"The House will come to order. Members should be at their desks. We shall be led in prayer today by Minister Rosemary Newman who is with the Christian Tabernacle Church of Roselle in Roselle, Illinois. Minister Newman is the guest of Representative Michelle Mussman. Members and guests are asked to please refrain from starting your laptops, turn off all electronic equipment, and rise for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Minister Newman."
"Thank you. Will you please bow with me? Great and awesome God, we come to You this afternoon just thanking You for the privilege of coming before Your thrown of grace. We thank You for these men and women who have been chosen to make rules and regulations for us to follow. We thank You for their households and we ask that You bless each of them and help them, Lord, to do Your will and not their own. Help them to be conscientious of the things that they say and the things that they do, being conscientious of the families, this state, in this great nation, of how they will effect us because we have chosen them, Lord, in confidence, believing that they are the ones to lead this state. And we thank You for them and ask that You bless them, their minds, their hearts, their spirits, everything that they do, everywhere that they go, and not only them but their spouses and their children. And for generations to come, let us remember the great things that they do. Father, God and as You do that we ask that You be with the families who were effected by the storms, Lord. We ask where there's confusion, that You would bring peace of 09700109.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 mind, where there is doubt that You would bring love and comfort, that You would please bring hope into their hearts into their minds to let them know that storms don't last forever, Lord and troubles aren't for always, that there is a time for everything and that once again they will experience joy and hopefully that they will have a home again. And let them remember that home is truly where their hearts and their loved ones are. So we ask that You would be with them, their families, and the people who have come to support them, Lord. And again, we thank You. And as we leave this place today, Lord, we ask that You would grant traveling mercies to everyone here, all those on the road. And that You would build up this State of Illinois to be a state of integrity, with men and women of integrity, Lord, that when people read the paper and think about Illinois that they can read it with joy of heart and with gladness that we live in this great state and the wonderful things that we will do for this state that it will effect the nation and that the world will look upon us and be glad that we were here this day. So, we thank You for all things. We bless Your holy name, and as we go forth we ask that the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts would be always acceptable in Thy sight. We thank You for being our strength, we thank You for being our redeemer and it is in Your precious name that we pray this in our prayers, Amen."
"Representative Jackson, could you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?" 09700109.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 Jackson – et al: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Speaker Lyons: "Roll Call for Attendance. Leader Currie, Democrats."
"Thank you, Speaker. Please let the record reflect the excused absences of Representatives Acevedo, Beiser, Phelps, and Yarbrough."
"Thank you, Leader. Leader Michael Bost, GOP."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let the record reflect that Representatives Coladipietro, Durkin, Eddy, Leitch, and Sacia are excused on the Republican side of the aisle today."
"Mr. Clerk, take the record. There's 109 Members responding to the Roll Call, we have a quorum. And we're prepared to do the work of the people of the State of Illinois. Mr. Clerk."
"Committee Reports. Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, Chairperson from the Committee on Rules reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: recommends be adopted and referred to the floor is Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 4962. Representative Chapa LaVia, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5575 and House Bill 5659; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 5002 and House Bill 5013. Representative Greg Harris, Chairperson from the Committee 09700109.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 on Human Services reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 4966, House Bill 4990, House Bill 5008, House Bill 5019; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 4453; recommends be adopted is House Resolution 754 and House Resolution 778. Representative Nekritz, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary I-Civil Law reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 4654, House Bill 4662, House Bill 4663, House Bill 4664, House Bill 4708, House Bill 4724, House Bill 4985, House Bill 5001, House Bill 5198, House Bill 5221, House Bill 5513, House Bill 5544, House Bill 5749; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 4963 and House Bill 5016; recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 3825. Representative D'Amico, Chairperson from the Committee on Transportation: Vehicles & Safety reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5056, House Bill 5099, House 5101, House Bill 5241; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 3982. Representative Zalewski, Chairperson from the Committee on Health Care Licenses reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5142, House Bill 5672, House Bill 5673; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 3881 and House Bill 5104. Represen… Representative Daniel Burke, Chairperson from the Committee on the Executive reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 4500, House Bill 4569, House Bill 09700109.