in many ways, an extremely unstable place at the moment. And in that context with Libya, with Egypt, with Tunisia, with all the change that's sweeping across the Middle East and the world more generally, the US/UK security and defense relationship remains absolutely fundamental and we see it again with the very close way in which our two governments and our militaries have worked together in solving the current and very accurate… acute crisis in Libya and maintaining that relationship is an absolutely core part of what our government is doing. But beyond that, there are really three things that I'd like to tell you very briefly about what we're doing on the economic side because the British Government that came into office last year inherited a fiscal deficit of something like 12 percent of GDP, one of the highest in the Euros end, and a very immediate problem because history has shown us time and again that if we lose the confidence of the markets, Britain is a medium-sized open trading economy with a freely floating currency can very quickly find itself in trouble. So, the government has developed a very coherent and a very clear program to eliminate that structural deficit during the five years of this Parliament. So, we're going from 12 percent last year to basically a deficit of zero by 2015 and we're doing this in two ways. The first is to raise revenues, we're raising personal taxes and we're raising… or we have raised consumption taxes. So, that's how 20 percent of this 09700034.doc 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 deficit is going to be closed, but the other 80 percent is going to come through cutting government spending right across the board in every area except health. Government departments are going to have to do more or do as much with less and we know that's not going to be easy. The government's already had to make some difficult choices including in sensitive areas like Social Security, defense and higher education. There's been some demonstrations. People are not happy with what's happening, but as I said, this is a government, a coalition, with a durable political mandate and with a very clear sense of what it wants to do. And the first thing that it knows it needs to do is to cut our deficit because without doing that then all the other economic things the government tries to do simply won't work. So, we're cutting our deficit; it's not going to be easy. There's a clear plan and it will happen. If I leave you with no other message than that this morning, that is the message that I'd like to leave you with. That we have a deficit; we're dealing with it and we're serious about it. But the other two economic messages I'd just like to touch on briefly, the first is that we're very clear that the private sector has to pick up the slack where the public sector is leaving off. So, what we're doing is trying to create in Britain, and I'm sure this will be of benefit to the Illinois companies that I mentioned earlier, we're trying to create a situation in Britain in which we have the best possible environment in Europe for business to grow, to be established, to develop. So, by reducing our corporation tax, we're raising personal taxes and we're 09700034.doc 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 raising consumption taxes, but we are reducing corporate taxes from 28 percent at the beginning of this year to 26 percent now to 23 percent in three year's time. And that means that we will have the lowest rate of tax in any of the G7 advanced economies. And at the same time, is that we're trying to strip away as much as we can regulations which inhibit business; we're trying to create a more educated workforce. We've announced a new apprenticeship scheme. So, we're trying to do everything that we can to make sure that Britain is and remains the best place in Europe for companies from all over the world, including companies from Illinois, to set up and to establish and to grow and there are already signs that this is working. We expect our growth this year to be something like 1.7 percent, which is less than the growth that's predicted for the United States, but is nonetheless ahead of the growth which is predicted for much of the rest of the Euros end. So, we're ahead of the game in Europe and that's where we want to stay. And the third point I'd like to make is that we think that international business has an absolutely key point… a key part to play in helping our private sector to grow. As I said, there are major Illinois companies already established in the United Kingdom, we want to encourage more of them. And one of the things that I do as Consul General, supported by my team, is to go around and explain to companies based in the Midwest why Britain is the best place for them to come. And we think that a big part of this would be accomplished if we could achieve the global free trade agreement, which goes under the name of the Doha 09700034.doc 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Round and has been under negotiation for nearly 10 years now. There's an opportunity this year for a final political push on Doha to complete that free trade round to reduce barriers to business to international business everywhere in the world and we in Britain are absolutely committed to making this happen as part of our commitment to encouraging the private sector everywhere to grow. And we did a study in our embassy in Washington to look at the impact of a successful completion of Doha on each of the individual states and for the State of Illinois what we found was that the economic growth that would come from that free trade would probably create nearly 20 thousand jobs. And if you multiply that right across the United States, you can see the enormous benefit that a successful completion of that free trade round would bring to economic growth everywhere. So, those are the three economic messages I'd like to leave you… leave you with: that we're absolutely committed to reducing our debt and are doing so, that we're committed to being the best place in Europe for private sector business to grow and flourish and that we think that for private sector business to do really well all around the world the best thing we can do is to get rid of the impediments to free trade and complete the Doha Round. And that's really the economic and the political messages that I take everywhere I go. It's a great privilege to have the opportunity to promote these messages, to promote British business, to promote international trade right across the Midwest and it's in no way more of a privilege than it is right here in Illinois. So, thank you very much for have 09700034.doc 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 given me the opportunity to speak to you this morning. It's a great honor and thank you very much."
"Robert will be down in the well to greet those of you who wish to say hello and to share some experiences. So, thank you very, very much, Robert."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
"And I told him that we heard his message about reducing the deficit, right, everybody? Representative Mautino in the Chair."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative McAuliffe is seeking recognition."
"Point of personal privilege."
"State your point, Sir."
"Up in the gallery here, to the left, we have some residents from my district and Representative John D’Amico and Joe Lyons. These are the Windy City Travelers. They're down here to say hi to us here in Springfield and play a ballgame tomorrow. So, let's give them a nice warm Springfield welcome."
"Good luck tomorrow and welcome to the House of Representatives. The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Riley is seeking recognition."
"A point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."
"State your point, Sir."
"You know, recently I had a birthday and many of you, of course, did not give me a birthday gift. I'm truly disappointed at that. But I did get a gift that is very significant and I've gotten compliments on it today and it's the tie that I'm wearing. This tie is from the Fisher 09700034.doc 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 House. Many of you know about the Fisher House Foundation which provides support for, you know, military families who has a loved one who's undergoing treatment at VA hospitals. And someone gave me this gift, it's a beautiful tie, it's a silk tie, and I would just ask you, especially all of those who didn't give me a gift, get a gift for yourself. The Fisher House has many gift items, hats and ties and things like that, cufflinks. And if you do so, much of those proceeds go to help military families and it's the best thing that you can do. You feel real good about yourself and it's a way to support military families. So, remember the Fisher House Foundation. Thank you."
"Happy birthday. On page 24 of the Calendar, under Bills… House Bills-Third Reading, is House Bill 116. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill."
Clerk Bolin: "House Bill 116, a Bill for an Act making appropriations. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Speaker Madigan."
"Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, House Bill 116, with the Amendment, would provide for the required contributions to the State University Retirement System as certified in the fall of 2010. This will allow the system to achieve 90 percent funding in the year 2045. This is the fourth Bill in a five-Bill package which will provide that the House has moved legislation which will provide for the pension payments, it'll provide for our debt service payments and will provide for the appropriation for the group insurance program. And as we 09700034.doc 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 did yesterday, Mr. Speaker, I would ask that Mr. Cross join us in the debate."
"The Chair recognizes Republican Leader, the Gentleman from Kendall, Representative Cross."
"For the same reasons, Mr. Speaker, and to Speaker Madigan, it's a path we should have chosen to go down some time ago, for a variety of reasons we didn't. But I very much like the fact that we are making su… taking care of our obligations with respect to the pension system. Stabilization of all five systems is critical. The fact that we are spending… our goal of spending less money, I think, is the only goal to have. It's the right direction, something as I said yesterday we've advocated for a number of years, spending less and taking… and the goal is spending only what we take in and obviously, having the ability to go less than that is where we should be. So, would appreciate an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 116. All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. And the voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Lyons. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', the House Bill 116 is declared passed. Page 31 of the Calendar appears House Bill 3697. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill."
Clerk Bolin: "House Bill 3697, a Bill for an Act making appropriations. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Speaker Madigan." 09700034.doc 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, this Bill, with the Amendment, is the fifth Bill in the five Bill package to provide for debt service payment, pension payment and group insurance payment. This Amendment would make the required contributions to the State Employees Retirement System, the Judges Retirement System and the General Assembly Retirement System as certified in the fall of 2010. These payments will allow these systems to achieve 90 percent funding in the year 2045. And again, Mr. Speaker, I would invite Mr. Cross to join the debate."
"The Chair recognizes Republican Leader, the Gentleman from Kendall, Tom Cross."
"Thank you, again, Mr. Speaker. I know it's a little hectic in here today, but the significance of what we've done the last two days is very real, as I've said, something we need to do if we're going to change the direction of this state in so many areas. So, for that, and all the reasons I've stated the last day and a half, I would appreciate the support and 'aye' vote on House Bill 3697. Thank you."
"The Motion do pass on House Bill 3697. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. Voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 3697 is declared passed. Speaker Madigan. Representative Rita, on Bills… it's the intent of the Chair to go back to Bills on Second Reading. House Bill 3403. Out of the record. Representative Coladipietro, House Bill 1960. Out of the 09700034.doc 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 record. Representative Rosenthal, House Bill 3274. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3274, a Bill for an Act concerning wildlife. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was tabled. No Floor Amendments have been approved for consideration. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Saviano, House Bill 1490. Out of the record. Mr. Clerk, what's the status of House Bill 3274?"
"House Bill 3274 is on the Order of House Bills- Third Reading."
