"The House will be in Session. Members will be in their chairs. We… Order, please, Members. We shall be led in prayer today by Pastor Michael Dye, who is with the Knox Knolls Free Methodist Church in Springfield, Illinois. Pastor Dye is the guest of Representative Poe. We will also be led in prayer by Father Stefan Del Bove, who is the Assistant General Secretary for Higher Education of the Jesuits in Chicago, Illinois. Father Del Bove is the guest of Representative David Harris. Members and guests are asked to refrain from starting their laptops, turn off all cell phones and pagers, and rise for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor Dye."
"Thank you. Good morning. Will you bow with me for a moment of prayer? Holy and merciful God, on this day we bow our heads in the spirit of adoration and humble our hearts before Your throne, the throne of our Majestic Creator God. Father, we are filled with awe and wonder and the mystery of how You can be present in all places and at all times; and yet, in the truth and promise of this mystery, we can with confidence know and trust that You are present with us in this chamber today. What a privilege it is, Mighty God, that through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus, our only hope of salvation, that we are encouraged, even emboldened, as You approach Your throne of grace with confidence, knowing that You have revealed Your love to each of us and that You are patiently, yet persistently, drawing us to Yourself as a loving and devoted father draws his children. We can trust, Father, on this day that You will attend to our prayer and that, once more, You will 09700115.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 attend to our hearts, and that You will guide us as we submit to Your truth. God of mercy, we show ourselves, truly, a blessed and honored people, as we confidently seek Your wisdom, Your guidance, and Your direction on this day. And as we engage in the responsibilities incumbent upon each of us as appointed leaders, I ask that You would fill us with great joy and purpose as we satisfy the requisite duties of our areas of influence and cause us to do so with respect, with honor, and with a growing awareness of the great privilege You have provided. You know our hearts, merciful God. You know our areas of struggle. I ask that You would forgive quickly those areas we have strayed from Your clear path, or have turned aside from Your clear direction. Guide us and help us to maintain bearing that will lead us to a deepening awareness of the abundant blessing poured out upon each of us through the gift of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus, the one who gave himself freely so that we might know life filled with the clear and consuming presence of Your abiding love. And it's in His holy and precious name, the name of Jesus, that I do pray, Amen."
"Father Del Bove is not with us today. We'll be led in the Pledge of Allegiance today by Representative Bellock."
"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."
"Roll Call for Attendance. Mr. Bost." 09700115.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Thank you, Speaker. If the record could reflect that Representative Kosel and McAuliffe are excused on the Republican side of the aisle today."
"Thank you, Sir. Leader Currie."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Please let the record show that Representatives Jones, Mayfield, and Yarbrough are excused today."
"The Clerk will take the record. There are 109 Members present, and we do have a quorum. Mr. Clerk."
"Committee Reports. Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, Chairperson from the Committee on Rules reports the following committee action taken on March 12… or, March 22, 2012: recommends be adopted, referred to the floor is Floor Amendment #3 to House Bill 5290, and Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 5689. Representative Nekritz, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary I – Criminal Law… or, Civil Law reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 4190, Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 4929, Floor Amendment #3 to House Bill 5016, Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 5332, Floor Amendment #3 to House Bill 5332. Representative Franks, Chairperson from the Committee on State Government Administration reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 5234. Representative Berrios, Chairperson from the Committee on Consumer Protection reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 5470. Representative Chapa 09700115.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 LaVia, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #3 to House Bill 5602. Representative Jakobsson, Chairperson from the Committee on Higher Education reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 4757. Representative Daniel Burke, Chairperson from the Committee on the Executive reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 4570. Representative Bradley, Chairperson from the Committee on Revenue & Finance reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 4752. Representative Monique Davis, Chairperson from the Committee on Insurance reports the following committee action taken on March 21, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #4 to House Bill 3812. Representative Bradley, Chairperson from the Committee on Labor reports the following committee action taken on March 22, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 5212. Representative Zalewski, Chairperson from the Committee on Health Care Licenses reports the following committee action taken on March 22, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #3 to House Bill 5528, Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 5775. Representative Greg Harris, Chairperson from the Committee on Human Services reports the following committee action taken on March 22, 2012: recommends be adopted is Floor 09700115.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Amendment #3 to House Bill 4085, Floor Amendment #4 to House Bill 4085, Floor Amendment #5 to House Bill 4085, Floor Amendment #6 to House Bill 4085, and Floor Amendment #7 to House Bill 4085. Introduction of Resolutions. House Resolution 877, offered by Representative Kay, and House Resolution 878, offered by Representative Pihos. Those are referred to the Rules Committee."
"The Chair recognizes Mr. Ford."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to call the attention to Representative D'Amico and let him know that it took me longer to get down to Springfield yesterday as a result to D'Amico's Bill. Every time I needed to make a call, I had to pull over. So now, I have to figure out how many times I have to pull over. It takes me so much longer to get down to Springfield. So…"
"Speaker Madigan in the Chair."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a special guest today and, therefore, we would ask everyone to take their seat. And we would ask the staff to retire to the rear of the chamber. And, also today is the day that we will have two prayers, and as I told Father Stefan that all of us will take the second prayer correct? We've done one, now we'll do a second one. That will be good. And the second prayer today will be delivered by Father Stefano Del Bove, Assistant Secretary General for World Wide Jesuit Education. And currently, he's working closely with Father Michael Garanzini, who's the president of Loyola University in Chicago. So, Father Stefano." 09700115.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Let us pray. Gracious God, accept our humble prayer and guide these Legislators, inspire them with divine wisdom, give courage and inner freedom today deliberations. Don't let them be like the many who anxiously seek the grace for far-reaching and good works, but neglect single and simple tasks for which they easily would’ve had the necessary grace. Teach them to work, believe and hope for the greatest glory of Yours, Amen."
"Please be seated. Our special guest today is the Consul General of Italy, assigned to Chicago, Mr. Alessandro Motta. In March of 1992, he entered the Diplomatic Corps at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was assigned to the Directorate General for Cultural Relations and to the Spokesman Office of the Foreign Minister. He then served in the Department of Military Politics of the Italian Joint Chief of Staff. From September of 1996 to May of 2000, he served as the… he served at the Italian Embassy in Mexico as Chief of the economic department. From June of 2000 to June of 2004, he was the Italian Consul in Brussels. From June of 2004 to July of 2007, he served at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Chief of Staff of the Director General for Human Resources and since August of 2007, he has served as the Consul General of Italy, assigned to the City of Chicago. It is my distinct pleasure to present to you Mr. Alessandro Motta."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Thank you. (Italian spoken) Esteemed Speaker of the House, distinguished Representatives, in my capacity as Consul 09700115.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 General of the Republic of Italy in this state, I would like to thank you for giving me the rare opportunity to speak at the Illinois House of Representatives, in the Land of Lincoln, under the roof of the historic State Capitol, and address such a prestigious audience on the matter of the relationship between our two countries. I am particularly delighted and proud of it, also for the presence here, the very active and proud Italian-American Caucus, and I hope that this will be a mutually enriching occasion. As you all know, our countries are bound by a solid and long-lasting friendship, starting from the Italian unification on March 17, 1861. The same month President Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States. And actually, the U.S. were one of the first countries to officially recognize the Kingdom of Italy on April… April 11, as Lincoln was a strong supporter of Garibaldi and of the Italian liberation movement, the Risorgimento. Actually, yesterday, I had the good fortune and the privilege of visiting the Presidential Library, and I was shown, also, fantastic documents, and letters, and books of the time proving the friendship between President Lincoln and Garibaldi. It was really impressive. Since the liberation of Italy from the Nazi occupation by the Allied Armies at the end of the World War II, and since the Marshall Plan, which paved the way to the economic and social reconstruction of Europe. The Atlantic Option, that is to say a preferential relationship with North America and other western nations, has been the tenet of the Italian foreign policy. Italy has always constituted one of 09700115.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 the most reliable allies and partners for the U.S., as we share a mutual commitment to the defense and consolidation of global security. It is a firm alliance, built over time on the solid footing of the United Nations, NATO, and Euro- Atlanticism. Over the past 60 years, Italy and the United States have confronted and responded together to new challenges, and today they joined in converging actions to affirm the principles of security, stability, solidarity and prosperity, both globally and regionally, through multilateralism and dialogue. In recent times, the nations' cooperation on a global scale has been further strengthened by their common belief in the centrality of the role played by the United Nations, as well as the success achieved on major international stages, such as the G8 and G20 under the Italian and American presidencies, respectively. The strong tie between our countries has been nurtured by the presence of advanced and well established Italian-American community, so well represented here in the House, which has historically facilitated both dialogue and mutual understanding. Since the unification of Italy, almost 30 million Italians left their motherland and, as of today, Italian descendents in the United States alone amount to more than 18 million, 800 thousand are right here in Illinois, thus constituting the fifth-largest ethnic group in the United States. Our emigrants started from humble working conditions and progressively became well respected, well-integrated and an essential part of the adopted American society, always distinguished themselves for the significant contributions made to the economic and cultural 09700115.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 development of this country. Thanks to them, the current bilateral relationship between Italy and the United States is an entrenched, truthful, and built on the sharing of growing principles and underlying values. Besides the American… the Italian-American community, nowadays, a growing number of Italian citizens reside in the U.S. and are registered with the Consular network. According to the latest census, there are 209 thousand of them to be precise, and almost 8 percent are living in the jurisdiction of the Consulate of Italy in Chicago, 12,500 are registered in the State of Illinois. Unlike the first immigrants of the early 1900s, these new highly… highly educated Italian expatriates make up a highly skilled workforce, mostly employed in research centers, universities, medical and scientific institutions; such as, for example, the Fermi Lab in Batavia, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois, the Mayo Clinic. But the strength of the partnership between Italy and United States can be thoroughly appreciated by briefly looking at a few other facts. With regard to trade, for example, Italy is the seventh biggest importing country in the United States, and the ninth world destination for the American export. On the… on the other side, the U.S. is the fourth most important market for Italy's export, and the fifth for import. Despite the strain caused by the current slowdown of the economic recovery and the widespread stagnation in the international trade, in 2011, the Italian exports in the United States showed a surprising upward trend. As a matter fact, export 09700115.doc 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 volume increased by 22 percent at a pace that, compared to the other European countries, ranks Italy in the first place, alongside Germany. Narrowing the focus to Illinois, data ranks it tenth in the exports to Italy, among all 50 U.S. states, as it exports in 2011 totaled $533 million. Exports to Italy grew by 38 in… percent in 2010, and 39 percent in 2011. Italy is the twentieth largest export market for Illinois products. Such a significant export growth in 2010 and 2011 has been driven in large part by increased exports from the manufacturing, transportation and agricultural sectors. On the other hand, Illinois imports from Italy in 2011 totaled approximately $1.5 billion. Imports from Italy grew 18 percent and, as a result, Illinois currently ranks fifth among the five… 50 U.S. states in import from Italy. Moving on the field of direct investments, I must start, of course, by referencing to the recent and largely celebrated Fiat-Chrysler agreement, probably the most remarkable industrial cooperation between Italy and the U.S. What is relevant for us today is that this partnership has also had a dire impact on Illinois' economy as Fiat-Chrysler recently announced of the start-up production of a new Dodge model, the Dart, based on the body of the famous Alfa Romeo Giulietta, at the Belvidere facility, near Rockford, where 1,400 new jobs have consequently been added this year. I could mention many important economic activities of Italian companies in the Midwest; however, I will narrow the focus on the State of Illinois, where we count approximately 60 Italian companies with operations employing 4,816 people. 09700115.doc 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 For instance, there is a longstanding presence of Case, New Holland; again, a Fiat Group brand, a leading global manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, located in Burr Ridge; in the food industry, Barilla, the world's leading pasta maker, is headquartered in Bannockburn. Also, Rana, another important pasta maker, established its first U.S. production activity in Bartlett, near Chicago west suburbs, in early 2012. The new facility employs 1 thousand people, and the state is providing an investment package worth more than $1 million, leveraging a $16.4 million private investment and supporting the creation of new 70 jobs. As counterpart to these business, I would like to briefly mention some of the main activities that Illinois based companies have in Italy, such as Motorola, for which our country's one of the largest European market and site of an important research center, and Baxter pharmaceutical. The latter for instance, has had an established presence in Italy since 1969. Finally, I would be greatly remiss if I did not mention Boeing' joint ventures with Alenia, designed for the construction of important parts of the new 787 dreamliner, built in the southern Region of Puglia. In addition to business, the U.S. bilateral… U.S.-Italy bilateral relationship is nurtured by people, and in this sense tourism is a catalyst. Italy is traditionally one of the main dream destinations for American travelers. Almost 5 million of them visit our country annually, while the United States are constantly among the top three destinations in the world for Italian tourists. Tourism is the natural bridge 09700115.doc 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 to cultural relations. When it comes to this topic, it is a source of great pride for me to see that our country is increasingly appreciated in the U.S., in particular, here is Illinois and the rest of the Midwest. The ever growing demand for Italian culture is not only focused on classics, such as Opera, Lyric Music, or renaissance paintings, but also modern and contemporary arts, disciplines capable of portraying a true, lively, and up to date image of our nation, which even today continues to be a land of talent, skills, and genius. It also represents a sort of recognition of the important role that our country plays today on the global stage as being one of the cradles of western civilization, a cultural superpower, an open-air museum, and a landmark for those seeking a desirable lifestyle. Cultural activities are one of the most distinctive aspects of the Italian presence in Chicago and in the Midwest area. Just to provide a high profile example, I would like to mention the important cooperation with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Over the years, outstanding Italian conductors such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, Daniele Gatti, and Riccardo Chailly have served with great success and tremendous benefit for the image of our country. This cooperation continues stronger than ever with a current tenure of Maestro Riccardo Muti as Music Director of the CSO. Since his appointment two years ago, Muti has captured the hearts of the Chicago public like no one ever did. Muti, indeed, we can say that he is today the most precious thing that Italy and Chicago have the privilege of sharing. Given that there is no culture 09700115.doc 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 without an idiom, the promotion of the Italian language is another of the pillars of the Italian Institutions' action in the U.S. and it represents an important instrument of cooperation between our countries. Everybody looks today at l'italiano as the universal idiom of culture and art, but our language is also the expression of the culture identity of the great Italian-American community, as well as a tool capable… capable of increasing its self-awareness as an important component of the American society. Although by now fully integrated, our community shows, indeed, an increasing desire to enrich its own cultural identity and that of its children's with a meaningful heritage from the ancestors' motherland. In this context, notwithstanding the decreasing financial resources available, the level of interest towards our language, with its strong intellectual, as well as sentimental appeal, has resulted into a steadily increasing number of both high school and college level students, not necessarily of Italian descent, choosing to select Italian. Such demand has reached an historical high. As recently underlined by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages, more students reported that they would choose to study Italian than any other foreign language. Italian, indeed, is the only European language to have registered, Spanish aside, an increase in the American education system in the last few years. Over the last years, we have been implementing many Italian language programs in public and private schools alike throughout Illinois and the entire Midwest region. Thanks to these initiatives, currently almost 15 09700115.doc 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 thousand students are taking Italian classes within this jurisdiction alone. After having mentioned the most vital areas of cooperation between our countries, I would like to briefly return to the more specific topic of the bilateral relation between Illinois and Italy, as my remarks would be incomplete if I were to overlook the special bond of friendship that, for a few years now, has been binding this state to the Lombardy Region, the most industrialized among all 20 Italian regions, and their respective main cities, Chicago and Milan. Alike Chicago, Milan, once the cradle of the Italian manufacturing industry, is nowadays a major player in the new technologies, a hub for communications systems and financial services, one of the world's premiere capital market, a city with a venture and innovation mindset. Both Chicago and Milan epitomize in their country, the cities with the large shoulders, the working cities. Also because of these similarities, Chicago and Milan have had a formal sistership agreement since 1973. And within this framework, numerous cultural programs and economic exchanges have been realized. Similarly, Illinois and Lombardy share several commonalities. Both have a strong agricultural sector, and at the same time, are very open, outward looking, trade oriented lands. Despite fiscal crunch and high taxation, both are still leading exporting states capable of attracting important foreign investments and home of a large number of multinational companies. Due to their similar socio-economic development, since November 2010 Illinois and Lombardy have been partners in the World Regions Forum, an international roundtable envisioned to 09700115.doc 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 share best practices and discuss urban development, investments and job creation issues from a regional perspective. In the framework of this partnership, this past September a delegation from the Illinois Department of Trade and Economic Development has participated in the second meeting of the World Region Forum in Milan; whereas, Governor Pat Quinn has met in December with the President of the Lombardy region, Formigoni, and also visited the main biotech park and the start up incubator center of Lodi, near Milan. The Lombardy region values its special relationship with Illinois, and also counts on its support to create the necessary awareness in the U.S. towards the upcoming Universal Expo that will be hosted in Milan in 2015, the same event that Chicago hosted twice in 1893 and in 1933. We sincerely hope, therefore, that as it were the case… it was the case for Chicago, the 2015 World Expo will proved Lombardy and Italy, in general, a new boost and pave the way to another century of progress. In closing my remarks, I would like to thank you, once again, for the honor to put Italy in the spotlight at the Illinois Assembly, along with presenting me with the opportunity to recall a longstanding friendship dating back to Lincoln's time, right at the conclusion of the year long momentous celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the unification of my country. Today, the bilateral relations between Italy and the State of Illinois are strong and friendly because based on our common interest in stimulating the social, cultural and economic growth of our peoples, but also, thanks for your fruitful collaboration that we have 09700115.doc 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 established here at our institutional level. Thank you very much for your attention, (Italian) Grazie mille, viva l'Italia, viva l'Illinois, viva… America! Grazie. Arrivederci."