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 5167, House Bill 5531, House Bill 5831; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 4570 and House Bill 5193. Representative Rita, Chairperson from the Committee on Business Occupational Licenses reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 4013, House Bill 4479, and House Bill 5288. Representative Franks, Chairperson from the Committee on State Government Administration reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 3779, House Bill 4050, House Bill 4492, House Bill 4592, House Bill 4707, House Bill 4982, House Bill 5003, House Bill 5023, House Bill 5195, House Bill 5283, House Bill 5337, House Bill 5459, House Bill 5478, House Bill 5617, House Bill 5650; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 4445, House Bill 4464; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 4692; recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 2562, House Resolution 685, House Resolution 691, House Resolution 730, House Resolution 770. Representative May, the Chairperson from the Committee on Environment & Energy reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5642. Representative Franks, Chairperson from the Committee on International Trade & Commerce reports the following committee action taken on February 29, 2012: recommends be adopted is House Resolut… Resolution 717. Representative Howard, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary II-Criminal Law reports the following committee action taken on March 1, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 4523, House Bill 4725, House 09700109.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 Bill 5090, House Bill 5265, House Bill 5266, House Bill 5463, House Bill 5486, House Bill 5511, House Bill 5606, House Bill 5653, House Bill 5682; do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 3801, House Bill 4670, and House Bill 5235. Representative Bradley, Chairperson from the Committee on Revenue & Finance reports the following committee action taken on March 1, 2012: recommends be adopted as amended is House Joint Resolution 68 and House Resolution 707. Representative Verschoore, Chairperson from the Committee on Counties & Township reports the following committee action taken on March 1, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 4562. Representative Hernandez, Chairperson from the Committee on Aging reports the following committee action taken on March 1, 2012: do pass Short Debate is 40… House Bill 4548, House Bill 5098. Representative Nekritz, Chairperson from the Committee on Personnel & Pensions reports the following committee actions taken on March 1, 2012: do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 4622. Representative Feigenholtz, Chairperson from the Committee on Adoption Reform reports the following committee action taken on March 1, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 4006, House Bill 4028, and House Bill 5592. Representative McAuliffe, Chairperson for the Committee on Veterans' Affairs reports the following committee action taken on March 1, 2012: do pass Short Debate is House Bill 5006. Introduction of Resolutions. House Resolution 830, offered by Representative Zalewski and House Resolution 83… 833, offered by Representative Cross. These are referred to the Committee on Rules." 09700109.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012
"Representative Patti Bellock, for what purpose do you seek recognition?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to tell everybody that we got a call last night from Washington and then a copy of a letter this morning that addresses one of the issues that we passed last year in the Major Medicaid Reform Bill that passed 111-4-4. And one of those things that we needed to address was the residency requirement and the letter from Washington today said that the Federal CMS will allow us to go forward and use the Secretary of State's database regarding that verification. So, that's just one challenge that we faced in about 18 reforms that we, all in a bipartisan fashion, went forward with last year and I hope that we'll be able to move forward in more than just that one component, as all of us have been working on those issues with the $2.7 billion of bills. Thank you."
Speaker Lyons: "Thank you, Representative. Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm going to be starting with some Third Reading Bills on page 7, of the Calendar. The first one will pick up pretty much where we left off yesterday. Representative Brown, on page 7 under Third Reading, you have House Bill 4005. Out of the record. Leader Lou Lang, on House Bill 4020, Lou. 4020. Out of the record. Representative Mike Zalewski, House Bill 4032. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4032, a Bill for an Act concerning courts. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Mike Zalewski." 09700109.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4032 does a couple of things. It codifies an… an Attorney General opinion which states that search warrants, once returned to the court, are included in the records kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court under the Act and they're subject to FOIA. It also states that all instruments, articles, and things seized under the search warrant portion of the statute must be returned no more than eight days after the exe… business days after the execution of the warrant. I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. Is there any discussion? The Chair recognizes the Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Dennis Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"Representative, why are we subjecting search warrants to FOIA?"
"Well, Representative, in Cook we… it’s my understanding that in Cook we currently subject this to FOIA. And in the rest of the state, there's an Attorney General's opinion that would bolster the fact that these are discoverable under FOIA. So, in my opinion, we're just simply making the statute conform to what the Attorney General has already stated is law."
"Why would that… why would that be discoverable by the media when you have a pending case and it could impact the outcome of a disposition, it outcomes justice at a potential trial. It could impact a future jury. I'm not sure if this is the road that we want to take." 09700109.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012
"Well, I'd remind you, Representative, that a court upon a motion by a state's attorney or other attorney always has the option of sealing these items and if the… the issue's compelling enough and the investigation is compelling enough, a judge can simply say, at this time I'm sealing the record and we're not going to move forward with allowing it to be discoverable."