Speaker Mautino: "Place that Bill on Second Reading. Representative Reitz, House Bill 1494. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1494, a Bill for an Act concerning professional regulation. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendments 1, 2 and 3 have been tabled. Floor Amendment #4, offered by Representative Reitz, has been approved for consideration."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman from Randolph on Floor Amendment #4."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House… House Floor Amendment #4 is an agreement we reached between the optometrists and the ophthalmologists. So, I know of no opponents to this. This becomes the Bill. I know of no opponents. I'd be happy to answer any questions."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman moves adoption of Floor Amendment #4 to House Bill 1494. All in favor say 'yes'; opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'yeses' 09700034.doc 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 have it. And Amendment #4 is adopted. Any further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Tryon, House Bill 2915. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2915, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments have been approved for consideration. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. The intent of the Chair now to go to House Bills on Third Reading. House Bill 3343, Representative Biss. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3343, a Bill for an Act concerning government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. As it currently stands, according to the Freedom of Information Act passed by this Body and signed into law last year, individuals, private citizens, who participate in programs that are run by a park district are covered by the Freedom of Information Act. So, their names, their addresses and other personal information can be accessed. It's my view that this is not the ultimate goal of the Freedom of Information Act rather the Act ought to be used to help the public gain information about the way in which the public sector activities are carried out, the way in which moneys are spent, the way in which programs are executed but not private information of private citizens. House Bill 3343 amends the Freedom of Information Act to 09700034.doc 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 exempt from FOIA the names, addresses and other personal information of minors who participate in programs of park districts, forest preserves and so forth and also the names, addresses and other personal information of anyone who participates in a program of one of those entities which is targeted primarily to minors. I'd be honored to have an 'aye' vote and I'm happy to take any questions."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 3343. And on that question, the Gentleman from Morgan, Representative Watson."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates that he will."
"Representative, just for clarification. So, what you're saying with this Bill is if someone's son or daughter signs up to play soccer at the park district, you cannot FOIA their names and addresses, correct?"
"Yes, Representative, that's correct. And moreover, if you look at the second paragraph, it's a little confusing, what does that mean? Well, what it means is that if I sign up my son to participate in a class of the park district, then I also, by virtue of being the parent, have to sign myself up technically into that class. Well, the park district might produce a document internally which would have my son's name on it and my name on it and they felt… the Park District Association felt that in order to protect my son's name it was better to simply keep that entire document exempt from FOIA."
"Thank you. To the Bill. The Gentleman has a reasonable exemption here for some FOIA and the hysteria that we have 09700034.doc 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 over transparency I think the Gentleman brings forth a good Bill and I hope everybody will support it. Thank you."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 3343. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Eddy, Bradley, Mussman. Representative Bradley. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 3343 is declared passed. Representative Brady, you have House Bill 1149. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1149, a Bill for an Act concerning public health. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from McLean."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 1149 simply seeks to amend the Vital Records Act to provide that a IH-3 or a IR-3 visa will be accepted by the Illinois Department of Vital Records as part of documentation required to be submitted in order to obtain a administrative record of foreign birth for a foreign born child adopted by parents who reside in Illinois. I'd be happy to answer any questions. And I ask for your 'yes' vote."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 1149. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Gabel, Winters, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 1149 09700034.doc 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 is declared passed. Representative Crespo, House Bill 1317. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill."
"House Bill 1317, a Bill for an Act concerning courts. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook."
"Thank you, Speaker, Members of the House. House Bill 1317 amends the Jury Act to prevent a prospective juror from getting called again for jury service after showing that the prospective juror is unqualified for or unexcused from jury service due to a total and permanent disability."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 1317. No one seeking recognition, the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Flowers, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 1317 is declared passed. Representative Cunningham, House Bill 1906. Out of the record. Representative Farnham, House Bill 1726. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1726, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Mautino: "Out of the record. Representative Gabel, House Bill 3188. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3188, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook." 09700034.doc 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 3188 creates the Illinois Research Network an easily accessible online database. This network will help businesses to connect with innovative researchers to bring products to market. And it will also allow researchers to easily identify other researchers in different academic fields for collaboration. I… It'll… this will allow them to apply for federal or scientific grants. So, I would appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"The Lady moves passage of House Bill 3188. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. The voting's open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Ford, Morthland, Reboletti, Rose, Sosnowski, do you wish to be recorded? Representative Rose. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 91 voting 'yes', 14 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 3188 is declared passed. Representative Hatcher, House Bill 2922. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2922, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Kane, Representative Hatcher."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 2922 simply sets criteria for reports to the Comptroller so the audit report can be filed in a timely manner."
"The Lady moves passage of House Bill 2922. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House 09700034.doc 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Bill 2922 is declared passed. Representative Hays, House Bill 1077. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1077, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Hays."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 1077 extends the deadline from 12 to 18 months for the Department of Health and Family Services to submit a report to the General Assembly on the number of fraud cases identified and pursued and the fines addressed and collected. The report is a provision of the recently passed Medicaid reform legislation. I would appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 1077. No one seeking recognition, all in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. Voting's open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 1077 is declared passed. Representative Rita, House Bill 1889. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1889, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Mautino: "Representative Rita, the Gentleman from Cook."
"Thank… thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 1889 is an initiative of the Illinois Tollway. What it basically does is makes all toll bridges to be compatible with the Illinois Tollway and with an exemption to Winnebago County. There's a bridge there. Thank you." 09700034.doc 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 1889. No one seeking recognition, all in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Harris, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 1889 is declared passed. Representative Thapedi, you have House Bill 171. Out of the record. Representative Mathias, House Bill 3478. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3478, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Mathias."
"Thank you, Mr. Chairman… I mean, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 3478 makes some corrections to the Code of Civil Procedure that it would be helpful regarding the force… the collection efforts after a judgment has already been entered to make it, in effect, to treat for impor… for example, people that I… happen to come in on a citation the same as other claims. There's a series of things. We actually amended the Bill to remove the objection of the Bar Association when it came to probate matters. This is more to deal with citations, pressing liens on property that puts it in line with other liens that can be done now, deals with foreign judgments and how those are received in Illinois."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 3478."
"And I ask your 'aye' vote." 09700034.doc 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. Voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 3478 is declared passed. Representative Bill Mitchell, House… House Bill 1404. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1404, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Macon." Mitchell, B.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 1404 clarifies that a county board member must resign their county board office before taking office to another office. This is just a clarification, write in. This is a suggestion of the Macon County State's Attorney. We had a situation where the county board member who was elected, a county treasurer, the state's attorneys thought the law was somewhat nebulous, so he suggested this language."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 1404. And on that question, the Gentleman from Bond, Leader Stephens."
"I wonder if the Gentleman would yield for a question?"
"Indicates that he will."
"Are you used to having somebody's staff with a… when you pack? Could your seatmate stand up like he did yesterday?" Mitchell, B.: "Representative Brown is helping me on this one." 09700034.doc 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Well… well, good luck with that."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 1404. All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting's open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 104 voting 'yes', 1 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', and House Bill 1404 is declared passed. Representative Sosnowski, House Bill 2982. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2982, a Bill for an Act concerning health. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Boone."
"This Bill would create a regional integrated behavioral health network. This is an initiative of the Illinois Hospital Association. A minor Amendment was made and passed on the floor yesterday that simply made some technical changes to the committee membership. There'll be no additional costs. And any issues that were taken care of back in committee that the Department of Human Services had I don't… I know of no opponents to this. I just ask for passage."
"The Gentleman's moved passage of House Bill 2982. On that question, the Gentleman from McHenry, Representative Franks…"
"Thank…"
"…is seeking recognition."
"…thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates that he will."
"Representative, why do we need this?" 09700034.doc 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Well, this is in direct response to what we're seeing with cuts to human services and especially health care… mental health care providers. This is in direct response to issues in all of our communities in which… For one example, if a police officer has a person that they drop off at a hospital that needs mental health care, they're being dropped off and obviously, the hospital is not being able to provide adequate care for their… 'cause that individual needs to go to a mental health institution. This will basically form a regional network that the partnerships can be created in which those issues can be addressed so those who need mental health care can get to the right places, the right facilities, in order to address their problems."
"Didn't your seatmate, just a few minutes ago, pass another similar Bill that would have townships and counties dealing with these mental health issues? I'm just wondering how many of these Bills we're going to have and whether they're going to compete with each other or whether they're going to work complimentary."
"I don't believe this one competes and there's several models out there that are active and efficiently working that's help address some of these concerns already. This is just looking to bring these… the proper groups together to further that throughout the state."
"I appreciate what you're trying to do. I'm just… I just know that we just passed one not to… just a few minutes ago and I'm just concerned that they will be working at odds, and perhaps, you can talk to the Sponsor 09700034.doc 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 and meld the two Bills into one, for instance, because I don't want to confuse the situation and I think if we have too much… too many opinions, we're not going to get what we need on this. So, hopefully, you can meet…"
"Sure."
"…with the other Sponsor and try to put something together."
"Yeah. I'd be happy to."
"Thank you."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 2982. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. The voting's open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative May, Rita, Biss, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 2982 is declared passed. Representative Brown, on the Calendar appears House Bill 1484. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1484, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Mautino: "The Gentleman from Macon, Representative Brown."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 1484 would allow that a photograph is not required on Illinois Identification Card or an Illinois Disabled Person's Identification Card if the applicant is prohibited by bona fide religious conviction from being photographed. Requires that the Secretary of State determine by rule which religious order and sex have bona 09700034.doc 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 fide religious convictions against the person being photographed."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 1484. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Davis, Reis, Smith, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 92 voting 'yes', 13 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 1484 is declared passed. Representative Cole is seeking recognition."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had a little malfunction of my button. On House Bill 1404 I intended to vote 'yes'. Thank you."