"Mr. Motta will be down in the well for those of you who wish to greet him and exchange pleasantries."
"Mr. Saviano."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of personal privilege. Last night, at 7:00 a.m., the State of Illinois has a new Italian-American that came to Representative Michael McAuliffe and his wife, Kim Morreale, 7 pounds 6 ounces, and her name is Bianca Rose."
"Members, we're going to continue where we were yesterday with Members' first and second priorities. The first item is House Bill 4510, Representative Acevedo. Mr. Acevedo, 4510. Out of the record. Mr. Arroyo, House Bill 5531. Out of the record. Mr. Beiser, House Bill 4452. Out of the record. Representative Berrios, House Bill 4096. Out of the record. House Bill 4851, Mr. Brauer. Mr. Brauer. Out of the record. House Bill 4996, Mr. Biss. Out of the record. House Bill 4568, Mr. Bradley. Mr. Bradley. Out of the record. House Bill 5114, Representative Dan Burke. Out of the record. House Bill 5513, Representative Cole. Out of the record. House Bill 4926, Mr. Connelly. Out of the record. Is anyone here today? House Bill 4673, Representative Carli. Out of the record. House Bill 4148, Representative Cassidy. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 4148, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Third Reading of this House Bill." 09700115.doc 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Representative Cassidy, thank you for calling a Bill."
"I live to serve, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, this… this Bill is an initiative of the Cook County Assessor, which will allow counties to recoup funds lost to… to individuals who fraudulently take homestead exemptions on multiple properties. A homestead exemption is intended for a… the… the home that you occupy. Currently, there are literally thousands of taxpayers in… in Cook County who are claiming 9, 10, 12 homestead exemptions on… on properties. This would allow the assessors to go after the most egregious cases, individuals who are inadvertently taking an additional homestead exemption, perhaps, on a property that was formerly owned by a deceased parent, or other issues that might allow… create a mistaken taking… taking of the… of the homestead exemption; would allow that taxpayer to simply pay the… the amount that they were inadvertently given the exemption on, and would not incur penalties. But this would… would simply allow for collection against multiple abusers. And I ask for your favorable consideration."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Sacia."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Representative, looking at my synopsis here, or the initial things that we have on our screen, it indicates that the Taxpayers Federation of Illinois is opposed, the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association and the 09700115.doc 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Illinois Association of Realtors. I guess the real concern I have, why are the Rental Property Owners and the Association of Realtors opposed to this legislation or has that opposition been taken out?"
"My understanding is that they do not believe that… that property owners should have to pay back those back assessments… or those back exemptions. The bottom line is, this is not a victimless crime. This is an issue where if you are taking multiple homeowners' exemptions, you are passing that… those costs on to your neighbors. And… and therefore, this is an ar… this is an issue we need to address and fix in order to level the playing field and protect the… the taxpayers of our… of our areas."
"Okay. I… I appreciate what you're saying. So, what your legislation is doing is going after the people that have had multiple exemptions seeking… I guess that's where I'm missing something, Representative. Could you… could you just clarify it for me?"
"It… it will allow counties to collect the back assessment and in the cases of the most egregious abusers, collect some penalties. But it provides for the ability for people who have mistakenly taken it on one or two properties to simply pay the difference."
"Would you clarify egregious? I mean, are you talking four, five? Is… is there a definition here? Is it a one- time inadvertent, mistake? I… I don't disagree with your Bill, Representative. I'm just looking for clarification, especially, if… if there's a gray area. I mean, is it going to be enforced different in Jo Daviess County than it will 09700115.doc 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 be in Cook County or DuPage? Is… is there a definitive way of dealing with it?"
"The chief assessor can go back six years for folks who have taken it on three or more properties."
"And…"
"And so, the assessor in the county has the ability to… to launch these investigations…"
"And… and do…"
"…and serve notice…"
"…what with them?"
"…to the taxpayers."
"Let's say that there's… in the past six years, I've owned three properties. My principle residence is Cook County but I own three out in Jo Daviess. What would happen to me?"
"Those… the Jo Daviess county assessor would… would deal with those three. I don't believe that there is interaction between the two."
"Again, that's where my struggle is. The… the assessor will deal with them. What does that mean?"
"What that means, the assessor may serve on you, as… as the owner of those properties, notice of an intent to record a tax lien against the properties that were granted the erroneous exemption. And then, there is the arrearage, and in the cases of three or more, it's a penalty of 40 percent of the total amount of unpaid taxes for each year. So, there's a penalty on those larger, more egregious cases." 09700115.doc 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Thank you, Representative. You've been very candid in your remarks. I… I guess my struggle is… is, I still wonder and I'll… I'll listen to the balance of the debate before I make up my mind. It… it just surprises me that… that we have both the land owners… or, I'm sorry. The… the Federation… Illinois Rental Property Owners and the Illinois Association of Realtors being opposed. And, I'm just looking for more clarification…"
"The concern of the…"
"…on that."
"…Realtors is about the… the existence of a tax lien and their belief that it would, perhaps, chill a sale. I don't agree with that issue. I believe that the… that the homeowners… the importance of… of… addressing this… this… the problem of tax cheats is more important. And I don't believe it would chill a sale."
"Thank you, Representative."
"Thank you."
"Representative David Harris." Harris, D.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, a question of the Sponsor."
"The Sponsor will yield." Harris, D.: "Representative, we talked about this Bill in the Revenue Committee, and just so that I understand, picking up a little bit here on what the Representative from… from Winnebago County just asked you, did you…"
"I… I'm sorry, I can't hear you." Harris, D.: "Okay. The question is this, this allows you… this allows the assessor to go back six years, correct?" 09700115.doc 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Yes, Sir." Harris, D.: "Okay. So, it's not just forward looking, but it is also in… in going back in… into the past. The rental property owners are opposed to the Bill. It's my understanding that there is some sort of a… a Supreme Court decision on this issue that they are using as justification as how they can claim the… the homeowners' exemption?"
"Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris. Can we get some order in the chamber, please? Thank you very much. Please continue." Harris, D.: "It… it is my understanding that there's a Supreme Court decision that the rental property owners are using to say, hey, what these exemptions are justified and it has been court tested. Does this Bill somehow overturn that or challenge that?"
"I'm not aware of the Supreme Court decision. The bottom line is, if a county assessor deems that the exemptions were justified, then the exemptions are justified." Harris, D.: "Right. So, the county exempt… the county assessor has deemed that they are justified based on what the rental owners are saying is a… a valid court decision. It seems to me that we are taking away something that the court has granted."
"I don't know that I agree with that. I believe it is if the county assessor deems it justified, they would not go after them." Harris, D.: "Okay. I… and I follow. And to the Bill, very briefly. This Bill and a similar Bill had a full discussion in the Revenue Committee. There was concern about this 09700115.doc 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 issue of… of a Supreme Court decision being out there. I think that's one of the reasons why the Taxpayers' Federation, and the Rental Property Owners Association, and the Illinois Association of Realtors are opposed to the Bill. So, I'm going to be voting 'no'. I would recommend to my colleagues that they do the same, or certainly look very closely at the Bill before they… before they cast anything other than a 'no' vote. Thank you."
"Mr. Brady."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Representative, can you tell me, last… I think it was last Veto Session, Representative Zalewski had something similar. Do you have any knowledge of that Bill, and what the difference is between…"
"There…"
"…your Bill and that Bill?"
"…there were other matters addressed in that Bill. This is simply… this is a clean Bill that only includes the assess… the back… the back homeowners' assessment issue. There were not the other pieces that were in there."
"And is this exclusive to Cook County?"
"No, Sir."
"No. Okay. Thank you."
"Mr. Mathias."
"Thank you. Will the Sponsor yield? Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Go ahead, Sir." 09700115.doc 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Yes. Representative, you stated that you could go back six years and check if there was erroneous homestead exemptions?"
"Yes, Sir."
"What happens if the property was sold in the interim, let's say, three years prior, can they still go… if there's a bona fide purchaser of the property now, what… what relief can… I mean, will that property owner, then, have a lien on his property?"
"No. No. It… if, at a hearing, the property owner establishes that he or she is the per… bona fide purchaser of the property and had no notice of the erroneous homestead exemption, that owner will not be liable for unpaid back taxes, interest, or penalties…"
"So…"
"…prior to the time that that owner had owned the property. So, that… there is an exemption for that."
"So, there is exemption. A… a new owner could not be held liable for the acts of the…"
"Right."
"…previous owner."
"That's correct."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Representative Cassidy to close."
"The bottom line is that, as I said before, this is not a victimless crime. This is people passing on the costs of those homestead exemptions to their neighbors. And this… this… this Bill will allow counties to recoup those costs. And I ask for your favorable consideration." 09700115.doc 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Mr. McGuire. Mr. Saviano. Mr. Saviano. Please take the record. On this question, there are 60 voting 'yes', 48 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5922, Mr. Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham. Out of the record. House Bill 5182, Monique Davis. Representative Monique Davis. Out of the record. House Bill 5549, Mr. Cross. Mr. Durkin to handle. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5549, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Durkin."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Bill simply reinstates the… the Diabetes Research Fund on the income tax form as a check off. So, I'll be happy to answer any questions."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Fortner. Mr. Fortner. Please take the record. On this question, there are 107 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 4466, Representative Will Davis. Out of the record. House Bill 4018, Representative DeLuca. Mr. DeLuca. Out of the record. House Bill 5587, Representative du Buclet. Representative du Buclet. Out of the record. House Bill 4715, Representative Dugan. Please read the Bill." 09700115.doc 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"House Bill 4715, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Dugan."
"Thank you, Speaker, Members of the House. House Bill 4715 is a trailer Bill to the Firefighter Hiring Bill, 1576, that was passed into law last year. And it addresses concerns that some local governments had with developing a pool of firefighter candidates and con… and con… contains a few other minor revisions. And I'll certainly be able to answer any questions. This is something that we have worked on, knew there would be some issues that we wanted to get corrected, and this does correct that."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Please record yourselves, Members. Biss, Davis, Dunkin, Hernandez. Representative Hernandez. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 4995, Mr. Cross. Out of the record. House Bill 5899, Mr. Fortner. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5899, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Fortner."
"Thank you, Speaker. House Bill 5800 will clarify a piece of the County Code. For almost two decades, a number of counties have entered into agreements with their forest preserves to facilitate zoning decisions so that the forest 09700115.doc 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 preserves can do the things that they are authorized to do under the Forest Preserve Act. This just clarifies an area that's been vague and will allow those kinds that have entered into the agreements to have the secure knowledge that those were valid."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"Representative, was there any situations in DuPage County regarding this type of issue?"
"Well, there's… there have… there has been a question in… in DuPage County with some forest preserve activity, whether or not the county should have had a zoning hearing. It was then pointed out that the county had this intergovernmental agreement that dated back to the 1990s. As I say, many other counties have similar agreements, and it wasn't clear what the authority was. Some of the state's attorneys are saying, yes, they had it some didn't. This just clarifies that."
"Thank you."
"Mr. Franks."
"A parliamentary inquiry."
"State your inquiry, Sir."
"Yeah. Has… has HCA 1 been adopted?"
"Mr. Clerk."
"Committee Amendment #1 was adopted."
"Okay."
"Mr. Franks." 09700115.doc 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"Thank you. Representative, I understand that the Amendment has been adopted which would retroactively validate intergovernmental agreements on zoning compliance exemption. Why would we do something retroactively instead of prospectively?"
"Well, in this case, it's a… it's a situation where the law is unclear. Many state's attorneys… many counties have been entering into these agreements based on the advice of their state's attorneys that this was authorized. This just would clarify that that was the intent that that would be fine with that. I would mention to this chamber, I… certainly in my years here, has taken that sort of action before to recognize activities that were done based on the best advice, but we just took the action to clarify it."
"Is there any constitutional issue here if… I'm just not sure whether as a Body we can retroactively validate laws."
"Well, what I would point out is in the paragraph that precedes the paragraph where that Amendment takes form. The language with the retroactive provision is word for word identical to language in the preceding paragraph. So, again, I was not here when that preceding paragraph passed, but I would read into that that the same type of action was done by the General Assembly when the preceding paragraph was enacted."
"Okay. Thank you." 09700115.doc 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Seeing nothing further, those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Please take the record. There are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 3867, Mr. Dunkin. Mr. Dunkin. Do you wish to move this Bill, Sir? Out of the record. House Bill 5592, Representative Feigenholtz. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5592, a Bill for an Act concerning siblings. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Feigenholtz."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 5592 is a Bill that was brought to me by the Youth Advocacy Group at the Department of Children and Family Services. This group made it very clear that sibling relationships are very, very important to them. And what we've done in this Bill is try and reconnect siblings who've been separated by foster care or adoption. This has been a Bill that we've worked on for over a year. I would gladly entertain any questions. It is supported by many and opposed by none."
"The Chair recognizes Mr. Sommer."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd just like to rise in… in support of this legislation. We had two young adoptees testify before the committee, and efforts to reunite them with their siblings, or at least have contact with their siblings. And the Adoption Reform Committee thought this 09700115.doc 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 was an excellent piece of legislation. And I recommend its passage."
"Those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Harris. Sosnowski. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 4523, Mr. Gaffney. Out of the record. House Bill 1473, Representative Flowers. Please read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 1473, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Flowers."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 1473 would allow the Chicago Board of Education to implement a youth program to establish common bond between youth of various backgrounds and ethnicities. This program would be similar to the challenge day organization. And I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have in regards to House Bill 1473."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Reis. Mr. Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Representative, is there any cost associated with your legislation?"