"So, now we're going force the state's attorneys in 102 counties to seal all their search warrants because they may be subjected to a FOIA request by the media?"
"Representative, if there is objections by the state's attorneys to this Bill, it's the first I've heard of it."
"Representative, I would request that you… you take this Bill out of the record, if I could talk to you for a few moments."
"As a courtesy to you, Representative, I'll take it out of the record for a few moments."
"Thank you."
"Mr. Clerk, take the Bill out of the record. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions."
Clerk Hollman: "Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 829, offered by Representative Chapa LaVia. House Resolution 831, offered by Representative Hatcher. House Resolution 832, offered by Representative Ford. House Resolution 834, offered by Representative Currie. House Resolution 835, offered by Representative Tracy."
Speaker Lyons: "Leader Barbara Flynn Currie moves for the adoption of the Agreed Resolutions. All those in favor 09700109.doc 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Agreed Resolutions are adopted. Representative Elaine Nekritz, on the Order of Third Readings, you have House Bill 4036. Elaine, out of the record. Elaine, the next Bill 4037, 4037. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4037, a Bill for an Act concerning health. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Nekritz."
"Thank you, Mr. Sp… Mr. Speaker. At the… when we established who would be able to be facility directors in our laws for mental health and DD facilities, at that point it was only licensed clinical social workers that were licensed under Illinois State Law. Since then we've enacted a Counselor Licensure Law and this legislation simply would allow those individuals that are licensed under that Act to serve as facility directors as well."
"You've heard the Lady's explanation on House Bill 4037. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of its passage signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Monique Davis, Dennis Reboletti. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there's 109 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Dan Brady, for what purpose do you seek recognition, Leader?"
"A point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."
"Please proceed, Dan." 09700109.doc 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, if you'd join me in giving a nice warm General Assembly welcome to Connie Beard who is teaching seven high school students who are homeschooled through a co-op in my Legislative District. They're off to my right. If you, Ladies and Gentlemen, would stand up and wave, and welcome to Springfield."
"Welcome to your Capitol, glad you could be here. Mr. Clerk, Ladies and Gentlemen, on the Supplemental Calendar #2 is House Resolution 717. Representative Berrios on House Resolution 717."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Resolution 717 simply urges Congress to approve Poland into their Visa Waiver Program. I'd like your support."
"You've heard the Lady's explanation. Is there any discussion? Representative Morthland, your light is on but… Rich, do we address this issue? Okay. We'll… I'll get right back to you. Seeing no discussion, all those in favor of the adoption of House Resolution 717 signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And House Resolution 717 is adopted. Representative Morthland, point of personal privilege."
"Yes, Sir, Mr. Speaker and thank you."
"Please proceed."
"I would like to welcome to the chamber some guests who are here from Black Hawk College. They would be students who are, and please stand… they would be people who are from, of course, my district, Representative Moffitt's district, Representative Pat Verschoore's 09700109.doc 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 district, and probably too some from Representative Jerry Mitchell's district and they are here to learn about government. Let's please welcome them to the chamber."