Speaker Mautino: "The record will reflect your intentions. Representative Nekritz, House Bill 3335 appears on page 31 of the Calendar. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3335, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On House Bill 3335 provides that the… during a foreclosure proceeding, the last known insurer will also receive notice of a… of the foreclosure proceeding. And it also includes a provision that an alderman in the City of Chicago, in his ward, a foreclosure proceeding will proceed as well. It's already the law that municipalities receive that notice. I'd ask for your support." 09700034.doc 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"The Lady has moved the passage of House Bill 3335. On that question, the Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy is seeking recognition."
"Thank you. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Yes."
"By the way, Mr. Speaker, happy April Fool's Day. Happy April Fool's Day to you and the whole Body. I think it's important that we're in Session today. I think it says something to the voters of the state."
"Well, thank you, Sir."
"Representative, there was some opposition to this, but I think the bankers… the community bankers and the credit union league have removed any opposition because of the Floor Amendment?"
"That's correct, Representative."
"So, there… there are no longer any problems with anyone?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"Okay. Thank you."
"And I'm happy to be working on April Fool's Day. I think that… the people of the State of Illinois will be proud that we're working on April Fool's Day."
"Well, I think… I think that just about anything we do today could be forgiven based on the day that it happened. And this is also opening day for the Chicago Cubs, Representative and I'm not so sure…"
"My… my seatmate keeps me well aware of that."
"I'm not so sure that they didn't plan opening day around April Fool's Day for the Cubs. Actually, the Chica… the 09700034.doc 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Cardinals had a rough day yesterday as well. So, Randy Ramey is in… is grieving today. Representative Ramey had a bad evening because the Cardinals yesterday. But I think that the schedulers did schedule the Cubs opening day on April Fool's Day for a good reason."
"And thank you for sharing the good news about the Cardinals."
"Further discussion? The Lady from DuPage, Representative Bellock."
"Point of personal privilege. Just to equal out, it's opening day for the White Sox. Thank you."
"Not that you would notice that. Thank you. Representative Franks is seeking recognition."
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Yes."
"Thank you. I'm reading your House Amendment #2, Representative, and it said that you'd like to have information sent to the last known property insurer of the mortgaged real estate. Why was the insurer included?"
"This Bill is about the… getting notice to that insurer, so that… that's all the Bill does."
"Well, I thought the… I thought this was a Bill that would provide notice to the municipality."
"No, no, no. That's already the law."
"Okay. So, then we've got them, but what about the aldermen? Were the aldermen notified of this?"
"The alder… Well, as you know, in a city of… the size of the City of Chicago if, you know, if something would get 09700034.doc 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 lost in City Hall. So, getting that information to the aldermen, I think, makes it more local and then…"
"Okay."
"…then the aldermen can be kept abreast of what's happening…"
"All right. So, that's what it changes. So, what's the policy? Why does an insurer need to know?"
"Well, you know, they want to make sure that if there's a… that if the property's going to deteriorate and somehow they're going to be responsible to pick that up that they need to know about that."
"But the insurer would never be… I'm not sure I understand. Because what happened in a residential property, for instance, if it's been abandoned, the mortgagor, which is typically a bank, would have the ability to file a motion for mortgagor in possession. I… The insurer would never have possession of this property."
"Not possession, but they might be… they might be respon… you know, there might be a claim made. At least that's what the insurer… the insurance companies are saying that they're seeing a rise in claims on vacated properties because of, you know, people are just moving out and then they don't know about it and they have no opportunity to step in an try to take care… make sure that the pipes don't get frozen and all that."
"But they would never have the ability to do that anyway when there's no way that unless they're going to seek receivership, which I'm not sure they would have standing to do so because they wouldn't have a fiduciary 09700034.doc 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 interest in it, I just don't see how they would ever get the ability to take over the property, as you said, to worry about the broken pipes or something. I don't know. How could they ever get into the property?"
"The claim… So, I believe what's happening, Representative, is that the person who is foreclosing can make claims against the insurance company when there's damage to the property. Not that the insurance company is coming in and taking control of the property, but the claim is being made against them for damage that's happening while the property is vacated."
"I just don't see how this helps anything. So, let's assume a claim is made. A claim's going to be made whether it's the beneficial owner or the receiver. I just don't know why there'd be an additional step and more money having to be spent by a regulated business to give notice to one… to another regulated business."
"Okay. I'm not as well versed in the foreclosure process as you are, obviously, Representative, but I do know that the insurance companies in the State of Illinois are seeing a rise in claims as a result of properties being vacated when they're being foreclosed upon and they're seeking some ability to get notice of that which, you know, it's a 44 cent stamp. I don't think it's such a big deal…"
"Well, it's more than that."
"But it's so that they can… them at least be aware of the property that's vacant."
"Thank you. I'll just talk to the Bill. I appreciate what the Sponsor's trying to do, but frankly I don't think 09700034.doc 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 it gets what she… it doesn't do what she wants to do. I think there has to be some responsibility by businesses if they're going to be giving either loans or insurance to determine the validity of that asset. I presume they have people on the streets who are selling the insurance. I presume they're able to read the paper because there are already publication notices, which are required, which the banks have to pay, which are extraordinarily expensive and this is just adding, I believe, another cost and another fee to business. And I'd encourage folks to vote 'no'."
Speaker Mautino: "Further discussion? The Lady from Cook, Representative Flowers."
"Thank you. Will the Lady yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"Representative Nekritz, I'm trying to understand what it is you're trying to do. So, when a piece of property is… becomes vacant, you want the bank to notify the insurance company of this vacancy because the insurance company will probably be the ultimate provider of the funds to fix up that house that has become vacant. And if the mortgage company did not want the insurance company to be responsible for it, it could have allowed the person living there or they could have someone to move in to watch over the property. So, are you trying to make sure that the insurance companies is not held liable once that property has been vacant?"
"No. Representative, this doesn't change any of the liability from the insurance company. They just want to have notice of the fact that the property is vacant so that 09700034.doc 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 they can take steps, if appropriate, to try to minimize the claims that might be… might be brought to them."
"Right."
"It has nothing to do with whether or not they ultimately end up being liable. It simply… it simply gives a notice during the foreclosure process. That's all. It doesn't change liability at all."
"No. It doesn't change the liability, but it would change the amount of damage if the insurance company is aware that the house is vacant."
"Yes, you're absolutely right."
"They can protect their losses… I just wanted to have a better understanding of…"
"No, you're absolutely correct. Thank you."
"Thank you."
"The Lady has moved passage of House Bill 3335. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed will vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Covaletto… Cavaletto, McAuliffe, do you wish to be recorded? Representative Saviano, Representative Poe. Representative Poe, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 82 voting 'yes', 22 voting 'no', 1 voting 'present', and House Bill 3335 is declared passed. Representative Lyons, House Bill 1378. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1378, a Bill for an Act concerning insurance. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook." 09700034.doc 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 1378 amends the Insurance Code to prohibit insurers from refusing to issue car insurance to a person solely on the reason that he or she is a volunteer driver specifically for the Meals on Wheels programs. And this was brought to me by Joyce Gallagher at our Chicago Department on Aging and also protects other areas that have Meals on Wheels deliveries so they cannot be surcharged or prohibited from getting insurance specifically 'cause they do volunteer work. I'd like to thank the Illinois Insurance Association, particularly Kevin Myer, for working with me to make this palatable. We cleaned this up a year ago and we got it agreed… went through the insurance company without any opposition. I'd be happy to answer any questions. And certainly I'm looking for your support on this program."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 1378. All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting's open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Gabel, Representative Leitch. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 105 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 1378 is declared passed. The Lady from McDonough, Representative Hammond is seeking recognition."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the record to reflect that on House Bill 3335 I would like to be recorded as a 'yes'."
"The Journal will reflect your intentions. On House Bills-Third Reading… under House Bills-Third Reading 09700034.doc 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 is House Bill 3090, Representative Arroyo. House Bill 3090 on Third Reading. Would you like to call this Bill? Out of the record. Representative Bradley, under House Bills- Second Reading appears House Bill 1152. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1152, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments have been approved for consideration. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Under Second Reading is House Bill 2086, Representative Monique Davis. Out of the record. House Bill 2084, Representative Crespo. Out of the record. Representative Will Davis, House Bill 1607. Out of the record. Representative Sullivan, the Gentleman from Lake, is seeking recognition."
"Yes, Mr. Speaker. We would like to excuse Representative Cole for the rest of the afternoon."
Speaker Mautino: "That will be… that will be recorded. Representative Lang, House Bill 1530 is on the Order of Third Reading. Out of the record. Representative Phelps, House Bill 2875. Out of the record. Representative Rita, House Bill 3403. Representative Rita. Out of the record. Majority Leader Currie, House Bill 2955. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 2955, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Monique Davis, House Bill 159. Out of the record. Representative DeLuca, House Bill 1309. Out of the record. Representative Dugan, House Bill 464. Read the Bill." 09700034.doc 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"House Bill 464, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 2860 on the Order of Third Reading, Representative Beiser. Read the Bill."