"No cost, Sir." 09700115.doc 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"And I… I see that there was some issues back in… in the committee. What were some of the objections in the committee?"
"Representative, you're going to have to forgive me because I don't remember any objections to this particular Bill. No one brought… maybe you could help me, but I don't remember."
"Actually, I'm sorry. It's from the previous time from last General Assembly that there was some objection. Thank you, Representative."
"Thank you."
"Those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Durkin. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 3782, Mr. Ford. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 3782, a Bill for an Act concerning employment. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Ford."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Members of the House. House Bill 3782 makes it unlawful for an employer to ask, both an employee or a perspective employee, to provide any password or related account information in order to gain access to the employees or perspective employees account or profile on social network websites. It also defines the social… defines social network. The Bill is agreed. There is no opposition, and I would like to thank Representative 09700115.doc 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Fortner for working to make this Bill better. And I move for passage of House Bill 3782."
"The Gentleman's moved for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"I… Representative, I just need to get it… it's kind of noisy in here and I want to make sure, exactly, what the Bill does. It says that a… an employer cannot ask for what items?"
"The employer cannot ask for an individual…"
"I… I'm sorry. Mr. Speaker, I'm having trouble hearing."
"The employer cannot…"
"Well, that point… Excuse me, Gentlemen. The point's been made two or three times and it's very noisy in the chamber. Please allow folks that want to debate their Bills to do so, so that the courteous is given to you when it's your turn to debate your Bill. Mr. Ford."
"Yes. The Bill simply says it makes it unlawful for any employer to ask both the employee or perspective employee to give up access to their passwords for social media network."
"Okay. Is it… would that be on the… if the employee is actually using that computer at work, and is it that… is it their personal or is it a… sometimes you get an account that might set up buyer/employer and you know, it might be that your work is tied with that and you… you can secure that with a password. Will… will this, then, stop that employer from being able to ask that employee… for 09700115.doc 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 instance, if that employee is doing sales over the Internet, and… and their contracts are all handled on their computer. Now, it comes time that maybe that employee gets ready to leave, they don't have access to those accounts. It… would that stop this?"
"Well, if someone works for a company, the social network would be a network that's…"
"Okay."
"…held by the employer. This is for personal networks. This is not for business."
"For… it's only for personal. It is…"
"Personal. Right."
"Okay. All right. That's what I needed to know. Thank you."
"Mr. Kay."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"Thank you. Representative, I see in my analysis here that the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Employment Law Council is opposed to this, and I'm, as a previous member to that council, I'm curious as to why they would oppose this Bill."
"Well, the analysis should read that they were opposed before the Amendment was added. So the chamber is now either in support of the legislation or they're neutral. They wanted to make sure that we define what social… what a social network site is. We've done that with the Amendment. And so, now they're not in opposition of House Bill 3782."
"Okay. So, their opposition's been pulled." 09700115.doc 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Yes."
"Okay. I'm also curious as to the intent of this. And I say that in light of the fact that I take a lot of applications in my business, and a lot of people like to be notified via, what we would call networks. So, are… are you saying that that would be cut out if the… the employee requested some sort of notification via the website?"
"I don't understand your question."
"Well, the question is that social media today and the website is often used for applications as well as responses to applications. Are you saying we should not do that by this Bill?"
"Can you give me an example? I don't… I want to answer your question, but I don't want to just say yes or no without understanding what you're…"
"Well, I… I don't know that I can… I can give you an example, other than someone applies, they ask for an application and you send it to them that way, and they reply via the website, and then they request and answer via the website. Are you saying that this would cut that kind of response out?"
"No. This is simply to make sure that, for example, if you have a Facebook page, and you use the Facebook page for whatever reasons you might want to use it for, we're saying that it's your personal Facebook page, and employers… this is totally separate from an application process. This is when you may find employers that may ask you for your passwords to enter your personal genre and life, not your 09700115.doc 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 application. So, nowhere will you find an employer having on their… as a part of their hiring process, you know…"
"O… okay. One last question, Representative. What… what brings this legislation to us?"
"A constituent request."
"And… and what was the particular circumstance there?"
"I mean, the total violation of privacy, asking for passwords. No one would ask for an individual's password for their bank account, or their ATM account, or passwords for their telephone messaging, so why would we ask for an individual's…"
"Yeah."
"…password for?"
"Representative, I… I'm not going to support your Bill, because I… I can't think of a circumstance where this, frankly, would happen. So, I can't…"
"Well, you…"
"I can't support it, but…"
"I think you should read it before you… see clearly, so that you understand that this is only a right to protect a person's privacy."
"Well, clear… clearly…"
"And I think just from your conversation…"
"Yeah. Quite frankly, I didn't read your Bill until just now, but I think through the question and answer process here, I understand your Bill, and I'm not sure that it has any merit. I can't imagine anybody doing this. So, thank you. I'm not going to be supporting your Bill."
"Okay." 09700115.doc 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, this Bill is on Short Debate. There are five people that wish to speak. I will remove it from Short Debate, but I would ask the following five people to be as brief as possible. Mr. Reboletti, Mr. Fortner, Mr. Tryon, Mr. Durkin, Mr. Franks. Those will be the last five speakers on this Bill. Mr. Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"Representative Ford, I guess some of the concerns that I have is, what if the person is using their personal account during work time and there… and there's going to be an investigation as to if the person was using their account, were they on social media during business time. You're saying that you would not be to access it if they ask for access to that account, to show that there was activity, that this Bill would not allow that."
"Well, they still can ask for individuals' users' name, and with that, you could find the information that you're looking for. And I think that's what the Amendment helped with Representative Fortner, it made sure that you can ask for user's name. And when you do that, you're able to search the web and find out if there's been any activity on that account. But this protects a person's right to privacy. The ACLU is in support of this because they realize that it is a protection of a person's right to privacy."
"As… as I look at our analysis, it shows that the… the genesis of this is your initiative. Is there any type 09700115.doc 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 of issue in your district or somewhere in Chicago, or Cook County, that this had become an issue, that there needs to be some level of protection that's not being afforded by employee agreements with their employer?"
"Yeah. It's… it's definitely a initiative of a constituent in the district and so, it's not just my initiative. It's just the way to represent the called… the person that called me."
"What happened in that case?"
"I mean, that's a right to privacy question, and they… they're… they were not… they were asked to give their access information to their social media network and they felt very violated that they had to give up some personal information about their social media network."
"What was the basis the employer asked for the information? Was there some type of misconduct allegation or…"
"No. This was a perspective employee that wanted to be hired by an employer, but they felt that it would be better if, during the hiring process, if they ask for your private password to enter their social media networks as a part of the hiring process."
"What type of employment was the person seeking?"
"I can't recall."
"'Cause I… I think that will also make a difference, if there's some type of trade secrets, or some type of security issues. I… I think that may make a difference as to what people are posting on social media sites. I would 09700115.doc 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 ask the Body to… to think about that before they cast their vote. Thank you."
"Mr. Fortner."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. And first of all, I would like to thank the Sponsor for being willing to accept the Amendment that was put on this, that I think really helped clarify and get to the point of what he wanted to do. And I think at the same time, I'd like to make just some brief comments that I think will address the concerns raised by a couple of the previous speakers. First of all, there's specific language in this Bill, through the Amendment, that, if I may quote, 'this subsection shall not limit employers' right to promulgate and maintain lawful workplace policies concerning the use of the employers' electronic equipment, including policies… the Internet news… use, social networking site use, and electronic mail use.' So, to the concern that the employer could not regulate workplace time on electronic media, the employer is protected. What this Bill would do is draw a clear distinction between the public persona that someone puts out on the Internet through social media, which is absolutely fair for an employer to want to be able to see, and that which the person has chosen to leave private, which you could only get through password protected resources. So, it simply says, that which the person has said, it's private, it's off the employee… the employee/employer relationships time, I'd like to keep that private. And I think that's reasonable, as the Sponsor mentioned. We would expect the same sort of thing with 09700115.doc 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 financial information. If it's not relevant to the workplace, it doesn't need to be part of that employee/employer relationship. There's protection in the language of this Amendment, protect the employer when they need and have a real reason to need it to regulate their employer workplace. But, I think there is a place for protecting our privacy and I think this Amendment and this Bill will do that. Thank you."
"Mr. Durkin."
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"Representative, the first line of your sentence, it says, it shall be unlawful. Tell me, exactly, what are the sanctions or penalties against the employer if they violate this Section."
"There will be no penalties, Representative."
"Then how come… then… then, if there's no penalties and no sanctions then, how can it be unlawful then?"
"Well, I mean, I guess we need to add some penalties, huh?"
"Well, that's the problem. We… we pass Bills and we… we make statements, but when we say something is unlawful, but we don’t have a sanction against it, I think it begs the question of what are we doing here and why are we even addressing it right now. And why…"
"Why we're addressing it? We're addressing it because it was a request of a constituent and it is a problem anytime you have the right to privacy being violated. That's why 09700115.doc 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 we're addressing it. Everything doesn't have to be tied to penalties where we make things…"
"Yes, it does. If you stated it's unlawful, that you're saying that, yeah, an employer cannot access this information and it's unlawful, but you provide no type of sanction or penalty against them, your Bill is not complete."
"Well, we can work on that in the Senate."
"I've heard that… you… you're a fine man, I respect you but the fact is, I'm at a point in my career here where I've… I'm… I'm tired of voting for Bills stating that people are going to make changes and a lot of times, it doesn't happen. This is a Bill that has not been drafted correctly, but I also believe that there's some basic property rights that employers have. I'm not supporting this legislation."
"Mr. Franks."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, I wanted to follow up with what a couple of the prior Representatives had said. I'll wait until you're ready."
"Okay."
"I… I'm concerned about the disconnect in the way this is drafted where you indicate that a… that an employer would still have policies governing the use of electronic equipment and Internet use, and social networking sites, but how can it be implemented if you're not able to check those social networking sites?" 09700115.doc 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"You can check them."
"But not the way this is drafted, because if you go up… and I understand what you're trying to do and I'm not necessarily against it, but I think the way this is drafted, as the previous speaker had indicated, there are some real issues. Because if you look at Section (b), it says it shall be unlawful for any employer to ask any employee, or perspective employee, to provide any password or other related account information in order to gain access. But then, if you go down to the final paragraph of your Amendment, which becomes the Bill, it seems to say the opposite."
"Give me a moment, Representative."
"Sure."
"So, can you repeat your question, Representative?"
"Well, at the beginning, you say there's a absolute prohibition on the employer being able to get the information, let's establish that. There has, in the Bill, at the beginning, there's a prohibition. But then, if you look at the last paragraph, it says, nothing which should limit the employer's right to promulgate and maintain the workplace policies. Now, how can you enforce the workplace policies if you can't get into the networking site? 'Cause I can say tell you, I… in my business, I've seen this very problem."
"Okay. Okay. Where… where is the difference, again?"
"Well, I know what you're… you're trying the way it's drafted is to give the employers the ability to implement their own rules and regulations, but I don't see how you 09700115.doc 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 can do that if you have an absolute ban. Perhaps, this should be… if we… of there's time we still have another week, perhaps we can move this to Second. And I know that Mr. Durkin had some questions about penalties and, perhaps, we can tighten the language to… to fix his issue, but also this issue that would allow employers to check if there's a… if there's a credible issue."
"Well, Representative, if… do you think that you have language for what you're suggesting?"
"I'd be happy to work with you. I can't think of it off the top of my head, but if we can… if you take it out of the record briefly, I can come tell you some suggestions I may have."
"Okay. We… we'll remove the Bill from the record."
"Thank you."
"The Gentleman takes the Bill from the record. Next Bill is House Bill 4863, Representative Hammond. Out of the record. House Bill 3844, David Harris. Mr. Harris. Out of the record. House Bill 5044, Mr. Franks. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5044, 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 5452, Representative Gabel. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5452, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No 09700115.doc 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 4682, Representative Golar. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4682, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Golar."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and General Assembly colleagues. This is just a technical change. In 2… in 2009… or '10, House Bill 655 was actually brought about regarding the employment and economic opportunity for persons with disabilities. This was a task force that was put in place. The task force was put in place; however, this technical change brings about more accountability, which would actually, now, instead of having the task force in place, we will now put it in the hands of IDES, who would actually have… we would have more accountability in regards to persons with disabilities and be able to follow up and make sure that those individuals are getting jobs. I would ask for your consideration and a favorable vote. And I'll be happy to ask any questions… answer any questions."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those is favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Mulligan. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 3985, Mr. Kay. Please read the Bill." 09700115.doc 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"House Bill 3985, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Kay."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 3985, effectively, amends… or would amend the State Finance Act, and it would provide that within 25 business days after an agency receives a vendor's bill or an invoice for goods or services, that there would be a review. And if that review, indeed, is correct, the Bill would be passed on to the Comptroller's Office. If not, a bill would be returned for corrections to the appropriate agency. When the bill then is approved, it would be moved along to the Comptroller's Office for their review. And if they find it to be correct and proper to pay, within two days they would post that on the website… the bill on the website. This is a posting requirement. This has… has no opposition. It's been through committee two times. And I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There… the Chair recognizes Mr. Reboletti, who has changed his mind. There being no further debate, those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Record yourselves, Members. Have all voted who wish? Representative Mitchell, Jerry Mitchell. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 1384, Representative Gordon. Representative Gordon. Out of the record. House Bill 4695, Mr. Jackson. 09700115.doc 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Mr. Jackson. Out of the record. House Bill 5332, Representative Jakobsson. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5332, a Bill for an Act concerning associations. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendments 2 and 3 have been approved for consideration. Floor Amendment #2 is offered by Representative Jakobsson."
"Representative Jakobsson."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 5332 will allow a homeowner to have a… condos… this is based on a Bill that was passed on solar panel provisions for homeowners energy policy. And this one is for electrical vehicles so that homeowners' associations will be able to set up and work with their residents so that they can have a place to charge their electric vehicles. The… some of the things that we worked out with Amendments on the… this were to make sure that the timing was right when the associations… on the approvals and the applications. This is very important as we look at people trying to move towards having electric vehicles. Without the passage of this Bill and without the option for being able to charge an electric vehicle, it would be a hindrance to people purchasing them. So…"
Speaker Lang: "Representative, may I interrupt. Are you discussing the Amendment, Amendment 2, or are you discussing the Bill?"
"There were… there were two… Amendment 2 changes the time frame."
"So, just on Amendment 2…" 09700115.doc 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Right."
"…it changes the time frame."
"Right. But that makes…"
"Those in favor…"
"…it more possible."
"…of the Amendment say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And Amendment 2 is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"Floor Amendment #2, off… Floor Amendment #3, offered by Representative Jakobsson."
"Representative Jakobsson on Amendment 3."
"This simply removes Section 40 regarding costs and attorneys' bills that have… attorneys' fees of the Bill. It's just something we shouldn't have had in that Bill in the first place."
"Those in favor of the Amendment 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 2886, Mr. Jefferson. Out of the record. House Bill 5180, Mr. Mathias. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5180, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Mathias."
"Thank you for calling on me, Mr. Speaker."
"Well, you're next in order, Sir."