"Continuing on Third Readings, on page 7 of the Calendar… Ladies and Gentlemen, on Supplemental Calendar #1, we have House Joint Resolution 68 and House Resolution 707. So, we'll go to that order of business. And on House Joint Resolution 68, Republican Leader Tom Cross. I'd ask silence please on the House Floor. Shhh… staff, Members. Leader Tom Cross on House Resol… Joint Resolution 68."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the chamber. And to Speaker Madigan let… thank you for… and to Representative Bradley for us to start… start the process out on these two Resolutions. This is from a budget standpoint, perhaps the easiest day we'll have all Session in adopting, which I believe we will adopt both of these Resolutions or at least I think we should, we are ratifying, if you will, or formally acknowledging the work of our four caucuses in their attempt to determine or estimate a revenue number, nothing beyond that, the estimation of a revenue number for us to work off of and at least know what number we have from a revenue standpoint as we go into the 2013 budget exercise. The number you'll see in this Resolution is at 33.7. It's a little different process than we worked through last year where we put two… did both the revenue number and the spending number identical. That I don't believe will be the case this year; it's certainly not anything that we will be advocating or supporting. But we picked a number, and I say we, the 09700109.doc 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 Revenue Committees of all four caucuses, I emphasize all four caucuses, came to an agreement the revenue number would be $33.7 billion. It's not a number of how much we're going to spend; it's the amount of money we will have at the end of the day with sales tax, income, corporate, et cetera. This is a fairly conservative number. We looked at what OMB and COGFA said and they were frankly a little higher by a couple… a couple hundred million dollars, we wanted to be… the committees wanted to be conservative. As a result of that, we will see… you will see and this as I said $33.7 billion. As I said, today is the easy part. Subsequent to this, our committees will get working and try to figure out a spending number, a spending number. And as you know, that's the hard part around here. We've had a history over the years of many wanting to spend more than we've had. I think about last year, and I think it was the result of this caucus, or this part… this Bill… this chamber that said we're going to keep spending at 32.7 which was about a billion and a half or more… or less than the Governor. So, it was this chamber that drove that number down and it will be the responsibility of this chamber to be cognizant of the fact, and I hope with the support of the other chamber, that we need to spend even less than we did this year as we look at the 2013 budget, that we spend even less than we are spending in the 2012 budget. So, we're going to have to find a number below 33.2. It isn't going to be easy. It may be as tough a Session if we do our work and tackle the things that we need to, that any of us ever… ever faced. The sacred cows 09700109.doc 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 that we say we're never going to touch, in all likelihood, if we going to do our job, will need to be touched, will need to be impacted, will have to perhaps see money at a level lower than they are used to. Is it uncomfortable? Is it going to be difficult? Is there going to be angst? Yes, yes, and yes. But for purposes of today, we are identifying a number of 33.7. We will start the process as we move forward. And say, as we move forward, to all of those people involved in this process from my perspective, and I think the Speaker shares this, that we do in need… do indeed need to be below the 32 figure. No new programs, no new spending, and as we move forward there are some things that are very important to us on this side of the aisle and I think again, I don't want to speak for the Speaker, he and I have talked, I think he shares this… these thoughts. We have to start paying down bills. We have bills of over 80… 8 billion… $8 billion. We are going to have to put a significant number on the table to start paying down bills as we get into 2013 budget process. Is it going to be 500 million? Is it going to be 800 million? Is it going to be a billion? I'm not sure. There's a process that we'll work through, but it has to be a sizeable number that lays out a plan for us to get those bills paid off. If we do a billion a year, we can have them paid off in eight years. If we do less, it'll take more; if we do more, we can do it in fewer years. You understand the math, but it's essential that as a component of this process as we move forward. Other essential things that have to happen, not passing one chamber to the other, not just talking about it but 09700109.doc 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 finality, conclusion, Medicaid reform. Patti Bellock and others on both sides of the aisle deserve a lot of credit for implementing a lot of Medicaid reform things over the last year or two. Things that passed both chambers, they have not yet been implemented by either the Governor pushing forward and/or the Federal Government signing off. You heard of one of those today and I… and we should take delight and be pleased that that happened, but there are a dozen other… a dozen other Medicaid reform ideas that passed both chambers that have nto been implemented. It is essential and critical that they be implemented in order to make this budget work. And there is a stack of other initiatives and other reforms in the Medicaid world that have to be addressed if we're going to get to that figure that the Governor talked about and pay off old bills. We have to do pension reform. One of those things that I know on our side I start talking about it and people look at me like you're not really serious are you? Will you shut up, Tom? We can't shut up anymore. We're going to spend $7.2 billion on pension related items, $7.2 billion on pension related items. We have got to pass both chambers, signed by the