Clerk Bolin: "House Bill 2860, a Bill for Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Madison."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 2860 as amended is an… this is an initiative of ABATE and the bicyclists. And basically, what it says that it allows a driver of a motorcycle or a bicycle to proceed through a red light if the red light fails to change within a reasonable amount of time because it's failed to detect the motorcycle or book… bicycle's presence because of the size or weight. And under this, they would proceed following the Vehicle Code… the current Vehicle Code rules applicable to make a stop at a stop sign. I would ask for your favorable vote and be happy to answer any questions."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 2860. No one seeking recognition, the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Smith, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 104 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 2860 is declared passed. Representative Biss, House Bill 3158. Out of the record. 09700034.doc 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Representative Bradley, House Bill 32… excuse me… 3428, on the Order of Third Reading. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 3428, a Bill for an Act concerning employment. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Williamson."
"This is a initiative of the Department of Labor. Don't believe there's any opposition to it. It's cleaning… it's cleaning up some language which is in statute that shouldn't be. I'd ask for an 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman moves passage of House Bill 3428. No one seeking recognition, the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Dunkin, Golar, Jackson. Representative Jackson, Representative Dunkin, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 86 voting 'yes', 18 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', House Bill 3428 is declared passed. Representative Kelly Burke, House Bill 1447. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 1447, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook." Burke, K.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Assembly. House Bill 1447 seeks to put Tier II participants in the General Assembly Retirement System and the Judges Retirement System on parity for the cost of living increases so that people who are now in Tier II in all 09700034.doc 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 plans receive COLAs that are equal to the lessor of 3 percent or one-half of the rate of inflation and that COLAs for participants in all plans be calculated with simple interest rather than compound interest. I ask… urge a favorable vote."
"The Lady moves passage of House Bill 1447. The Gentleman from Sangamon, Representative Poe is seeking recognition."
"The Representative yield or answer questions?"
"Indicates that she will."
"Yeah. This is the one we talked about in the Pensions Committee. And you want to… you're trying to make parity, right, between different pension systems? Is that your goal here?" Burke, K.: "On… on that issue, yes."
"Can you explain how it's going to be parity whenever state employees are going to receive 75 percent and General Assembly Members are going to receive 60 and you're changing it… There was a tradeoff when this Bill was… a year ago, there was a tradeoff that the percentage would be at 3 percent and the tradeoff was going down to 60. So, I'm assuming you're going to have a Bill for all state employees to drop them back to 60 percent so that they'll be parity with the General Assembly System. Is that what your intent is?" Burke, K.: "Representative, the state employees have a different vesting period. The judges and the General Assembly are able to vest in 8 years where the state employees and teachers to vest in 10 years. It also takes a 09700034.doc 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 significantly longer period of time for the state employees and the teachers to get to their maximum. And even for them to get to our 60 percent maximum would take over 4 years longer than it takes us and the judges. So, I do think that there is parity on that level already."
"Okay. Well, I just… I think we'll always point out and we talked about it yesterday and first of all, I don't… if you want parity, I don't see too many 21-year-old Legislators and I represent a lot of people that went to work for the State of Illinois. Either a) they come right out of high school or right out of college and starting at 20, 21, 22. So, there's a… definitely a disadvantage, I think, as a Legislator, but I just don't think we're going to parity. As I said yesterday, I think that we've passed this Bill last year. The ink's not dry on it. We're not even giving it a chance to work and here we come back in with a lot of freshmen Legislators trying to change something that took a long time for the General Assembly to come to and pass a year ago. So, I'd ask you to vote 'present' on something like this 'cause it is not parity."
"Further discussion? The Gentleman from Bond, Leader Stephens."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. You know, Ladies and Gentlemen, we… we're going to make… do all these press conferences and cutting benefits and making adjustments and I'm here to tell you that for 26 years not one increase in benefits caused the problems that we're trying to deal with today. I asked Speaker Madigan yesterday about the budget process and he… he admitted as 09700034.doc 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 much. If we'd have been operating properly for 20 years, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in today. We're going to make adjustments and I guess it's okay if you… if you need that press pop, but the real issue that put us in the mess we're in, we didn't make pension payments, we borrowed from the pension funds and they had to sell assets as a result. It's not employee benefits that got us in this mess. If you want to tra… change employee benefits, okay, that's well and good. Do it… but do it for the right reasons. Don't go back to your districts and claim that you… they are solving the state's financial and fiscal mess by making these minutia changes in benefits that might look good but don't affect the system at all."
Speaker Mautino: "Further discussion? The Gentleman from Jackson, Representative Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates that she will."
"Representative, have you talked to any of the judges on doing this?" Burke, K.: "The judges are not in favor of this."
"Ah. Well, let me explain to you something that we've all learned around here is that sometimes when the judges, we affect their pensions in any way, shape or form, they actually then take it through the court and throw it out. Now, my question is, does this Bill have a severability clause for the GA side or the G… GARS side in comparison to the judges' side?" Burke, K.: "No, it does not." 09700034.doc 62 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"So, in other words, you can pass this, you can do your press pop, and when you get done with your press pop, the judges can throw it out and then nothing's changed." Burke, K.: "To my knowledge, the judges have not challenged Tier II and this Bill's on Tier II."
"Okay. I'm… I'm pretty sure that they probably will, but we'll see how that pans out especially since you do not have a severability clause which, like I said, this… which means you're passing this and it's not going to go anywhere or if it does, then the judges throw it out and you can, as I said, not thinking that that would be the reason why anybody in this chamber would do that, but it might be that you can have your time in the Blue Room and say what it is that you've done and then nothing really happened."
"The Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy."
"Thank you. Would the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates that she will."
"Representative, you, I think, characterized this as affecting the second tier or this would apply to the second tier. I wonder if that's really the accurate way to state this because those who are in Tier II this wouldn't affect, would it?" Burke, K.: "You're correct."
"So, in effect, we're creating a third tier." Burke, K.: "Correct."
"Okay. And I think every time… if we're going to subscribe to the theory that each of the dates that we amend or change any of the benefits to any of the systems, 09700034.doc 63 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 creates only for those entering the systems after that date the change in the benefit that we're going to have Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, Tier IV, Tier V, Tier VI, Tier whatever until we decide what that set of benefits is." Burke, K.: "Representative, if I could have made this retroactive to the beginning date of Tier II, I would have, but that was not an option. And when things are changed within the pension system, in the past things have been done from that date forward and not everyone receives the particular benefits. So, I don't think this is that different from different benefit sweetners or whatnot that have been done in the past."
"Okay. I think… and I… the point I think is pertinent to this discussion is the fact that we have worked hard for years on reforms. Last year we came up with a package which I think was introduced and two hours later everybody had to decide whether or not they were voting on a Bill that was several hundred pages long and there are a multitude of problems with that Bill. And I think if we… if we address this in all of these ways, we're going to have all kinds of different tiers, maybe to a difficult point to manage." Burke, K.: "If there is a process where all the ideas for a cleanup on that pension legislation, want to come together in one Bill, that would be agreeable to me now, but I would like to pass this particular Bill."
"Well, I understand what you're doing with this and whether you agree or disagree with the particular benefit, I really wish someone would put a Bill forward related to the pensions that guaranteed the most important part of 09700034.doc 64 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 pension reform and that's making the payments to the system. Last year we passed a Bill that, in the very Bill that claimed pension reform, shorted the Chicago Public System $1.2 billion. We underfunded that system and called it pension reform. The proper way to approach this is… was suggested by Representative Stephens, is to make sure that we make the payment. Now, earlier today, I think we did a good job by putting out front with the budget process the full TRS payment. So, I hope that as you champion causes like this in the General Assembly you keep in mind the most important part of making sure that the pension systems are reliable and sustainable and that's making the payment." Burke, K.: "I agree."
"Thank you."
"Further discussion? The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Biss."
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"I just wanted to follow up on a question that was asked earlier, a comment that was made suggesting that this is just being done to make a political point because it would be thrown out by the courts. Subsequently, could you clarify, Representative, does this apply only for people who'll be hired subsequently?" Burke, K.: "Yes. It would be for those hired after the effective date of… if the law were to pass."
"So, is there any argument whatsoever that's come from any direction that suggests there might be any constitutional question about this legislation?" 09700034.doc 65 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Burke, K.: "None whatsoever."
"Thank you very much, Representative."
"Further discussion? The Gentleman from Cook, Representative McCarthy."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do think that the Representative already mentioned, just to make it clear, you are aware that we have a, you know, some reform meetings going on and hope to come up with a comprehensive package. They do have, I think stated here on the floor and also in committee, that you'd like to see this idea go forward and be discussed and may or may not be included in the package at the end of the… near the end of the Session or whatever so. Okay. Well, I appreciate you making that… making that clear and we will look at this as well as other ideas on our… in our pension study group. So…" Burke, K.: "Thank you."
"…I wish you luck with it."
"The Lady's moved passage of 1447. All in favor will vote 'yes'; opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Burke, Chapa LaVia, Mitchell. Bill Mitchell, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. 87 voting 'yes', 3 voting 'no', 13 voting 'present', House Bill 1447 is declared passed. Representative Eddy, House Bill 190. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 190, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy." 09700034.doc 66 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 190 attempts to address an issue that has cropped up over the last couple of years related to overcrowded and poor-performing schools. This simply allows for five of the charter schools under the current cap to be devoted to those purposes. Last year there was an attempt to create a private voucher program to address the needs of these very children. I believe that the best way to address the needs of those specific kids is to focus on them but do it in a way that allows our charter system under the current caps to work. I'd be happy to answer any questions. And I'd appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman has moved passage of House Bill 190. On that question, the Lady from Cook, Representative Flowers."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Gentleman yield?"