"Ah ha. Thank you. I know all of us, in our own districts, have had some issues with IDOT when it comes to 09700115.doc 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 notification, when they do minor repair work on your streets. I commend them when it… when they're doing very large projects. They have public hearings and… where everybody's notified, have an opportunity to see what they're doing way, way in advance of when they're doing it. However, when it comes to some of the minor patching work that… that may still tie up a street for more than five business days, there's really no obligation on their part to notify us. And we've had some problems in my district, and I know many of you have told me you've had problems in your districts. So, what House Bill 5180 does is it, basically, requires IDOT to set up policies for those minor type of projects like patching and… and… But a project that will either close a street or a lane of traffic for more than five business days, they have until January 1 of 2… 2013 to set up their policy. And it basically should include procedures for notifying local public officials, and gives the local public officials an opportunity to request a public meeting with IDOT. So, I ask for your 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Costello. Mr. Costello. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5212, Mr. Krezwick. Are you ready on your Bill, Sir? 09700115.doc 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Out of the record. House Bill 4570, Mr. Jefferson. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4570, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. The Bill was read for a second time on a previous day. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Lang, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Jefferson will handle the Amendment."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Move to 'do adopt' Amendment #2. Basically, all the Amendment does, at this point, is to… I'm trying to find the Amendment. Amendment #2 is a gut and replace Amendment that becomes the Bill. It does the following: it eliminates… keeps the state university at the current $1 thousand, keeps the same language in the original Bill, and keeps the language from HA… from House Amendment #1, but it includes the process and charge… deduction for our universities. It's… I would move the adoption of Amendment #1… #2, I'm sorry."
Speaker Lang: "Those in favor of the Amendment 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 4615, Representative Lilly. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4615, a Bill for an Act concerning housing. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Lilly."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the General Assembly, I rise to present House Bill 4615. House 09700115.doc 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Bill 4615 describes rules for the Illinois Housing Department Authority to determine the operating expenses, limited to one… excuse me, multiple year grants to local administering agencies. Current law does not distinguish between single year and multiple years. House Bill 6… fif… 4615 provides that the grant covers more than one year. The authority should calculate operating expenses on an annual pro rata share of the grant. This Bill is a Member initiative, at the request of a constituent. No opponents are at this time. If there's not any questions, I ask for your 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, except for Mr. Reis. The Chair recognizes Mr. Reis."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Representative, what's the genesis of this Bill?"
"The program was implemented in 2005, and at that time, there was only single year grants, but since then, they have had multiple year grants. And what's happening is the multiple year grants is causing the administrative cost to be cal… miscalculated. So, what they're trying to do is bring that in line so that the… the administrative costs are appropriate for the grant, the annual grant."
"You mentioned in your remarks that this is a Member initiative. What do you… what do you mean it's a Member initiative?"
"It was a Member init… excuse me, it was a request from the constituent." 09700115.doc 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Will this cost the State of Illinois any money?"
"No. No fiscal impact."
"Where's the money come from then? Where are these… where does the moneys for these grants come from?"
"One second, please. These dollars have already been allocated, and it reduces the costs of operations for the State of Illinois."
"They were allocated from where?"
"The Illinois Housing Department Authority."
"How do they get their money?"
"Through various grants, federal, state. The program was implemented in 2005."
"All right. Thank you, Representative."
"You're welcome."
"Those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Record yourselves, Members. Record yourselves, Members. Please take the record. On this question, there are 84 voting 'yes', 24 voting 'no', and 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 404, Representative Mautino. Mr. Mautino. Out of the record. House Bill 4757, Mr. Moffitt. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4757, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Moffitt, has been approved for consideration." 09700115.doc 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Mr. Moffitt removes the Bill from the record. House Bill 440… I'm sorry, 4577, Mr. Moffitt. Please the Bill."
"House Bill 4577, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Moffitt."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4577 is clean-up language that was requested by the Illinois State Police. We're talking about some funds here dealing with… that were established by House Bill 4779, and became Public Act 96- 11… 1173 back in 2010. This legis… legislation designated that, for convictions related to reckless driving or speeding in excess of over 40 miles per hour the speed limit, that… what the funds would be, the fine. We're not changing those at all. All we're doing is establishing where those funds go. It is estimated that last year, these funds would generate 45 to 50 thousand for the Illinois State Police. At the request of the State Treasurer, this was the Amendment that we put on, and I… this is an agreement between the State Treasurer and the State Police. I think I inadvertently said between the Fire Service and the State Police when it was presented. The… it will go into a fund when… when it's collected. The circuit clerks will remit it to the State Police instead of the State Treasurer. Then the State Police will use this into the State Police DUI Fund. And in the case of the Department of Natural Resources, it will go into the Conservation Police Operations Assistance Fund. So, clean-up language. Not 09700115.doc 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 changing anything in terms of the fines, but where it will go. Be happy to entertain any questions."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"Representative, after the circuit clerk sends the money to either IDNR or the State Police, can that money be swept or is that considered then as part of their line items or their… part of their treasury… their bank account?"
"Excellent question, Representative. I think there's no way to know for the sure, the intent, the hope. The belief is that it would be funds that would not be swept."
"And what can the funds be used for? Can they be used for putting additional police officers on the street? Can it be used for new squad cars? Is there any limitations on that?"
"Well, there would be some discretion by those two departments. In the case of the State Police, it's for the State Police DUI Fund, which would be used to assist them in operations dealings with DUI. In the case of the Conservation Police, goes into their operations assistance fund. So, it's going to be, obviously, used for general operations, law enforcement, dealing with the issue that was… that led to the… to the ticket. But the… the intent is that that money really goes where the Legislature intended it to go."
"Thank you, Representative." 09700115.doc 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Record yourselves please, Members. Mr. Jackson. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 4606, Representative May. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4606, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative May."
"Yes. Thank you, Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. 4606 is an initiative of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to provide, to make sure that we have healthy, clean air in our daycare centers. It will be… required testing of… for radon, which is an odorless, colorless gas, which causes lung cancer. And I'll be happy to answer any questions, but I ask for your support for the safety of our children."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Representative, it was pretty noisy here in the chamber. If you could just give a quick… a quick synopsis of what you were… your Bill does, please."
"Yes. It is an… it is an initiative of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to provide… to make sure that there is not radon in our daycare centers around the state; 09700115.doc 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 requires testing every three years. We now test in schools, and IEMA has found a huge incidence of radon to be mediated. Radon is the colorless, odorless gas that causes cancer."
"Thank you."
"Mr. Fortner."
"Due to a potential conflict of interest, I'll be voting 'present' on this Bill."
"Thank you, Sir. Mr. Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Do you know who… naturally, coming from the far end of the southern part of the state, the capability of our daycares to be able to find someone that would do the testing throughout the state? I mean, I understand you have plenty people that do that in your area, but…"
"Well, actually, for the majority of the daycares that are in our centers… are centers in this state, the majority of them, 10,524, are daycare homes and daycare… group daycare homes. They can buy a kit at Home Depot. They can get it from the American Lung Association for $10."
"Okay. All right. Thank you."
"And interestingly, you bring up the diversity of the state. Illinois is the fourth-ranking state, behind California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in the amount of radon. That's why we have, as a matter of public health, attacked this problem. And it is prevalent in this… Representative Costello's district. It is prevalent in my district. Is it 09700115.doc 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 prevalent all over the state, but it's very capricious, that's why it's so important to test."
"Representative May to close."
"Thank you very much. For the safety of our children. I ask for an 'aye' vote on House Bill 4606."
"Those in favor of the Bill will vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Gaffney. Please take the record. On this question, there are 67 voting 'yes', 39 voting 'no', and 3 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 4638, Representative McAsey. McAsey. Out of the record. House Bill 4498, Representative Mell. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4498, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Mell."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4498 makes it a Class 2 Felony to sell or give any firearm to a minor who does not have a valid FOID card, or to sell or give any firearm to a convicted felon."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, it says that it is… will be a Class III Felony to sell or give a firearm to a person under the age of 18. Is that correct?" 09700115.doc 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Yeah… No. It currently is a Class III. It would make it a Class II Felony."
"All right. So, I couldn't give a weapon, a… a shotgun, a rifle, a pistol, a rifle or a shotgun to my grandson. Is that correct?"
"You couldn't… well, does your grandson have a FOID card?"
"Yes."
"Well, then you could."
"Okay. All right."
"You're good."
"Is… what verification would I need, you know, I mean… So, here… here… here's my situation. Suppose I… I don't know my grandson may not have a FOID card. I was told that he did. I don't have to have… do I have to actually get a hold of his FOID card and see it, and inspect it?"
"I… if you're…"
"And this is what I'm… this is… this is a legitimate concern. I… I have people in my district that I know it… it commonly occurs. They would not live in the same county or whatever, but they would… they would purchase a… a firearm for hunting for their grandchild or… or children that they may care for, and… and have had hunting with or whatever, thinking that they did, give them to them for Christmas. Now, all of a sudden, I'm in a vio… in violation? And… and I'm going to be a felon?"
"I believe it's if you knowingly know they don't have a… knowingly know that they don't…"
"Who decides what knowingly is?" 09700115.doc 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"The courts would decide that."
"That scares me. All right. Yeah. Is it… is it all guns, or is it… what… what… when… when we start talking about the definition of a firearm, does a pellet gun qualify under this?"
"No, I don't believe so."
"Okay. You don't… you… you know so, or you don't believe so."
"I don't believe so."
"Okay. I… Mr. Speaker, I do have some concerns. I… I can see a lot of problems going down this path of what knowing is. I don't know what I'm… without going right to the language and figuring out exactly what the definition of a firearm is, if pellet guns or air rifles would be… would… would qualify. Do you know… do you know where the act… in… in the actual text, the description of what a firearm is?"
"Hold on, Representative."
"Okay."
"You know, let me get that information for you, Representative."
"Okay. If you could get the information…"
"Yes."
"…I'd deeply appre… really appreciate it, because I just want to make sure we aren't… aren't heading down a path that we're going to get a lot of people in trouble and make them felons that had no intention of doing anything incorrect." 09700115.doc 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Right. This… you know, this passed out of committee without any of opposition or kind of like these questions. So…"
"And… and I understand that. The only concern I have is I've seen that happen before. That's like whenever they come over from the Senate and they vote… they were voted unanimous out of the Senate. I've seen that get us in trouble before…"
"Okay."
"…too. So, if I could just find out on that, I'd appreciate it."
"Okay. Great."
"Representative Cassidy."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. This… this Bill I stra… stand in very strong support of this Bill. We are really experiencing a plague of gun violence in our communities and we need to do everything we can to keep these dangerous weapons out of the hands of minors, and out of the hands of people who are causing violence in our streets. And I strongly, strongly urge an 'aye' vote on this Bill."
"Representative Mulligan."
"You caught me off guard. In my advanced age, I forgot what I was going to ask her. I'm curious as to a FOID card for a young person. My understanding is if you get… a 10 year-old has to have a course, and…"
"Asking a question of the Sponsor? Yeah."
"Yes."
"The Sponsor…" 09700115.doc 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Thank you, Mr…"
"The Spon…"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I ask a question?"
"The Sponsor will yield."
"Thank you so much for keeping what we do is legitimate. I give up. Representative…"
"Yes."
"…it is my understanding, having had children that received shotguns from grandparents and other things, that you have to… in order to get a FOID card at that age, you have to go for a special course, and you have to be certified from that course."
"That's true."
"That's true? So, how would that be impacted by your Bill?"
"It wouldn't."
"It wouldn't? So, they would still be allowed to have the FOID card, and the parent or grandparent would still be allowed to give them a weapon?"
"Yes."
"Whether it be a shotgun? Are you also including handguns?"
"Correct."
"All right. I recently worked with the mayor of Chicago on some… on gun issues, and I certainly support some of it. But on the other hand, with what's happened in the last two or three weeks, it's obviously a parent that… many juveniles, who are gang members have guns and it really doesn't matter whether you have a card, or whatever 09700115.doc 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 you're doing, and that they're just randomly killing people. So, how is this going to impact it, other than to make sure that… people that want to protect themselves are have… going to have a harder time getting guns than people who don't really care and get them illegally."
"Okay. Representative, I'm sorry. I… I'm being talked to and it's… it's kind of difficult to hear you. Can you ask me that again, please?"
"How will this impact the difference between people who get the guns legitimately and not legitimately, because it seems to me that there are many people in the City of Chicago that have guns that aren't covered by this, are just… and we've had the highest rate of deaths and shootings that we've had in years in the City of Chicago. So, how do you think this is going to change it? All you're doing is you're keeping people that might want to protect themselves from having guns."
"No. What this Bill does is it increases the penalty if you knowingly sell or give a firearm to a minor who doesn't have a FOID card, or who is a felon."
"I still have a problem. I'm not quite sure what… what all you're trying to accomplish. And how do you know for sure that someone has been convicted of a felony? We expunge the record after 10 years for a lot of people if they weren't convicted of a crime that was something more than victimless."
"Well, if they have a FOID card, then they… you know, they've gone through the process. So…" 09700115.doc 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"So, it used to be that a lot of people would come into my area, Park Ridge, when… when you couldn't buy guns in the city. And so, we had, at one point, the largest number of registered gun dealers in the state. So, what happens now that you can have ranges and other things in the city? And you think this is going to make a difference in whether people are allowed to give guns to people that they're not sure. I mean, how many people sell a gun to somebody privately and then, don't ask to see a FOID card? And how are you going to get out the rules to the common, ordinary person, not one that is a registered dealer or has a business that does that? So, say I am someone who is selling for an estate. The person died, they had extra guns, not all of them are going to the family, so the estate is selling the guns without going through a dealer. How would you take care of that?"
"Okay. Representative, just a quick couple things. One, this is an enhancement. This isn't anything new. So, the burden…"
"No. I think we've seen…"
"…of proof is already been…"
"…we've seen this a…"
"Oh, excuse me. I…"
"…number of times."
"Representative, can I just finish, real quick, 'cause I think it's… it'll end this debate. I'm going to… because the definition of firearm does include, you know, paintball guns and the pellets guns, I will be taking it out of the record to… for an Amendment to… to…" 09700115.doc 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Are you going to remove…"
"…remove that."
"…BB guns then?"
"And so… Yeah. And so, then… then we can talk when it comes up again."
"All right. Thank you."
"The Lady removes the Bill from the record. The next Bill is House Bill 5482, Mr. Morthland. Morthland in the chamber? Out of the record. House Bill 4748, Mr. Poe. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4748, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Poe."
"Yeah. Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, this is an initiative of the Treasurer. What it does… right now, bonds, when they mature out in coupons, it goes into a mature bond fund and then it's tied up so that we can't that money back out to the constituents of Illinois. What this would do would let us put that in unclaimed property instead and then that way we could… more people could receive some money that they… their families left them. So, I'd ask for a favorable vote."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Dugan, Dunkin, Pihos. Representative Dugan. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a 09700115.doc 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 3986, Representative Mussman. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 3986, a Bill for an Act concerning aging. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Mussman."
"Thank you, Mr… Am I on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. House Bill 3986 amends the Elder Abuse and Neglect Act to support agencies that are designed to receive reports of elder abuse from mandated reporters in creating an online tool so that reports can be filed in a confidential and efficient way. As a consequence of our poor economy, incidence of elder abuse are on the rise. This is a concern frequently cited by service providers in my community. Currently, these reports are received via telephone in a long interview process. There is concern that potential reporters may not have the time and patience to wait in queue, may hang up and possibly not call back, as online reporting tool would allow them to submit a report and then receive a follow-up call for the interview afterward. Department of Aging is in support of this Bill. I ask for an 'aye' vote. And I am happy to answer any questions. Thank you."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. And on that question, the Chair recognizes Mr. Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Representative, are there any additional costs for the Department on Aging to implement this program?" 09700115.doc 62 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Not at this moment in time. They're investigating the cost. That's why the language is permissive, because it allows them time to negotiate that. Is it intent… a project that they intend to complete, and this leaves it open ended."
"And how long will this process take for them? Will… I'm looking at my analysis and it says that it might take two or three years for the Department of Aging to deal with the new upgrades of the IT program. So, this may not go online for a long time then."