Governor, a Bill that articulates and… and delivers a road map on how we can sustain our pension systems and stop the bleeding. We have no choice. Third, we have to handle health care. We have retirees. We have active members that are paying nothing. A whole universe of folks that pay absolutely nothing for health care. Another uncomfortable conversation, but we have to dive into that, pass both chambers, send it to the Governor, have it signed so we 09700109.doc 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 can, again, make this overall budget work. We have the issue of pay raises. Now, I give our… our chamber and the others credit, we've had furlough days over the last few years. That is not fun for people who are paying bills. We have our own bills we have to take care of, but the reality is, we have to set an example for state employees. If we're going to say to them we can't do pay raises, it has to apply to elected officials on the same… from the same format. All of these are very difficult and as we get into the committee process and we go through the same process as last year, if we pick a spending number and we may or may not do that after we pick a number to pay our bills, you will notice that the number you have to work with is a lot lower than the number you had last year. That is going to necessitate some cuts, and not easy cuts, and not insignificant cuts. But if we're going to balance this budget, if we're going to get on the path to recovery, we're going to have to face the reality of the situation and quit talking about it. And it may take as much political courage as you have ever had to demonstrate in this Body and from the other side of the aisle, it will be awful. We have already had people come in to see us in last 24 hours and say, and you have to be very careful about this… and not in my opinion and not commit to say, oh, you really can't pay off those old bills. That means we're going to have to… you'll have to cut some of our budget. But we're going to have to pay off old bills and we're going to have to cut. And it is going to be, as I've said more than once, a difficult conversation but we can do it; 09700109.doc 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 there's a blueprint to do it. We are creating that blueprint and that path and we have to be committed to doing that. If we put this off another year, we will never confront it and we will go year after year with unpaid bills, year after year of Medicaid growth, year after year of unfunded Medic… pensions in an unstab… unstable system, and it just continues to get worse, and worse, and worse. This is a day of reckoning and not to sound, and use clichés, but we have no choice and we have to find a way to handle the truth as the Governor alluded to. So, we were… we are very committed to working with your side of the aisle and Mr. Speaker, thanks for including us, but we are going to be firm in our desire and our willingness to be firm on these issues but demand that Medicaid gets addressed, pensions get addressed, health care gets addressed, and the whole other thing… the other things I've said. So, I'm appreciate… and appreciative of the opportunity. I'm appreciative of the fact that Representative Harris, Representative Bradley and their counterparts, Representative Bellock and I believe, Representative Mautino were working together on a… to determine this number and I appreciate their work but as I said, the difficult work starts after today. So, with that I rise, as I said, to speak, I appreciate it and I certainly support this Resolution, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very, very much."
"Thank you, Leader. Speaker Michael J. Madigan."
"Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, this matter was reported this morning by the House Revenue 09700109.doc 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 Committee. The House Revenue Committee opened hearings on this question the day before the Governor's Budget Address. Again, the House Revenue Committee opened hearings on this question the day before the Governor's Address. Every Member of the House Democratic Caucus was personally notified of this particular hearing and explained to them what this was all about. Every Member of this caucus was told the hearings on Tuesday before the Governor's Address, if you have an interest in this question, go to the hearing because at the hearing they took testimony from COGFA; they took testimony from the Governor's Office. In the end, there was a difference of about $200 million. It was the choice of this number or a number that would be $200 million higher. This Resolution, this number was approved by the House Revenue Committee this morning; only two people declined to vote 'yes' to the Resolution. This is an estimate of revenue that we expect to receive during a 12- month period that starts this coming July 1. Let me say all that again. What you're being asked to vote on today is an estimate taken from testimony by the recognized experts in the field of a 12-month period that begins July 1. It's an estimate of how much money will be received for the purpose of supporting what the State of Illinois does with tax money. That's what we're voting on in this Resolution. Mr. Cross has spoken to the next step which will be a spending cap shared among five House Appropriation Committees. We have not yet begun the process of determining that number. We hope to start that next week meeting for our side of it with our chairs and our vice-chairs and then of course 09700109.doc 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 including the Republican Members of those committees. So, again, this is an estimate. It was worked through in the Revenue Committee. I believe they had two to three hearings, took all appropriate testimony, and they would have taken testimony from anybody else that wanted to come before the committee and testify as to what they thought would be collected by the State of Illinois over a 12-month period that starts July 1 of this year. So, obviously there's a lot speculation on this. And I would recommend an 'aye' vote for the Resolution. Thank you."