"He indicates that he will."
"I'm sorry, Representative. What is the purpose of House Bill 190?"
"Representative, I think you'll remember back to a year ago when there was a concern related to students from poor- performing schools as defined by the federal guidelines related to what a poor-performing school was, the lowest five percent and also overcrowded schools. Someone brought forward a voucher proposal where we would take public funds and support private schools for these children and when we expanded the charter number, it occurred to me that they certainly had the right idea in trying to address those students, but there was a way we could do it under the 09700034.doc 67 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 existing rules that we have use those charters and take care of those children."
"Representative, I guess the part that always confused me about what you guys try to do in regards to education you never talk about real change. So, just changing a name of the school and not addressing the underlying problems, in regards to education, again, I'm reminded of the report from… and you know the report the Illinois Public Agenda and College and Careers Report that talks about that we have two Illinois that specifically says that the surburbian schools are better than the inner-city schools and some downstate schools. So, my point to you is, what is it that you guys are doing in the suburbian area that we should be doing in the urban area and parts of downstate? So, when I look at what factors in and it does talk about discrimination, specifically of African-American males, it does talk about the disparities in regards to the funding of education. It does talk about the overcrowding schools. So, now, to change the name and not change what the problem is and address some of the problems that's in the reports… that's in the report as to what we need to do in the State of Illinois to make it one Illinois for all in regards to quality education because that is the only thing that is going to help us in regard to this funding problem that we have by educating and starting at preschool through college."
"Well, Representative, I…"
"Oh, thank you." 09700034.doc 68 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Representative, I can't disagree with anything you've said and I hope you understand that the effort here is to be specific to exactly what you're talking about. Instead of having a charter for the purpose of having a charter, I've specified that this charter… these five charters be devoted to those specific things that you've talked about that affect poor-performing schools. That charter would have to… would have to be specific to those issues, to those overcrowded schools, to those issues that you state that have problems… that are causing problems in those urban areas. That charter can be specific to those with this Bill."
"Sir, have there been low-performing charter schools?"
"Yes."
"And what has happened?"
"Some of them have been closed, some of them have not."
"So, my point to you, Sir, our children and their education and their lives are not disposable. You just can't close it down. And so, my point is, their lives are too important and we must make a concerted, competent investment in our future and changing the name on a building without changing the attitude or the people that's supposed to be educated that is the problem. If… when you don't have… when you have a standard… in the two Illinois, a standard for the have schools and a standard for the have-nots. Good food for the… for the passing schools and high performance schools, bad food for the have-nots. Seven and a half hours of education for the passing schools and for the failing schools less than four hours. When you take 09700034.doc 69 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 it at recess, something as simple as recess to increase the brains and where studies have proven that when you increase recess crime goes down and the grade goes up. And what do we want to do here in this great Body, we want to take away recess. And we do not want to give recess to the schools and the students that need it the most. So, until we address the entire problem, a pig is a pig is a… still a pig and just because you want to call it something else it will always be just a pig. Thank you."
Speaker Mautino: "Further discussion? The Lady from Cook, Representative Monique Davis." Davis, M.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Bill addresses schools, if I'm not… can you hear me? This Bill is addressing schools in the Chicago district. Is that right?"
"Yes." Davis, M.: "Article 34 of the School Code?"
"Not necessarily. It allows for those charters to be used in those schools, but the intention is for overcrowded…" Davis, M.: "Okay. Well, if…"
"…whether they're in Chicago or Decatur or Springfield or…" Davis, M.: "Do you know we have low enrollment in our schools and they're talking about combining schools. They're saying there's low enrollment and we're going to have a, you know, a combining of schools where the enrollment is low, so I don't… there's no need for this legislation."
"This Bill would not affect low enrollment schools. It's for overcrowded schools only." 09700034.doc 70 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Davis, M.: "Well, there are no overcrowded and what I'm saying to you…"
"Well, then they wouldn't be able to apply for it." Davis, M.: "…is the enrollment is low over the city then where's the overcrowded?"
"Then in the City of Chicago…" Davis, M.: "There is…"
"…they couldn't apply for it because it is for that. But if somewhere else there's overcrowded schools, they could." Davis, M.: "I'm really concerned and I really do appreciate the interest that all of you up there on that Bill have for our schools. I'm really concerned that you are so concerned with our schools. And like Mary Flowers just stated, those things that come before our committee that perhaps would improve low-performing schools, you always vote against it, like recess for children or a healthy lunch or making sure instructional time is greater than four or five hours a day. You know, there are so many issues that can improve schools and not just changing the building. Yesterday there was a big group out here with big red T-shirts on. We want money. The charter schools, we want money. So, whatever we're giving them is still not enough. So, just to change them into a new building with a new name it is not going to increase the educational opportunities of these particular children. Because I represent a large number of Chicago public schools and so-called low-performing schools, adding charters is not the answer. The AFL-CIO is opposed to this Bill. Chicago Teachers Union is opposed to this Bill. All 09700034.doc 71 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 of the… the Illinois Federation of Teachers is opposed to this Bill. All of them are opposed to this Bill because…"
"No, they're not." Davis, M.: "I'm telling you they are."
"Representative, they are not opposed to the Bill because it doesn't do what you said it does. It does not add charters. It exists under the cap that we established." Davis, M.: "There's nobody but Chicago schools on this Bill."
"If you're going to object to the Bill, at least be accurate in your statements." Davis, M.: "I am accurate in reference…"
"They are not opposed to the Bill." Davis, M.: "Excuse me."
"They're not opposed." Davis, M.: "I am accurate in reference to the analysis that is before me on this computer."
"It's not updated, Ma'am. They are not opposed. They were opposed when it was expanding. I talked with them. I listened to them." Davis, M.: "So, you're still expanding."
"No, it does not expand the number of charters. It does not." Davis, M.: "You're saying you're not saying there are five, at least five additional schools."
"They're not additional. They exist under the cap that was agreed to." Davis, M.: "We passed a Bill…"
"Maybe the analysis isn't updated with the Amendment, but…" 09700034.doc 72 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Davis, M.: "Jerry… Jerry Mitchell is not here. We passed a Bill that stated we're going to leave these charter schools alone until they prove their successes. And they have not proven their successes. We keep nibbling at the corner of this charter school Bill for whatever reason and I find it so peculiar that all these Legislators from Chicago and not one of them is giving this Bill to carry. There's Golar, there is Colvin, there's Lilly, there is Art Turner. You know there's Rita, there is Connie Howard, there is Ford, there… You know, why were you the chosen one to present this Bill for our children?"
"Representative…" Davis, M.: "I am truly… I am truly insulted."
"Representative, I've heard you stand up and ask me to support Bills for your children. I've heard you say that. I have a Bill…" Davis, M.: "And most times you don't."
"Oh, that's not true. That's not true. Representative, first, that's absolutely false. I've worked on multiple occasions to support Bills of children everywhere." Davis, M.: "To the… to the Bill, Mr. Speaker."
"I… and…" Davis, M.: "To the Bill, Mr. Speaker. We…"
"To the Bill." Davis, M.: "…we have enough charter schools in Chicago and I do believe in the rest of the state. I don't believe charter schools are the answer to low-performing schools. I think we need to look at the curriculum. I think we need to look at how many hours of instructions are given. I think we 09700034.doc 73 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 need to look at whether children are given an opportunity to have a few minutes of play for the day. I think we need to look at if they're being given sugary breakfasts and unhealthy foods for lunch. I think we need to look at the quality… the quality of the service being delivered to them. It is so unfair. Here on the one hand Chicago is saying we're going to have to combine some schools because of low enrollment. How many of you saw that in the paper recently, all over the Internet, low enrollment? There is no overcrowding; it's a misnomer and it's a pretense. Improve the schools and leave the public schools as public schools. We don't need private companies running our public schools and that's what you're seeking. You are seeking contracts for private companies to run the public school system, private contracts with private companies to run the public school system, denying people a whole lot of opportunity. I am insulted, Representative. Take this Bill out of the record."
"Further discussion? Representative Eddy."
"Could I just have a second to respond to the Representative's concerns?"
"If… if we would, we will go to the… you'll have a chance to respond to all the different ones…"
"Okay."
"…in your close."
"All right. Thank you."
"Let me proceed with those who are seeking recognition. Representative Riley."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?" 09700034.doc 74 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"He indicates that he will."
"Representative Eddy, in looking at the original Bill, which there was quite a bit of opposition on it, essentially House Amendment #1 retreats from the charter school cap and then the technical change talking about the not more than five charter schools. I mean, with Amendment #1… doesn't Amendment #1 essentially emasculate your original intent of the Bill?"
"I don't think it emasculates it. I think what happened was people came to me and talked about expanding the number of charters, being outside an agreement that took place last year. I was respectful of that agreement. The number of charters that are currently available to achieve what my goal was didn't necessitate the expansion, so, I amended the Bill, as you indicated, all the opposition was removed which, in its current form despite the claims of the previous speaker, there is no opposition to this Bill. And in fact, some of the Members that were mentioned actually voted 'yes'. So, I…"
"Well, then, Representative…"
"…I appreciate your clarification, Representative."
"Yeah. Because I really… I really needed to clarify it, but let me just ask you this and I'm not asking you this as we sometimes do frivolously. Then based on Amendment #1, what does your Bill really do then?"