"It's… it's definitely one of the concerns with the state's current budget crisis not allowing enough money to move forward. With those computer projects, it… it could, potentially, slow the situation down. But we want to make sure that they are on target to complete this."
"Well, when would we know? Is the Department of Aging going to send us some type of report, let us know that they're able to do this? Or, we're just going to presume that at some point, it's already happening. I think it's important that we all know, as a Body, that they've implemented this program."
"I think it'll be part of the report back to the Appropriations Committees every year as… as they progress through this situation, was my understanding."
"Thank you, Representative."
"Those in favor of the Bill will vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Mulligan. Take the record, please. Mr. Clerk, on this question, there are 109 09700115.doc 63 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 4929, Mr. Reboletti. Mr. Reboletti. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4929, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Reboletti, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Reboletti."
"On Floor Amendment #1, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a trailer Bill from a drug forfeiture Act we dealt with last year. And I'll discuss it further on Third Reading."
Speaker Lang: "Those in favor of the Amendment 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 4464, Representative Nekritz. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 44…"
"Excuse me, Mr. Clerk. Out of the record. House Bill 5913, Representative Rose. Mr. Rose. Please… Out of the record. House Bill 4573, Mr. Phelps. Out of the record. House Bill 4940, Mr. Sacia. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4940, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Sacia."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, Public Act 97-342 amended the County Codes to 09700115.doc 64 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 provide that, going forward, a county is required to implement that school facility tax approved by the voters in a referendum. Ironically, one of the counties I represent, Jo Daviess County, is the only county in which the voters approved a one percent school facility tax; however, the county board reduced it to one half percent. And the purpose of this legislation is to make Jo Daviess County in compliance with the rest of the state. I ask for your 'aye' vote. And I'll be happy to answer your questions."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. Recognize Representative Franks."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields."
"Representative, I just want to make sure I understand what you're trying to do. You're trying to make sure that a county raises its taxes, and makes sure it gets the most it can get. You're going to… you're going to mandate that they get the maximum rate."
"Representative, what happened in the Public Act, that I already mentioned, that's what was done last year. Jo Daviess County voters passed a one percent referendum, sales tax referendum. The county board took the initiative to reduce it by half."
"So… but the… the law indicates that a county board may impose a rate equal or less than the amount approved by the voters, correct?"
"Not with the change that was… was put in place last year, as I understand it." 09700115.doc 65 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"'Cause our analysis is different than that. Our analysis indicates that there is some discretion by the county board that they can assess up to the maximum, but there's no requirement for them to take the maximum. And what you're saying is you want to change the law to require them to take the maximum."
"What I'm saying, Representative, is the county of Jo Daviess, the citizens, in a front door referendum, passed a referendum to authorize the increase of one percent on sales tax for school building. The county board took the initiative to reduce it by half. The purpose of my Bill, which came to me from the schools in Winnebag… or, I'm sorry, in Jo Daviess County, is to bring it back to the full one percent."
"But isn't this a prerogative of the county board? You and I had a discussion a couple of weeks ago…"
"Yeah."
"…where you were the only one in committee who voted against it."
"Oh, oh, you're right. I'm the only one in committee…"
"Right."
"…but I believe there were 100…"
"Right, a hundred."
"…against it on this floor."
"There was a hundred. I rem…"
"Yeah. Yeah. I…"
"I sort of remember it."
"You know. I figured it might." 09700115.doc 66 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"But… but I remember the argument was that the county board should be the one to be able to determine what they wish to do. Now, today, your arguing the county board shouldn't be the one to determine what they should do, because the… even though they have the legal responsi… or, legal ability, you're saying we should override their… their genius and what they decide. I… listen, I agree with… I agree that they probably messed up, but I'm wondering… but your argument last time was that they shouldn't be overwritten and now you're saying they should be."
"Well, Representative, there's one thing that I know and respect so greatly about you is I know you are not a vindictive man. I absolutely know that, and I… I…"
"Well, I just… listen, consistency is probably overrated. You know, probably. So, you know, I can understand when people want to change their position, but I… but I'm serious here. I… I think that we have to… we have to have some principle on this. And I… and I just want to make sure that the law… and perhaps you and I could… if… if you could take it out of the record for a minute, because I think we have a disagreement on what the law currently is."
"I'll… I'll be happy to. Speaker, would you pull it for a minute? Thank you."
"The Gentleman takes the Bill from the record. House Bill 3881, Mr. Saviano. Out of the record. House Bill 4674, Mr. Rita. Mr. Rita. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4674, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Third Reading of this House Bill." 09700115.doc 67 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Mr. Rita."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4674 is the sunset… the renewal of the sunset of the Elevator Safety Act. This was agreed language. And I ask for a favorable vote."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Please take the record. 109 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 4523, Mr. Gaffney. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4523, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Gaffney."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4523 amends the Criminal Code of 1961. And basically, it clarifies a Bill that we passed here last Session. It seeks to exempt the household products from the provisions of the caustic substances registry. It is supported by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Food Retailers Association, the Retail Merchants Association, the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, and the Midwest Har… Hardware Association. I appreciate your support, and I will answer any questions."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Mr. Franks."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman yields." 09700115.doc 68 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Representative, first of all, I want to commend you for bringing this forward. I think there… when this Bill had passed last year there was a lot of misinformation out there. So, you… what does this Bill do to clarify the intent that the previous Sponsor… and I remember this was Representative Mendoza's Bill, and I think that some of the retailers were confused in the implementation. So, I hope this Bill will be clarifying. If you could expound on that."
"Yeah. And then the key to this is that the confusion was the 'causes severe burns' language. And so, there's confusion in the hardware stores of what that would be, simple, you know, drain cleaner or other products that weren't intended to cause a person to have to sign a log at the counter, were being included. So, this exempts what we call 'household products', and it says 'as any product which is customarily produced or distributed for sale by consumption or use or customarily stored by individuals in or about the household including, but not limited to, products which are customarily produced and distributed for use in or about the household as a cleaning agent, drain cleaner, pesticide, epoxy, paint, stain, or similar substance.' So, this gets rid of, really, like the commercial acid and things like that that are the intention, and clarifies that so that people going to the hardware store just to buy Drano don't have to sign their name, address log and so forth."
"Well, they didn't actually have to last time. But they just… people didn't really understand that, correct?" 09700115.doc 69 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"That is correct."
"Okay. 'Cause I wanted to make sure because there was confusion, but I think this will clarify it. So, this Bill will exempt those household pro… products from the law of requirements, explicitly."
"That is correct."
"I think it's a… a very good Bill. I think you'll make a lot of people happy, Mr. Gaffney."
"Thank you, Representative Franks."
"Mr. Bost."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, ever once in a while a Bill gets out of here and… and I can remember one in particular, just before I became a Member of the General Assembly that actually caused every farmer, when they moved equipment, to have to get a permit from the state. This is a similar type situation. When the legislation was passed, now, no one understood to what level, and what an inconvenience, and not really doing exactly what it was supposed to do. And I appreciate the fact that the… the Sponsor is straightening this up, and… and I think it should pass unanimously."
"Those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Sosnowski and Winters. Mr. Winters. Please take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5602, Representative Sente. Representative Sente. Out of the record. House Bill 5548, Mr. Schmitz. Mr. Schmitz. Please read the Bill." 09700115.doc 70 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"House Bill 5548, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Schmitz."
"Thank you, Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of this House. This is a Bill that simply just allows medical staff to be represented by personal attorneys when they're called before the hos… hospital licensing board. Currently, the statutes are silent on that, and we felt it appropriate to spell it out in legislation."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed e 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Evans. Flowers. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 1 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5823, Mr. Thapedi. Out of the record. House Bill 5791, Representative Senger. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5791, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Senger."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. House Bill 5791, basically, looks at the five state retirement systems and asks them to do an actuarial study, which an actual… actuarial study has to do with morality rates, interest, salary, and the rest to be done every three years instead of every five years. I ask for your support and I'm open for questions." 09700115.doc 71 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. The Chair recognizes Representative Flowers. Representative Flowers."
"Mr. Speaker, let the record reflect that had I been paying closer attention, I would not have voted 'no' on that last Bill. I would've voted 'yes'."
Speaker Lang: "The record will reflect your intentions, Representative."
"Thank you."
"Representative Mulligan."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Lady yields."
"Representative, how much is this going to cost?"
"There is a… a cost associated with the study; however, we're… asking that question in committee, we're looking at the benefits outweighing what the cost is."
"So, you think that it's the… what you're requiring is an in-house actuary from each of those different group, to do their own assessment."
"The groups do their own assessment. They hire their actuaries so there'll be a cost… additional cost to… to the pensions for doing that. But again, it'll avoid some of the situ… situations, such as, we just found that we had someone who finished their five-year actuarial study. And what we thought was going to be a $750 million increase, turned out to be a billion dollar increase."
"All right."
"So, it'll help…"
"Thank you." 09700115.doc 72 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"…solve that."
"There being no further debate, those in favor of the Bill vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Crespo. Davis. Will Davis. Please take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Returning to House Bill 5823, Mr. Thapedi. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5823, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 5289, Mr. Turner. Mr. Turner. Out of the record. House Bill 5062, Mr. Sommer. Out of the record. House Bill 4190, Representative Williams. Out of the record. House Bill 4752, Mr. Winters. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4752, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Winters, has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Winters."
"Thank you. Floor Amendment #1 is a request from my local forest Preserve. It is limited to the Winnebago County Forest Reserve and to the Byron Forest Reserve Districts. It would allow, by front-door referendum, the cap on the General Services line item to exceed six cents. 09700115.doc 73 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Right now, as the cap is six cents, they would like to go to 15. In comparison, the park districts allow up to 25 cents for general administration. Be happy to answer any questions."
"Those in favor of the Amendment… spoke a little too soon. The Gentleman… those is favor of the Amendment say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'ayes' have it. The Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Returning to House Bill 5602, Representative Sente. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5602, a Bill for an Act concerning juveniles. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #3, offered by Representative Sente, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Sente. You want to explain your Amendment?"
"Thank you, Chairman… I… or Speaker. I'd like to present the Bill on Third Reading."
"Want to adopt your Amendment?"
"Yes."
"Would you explain your Amendment?"
"The Amendment is… is filed to add two items to this Bill. One is to provide some limitations to the Class A and B misdemeanor and felony, so we can reduce… or-tighten the language. It was… it came from one of the opponents. And so, if… it is only important if there is an immediate safety danger. And the second limits specifically who the 09700115.doc 74 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 police department can present the information to at the school."
"Those in favor of the Lady's Amendment say… spoke too soon. The Chair recognizes Representative Bellock on the Amendment."
"Thank you very much. Will the speaker yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Where does the Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative stand on this Amendment?"
"They are still an opponent."
"They are still an opponent. Thank you."
"Those in favor of the Lady's Amendment vote 'yes'… oh, sorry, excuse me. Those in favor of the Lady's Amendment say 'aye'; 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 4190, Representative Williams. Read the Bill."
"House Bill 4190, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Williams, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Williams."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is… this Amendment contains language which is an initiative of the Attorney General's Office. The Bill is actually revenue positive, and provides that Illinois false claim statutes comply with 09700115.doc 75 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 federal false claim statutes in order for the state to be able to recoup an extra 10 percent of Medicaid recoveries based on fraud. I would just ask us to adopt the Amendment."
Speaker Lang: "Those in favor of the Amendment 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 5752, Mr. Zalewski. Out of the record."
"Representative Joe Lyons in the Chair. Mr. Clerk, under House Bills-Second Reading, Leader Lou Lang has House Bill 5019. What's the status on that Bill, Mr. Clerk?"
"House Bill 5019, a Bill for an Act concerning regulations. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Leader Lang."
"Mr. Speaker, that was… that was a different Bill than I thought it was. Could you move 5019 back to Second Reading, please?"
Speaker Lyons: "Mr. Clerk, on the… on the request of the Sponsor, let's move that Bill, 5019, back to Second Reading."
"…recognizes Representative May. Representative Lang in the Chair."
"Thank you, Speaker. A point of personal privilege, please." 09700115.doc 76 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Please state your point."
"I would like to invite all Members to a briefing today at 4:30 p.m. or immediately after Session, with Mark Miller, head of… the director of the Department of Natural Resources, who's going to give us a presentation on what some of the budget cuts over the last years, and proposed budget cuts, will mean as far as our open space and natural areas in our state. So, 4:30 p.m. or immediately after Session to hear Mark Miller of DNR, at C-1, in the Stratton. Green Caucus and all Members are welcome. Thank you."
"House Bill 2912, Representative Acevedo. Out of the record. House Bill 5852, Representative Arroyo. Out of the record. House Bill 4707, Representative Berrios. Out of the record. House Bill 1986, Mr. Bradley. Out of the record. House Bill 4548, Representative Bellock. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4548, a Bill for an Act concerning public health. This Bill was read a second time on a previous day. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Bellock, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Bellock."
"There is an Amendment. Isn't there?"
"Floor Amendment 1, Representative."
"Right. Thank you."
"Please explain your Amendment."
"Right. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And what this Amendment does, simply, is it just allows, in the 09700115.doc 77 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Bill, that there will be two hearings that… Alzheimer's Association wanted us to host two hearings throughout the state. And when I presented the Bill, I said I had several Legislators who were interested in just doing that. So, that's all the Amendment does is to add two hearings to raise the awareness of services in the state, and how acute the problem is now on Alzheimer's."
Speaker Lang: "Those in favor of the Amendment say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'ayes' have it. The Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 4126, Dan Burke. Out of the record. House Bill 5921, Mr. Cunningham. Out of the record. House Bill 5236, Mr. Bost. Mr. Bost. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5236, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 5236, basically, what it does is we've got a port authority that was created many years ago, had extremely amount… a large number of members. What this does is it reduces the number of members, because what's happened, many of these communities that were in the port authority that had to assign members, don't even have elected officials to appoint these members, and… and they're having trouble getting a quorum to do the business. So, this actually just changes and goes in-line with many of the other port authorities in the state. I'd be glad to answer any questions." 09700115.doc 78 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Seeing… the Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. Seeing no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Please take… Mr… Mr. Rose. Please take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5321, Leader Currie. Out of the record. House Bill 5459, Representative du Buclet. Out of the record. House Bill 4940, Mr. Sacia. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4940, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Sacia."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, you'll recall that a few moments ago we took this Bill out of the record at the request of Representative Franks. Again, the purpose of this Bill is for the voters of Jo Daviess County, who passed legislation for a one percent sales tax, a front-door referendum, and it was passed at one percent, and the county board implemented it at a half a percent. There was a Public Act, and it was Public Act 97-542, which in… which went into effect August 23, of 2011. What's important here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the date. Every county in the State of Illinois, with the exception of Jo Daviess, going forward, has agreed to the one percent if that's what's passed. Jo Daviess County Board had passed their county board referendum prior to the Public Act, so they're hanging their hat on that, and the 09700115.doc 79 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 school districts are hollering foul. So, that's really the… the genesis of the Bill, the reason for my bringing it before you. Representative Franks brought out some very good points, and I think he chooses to speak on it, but I'll let that be his decision."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Record yourselves, Members. Bradley, Dunkin, Mulligan, Pihos. Mr. Bradley. Please take the record. On this question, there are 63 voting 'yes', 47 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5353, Mr. Brauer. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5353, a Bill for an Act concerning wildlife. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Brauer."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the chamber, this simply extends the rabbit season for a year to get past the deer hunting season. This was a… done in conjunction with the director of DNR. I'll answer any questions."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Davis, Dunkin. Mr. Dunkin. Please take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared 09700115.doc 80 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 passed. House Bill 1210, Mr. Ford. Out of the record. House Bill 5659, Representative Gordon. Representative Gordon. Out of the record. House Bill 4063, Representative David Harris. Mr. David Harris. Out of the record. House Bill 3940, Representative Jakobsson. Representative Jakobsson. Out of the record. House Bill 5283, Mr. Moffitt. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5283, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Moffitt."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 5283 we've passed here before, but it's just never made the full process of passing the Senate and getting to the Governor. I think we're on the right track to do it this time. What this does it'd create a loan program revolving loan, for the purchase of brush trucks, a smaller, like a pickup truck, a one ton or three-quarter ton. It has this though, and incentivizes being Illinois jobs, that it would help generate. It can be up to 10 years and up to $100 thousand at a two percent loan; however, if the chassis… chassis of the truck, its final assembly point's Illinois, you take one percent off. And if its apparatus is assembled in Illinois and installed, take one percent off. It could become a zero percent loan if it's an Illinois product; otherwise, it's a two percent loan. Be happy to entertain any questions, and appreciate your vote."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; 09700115.doc 81 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 opposed 'no'. The voting's open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Dunkin, Saviano. Please take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Chair recognizes Mr. Rose."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Point of personal privilege, if I may."