"Representative David Harris." Harris, D.: "Thank you, Mr… thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. Just some brief comments if I may as the Minority Spokesman on the Revenue Committee. You know, why are we doing this? We're not doing anything that COGFA or OMB doesn't do every year. They estimate how much our revenue is going to be. COGFA is pretty darn good at it and COGFA came in with a number this year that was pretty close to $34 billion. This Resolution is only 33.7. Why the difference? Well, there's an issue about bonus depreciation and how much of that we should crank back into our… our estimate. We thought, we in the… the Revenue Committee thought we wanted to be a little bit more conservative so we came down at 33.7. It's worthwhile to look back at what we did last year. Last year COGFA and OMB were also up near 33.9 or 34 billion dollars, but the Revenue Committee put out an estimate of $33.173 billion. And guess what, we, the Revenue Committee, and you, the House and the Resolution that you passed, House Resolution 110, were the more 09700109.doc 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 accurate in terms of that figure. The one thing I'm delighted to see up there this time is that this is a House Joint Resolution. Last year we had a difference of opinion between the House and the Senate on how much money we have available to spend. Our colleagues on the other side of the Capitol wanted to spend a little bit more. We held firm and again, I come back and say, we were the ones who were the more accurate. As has been said, this is just a revenue number. Some would argue that this number alone will be… will mean more spending. I don't agree with that. In some respects I guess they are correct. It's more revenue if indeed it proves to be accurate; it's more revenue that came in last year, but let's again go back to last year and the process that we engaged in last year. We had a Resolution, House Resolution 110, that set the estimate. That was simply the start. We then had a Resolution, House Resolution 156, which divided that revenue up to the respected Appropriations Committees. And then we had a Resolution, House Resolution 158, sponsored by the Gentleman from Madison County, that said anything above what we estimated available would be paid… would be used to pay old bills. Now, unfortunately we don't have as much as we thought we might have in terms of our ability to pay old bills. And that is why we, on this side of the aisle, feel so strongly that that old bill issue is a very real, and a very important one. The Governor addressed pensions and he addressed Medicaid in his budget message, he really didn't touch on old bills. We're all hearing about the old bill issue; we absolutely have to touch on it. So, that's why 09700109.doc 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 the next step, as referenced by our Leader and by the Speaker, is so important. Last year we had the revenue estimate and from that revenue estimate, before the dollars got to the Appropriations Committees, we took off of there the pension payment, we took off of there the pension… the service… the debt service for pension notes, we took off of there health insurance payments, we took off of there some other statutory payments. So, from that 33.173 we ended up with about $25 billion that went to the Appropriations Committee. I contend, if you vote for this Resolution, and some of my colleagues will disagree with me, you are not voting for a growth of State Government because the next step is the key step, assuming that we can work the issues, where what comes off the top is going to be the key. We want to pay old bills, we want to address all those things that Leader Cross touched on, and what gets spent… or what gets sent down to the Appropriations Committees could very well be a number lower than what the Appropriations Committees had last year. It is indeed going to be a tough year and I will echo what the Governor said in his budget message, we have a rendezvous with reality and it starts today."
"Representative Elaine Nekritz."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm incredibly frustrated right now. I attended the hearing that was on Monday of the Revenue Committee when we heard from COGFA and we heard from the OMB and Fred Gertz from the University of Illinois because I thought that was my responsibility of a… as a Member of this chamber to be as informed as I could be 09700109.doc 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 about what… what the revenue number might be, what might be anticipated. But I don't sit on the Revenue Committee and I didn't have time in the… in the midst of the crush of this… of this very tight schedule that we have right now to attend those… those meetings and… and I don't remember that I was invited to the negotiations on the number as well. So, for the Revenue Committee to adopt a number this morning and again, I'm in committee all morning, I… and… and then I'm on the floor right now and to… and to have this number put before us right now to vote on, as Leader Cross so eloquently said, this is the most important decision we are going to be making this spring of what's the revenue we have available and what can we spend because there are very difficult challenges ahead of us. And I would like a little bit of time and a little bit of consideration as a Member of this Body to deliberate over that and to have more than 20 minutes to think about it and to understand what… what went into it. It may very bill… very… may very well be the right number as Representative Harris has put forth, that this is the number we should be… we should be talking about but I feel completely unprepared to make that decision right now given the time frame that we've been allowed for this. And that is incredibly frustrating to me as a… as you know, a rank and file Member of this General Assembly and certainly not a Member of the Revenue Committee. And I would like… I would appreciate it if we had a little bit more time to deliberate about this, and think about it, and consider it, and… and address this issue in the most informed way, again, because this is the 09700109.doc 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 critical issue facing the General Assembly right now and I think it's important that we have an ability to… to deliberate over it a little bit more than we're being allowed."