"It specifies that five of the existing charters, without expanding, public charters by the way, not private companies coming in as was described earlier, would be able to, for these specific purposes, establish a charter and 09700034.doc 75 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 address the issues that a voucher Bill attempted to address but in a public manner. Let's not forget about the children that that Bill was supposed to address, students in poor- performing and overcrowded schools. That was the… that was the purpose of the char… of the voucher Bill, right? That's what we wanted to do. We want to take care of those kids. I'm offering an opportunity to take care of those children in a way that uses charters for that purpose. That's nothing more, nothing less."
"And I… and thank you so much. Although I would say that some of us were concerned about that original Bill because it didn't deal with the rest of the children. You know, so we're going to talk about all of the children. Let's talk about them all and not just a particular… a particular subset. So, what you're telling me is House Amendment #1 removed the… the opposition from… let me see… AFL-CIO, IFT and CTU?"
"They did not slip in opposition to the Amendment. Now, I'm not saying they're proponents. I wouldn't make that claim on the House Floor, but they are neutral to my knowledge."
"Well, at least… at least no position."
"They're neutral to my knowledge at this point with the Amendment."
"Okay. That's something…"
"Okay."
"…I would have to find out. Thank you."
"Uh huh." 09700034.doc 76 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
Speaker Mautino: "Further discussion? The Lady from Cook, Representative Soto."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Sponsor. Sponsor, Representative Eddy, can you tell me a little bit more and again, explain the Bill. I just want to be clear."
"Absolutely. What the Bill does is it attempts to address an issue that was brought before us last year with a solution that I personally didn't agree with and a lot of people didn't. And that was that we were going to use public money for private school vouchers. The populations that that Bill attempted to serve were students in overcrowded and poor-performing schools. So, my attempt is to say let's not forget about the children that were the subject of that attempt, let's provide a way to address those needs with public charters. This is just an alternative because at the time, if you remember correctly, the hue and cry was, you don't care about these kids. You don't care about these kids. We had somebody stand up on this floor and say if there were 100 kids in a burning building that we wouldn't go in and save them 'cause we don't care about the kids. We care about the kids. It's the process. This allows for those kids to be taken care of in a way that doesn't expand the charters but works within the existing limits."
"Okay. What I want to mention and you know what, I'm not against charter schools. I think that families should have a choice. If the regular Chicago Public School is not doing what it… they should be doing for your child then, you have the choice to pick another school. But with House Bill 363 09700034.doc 77 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 that we passed last year and it was unanimously passed out of the General Assembly and also the Senate, what we're finding with our task force that we created out of the House Bill 363 is that most of the money from the Chicago Public School budget is going toward charter schools. So, then I… then I have to move myself back a little bit because what we're hearing from families in these different areas in the north or south with respect… I mean, where they don't… they don't… these children in the regular Chicago Public Schools, Representative Eddy, they don't have doors on their bathrooms. They don't have toilet paper in their… in their bathroom. They don't have hand… hand soap. I mean, there's a lot… they have mold on the walls. So, our money is really now going more towards charter schools. It's kind of consuming the budget for Chicago Public Schools. I don't think that's fair. So, now, I have to stand up and say, well, we're leaving kids behind again. This is why we have House Bill 363. We're looking at some of those best… what are the best practices when it comes to giving a quality care of education. We really need to look at this. I know we have some of our… your Members on your side of the aisle that I truly appreciate, 'cause this is a task force that is, you know, we're spending a lot of time, you know, bringing in the community and having their input because that's very important. We don't know it all here. You know, we're blessed to be here, but we don't know all the issues. But we're hearing now from the communities and we're getting their input so that we can come up with and draft a piece of legislation that's going to work for a lot 09700034.doc 78 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 of the families. So, you know, I appreciate what you're doing and I know, yes, you're an educator, you understand this. I'm trying to understand it better. I've been sitting on Elementary & Secondary Education for the last 11 years and Higher Ed, so education is very important to me. I'm trying to figure out, along with the whole task force, what is a organization in the community that work along education. We're really trying to master this and trying to make this a little better. At least giving, you know, our part and our energy and trying to do the best we can. So, you know, I really don't know right now that… cause I know right now we're really spending a lot of money on charter schools and I need to move back and have to stop. Our areas are justifying in Chicago and I know that this pertains to Chicago, but you know what, now I'm seeing segregation due to justification. You bring the new charter schools and these other kids are being pushed out of the community."
"Representative, the only thing I would say is this does not expand the current number. This doesn't take more of those resources. This just says, for those charters that have already been authorized, that we'll take care of those children that we were so concerned about a year ago. We were all concerned about children in low-performing schools. We were all concerned about children in overcrowded schools. We were so concerned that a lot of people were willing to take public money and put it into a private voucher system to take away from the very schools that you're talking about. Now, we're either concerned 09700034.doc 79 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 about kids that are in those schools or we're not. I do not expand. That's not my intention…"
"Okay."
"…to take that money. So, it doesn't expand."
"Okay. Really quick. You did say that this would create five new schools?"
"No, no."
"Not now."
"No."
"Okay."
"This is… and that's the… that's the… the original Bill expanded. After hearing concerns just like the one you expressed…"
"Okay."
"…I… I amended the Bill to only be within the existing cap that everybody agreed to. So, it does not expand."
"Okay."
"Originally it did."
"Now, did you say the groups are for it or against it because I know in my analysis it says that they're against it."
"They are now no longer against it with the Amendment that I just described."
"Okay."
"The Amendment took away that expansion that you were concerned about."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"Perfect, thank you." 09700034.doc 80 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
Speaker Mautino: "Further discussion? The Lady from Kane, Representative Chapa LaVia."
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates that he will."
"Once again, Representative, this does not expand chartered schools, right?"
"Thank you, yes."
"And all this does is set aside five of the already charter school certificates out there to focus on five charter schools in Chicago to be devoted to exclusively the students from low-performing or overcrowded schools in Chicago. That's all it's doing. It's… it's highlighting that these five charters, that we've already given them the ability to have, will go to that subcategory."
"That's correct."
"Right?"
"That's correct."
"Okay. And in our analysis, Democrats, we weren't able to update it quickly enough. The opposition is now neutral on this, okay? So, I know everybody gets really excited when we start talking about charters in the school… I mean, in the state. But these are already existing and what they're trying to do is just highlight that the five go to this subcategory. I support the Gentleman's Bill and I hope that you can too. If you have a question on our side, please ask Gwen Bowman from my staff, Elementary & Secondary Ed, to come over and talk to you. Thank you." 09700034.doc 81 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Further discussion? The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Will Davis." Davis, W.: "Thank you, Mr… thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates that he will." Davis, W.: "Okay, Representative. Obviously, we're going back and forth about this number and I just read the text that it doesn't appear that that number's going up, as you indicated."
"Thank you." Davis, W.: "But let me ask this. So, we're talking about five schools to deal with children that are in overcrowded and low-performing schools, correct? Do you have any idea how many kids we're talking about?"
"No. I think that would be part of the charter that they would have to establish those enrollments based on the number of students who would be eligible in an area. It's something that would have to be authorized within that charter. I don't… I'm not specifying that number. I'd like to see it serve as many as possible, obviously." Davis, W.: "Well, and I think you illustrate what my concern is, as many as possible. I don't think five charters is probably going to address the numbers of children that are in the schools that are considered to be overcrowded and/or low-performing. My general problem with charter schools is that they don't do what they need to do for all the kids. It's only certain numbers of the kids. So, there's still going to be kids that are left in either low-performing or possibly some of the same schools that you're trying to 09700034.doc 82 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 address. So, in other words, kids are still going to be left out."
"Representative…" Davis, W.: "They're still going to be left out which means that you're still dividing up the resources and kids who are in some of those situations still are going to be left behind in those situations because there aren't… you're only talking about five, not saying if it was 10 or 20 I'd be supportive necessarily, but at least currently, under what you're proposing, there might still children… children may still be left out."
"Well, as you know, when we discussed a different type of solution to this, it wasn't going to come near either and it was going to be voucher, right? So, that wasn't a solution either. I just thought that we would try something different. The purpose of charters is to make that attempt, right and to allow those charters to show us what best practice is and then replicate that. So, the idea here is to carve out some of those charters, find best practice related to poor-performing schools and overcrowded and then we can replicate that. And that's what we should be doing with charters, I think, is to look at the success, look at the failures because there are some charter schools that have failed and let's find those things that are successful and replicate that everywhere, just as you said. That's the purpose of my attempt here, Representative." Davis, W.: "I'm not… I'm not questioning your intent…"
"Okay." 09700034.doc 83 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Davis, W.: "…to try to help some children, but unfortunately it's not going to help all the children. If we really, in my opinion, if we were really concerned about helping all of the children, whether they be in the City of Chicago or throughout the entire State of Illinois, I mean, we've studied these issues to death. There are a number of models out there. We can implement some of these models in public school settings. I think that we can implement some of what people want to try in public school settings, keep the dollars in the public school system instead of siphoning off dollars into charter system that ultimately lead to voucher systems and other things like that. I would just prefer to see the resources kept in the public system. Let's work on the public system, make the public system better so that every child in the State of Illinois and in this case in the City of Chicago has the opportunity in quality education so."
"If those charters didn't already exist, I… this… I think you'd have a really good argument. I really do because these do exist. They're already there." Davis, W.: "Correct."
"We're going to fund them anyway. All I'm saying is let's fund them for the purpose that we were so concerned about." Davis, W.: "Right. But…"
"I don't want to expand it. I get the argument against that. That's why I amended the Bill, Representative, but those charters are going to be there." Davis, W.: "Well, I know."