"Please state your point, Sir."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are saddened to learn this past week that a former Member of ours, Virgil Wikoff, passed away from Champaign. Representative Wikoff was a… well, he was a great leader in… in our area of and the entire State of Illinois. He served with distinction. I'll be filing a House Resolution in his honor, but for right now, Mr. Speaker, I'd ask that we have a moment in silence in favor of… or in memory of Representative Virgil Wikoff."
"We'll take a moment of silence."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
Speaker Lang: "Thank you, Mr. Rose. The next Bill on the Calendar is House Bill 5263, Mr. Reboletti. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5263, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Mr. Reboletti."
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, 5263 changes the definition… or, actually, gives a definition, that if you sell narcotics near a preschool, a public school, a private preschool, kindergarten, nursery school, that is also 09700115.doc 82 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 considered a school for purposes of prosecuting drug dealers who sell within a thousand feet of a school. I'd take any questions and ask for your 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. On that question, the Chair recognizes Representative Monique Davis." Davis, M.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Gentleman will yield." Davis, M.: "Representative, could you tell us why this Bill is necessary?"
"As… as I said in… in the Elementary-Secondary Education Committee, Representative, which you were there, that the Illinois Supreme Court said that the definition of preschool, for the purposes of a… of Cook County prosecution was vague and, therefore, asked that the General Assembly give some more definitive explanation of what constitutes a preschool or kindergarten, a nursery school, and so that's why I brought the Bill forth. Otherwise, if a drug dealer sells in front of a public school, a high school, within a thousand feet, he's charged one way, and if he sells within a thousand feet of a preschool, he'd be charged with a lesser penalty." Davis, M.: "So…"
"All this does is…" Davis, M.: "…what… what really happened was a case went before a judge and the prosecutor wanted an extended sentence basing it upon a nursery school or a preschool being a school. The judge stated that the enhanced penalty was not necessary because a nursery school is not really the way we 09700115.doc 83 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 classify schools. Now, the issue becomes why didn't Legislators pass laws to develop penalties if you're selling drugs in front of a school. The reason is because you could entice young people to use drugs, you could entice young people to sell drugs, but I'm not sure you can entice nursery school and kindergarten people to sell drugs or use drugs. So, my opposition to the Bill is based upon the budget deficit. By enhancing penalties when it's not really necessarily, merely puts a larger strain on a budget that's already in a major deficit. It costs money to keep prisoners in prison. Now, the person selling heroin in front of a project, or any other school, he will get an enhanced penalty. But to add the penalty in front of a nursery school, to change the tune of saying a nursery school is really a regular school, what it does is says to the judge enhance this penalty. By enhancing that penalty, the budget of the State of Illinois will be increased. We must realize the cause and the effect of legislation that we pass. A person going to prison for selling heroin, he's not going to come out rehabbed. He's not going to… it's not going to be a deterrent to other drug sellers. So, the mere fact that you keep this person in prison longer, actually, is hurting the taxpayer. It's not helping the person selling the drugs. It's not helping the taxpayer. It's not preventing drug selling. All it's doing is keeping him there, maybe not 15 years, but 20 years. We have to pay to keep people in prison. Realizing some of us only have a prison in our neighborhoods, no industry. Realizing we need that enrollment. We realize that those enrolled in prison 09700115.doc 84 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 help to increase your count for the census. We still have to look at the budget of the state and ask, is it worth paying more money to keep somebody in prison by changing what a nursery school is, and pretending that it's a regular school. An eighth grader might be tempted to sell or use drugs, even a sixth grader, but not a preschooler. And that's why that was not included in the laws preventing drug selling. This is merely a Bill to help burst our budget, and some of the same people will get up and decry, they will be very angry about the budget and how big it is and how big the deficit is, but nobody will look at these so called little things that help to crea… increase the budget of the Department of Corrections. It is not necessary. It will not help anyone, but it will hurt us taxpayers. I urge a 'no' vote, Representative."
"Representative Bellock."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just… to the Bill. I just want to applaud the Sponsor of this Bill and the DuPage County State's Attorney, and the Cook County State's Attorney, because this issue is huge. To just define school is just part of it. But what's going on in our city, in Chicago, and in the suburbs, and in the collar counties where we have the explosion of drugs, but especially heroin, anything that can help our children to prevent a death. We have had close to 28 deaths from just heroin alone in DuPage County, 7 just in the town of Naperville within the last six months. So, I applaud this Representative for this Bill, and anything that we can do 09700115.doc 85 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 to tighten up our children being protected from drugs. Thanks."
"Representative Flowers."
"Mr. Speaker, will the Gentleman yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, can you please explain to me how this Bill will protect the children from drugs?"
"Well, Representative, the whole reason this General Assembly passed law…"
"Sir, my time is limited, and I know I've been here for about 28 years…"
"I don’t think we're limited, Representative. We can have as much debate on this if… I'll move that we have unlimited debate."
"Okay. I just don’t want…"
"So, you can have as much time as you like. I'll be more than glad to explain…"
"Can… can I have some of your time?"
"You… you asked what the…"
Speaker Lang: "Representative, just go ahead and ask your question…
"Thank you."
Speaker Lang" "…and Mr. Reboletti answer it. I'll control the debate. How's that?"
"Thank you."
"Thank you, Speaker."
"All right."
"You had… you had a question, Representative Flowers?" 09700115.doc 86 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"The question is, what does this Bill have to do with preventing children from getting on drugs?"
"Well, it has to do with the fact that drug sales are usually followed by some level of violence. We protect our children in parks, in schools, you name it, where there is a large gathering of people. Anytime there are drug sales, there is a high op… a potential for violence. That's why the General Assembly created safe zones of a thousand feet. All this Bill says, that if you're selling drugs within thousand feet of a preschool, of the a General Assembly, recognize that potential for violence, and that we want to keep that activity as far away from those schools as possible. That's all the Bill does."
"Okay. Now, have the Federal Government said anything about the drug school zones and the enhanced penalties? Have they ever stated that it was discrimination because it was disproportionately affecting minority students or kids, as opposed to suburban kids because the schools are closer, the parks are closer to the homes? Have there ever been any rulings, any discussions, any court…"
"Representative…"
"…findings?"
"I… I can tell you that at one point, the Federal Government treated crack cocaine differently than powder cocaine. The Federal Government and our Congress reversed itself and said that it… it's the same thing. The same… it should be…"
"We're talking about crack cocaine and crack, and powder. I'm not talking about that. I am talking about the 09700115.doc 87 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 zone. What has the Federal Government said about the school zone?"
"I'm not…"
"Did they… did they…"
"I'm not aware of what the Federal Government has said about school zones, Representative."
"There has been… there has been a ruling in regards to the discrimination and the disparity in regards to the school… of the drug zones, and it was disproportionately affecting the minority community. And if I'm not mistaken, it… it is unconstitutional."
"Well, Representative, all of our laws are applied with equal protection, treating everybody the same."
"I… I think there's a conflict between the Federal Law and the State Law. And…"
"Well, I… I served on a task force, I think it was last year, that spoke to some of the issues that you talked about, and there was some findings that the committee made. I was part of the minority report, with respect to that, but, the reality is, is that this is helping to clarify a court decision. That's all. If we don't want to… if we don’t want to consider preschools as schools, then people should vote 'no'."
"But it's not the idea, Sir, of considering preschools as schools. It's the disparity and the discrimination. That's the part that I want to focus in on."
"And… and I can…"
"And… and so, if… if, in your community, if there were the location of the homes and the schools was closer, we 09700115.doc 88 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 wouldn't… if all things was… were equal, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But all things are not equal and therefore, that's the reason why it is discrimination, because your schools and your daycare centers are further away from the parks, further away from the homes, and further away from the other zones that has been declared as drug-free zones that will give enhanced penalties. So, in your community, they can have the crack cocaine in the vicinity of the school, but not be within the 100 feet or the 300 feet."
"Representative…"
"In my community, I could live across the street from the school, and I will get the enhanced penalty."
"Representative, I live within 1000 feet of a park. So, if I sold drugs within 1000 feet of the park, I would be subject to enhanced penalties. It's… Elmhurst is not some…"
"Very… very few people…"
"…rural community."
"…very few people in your community would be negatively impacted by this legislation versus the people in a more populated area."
"All…"
"And so, once again, when you look at… when you… you know what, Representative… and I just thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want say this in closing. When you look at the numbers of people who are incarcerated in 1984, and in 1985 when I… in 1985 when I was first in the House, it was very few, but we have imploded our judicial… our… our jails 09700115.doc 89 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 and really taxed ourselves out because instead of creating jobs, we created jails, and there's no benefits from that. And my point to you, Sir, that the… the drug wars have been going on for years and we are no better for it. Our children are no safer for it. And I began this debate by asking you a simple question. What is it that this Bill has to do with preventing a child from coming in contact with drugs? Because, if the explanation that you gave me is applicable, then the City of Chicago, we are all in trouble there when you take into consideration of the environment of the shootings and the killings that's been going on."
"It's very simple, Representative. If you don't sell drugs, you can't get in trouble. If you don't sell drugs within a thousand feet of a school, you won't face enhanced penalties."
"So…"
"It's very simple. So, law-abiding citizens won't be impacted by this, not in the least fashion."
"Sir, I am…"
"But if people choose to be involved in… in the gangs, and to sell drugs for a living, this is what… there's violence that follows. That's what has happened over the last couple of week in the City of Chicago, lot of gang shootings, mostly over gang turf related to drug transactions."
"Representative, I have…"
"If… we… we already have all of these laws in place that protect schools and parks, and public housing areas; we have a lot of safe zones. If you don't believe that 09700115.doc 90 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 preschools should be included in this safe zone, then vote 'no' on the legislation."
"Sir, I just want to…"
"That's it."
"…I want to preference my remarks by saying, I agree with you. If you don't sell the drugs, this don't apply to you. I agree with you 100 percent. My only point to you that there are people all over this state that's selling drugs, and the disparity and the discrimination in regards to the sentencing. Now, if all things was equal, I'll say go for it. I'm with you 100 percent. But all things are not equal and so, therefore, if I'm selling the drug in one community, I can get off with probation."
"We… we have…"
"If I'm selling drugs in another loc… community, it's totally different."
"Representative, we've… we've given you some… a substantial amount of time. Can you bring your remarks to a close?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate you, and I would urge a 'no' vote because it's discriminatory. And again, all things are not equal, and I agree with the… with the Gentleman about if you don't sell the drugs, this don't apply. Thank you."
"Mr. Mitchell." Mitchell, J.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen, Representative Reboletti brought this Bill to Elementary- Secondary Ed, and as you can see by the vote, it had a Majority vote on both sides of the aisle. There's 09700115.doc 91 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 absolutely nothing in this Bill that does anything in the provision or the encouragement of the sale of drugs except for the fact that it says that a safe free zone is a thousand feet of a school and a school is defined now as a preschool, an elementary, which it is a school. Now, that was confused to the courts. All this Bill does is simply defines preschool as a school. That's needed by the courts for their understanding. I… it's not to encourage or discourage, or have anything to do with the selling of drugs. Those that sell drugs within a thousand feet of a school are criminals, period. They're affecting your children. You're children are not as safe unless we have definition so that courts can look at and know what we're talking about. And that's all this Representative's doing. Representative, if I'm wrong in my description, please correct me."
"Mr. Reboletti to close."
"I… I appreciate the robust debate on this. For those who don't like the safe zones, you can always file a dissolution to remove that. This Bill simply looks at preschools and nursery schools under the definition of a school under a Controlled Substance Act. And I would urge an 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman moves for the passage of the Bill. Those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Record yourselves, Members. Have all voted who wish? Mr. Mautino. Please take the record. On this question, there are 101 voting 'yes', 6 voting 'no', 3 voting 'present. And 09700115.doc 92 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5321, Majority Leader Currie. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5321, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Leader Currie."
"Thank you, Speaker and Members of the House. This merely remove extends the sunset date under which the… the Capitol Development Board can charge for contract administration from June of 2012 to June of 2016. It also provides the same opportunity for the Architect of the Capitol Complex in order to be able to charge for contracts that the architect administers. I know of no opposition. I'd be happy to answer your questions. And I'd be grateful for your 'yes' votes."
"The Lady moves for the passage of the Bill. There being no debate, those in favor vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Lilly, Phelps, Verschoore. Please take the record. On this question, there are 109 voting 'yes', 1 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. House Bill 5914, Mr. Rose. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 5914, a Bill for an Act concerning higher education. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 5505, Mr. Sosnowski. Please read the Bill." 09700115.doc 93 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"House Bill 5505, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. House Bill 4665, Representative McAsey. Representative McAsey. Out of the record. House Bill 4022, Representative Nekritz. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4022, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Nekritz, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Nekritz."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Amendment just simply changes the time frame allowed in the Bill for a filing of a report with the Illinois Commerce Commission from annually to every three years."
"Those in favor of the Amendment say 'yes'; those opposed 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. The Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading."
"Representative Joe Lyons in the Chair. Leader Lang, on page 9 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Second Reading, you have House Bill 5016. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5016, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 09700115.doc 94 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #3, offered by Representative Lang, has been approved for consideration."
"Leader Lang on Floor Amendment #3."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is an agreed Amendment dealing with the issue of debt buyers, which is the underlying core of the Bill. I move adoption."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the adoption of Floor Amendment #3 signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed vote 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And Floor Amendment #3 is adopted. Anything further, Mr. Clerk?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Dan Beiser, on the Order of Third Readings, you have House Bill 5493, 5493. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5493, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Beiser."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. House Bill 5493 amends the Vehicle Code. It provides that anyone receiving a second or subsequent conviction avail… ille… illegal possession of constrolled… controlled substance shall have his or her driving privileges immediately revoked by the Secretary of State."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. Is there any questions? Seeing none, the question is, 'Should House Bill 5493 pass?' All those in favor signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have 09700115.doc 95 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Dunkin, would you like to be recorded? 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 John Bradley, on page 22 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 5528. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5528, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Bradley."
"There's a Floor Amendment that came out of committee this morning, so I need to move this back to Second."
"Mr. Clerk, on the request of the Sponsor, let's move that Bill back to the Order of Second Reading. John Bradley was told by staff that the Floor Amendment has been approved. Would you want to do that Amendment now and then we'll put it back on Third?"
"Simply makes a technical change."
"What's the status on the Bill, Mr. Clerk?"
"House Bill 5528, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. This Bill was read a second time on a previous day. Amendment #2 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #3, offered by Representative Bradley, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Bradley on Floor Amendment #2."
"Simply makes a technical change. I'd ask for the adoption, and move back to Third."