"Our final speaker will be Representative John Bradley."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the Body. The House Revenue & Finance Committee in conjunction and in appreciation for the efforts we made last year is essentially se… following the same process that we used last year where the first step in the budget making process is that we adopt a revenue estimate. Last year our revenue estimate was grandly divergent from the estimates from COGFA and OMB. The Governor's Office wanted $2 billion more last year than what our estimate was. We were roundly criticized for having such a conservative number, such a low number, as many people said. COGFA's number last year was $800 million higher than the House Revenue number adopted by this committee, the Members of which, with the exception of our dear friend Mark Beaubien, are the same. Our number was right. Had we adopted the higher numbers out of the Governor's Office or out of COGFA, the state would be in much more dire straights than it currently is. Because of that conservative revenue estimate, we're in a situation to run a surplus; we're in a situation to have the ability now to continue the process of paying down our back bills, of dealing with blossoming expenses associated with many different programs that the state is currently trying to fund. This is the way a business does it; this is 09700109.doc 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 the way a family does it; this is the way we hopefully all do it at our homes. We figure out how much money we have and then we proceed from there. February the 21st we had a hearing. These were not new numbers that came out at the hearing. Everyone was invited. We allowed non committee Members to ask questions. Non committee Members asked questions. This is a remarkable development for the Revenue & Finance Committee to allow non Members to ask questions of the witnesses. We spent enormous time with the witnesses, having both COGFA and the Governor's Office at the table at the same time. This is a cautious number; this is a conservative number; this number is not that much farther from all the evidence that we were presented. This is the first step in a bipartisan, bicameral attempt to get the State's House and continue to get the State's House in order. I would urge you to follow the remarks of the Speaker, of Leader Cross, of Representative Harris, and myself and support this revenue estimate, bipartisan, bicameral, as the beginning of a process of creating a fiscally responsible budget. I would ask for an 'aye' vote."
"Speaker Madigan, Leader Cross, David Harris, and John Bradley move for the adoption of House Joint Resolution 68. All those in favor of the adoption signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Cassidy, Golar, would you like to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this issue, there are 95 Members voting 'yes', 11 Members voting 'no', 3 09700109.doc 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 Members voting 'present'. And House Joint Resolution 68 is adopted. On the Supplemental Calendar #1 we also have House Resolution 707. Leader Cross, I believe you're going to address House Resolution 707."
"It's the same… I just would echo the… the comments I made earlier and would appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"Thank you, Leader."
"Let me… just let me make one comment. I… there's been a little… little discussion about where the revenue number is going to be, Mr. Speaker. The reality is it can be at the 33.7, it could be a little higher, it could be a little lower, but the reality of the situation is regardless of what that number is, our spending number needs to be significantly lower. And I want to make it real clear from where I'm coming from, we have no interest in spending at a higher number; it's going to be a lower number than this year and it's going to be that way because we have to pay off a significant amount of bills and we have to make this an ongoing way of life. So, I don't know that we need to get too caught up in this number other than it's an acknowledgment of what most people feel is the number and the people we respect and trust in this process as a general rule, but the spending number is going to be a lot lower and I think we have to emphasize that today, certainly lower than where we were this year. So, thank you."
"Speaker Madigan on House Resolution 707."
"Just to recommend an 'aye' vote. It's the same Resolution." 09700109.doc 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012
"Representative Mulligan."
"I have a question and I've been doing this for a long time. The question is, if we pass this and we do not involve the same process as we did last year, where we do line items, is the amount we're locked into giving the Governor when we go home and say, here, this is the amount you have to spend? It's different when we're doing line item and we sit there and we work on it rather than to pass a certain amount and pass it off to the Governor which I have feeling could be what happens this year. So, we give this Governor this big amount of money and we say here it is and there's where you're going. It's different than when you're sitting there in a committee doing each budget line item by line item. So, there… this to me is a problem to say at this point in the budget process that we have this much money and this is what we're… this is what our revenue estimate is when you don't even know what unemployment or anything is going to be coming forward on this. So, now we're locked into an amount that we would pass off to a Governor if we don't do line item which could definitely be what's going on. And that's why I have a problem with voting for it at this length… at this particular point in our Session."
"Final speaker, Representative Bradley on 707. The question is, Representative… Leader Tom Cross and Speaker Madigan move for the adoption of House Resolution 707. All those in favor signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? 09700109.doc 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 109th Legislative Day 3/1/2012 Representative Arroyo, Representative Penny. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this issue, there are 93 Members voting 'yes', 11 Members voting 'no', 5 voting 'present'. And House Resolution 707 is adopted. And now, seeing no further business to come before the Illinois House of Representatives today, Representative Barbara Flynn Currie moves for the… that we stand adjourned to the hour of 12 noon on Tuesday, March 6. All those in favor of adjournment signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk, the House stands adjourned 'til Tuesday, March 6 at 12 noon. Have a great weekend, everyone." 09700109.doc 27