"We're not changing that. So…" 09700034.doc 84 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Davis, W.: "I know you're not changing that…"
"Okay." Davis, W.: "…I know, but I'm simply saying that even… we're not even sure whether what you're proposing is going to work. As you indicated, some have worked, some have failed. So, why not just keep the money in the public school system instead of taking it out. I understand that these are already there, okay, nothing I can do about that. I'm just an advocate for keeping resources…"
"I understand." Davis, W.: "…in the public system…"
"I respect that." Davis, W.: "…and not taking it out. That's all."
"I respect that, but we do know that in some of these schools it isn't working. And this is an attempt to try to find out what might in those conditions." Davis, W.: "And if… and if it doesn't work, then that's more time lost, more kids that are still left behind and more resources that have been wasted. Thank you very much, Representative."
"Further discussion? The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Colvin."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak on the behalf of the Gentleman's Bill and I rise in support. When this Bill was first filed in its original language, I, too, was opposed to it for some of the reasons that some of the previous speakers have spoken to. In just listening to the debate and it wasn't my plan to speak on this Bill, but kind of listening to the debate, I think there may be just 09700034.doc 85 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 a little bit of confusion of what is going on here. Last week in Chicago, I subbed in one of the appropriation hearings dealing with elementary and secondary education. And a good friend of many of us in the education community, Jack Weiss, brought a number of kids down to the Bilandic Building and had them testify that the schools have literally been a life changing if not a lifesaving event in their lives. These kids, about a hundred of them, came to the Bilandic Building and gave testimony on the need for these schools, these charter schools, for dropouts. Now, the reason that Roger Eddy introduced the original Bill was to increase the capacity because there are waiting lists for all of these schools. I have one in my district and they do a wonderful job of getting kids, albeit a little later in life, to understand the value and really appreciate what education is and what… and what it means to build a productive and a fruitful life. As a result, in the original Bill there was an increase of the number of charter schools, above the statutory limit of 120. It raised it to 125. Through, I think, Representative Eddy's reasonableness, through negotiations, what we… what the Bill did and what his Amendment does, it creates five additional charter schools that allow for dropouts and deal with some of that backlog of kids getting into these types of schools to give them a better chance and a new lease on life through education. This is a good piece of legislation. This is excellent public policy. It will simply create more capacity for more of those children that we met with in the Elementary & Secondary Committee last 09700034.doc 86 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 week to attend schools like this. There are hundreds of kids in the City of Chicago, whether we like it or not, who are not in anybody's school right now but are on waiting lists to get into these alternative charter schools, so that they can get back in the classroom and improve their lives. So, I would encourage everyone to vote for this Bill. I know at onetime, the Chicago Teachers Union, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and other teacher groups were opposed to this Bill with an increasing cap of charter schools in the State of Illinois. This Bill does not do that. Thus, their opposition has gone away. And now, we're dealing with creating five more of these schools in the City of Chicago under the charter school law, under the current existing statutory cap. If you thought that those kids, for those of you who attended the hearing, if you thought that those kids made a compelling argument that these educational opportunities need… that we need to increase these educational opportunities, I think you should vote for this Bill. I think you should vote for this Bill because that's simply what it does. It's going to alleviate that overcrowding… excuse me… not the overcrowding of those schools. It's going to give more opportunity to alleviate the backlog of kids who are trying to get into these schools to take them off the streets of the City of Chicago, give them educational opportunities. And I think this Bill, that's all what this Bill does. It just creates in a greater capacity of the amazing story that some of these alternative schools are already doing. With that, I would urge an 'aye' vote." 09700034.doc 87 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Further discussion? And with the permission of the Body, the Chair… in the Chair's discretion, I'm going to use the timer at five minutes. We have 11 people seeking recognition. And the next speaker will be the Gentleman from Cook, Representative Ford."
"Thank you…"
Speaker Mautino: "And you all don't have to use the five minutes, but you'll be allotted them."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates he will."
"Representative, I have a few questions for you in regard to the charter schools. I've been on record supporting charter schools and I believe everyone here has a mission to improve their quality of life for students. What grade level are these five charter schools designated for?"
"Representative, I apologize. I need you to repeat that."
"What grade levels will these five charter schools be designated for?"
"The same as the regular charter school law which would be K through 12. It's the same. It's…"
"It's not high school or…"
"It could be."
"Oh, it's any… any level."
"It could be, but it… yeah. It doesn't change the charter law in any way. So, any school that's currently eligible will still be eligible."
"The other question is, what is the process in place for these schools to qualify to meet the needs of the students to make sure that they are able to open these schools in 09700034.doc 88 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 the neighborhoods and come in and prove that they can meet the needs?"
"That would be part of their charter. They would have to have an authorizer and they would have to meet those qualifications including location and all those other types of details that you're talking about in the charter, just like they do today, in the existing charter school law. I'm not changing any of that."
"So, I think that I would support this legislation if we set up parameters to say that you're going to have hearings in the neighborhoods to make sure that we know what the students need in order to open these charter schools in the neighborhood because it… if we can't continue to just open charter schools in neighborhoods without knowing exactly what they need. We can assume that we know, but if the community come together and say that we need this, these are the things that the kids are lacking then I can support the legislation."
"Representative, I don't disagree, but I think as part of the charter authorization that currently is in place those hearings take place and people have that opportunity and I'm not changing that. All I'm doing is saying we want to take care of those kids that probably need it the most that maybe some charters now aren't really specifically designed to take care of."
"So, I think that the charter schools, right now, they're not fully aware of what the students need in the communities that I represent. I want to vote for this, but I'm telling you the only way I can vote for it is, we can 09700034.doc 89 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 prove that the charter schools that's opening now have a clear mission on how to close the achievement gap and do the job that they're intending to do. If we don't do that in this Bill, then I can't vote for it because what we're doing is just opening new charter schools with the intent to do the same thing that the old charter schools are doing."
"Not my intent. And I'll tell you, as this moves through the process and gets to the Senate, I share that concern because my specific purpose here is to create charters for those children. I believe that the current charter authorizing law and process would allow for that input. If it does not and that becomes necessary that we include it, I'm willing to do that in the Senate, Representative, 'cause you're right this should be for those children and we need to guarantee it for them."
"And I know that charter schools work in some cases, but the only way they… charter schools are supposed to be tailored to the needs of the students. I have a few small and charter schools in my area and right now those charter schools are nine percent meeting the state requirement, only nine percent are meeting it."
"That's a poor-performing school, Representative, yeah."
"So, if we could really take the time to open up a charter school that meets the needs, then I could support it. We have to take a step back and open up schools."
"Representative, that is exactly my intent here. As I mentioned, last year we had a lot of people concerned with poor-performing schools and schools at the nine percent 09700034.doc 90 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 level would be those schools. I was accused then of not caring about those kids. That was the accusation because I didn't support a voucher program. I felt the responsibility to provide some avenue for those kids specifically, that you mentioned, that's why I carved out these because I think those are the children we should be concentrating on."
"Okay. So, are we going to amend it to say that there's going to be some specific missions and hearings would be held in the communities and work with…"
"Representative, it's been… I thought it was the case, but I didn't want to speak to it 'til we had staff look at it. That is part of the process now. There must be a public hearing and there must… take testimony. So, exactly the kind of things that you're concerned about are in the underlying charter school law and those are guaranteed before these would be…"
"And who are the hearings with?"
Speaker Lang: "Representative Ford, did you complete your question? We'll let Mr. Eddy answer this question and then we'll move on."
"Representative, there is… there is a public notice and a public hearing in that neighborhood that allows testimony from the community members including the teachers. So, that mechanism does exist. I appreciate your concern for it and I had to check to make sure as well, but it does exist. I don't think there's a need to amend this Bill, but I agree that that has to take place." 09700034.doc 91 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
Speaker Lang: "Representative Golar. Representative Golar. Representative Lang in the Chair."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me find my notes here and I think I've lost them, but I'll try to remember them. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Gentleman yields."
"Representative Eddy, in regards to this Bill, I was not in… on March 16, of course, I had a conflict in my schedule and I didn't have an opportunity to be a part of the discussion on this particular Bill. However, in looking at it, and the questions that Representative Ford… Ford said to you, that's… I have that same concern. He asked if, in fact, is this K through eighth grade or is it 9 through 12? And that question was not answered."
"Any grade level, inclusive."
"Any grade level."
"Inclusive of all twelve. Just…"
"Okay."
"…that would be part of the charter."
"My next question, which is real important. How did you… how are you determining since most of the school in CPS, 410 schools, 70 percent of them are not meeting their AYP. How are you determining what side of town these schools are going to be located?"
"Well, I'm not determining what side of town."
"No, no, no. I'm… you're carrying the Bill, Sir."
"No…"
"I need to know what and that should have been an inquiry, is it going to be on the north side; is it going 09700034.doc 92 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 to be on the west side; is it going to be on the south side? All our schools are suffering."
"That depends on the charter and what the charter includes the location and that would be determined in the public hearings in the granting of the charter."
"And so the lo…"
"There's no limitation. I don't limit it to any geography."
"No, no, no. And that is why, Representative, that many of us that live in the CPS area that seemingly someone would have come to us and had somewhat of a caucus with us in regards to this Bill."
"Representative, again, my intent here is to serve chil… I want to make one correction, if I could…"
"Okay."