"Correction. Floor Amendment #3." 09700115.doc 96 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Correct."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation on the Amendment. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of its adoption signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Anything further, Mr. Clerk?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Dan Burke, on page 20 of the Calendar, Representative, you have House Bill 4988. Leader Burke. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4988, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Burke."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4988 would simply give the City of Chicago, and any other municipality in our state, the opportunity to place an immobilization device on vehicles who have not complied with any city municipal vehicle tax. Be happy to answer any questions."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation on House Bill 4988. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, 'Should House Bill 4988 pass?' 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? Barickman. Moffitt. Coladipietro. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there are 64 Members voting 'yes', 46 Members voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is 09700115.doc 97 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 hereby declared passed. Mr. Clerk, on page 20 of the Calendar, Leader Cross has House Bill 4991. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4991, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Chair recognizes Jil Tracy on House Bill 4991."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intent of this Bill is cleanup language. It's a technical Amendment, basically, to a prior Bill, Senate 63. And it clarifies that there would be six associate judges added to the 23rd circuit, and that there would be no judges… circuit judges elected at large, but only resident judges elected and…"
"You’ve heard the Lady's explanation on House Bill 4991. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, 'Should House Bill 4991 pass?' 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? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there's 110 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Kelly Burke, on the Order of Second Readings, on page 11 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 5342. Out of the record. Representative Kelly Cassidy, on page 6 of the Calendar, on the Order of Second Readings, you have House Bill 4456. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4456, a Bill for an Act concerning public safety. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment 09700115.doc 98 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 #1 was adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
Speaker Lyons: "Third Reading. Representative Linda Chapa LaVia, on page 17 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Third Readings, you have House Bill 4029, 4029. Ready? Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4029, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Lyons: "The Lady from Kane, Representative Chapa LaVia."
"Thank you, Speaker and Members of the General Assembly. This piece of legislation, what it would do is it amends that a contractor cannot… a contractor cannot sue a board for choosing the lowest bids, student transportation bid, from any other contractor. It amends what was response… it's in response to the Statewide School Management's Alliance concern. But what it does it just says that school boards don't have to take the lowest bid when it comes to transportation, due to certain issues like special education students that are being bussed. Maybe the lowest bid isn't the best for the children, and I… I'd be more than happy to take any questions."
"You've heard the Lady's explanation. Is there any discussion? The Chair recognizes Representative Dennis Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, have… have there been any instances where boards have tried to take a… a lower bid… a different 09700115.doc 99 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 bid other than the lowest bid, then they were not able to do that?"
"Yeah. In fact, there was some issues in Leader Cross's area that had to do with special needs kids and not having video tapes for kids being abused. So… so, this just… and there's been other cases, but that's the only one that comes to mind, where the parents had come to my… my office and asked about what they could do with the school board. And since it's in the school boards hands, we have to give them the flexibility in order to do this. So…"
"Do the… do the boards have to lay out the case, then, as to why they're taking a different bid?"
"Yes. Yes. It has to be very detailed."
"Thank you."
"Thank you."
Speaker Lyons: "The Chair recognizes Representative Jerry Mitchell." Mitchell, J.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields." Mitchell, B.: "Representative, can you give us a little bit of information as to where this Bill came from and… and why we need it?"
"Well, it was exactly that, and also came from the Teamsters Joint Council 25, since they cover that area out there in Kane County and don't know the Will area. And it was a… it was… is was supposed to be concentrated on special needs, but then if we… we specify special needs buses, that… then it discriminates against all contracts for transportation. So, it affected the school board, but 09700115.doc 100 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 it actually came from over the, I'd say, over the last three or four years, I've had parents contact me, and in situations that it happens, especially in special needs." Mitchell, J.: "So, basically, this is a Bill that the Teamsters Local 777 would like to see passed so that there is no discrimination against accepting the lowest bid. Is that what you’re saying?"
"Yes." Mitchell, J.: "And that without this Bill, there is discrimination against…"
"Yes, there has, where we'd have to accept, or the school board would have to accept the lowest bid regardless of what equipment the buses have on them. So, this takes it in… quality into the consideration on the contracts." Mitchell, J.: "Even… even if they find problems with that lowest bidder, they still had to accept it. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes. They had to accept it prior to this piece of legislation. No, this allows the school boards flexibility to maybe do one jump up on the rein, so for the safety and the quality of the transportation for the children of the district, as opposed to taking the lowest quality, and again, the lowest quality, you know, goods if you will, this allows them a little bit of flexibility." Mitchell, J.: "Well, my understanding was that school boards, at… at their own dis… discriminates, had the right to reject the lowest bid if they did not fulfill all of the requirements on the bids specs to begin with." 09700115.doc 101 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"I… cost was the biggest factor with the school boards on selecting these, as opposed to quality. That's just what I've heard across the line talking with the Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance. They thought so too. I mean, the law might read one thing, but there's… there's a feeling, a general feeling, out there that we have to accept the lowest bid for transportation." Mitchell, J.: "Okay. So, there's some… there… there may be…"
"So, this just gives them flexibility. It doesn't say they have to. That gives them the flexibility, too, if they want to, cause the dollars come out of their under their overhead. So…" Mitchell, J.: "There… there may be some smaller, let's say smaller school districts, that don't understand that… that school districts really do have that ability; therefore, they just say, well, we have to take the lowest bid no matter what, even though that… that's not a reputable country company. There are safety factors that we're concerned with."
"Correct." Mitchell, J.: "This, then, that you think maybe these… the local school districts attorneys will then explain to their local school boards, say, hey, here's the legislation that gives you the right to reject the lowest bid."
"Yeah. And also, there's two issues in there, so I'm glad you started bringing that up. You know, it removes the provision that requires the district to rebid on contracts. Also, once they get a good, interested, and… and they're able to instead extend the contract for more than a 09700115.doc 102 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 year, and the district receives a timely request from another interested contractor. But also, it adds that the contractor cannot sue a school board either for choo… choosing the lowest bid. So, we had to clean up some…" Mitchell, J.: "Okay. So…"
"…language in order to protect the school district too." Mitchell, J.: "…so, basically, it's cleaning up language that will take care of some problems that are out… that shouldn't be out there, but are out there; therefore, this language will give them the protection they… they feel they need to… to reject the lowest bid, go with what they feel is a safer bid, or a bid with better safety factors on it; therefore, making children safer on those school buses."
"Yes, my min… my Minority Chair. I'm going to miss you." Mitchell, J.: "Thank you."
"Representative Chapin Rose."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. I want to compliment the Lady and also, to the last Gentleman's question. This is very good legislation. I had three different school districts who all had serious problems with the way the law's currently written. In affect, we… she had a predatory pricer come in, lowball a bid, which causes local jobs creators to go out of business, which is a problem, but… but more importantly, the person who won the bid had a history, a terrible history… and this is in one instance, not of the three, but the person who won the bid had a terrible history of actually, eventually, 09700115.doc 103 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 declaring bankruptcy and not providing a service at all. And so, I think all the Lady's trying to do is allow school boards to evaluate the quality and the safety of what it is they're buying when they go out to bid on these things. Right now, they didn't have that opportunity and they had to, in some cases, go with a carrier that they knew wasn't going to offer the same level of service that they were currently receiving. And so, I had heard from number… in fact, I… we have 16 school boards, and I've heard from 3 of them that have had concerns about the way the current law's written, asked me to put in legislation. I had my own Bill, slightly different than the Chairwoman's, but when it came to committee, she brought… she had this Bill. I think we were kind of shooting at it from different targets, but it was the same target. And so, I want to thank her for carrying this forward. And we do need to change the underlying law. Quality and safety should be the concer… should… should absolutely be evaluated, along with the price. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
"Representative Chapa LaVia to close."
"Thank you. And I just would like to commend my colleague on the right side, Chapin, for allowing me to add in… well, to take care of issue that he had also in his area. But there's some discussion over here, Representative Chapin, that you don't have a… a tie on and you need to learn how to take naps since you're going over to the Senate. I'd ask for an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The question is, 'should House Bill 4029 pass?' All those in favor signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed 09700115.doc 104 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Mulligan, Skip Saviano, Rosemary. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there are 90 Members voting 'yes', 20 Members voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Bill Cunningham, on the Order of House Bills-Third Reading, on page 21 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 5250, 5250. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5250, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Bill Cunningham."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Members of the House. House Bill 5250 is an initiative of the Cook County State's Attorneys Office. It's designed to give prosecutors some new tools when it comes to prosecuting a new growing problem, and that's the illegal sale of prescription drugs. Under current law, if these drugs are diluted with another substance, like aspirin, which they almost always are, anyone selling them has to be charged with a Class III Felony, whether it's 1 pill or 100 pills. This Bill will create a graduated sentencing structure. And I'd appreciate the chamber's support."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. Is there any discussion? The Chair recognizes Representative Dunkin."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields." 09700115.doc 105 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"So, Representative, what happens today if… if an individual is caught with this level of… of substance?"
"What… what happens is, regardless of the amount, whether it's 1 pill, or as I said, 100 pills, or 1000 pills, that individual can only be charged with a Class III Felony because if a drug like Oxycodone and similar drugs are diluted at all, it's considered a Schedule III narcotic. Anytime you go to Walgreen's and get one of these prescriptions, it is diluted. There could be aspirin in it, ibuprofen in it, and the fact that it is diluted makes it a Schedule III drug. So, all the state's attorneys are in the position where if they wanted to file a case, a prosecution against someone on one of these matters, whether that person sold 1 pill or 1000 pills, they can only charge them with a Class III Felony."
"Okay."
"This would… would tier the sentencing. And depending on the number of pills that you sell, then the sanctions would increase accordingly."
"So, what is a Class III Felony?"
"Class III Felony, I want to say, is two to five years is the maximum penalty. I'm not positive. I believe it's two to five years."
"All right. And a Class I Felony is?"
"I'm… I'm sorry. I'd have to get that for you."
"Okay. So, I…"
"Maybe a…"
"…so, has there been some concerns or issues with judges not sentencing appropriately?" 09700115.doc 106 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Not… not really concerns with what the judges are doing. The concern is the… the state's attorney could have a couple of different cases brought to them. They… they could have a police department say that they found someone who sold five pills to a friend, of Oxycodone, let's say. And they'll decide whether or not they want to prosecute that case. I… I would venture to say they probably wouldn't, but if they did, they could… they would charge that individual with a Class III Felony. Now, say they get a case where there's… it's a trafficking instance where someone is selling thousands of pills, and the Cook County State's Attorneys has had cases like this, again, they could only charge that individual with a Class III Felony. So, I… I think it's important to look at this in… in that context. That… what the prosecutors are looking for here, is a tool to go after individuals who are selling large amounts of prescription drugs illegally. That's… they're not interested in going after someone who's only selling a couple. They want to go after traffickers who are in cahoots sometimes with corrupted pharmacists, who obtain drug… prescription medication from overseas and sell it hundred, a thousand, tablets at a time. This will give them the ability to do that."
"Okay. I… I was always under the impression that irrespective of some of the various categories of the… of the cases or the current amount of the penalties, that you could… a judge had the discretion to increase penalty or not. Oh, he has to… he or she has to work within the particular framework…" 09700115.doc 107 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Within the window."
"…of the… of the Class… of the Act… of the…"
"Right."
"…criminal act. Is that correct?"
"That's correct. Within the window that's laid out be statute."
"So, what… so, what… I have three pills of… of codeine…"
"Oxycodone."
"…oxycodone, or dihydrocodeine, codinine, or three thousand, I still would have to be… I would be in that Class I Felony case category."
"That's correct."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Representative Reboletti."
"To the Bill. It… it's pretty simple that… and I didn't realize we had this loophole in the Criminal Code, is that, actually, it's less of a penalty if you have a thousand pills than if you had 1000 of the same amount of weight, with respect to any of these substances. A thousand pills of hydrocodone is no dangerous… no less dangerous than if you had the purest form. As a… as a former narcotics prosecutor, I can tell you that when we used to deal with deliveries from drug dealers, sometimes, half of the bag would be cocaine, the other half would be baking soda. When a person was charged, it was charged as that entire weight was considered to be cocaine. It wasn't a lesser offense. What this Bill does it says the same thing for these prescription drugs, which are now the new scores 09700115.doc 108 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 that we're dealing with because the addiction rate for these are… are rising dramatically. And I would urge an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"Representative Greg Harris." Harris, G.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a question, Representative, as I try to understand this. So, this is the 200 grams, or the gram, is by the weight of the substance?"
"Yeah… yes. That's correct, as far as…" Harris, G.: "So…"
"…the staging will of… of the felony offense is concerned. It'll be based on weight." Harris, G.: "So, when you're talking about… how much does a pill weigh? So, if we're… it is at a fraction of a gram, a gram?"
"I… well, you know, we…" Harris, G.: "Do you know?"
"…when we get prescription drugs, you might get a… a pill that's five milligrams, would be one pill. So, I…" Harris, G.: "So, this would be the content of the drug within the pill, not the… not the weight of the…"
"Of the capsule." Harris, G.: "…tablet itself… or, the capsule."
"That is correct." Harris, G.: "Okay. So…"
"But you know what? I shouldn't say that, Representative Harris. I'm not exactly sure how they weigh them. I don't know if they weigh the exact ty… tablet or just the content. I'm not sure of." 09700115.doc 109 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Harris, G.: "Sorry. I'm… I'm just trying to get a sense as we make a Class X Felony. I mean, 200 grams, is that… how many pills are we talking about there?"
"We'd be talking about hundreds, maybe thousands of pills, depending on the size of the pill." Harris, G.: "Okay."
"Obviously, if we're talking about a five milligram pill, then you would be talking about several hundred pills." Harris, G.: "Great. Thank you very much."
"Representative Monique Davis." Davis, M.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields." Davis, M.: "Representative Cunningham, my computer is not here because they had to take it away for a while."
"Okay." Davis, M.: "So, I'm sorry if I'm asking some of the questions you've answered."
"Mmm mmm." Davis, M.: "So, you… can you kind of go over… you said your Bill is gradually increasing penalties based upon the weight of the pills that people have?"
"That… that's correct. The thing to keep in mind here is we're dealing with drugs, very popular prescription drugs, okay, like… like oxycodone. Right now, when you buy that pill, there… and you get a prescription for it and you go to the pharmacy, that pill is diluted. Almost all the pills that we buy at a pharmacy are diluted in some way. They're… they're not pure. They have aspirin or ibuprofen, 09700115.doc 110 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 or something else mixed in it. That's what the manufacturer does…" Davis, M.: "Okay."
"…when they manufacture them at the lab. So, what this Bill does, because the way the statute is written right now, in… it treats any drug that mixed as a Schedule III narcotic. Okay? And Schedule III narcotics, no matter what they are, there is no graduated sentencing."
"So, if you get caught with 1 gram or 1000 grams, you face the same sentence. One gram or 1000 grams, it's the same sentence. The judge would have to… the prosecutors would have to charge you with a Class III Felony, and then the judge would sentence you accordingly. With this Bill if this becomes…" Davis, M.: "So, how many… how many stages of prosecution do we have? How many levels with your Bill?"
"Three. There'd be… it'd be broke into the three classes: a Class I; a Class II; and a Class X, depending on the amount you have. So, right now, the point I was… I had made earlier is, if you… if an individual sells, today, the way the law is, if an individual sells…" Davis, M.: "I can't hear you 'cause these conversations are going round, right in front of me here."
"Okay. I'm sorry. If… if an indivi… right now, the way the law is written, if an individual sells 1 pill and gets arrested, they're charged with a Class III Felony. If an individual sells 1000 pills, they are also charged with a… with a Class…" Davis, M.: "Okay." 09700115.doc 111 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"…III Felony." Davis, M.: "And what is the penalty for a Class III Felony?"