"…because the question was asked about the grade levels and when I reread the Bill…"
"Mmm mmm."
"…it's kindergarten through eighth. And the reason it's kindergarten through eighth grade is because that was the voucher target."
"I understand that."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"So, I wanted to make that clarification."
"So, what Representative Colvin was talking about and of course, I was in that particular hearing with him, he was basically talking about the Chicago Alternative Schools which I'm in agreement with him." 09700034.doc 93 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Yeah. Well, I, again, as this moves through as we have concerns like this and there are needs, I'm willing to look at Amendments. I'm wanting to serve those children the best we can. This was the target of a movement a year ago that we cared about a certain group of kids and I do. I'm certainly willing, as we move forward…"
"Representative Eddy, no one is looking at and trying to say that you don't care about the students in the State of Illinois. I mean, you are an educator. My point being is that you are… you don't live in Chicago. Okay. And all I'm saying is when this Bill was drafted none of the Reps, that I can see, that you actually sat down and talked with and discussed, you just passed the Bill through and I'm sure some of… some of the… I would say even the Black Caucus itself to confer with us or the Latino Caucus. No one was notified on this Bill."
"Representative…"
"All of us are going through the same issues in regards to this."
"Well, Representative, the only thing I'd say to that is that the Bill did have a hearing. It was pos… I mean, I filed it a long time ago just like we all do."
"Yes."
"I'm… I think you know that I'm willing to listen to concerns…"
"Oh, absolutely."
"…and no one came to me with those concerns except…"
"Would you, in fact… would you, in fact, Representative…" 09700034.doc 94 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Pardon me?"
"…since you did not confer with us and I'm not saying that you should or should not, but if you would pull the Bill out of the record so that you could work with us on what we need, there's specifics in this legislation that you can't answer."
"Representative, what I pledge to you is as this Bill moves through, we are on deadlines, we all are trying to get our Bills out, I'm willing in the Senate to have that input and amend this to make it a better Bill to serve those children. I am not against that input. The Bill was out there for a long time."
"So, you can't put this on hold until next week…"
Speaker Lang: "Please bring your remarks to a close, Representative."
"I was answering a question."
"Please proceed."
"Representative, I will continue to work on this Bill and I will continue to seek input. The only input that I did receive, in the several weeks and months that the Bill was posted, was the concern over the expansion. My response to that was one I think is reasonable and I pulled the Bill back to the existing charters. If there are other suggestions, just like any other Bill, of how I can make this better to serve those students, I'm willing to listen and amend that as it goes through the process. I have other Bills. Everyone in here has other Bills. I'd like to move it out with that pledge that I will work on this in the Senate with anyone who has input and amend it as needed. 09700034.doc 95 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 But I don't want to pull it out of the record after all the time we've taken on this just to… that would be my desire. But my pledge is to continue to work on it."
"Thank you."
"Mr. Leitch."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move the previous question."
"The Gentleman moves the previous question. Those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the previous question is put. Mr. Eddy to close."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to belabor this. I appreciate the concern and the input. It's really nice. And I mean it sincerely to have people interested in these children. I will renew the pledge. I will continue to work… I will continue to work on this in the Senate and take input from anybody who is willing to provide it. I'm happy to do that. I'd appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"Representative… Representative Flowers, for what reason do you rise?"
"I will not under any circumstances allow him to close as if he has more interest in children in my community than I do. I will not allow that under no circumstances. He said it and I will not allow it to be said on this floor as long as I'm here. Who do you think you are? To my I, I, I. I have that input as well, Sir. And I have tried to put… have input into our children's education and you have denied me every opportunity. How dare you? No."
"The Gentleman has moved for the passage of House Bill 190. Those in favor of the Bill shall vote 'yes'; 09700034.doc 96 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Lyons, Smith. Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 83 voting 'yes', 20 voting 'no' and 1 voting 'present'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Chair recognizes Mr. Rose. For what reason do you rise, Sir? Mr. Rose declines to speak. Members, we're going to try to move some Bills from Second to Third that are remaining on the Calendar, and the first Bill on this Order would be House Bill 3403, Mr. Rita. Mr. Rita, House Bill 3403. Out of the record. Representative Cavaletto, House Bill 2500. Do you wish to move your Bill, Sir? Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 2500, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was tabled. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Cavaletto, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Cavaletto."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the floor. This Bill is an old Bill. It started back in 1933, I think when probably many of us weren't alive then, but this… this amends the Tennessee Valley Authority Payment Act. And it repeals a cross-reference to the Section of 13 to have the Tennessee Valley Authority of 1933 Federal Law sets forth this provision of the law… Amendatory Act that the Illinois repeal the declarative reflection existing law is not a new enactment. This Amendment is supported by the Illinois Department of Revenue. Move for adoption." 09700034.doc 97 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"The Gentleman moves for the adoption of the Amendment. There being no debate, those in favor of the Amendment of the… shall say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
Speaker Lang: "Third Reading. House Bill 3076, Mr. David Harris. You wish to move your Bill to Third, Sir? Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 3076, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 1645, Representative Hatcher. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 1645, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 3281, Mr. Mathias. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 3281, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was tabled. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Mathias, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Mathias."
"Thank you. Floor Amendment #2, at the suggestion of the Education Committee, amends the Bill to include the City of Chicago, so it would be a statewide law. I ask for your 'aye' vote." 09700034.doc 98 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"The Gentleman moves for the adoption of the Amendment. There being no debate, those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 263, Mr. Reboletti. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 263, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Reboletti, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. I would just move that Floor Amendment #2 be adopted. This would allow the Bill to be… the law to be called Andrea's Law if passed."
"The Gentleman moves for the adoption of the Amendment. Those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 1503, Mr. Rose. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 1503, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Rose, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Rose." 09700034.doc 99 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Floor Amendment #1 tracks identically with Senator Maloney, the chairman of the Senate Education Committees, negotiations with all the parties from Higher Education and this is at their request. So, that's all the Amendment does. I'd like to attach it and move it to Third. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
"The Gentleman moves for the adoption of the Amendment. Those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 3503, Mr. Rosenthal. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 3503, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Rosenthal, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Rosenthal."
"Mr. Speaker, the Floor Amendment becomes the Bill. It amends the Department of State Police Law and related Acts. Creates the Crimes Against Police Officers Advisory informally called the Blue Alert Program. And the purpose of this Advisory is to provide a regional system for the rapid dissemination of information regarding the enumerated crimes of violence committed against the police officer or peace officer. Move for adoption."
"The Gentleman moves for the adoption of the Amendment. And on that question… Representative Tracy is 09700034.doc 100 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 your light on on this Bill? There being no discussion, those in favor of the Bill shall say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 1480… sorry… House Bill 1486, Mr. Saviano. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 1486, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 2321, Representative Senger. Do you wish to move this to Third, Representative? Out of the record. House Bill 1444, Mr. Mautino. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 1444, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 1719, Mr. McCarthy. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 1719, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 1658, Representative Bellock. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 1658, a Bill for an Act concerning public health. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was tabled. Floor Amendment #2, offered by 09700034.doc 101 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Representative Bellock, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Bellock."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. What this Amendment does is it takes off any opposition to the Bill regarding putting on not just MRSA as a cause of death on a death certificate, but adding to that the C. Diff and VRE. I know of no opposition now."
Speaker Lang: "The Lady moves for the adoption of the Amendment. Those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
Speaker Lang: "Third Reading. The Chair recognizes Representative Tracy."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal order."
"Please state your point."
"On the previous House Bill 3335, I was recorded as a 'no' vote and I wish to have the record reflect that I should be an 'aye' vote on 3335."
"The record will reflect your intentions."
"Okay."
"Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions. And now, allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk… but before we get to that, the Chair recognizes Representative Monique Davis." Davis, M.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am asking that you give us the rule for a verification. When can you request a verification that is honored by the Speaker?" 09700034.doc 102 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011
"A verification must be requested before the Roll commences, Representative." Davis, M.: "You're saying it has to be before the Roll commences. I believe the rule said before the vote total is called."
"Well, why don't we have the parliamentarian check on that and with your permission, after we adjourn we will get you an answer." Davis, M.: "Well, I'd like for you to give me an answer on record and I'd like for you to give it to us when we return to this Body. And the reason I want you to do that is because everybody should know what the rule is. Like when we place baseball, the rule doesn't change depending on who's playing. The rules are in black and white and the rule says if you seek a verification, you must call it before the vote totals are given and Sir, you failed to do that."
"The parliamentarian will get back to you on that on the record, if not today, when we return on Tuesday. The Chair recognizes Representative Kay."
"Mr. Speaker, a point of personal privilege, please?"
"Please state your point, Sir."
"With respect to House Bill 1577, I'd like to have my vote recorded as an 'aye'."
"The record will reflect your intentions, Sir."
"Thank you."
"We'll be at ease briefly. Thank you for your indulgence, Members. The song was fantastic. And now, allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk, Representative 09700034.doc 103 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 34th Legislative Day 4/1/2011 Lyons moves that the House does stand adjourned until Tuesday, April 5 at 12 noon. Those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Motion, it carries and the House does stand adjourned 'til Tuesday, April 5 at 12 noon. Go Sox."
"House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Introduction and reading of Senate Bills-First Reading. Senate Bill 1673, offered by Representative McCarthy, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Senate Bill 1699, offered by Representative McAsey, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Senate Bill 1712, offered by Representative Holbrook, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 1754, offered by Representative McAsey, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 09700034.doc 104