"Two to five years." Davis, M.: "And you want to increase it to…"
"I want to make it a graduated scale based on the amount of drugs that you have. So, if you have a few pills, you would face a small sanction. If you had a lot, you would a higher sanction. Just… just the way we treat every… every other…" Davis, M.: "What… what are you…"
"…narcotic." Davis, M.: "…what do you think… Representative Cunningham, what will that solve for Illinois?"
"Well, what it'll be able to do is… is treat, as we do in all sorts of classes of prosecution and specifically in drug prosecutions, the more drugs you sell, the higher sanction you face." Davis, M.: "Okay."
"The less…" Davis, M.: "Let me ask you this. The…"
"…drugs you sell, the lower sanctions you face." Davis, M.: "So, is there such a thing as bulk possession? Do you have a… a term like 'bulk possession'?"
"I'm not familiar with that term." Davis, M.: "You never heard that? Okay. So, are we having a major problem in Illinois…"
"Yes." Davis, M.: "…with people selling a lot of these drugs, ox…" 09700115.doc 112 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Yes, we are. If I could… I can just give you some statistics that've been provided to me." Davis, M.: "Okay. I would really like to hear them."
"Okay. In particular to hydrocodone, which is probably the… the narcotic we'd be dealing with the most here. In 2000, this is nationwide, there were 19,221 visits to emergency rooms for overdoses related to hydrocodone. In 2009, there were more than 86 thousand. So, we went from just over 20 thousand to just under 86 thousand in 9 years. So, this is a problem that is growing. This is typically, sort of, a white collar drug crime…" Davis, M.: "Okay."
"…that we're dealing…" Davis, M.: "I know."
"…with designer drugs." Davis, M.: "To the Bill, Mr. Speaker. You know, I would really like to see a task force that addresses our war on drugs that we've already lost. We continue to fight a war on drugs that we've already lost. We continue to increase penalties, but it doesn't do anything for addiction. It doesn't do anything for sobriety. It doesn't do anything to assist people in not using the drug. So, for some reason, we think enhancing penalties, graduating penalties, filling up the prison, filling up the Cook County jail, more prosecution… we think it'll solve the problem and it just doesn't do that. It doesn't preclude the guy who's going to sell it from selling it. It doesn't preclude the people who are going to use it from using it. I just wish the Speaker, maybe, would… would develop a task force for us to put all 09700115.doc 113 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 these ideas together and hash them out, and stop increasing this Criminal Code book that hasn't made Illinois any safer. All we're doing is spending money, spending money, spending money. That is not solving the problem. The prosecution wants to continue to prosecute. The jailer wants to make sure he's got people in jail, but we're not solving the drug problem in this state. You know, with all due respect, Representative, I'm just not going to support this legislation that is merely adding to the Criminal Code, merely adding to the cost of incarceration, and fighting a drug war that's already lost. I'll probably be the only 'no' vote, but I'm going to do it. Thanks."
"Representative Cunningham to close."
"I just wanted to make one closing statement, and that is we could look at this from sort of an inverse prospective and that is, an individual, right now, who sells one pill or just a couple of pills is being treated the same way under the law as a trafficker, who is selling thousands of pills. So, that's not fair either. I'd appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"You've heard the Extended Debate on House Bill 5250. The question is, 'Should the House Bill 5250 pass?' 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? Will Davis, Dunkin, Sente, Nekritz. Representative Sente, would you like to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill there's 105 Members voting 'yes', 4 Members voting 'no', 1 voting 'present'. This Bill, having received 09700115.doc 114 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Leader Lou Lang, I believe you have some guests to interview… to introduce to us on a point of personal privilege."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to introduce to the Body, members of the Bleeding Disorders Alliance of Illinois that are in the gallery. Thank you for joining us today."
"Welcome to your Capitol. Enjoy your day. Proud to have you. Representative Sara Feigenholtz, on page 9 of the Calendar, Sara, on House Bills-Second Readings, you have House Bill 4985. Out of the record. Representative Lisa Hernandez, on page 20 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Third Readings, you have House Bill 5024. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5024, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Hernandez."
"Thank you, Speaker. House Bill 5024 is an initiative of the Prisoner Review Board. Due to the backlog of expungements, my understanding, as of 2007-2008, this Bill takes steps to reforming the rop… the process of sealing records. So, the Bill will allow the Prison Review Board to grant sealing of records, request for Class III and IV Felonies with a unanimous vote of a four-member of the board. The requirements will be petitioners must wait five years from the expiration of their sentence before applying; no police contact during the five year period; if convic… if convicted of a drug offense, they must complete 09700115.doc 115 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 a drug program before applying; no violent offenses can apply, that is domestic battery, aggravated assault, reckless conduct, violation of an order of protection; no sex offenses; no driving under the influence of alcohol or similar provisions. Let me see, I want to also add that… to the Bill it was added no… that an offense under the Criminal Code involving a firearm, and any crime defined as a crime of violence under the Crime Victims Compensation Act, under the Crime Victims Witnesses Act. So, if they apply to the board for an expungement, then if they are denied, they must wait four years before filing again or filing for a pardon from the Governor unless granted an exception from the chairman. The goal of the legislation is to allow more people to have their records sealed if they have not had any other arrest in the time period of five years or more. Many of these people want to get certain jobs and become functioning members of society, but because of their criminal records, they are stifle from doing so. I ask for your 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The Chair recognizes the Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Dennis Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, what's the difference between expungement and sealing somebody's criminal record?"
"The… my understanding that the expungement has to go through the… through the Governor's… I'm sorry, through the Prisoner Review Board, but the sealing of the records is a recommendation that the Board of Review gives. So… and 09700115.doc 116 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 the judge actually makes the final decision whether to take the recommendation or not. I hope that… I was okay with that."
"The… for purposes of sealing, who's able to see those records if the records are sealed? Does law enforcement still have access to the records?"
"Yes, they do."
"And could you walk us through the process of how this might work? So, somebody, maybe, has a retail theft in their background and they served prison time for that, maybe on a Class III Felony. And then, what happens? Why… why are they coming to the Prisoner Review Board? They complete their parole, this demands a one-year parole. Where… how do they find their way back to the Prisoner Review Board?"
"I'm going to ask you to repeat that one more time."
"After an inmate serves their sentence, they've been discharged from parole, how would they end up coming to the Prison Review Board to get something sealed? How's the process… They have to file some kind of paperwork with the Prisoner Review Board? 'Cause if you're in court, you would file a motion, but does this… does this go to court first? This goes to the Prisoner Review Board first? How… how does the process work?"
"So, my understanding, it… it's a petition. So, after five years, they go before the review… they… they petition to the Review Board. They go before the Review Board and it's up to the Review Board if they're eligible."
"How…" 09700115.doc 117 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"It would be up to the board."
"So, you'd file a petition with the Prisoner Review Board."
"That's correct."
"And then… is it majority of the people sitting on the Prisoner Review Board would make a determination as if there should be a recommendation to seal it?"
"It has to be a majority, and it's a recommendation. They go before the judge, and actually the judge is the one who makes the final decision."
"And I think you mentioned some of the factors that the Prison Review Board would have to take into account, but it's… it's somewhat loud in here. What would the convicted person have to show with respect to the Prisoner Review Board as to why they deserve to have their records sealed?"
"Well, I went through it, Representative. It's… they have to have… petitioners must wait five-years from the expiration of their sentences before applying; they should have no pol… police contact during that five year period; if convicted of a drug offense, they must complete a drug program before applying; there is no violent offenses that… that can apply. That is like domestic battery, aggravated assault, reckless conduct, violation of the order of protection; no sex offenses; no driving under the influence of alcohol and similar provisions."
"Are we looking at people who are first-time offenders into the system, or can they have some type of criminal background and still be eligible?" 09700115.doc 118 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"It really doesn't matter as long as they have not committed any further infractions within that five-year period."
"Once the Prisoner Review Board makes the determination that a person's record should be sealed, is the next step then that… is there a motion or a petition filed with the clerk… the clerk of the court back in the… in the jurisdiction where they were convicted to have it reviewed by the sentencing judge, or any judge that sits in that circuit?"
"Yes. They could… the judge… actually, the judge is the one who makes the final recom… decision. If he… he would like to add any further… any further conditions, he can do that. It's up to the judge."
"And there's an opportunity for the state's attorney to object for the victim to come and testify, if there is a… a victim, and for them, the… also the convicted person to present testimony as to why they would deserve the record to be sealed? Is that part of the process?"
"From my understanding, that… I don't believe that's part of the process."
"Because one of my concerns is that if they're going to bring this recommendation, is that they're… when you're going to make a recommendation for the judge to seal something, that all the other parties would be able to make their recommendation prior to the judge taking this under advisement and making a ruling, that they talk to their State's Attorneys Office first."
"Just give me a second." 09700115.doc 119 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Sure."
"Representative Reboletti, we have about four other speakers, so if you could bring your…"
"I will. Thank you."
"…concerns to a close. We'll give you another minute."
"If the…"
"So…"
"…if she could just answer the question…"
"…so my understanding is, it's solely on the recommendation of the Board of Review, and then that passes on to the judge. The judge looks it over and it… then the judge makes the final decision. That's my understanding of the process."
"I… I would just like, and suggest, that if this were to pass that you would consider making it an opportunity for the state's attorney and the victim, if there's a victim in the case, to be able to talk… come and have notice that there's going to be a… a sealing hearing, and that the judge could take their testimony into account. I think that would… that might make it a better Bill. Thank… thank you, Speaker."
"Sure."
"Representative Jim Sacia."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, the… the reason I turned on my speak light, as I notice that the Illinois Sheriffs' Association 09700115.doc 120 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 is opposed. Have you been able to rectify that in any way, or have you discussed it with them?"
"It's actually, Representative, that's the first of my knowledge of that. I had nobody really oppose… there was nobody opposing to this. That's my…"
"Oh. So, that's already been brought up in debate. I apologize. I was out in the hallway. So, you don't know the reason, or they haven't talked to you about it?"
"They have not. I would think that we did take care of some concerns already. So, I don't know if that's a 'no'. I don't know."
"I think, based on what staff have just shared with me, they feel it's way too broad. Have you… you've not talked to anyone about tighting… tightening it up? I know the previous speaker discussed that with you, but…"
"Well, I would be happy to, as it moves to the Senate, that we could continue working on it."
"I see. Thank you, Representative."
"Representative Ken Dunkin."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, I… first of all, I… I think this is a very impressive piece of legislation. It is a… there's a real problem, or issue in our state, that deals with individuals who have served their crime years ago, 15 years, 20 years in some cases. I think this Bill is responsible. It give those individuals, really, who are trying to move on to the next phase of their lives, on to a new course, and it keeps them motivated to take care of 09700115.doc 121 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 their families, to get involved in their community and really, literally, shift the paradigm of their lifestyle in their respective community. This Bill will restore folks pride and dignity of being a U.S. citizen here, of being an example for their kids. And the Review Board, you know, is the appropriate place for it to take place. So, I want to thank you again for this here. I have the upmost respect for the Cabrini Green and Legal Aid Clinic. They're a very fair and prominent legal aid clinic here in our state. And this Bill, again, it speaks volumes. I wi… wish that we could add some more elements on here, because we still have a number of criminal acts where people have served their time 15 and 20 years ago, and yet they still can't have records sealed or expunged. So, kudos to you and, hopefully, we can move to the next level of taking, have you ever been convicted of a felony or a crime, off of our state applications if we truly are serious about giving people a second chance. Congratulations, Sponsor."
"We have two final speakers, Representative Kay, Representative Acevedo, and then Representative Hernandez to close. Representative Dwight Kay."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Thank you. Representative, I'm… I'm curious about how this would impact the information that you would give a potential employer. Let me just give an example. If we were to expunge information or seal information… expunge a record or se… seal information, are you saying to me that a 09700115.doc 122 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 potential employer would not know about certain criminal activities?"
"That's correct."
"Would that not, in some regards with respect to the transportation industry, cause an employer to be negligent in his hiring, not knowing this particular piece of information about a… a criminal conviction, or a criminal background?"
"The point of the legislation is to aim at those, if you will, low-hang through type of felony class. And what we're trying to do is, these are folks that are trying their best, in a five-year span, put their lives in check. And because of some of the bad decisions that they made, they are not able to gain any… any worthwhile employment. So, this is… this is a chance for those folks to get back on track and bring in… to be good members of society."
"And… and, I think that's… that's certainly a worthy cause, but I want to just go back to my question. Does that lay out some serious exposure for a potential employer who hires somebody but doesn't know information with respect to their past when it comes to, let's say, the death of another party?"
"That would not be eligible, Sir."
"No. No. I'm talking about the employer. Would… would they, indeed, not be liable for hiring somebody and they did not know about a previous assault, or a previous battery."
"If the Board of Review puts the recommendation and the judge has approved it, there should not be." 09700115.doc 123 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"So, this… so, are… are you say… are you saying to me that keeping this information sealed would then allow protection because it's sealed and not… not known to an employer, would make that employer in a harmless situation from any potential activity that came about through some crime that… that happened when he was… this person was employed?"
"No."
"It… it would not hold him harmless, would it?"
"This does not give employer liability."
"It does not give them liability?"
"I'm sorry. It doesn't protect them."
"It doesn't protect them from liability. Okay. Thank you. Representative, I understand what you're doing, and I think it's very admirable. I will tell you, many companies have clauses in their hiring practices, which rea… basically say, after three of four years, they look at these employment applications. So there really isn’t any need, in my view, to seal them or expunge records. But I see where you're going with it, but I don't think I can support this. I think there's certain information that employers need to know. Thank you."
Speaker Lyons: "Representative Acevedo, then Representative Hernandez to close. Leader Acevedo."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor awaits your questions."
"Representative, is this an initiative of the Prisoner Review Board?"
"Yes, it is." 09700115.doc 124 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Okay. Mr. Speaker, to the Bill. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is plain and simple. Expungement. Sealing. Expungement is thrown out. Sealing is, the records are sealed. The Gentleman just spoke briefly about as far as… if the employer knows what happens if he commits a… a aggravated battery or that. Well, she stated in her legislation there's certain crimes that they're not eligible to do this for. The Prisoner Review Board… and think about this. The Prisoner Review Board is the one who realizes that these indiv… individuals need an opportunity to get a second chance at life. We talk about peop… people being on public aid, we talk about people being homeless. Let's give them an opportunity. Some of them might have prison records. Let's give them the opportunity after five years of putting their lives in order. Let's give them the opportunity to be part of society again. And that's all I believe the… the Representative is asking, that we give individuals a second chance in life. Thank you."
"Representative Hernandez to close."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I had… this really stems from a… a fair and… actually, an expungement workshop I had back in my… in my district. And for the Board of Review to take part and… and actually seeing the… the problems that here we have just individuals who are trying to get back… back into becoming good citizens, a part of society and for the Board of Review to take part in making that happen, and… and trying to fix, somewhat, the process. Expungments are backlogged as of 2002… 2008. I think this is a good opportunity and it shows that we are… we are keeping in 09700115.doc 125 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 mind those who are just trying to get their lives straightened up. Thank you. And I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"The question is, 'Should House Bill 5024 pass?' 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? Jackson and McGuire. Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there are 34 'yeas', 76 'noes'. The Motion fails. Representative Barickman, on page 21 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Third Readings, you have House Bill 5315, 5315. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5315, a Bill for an Act concerning government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Barickman."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members of the Illinois House here, House Bill 5315 is an Amendment to the Open Meetings Act. This Amendment does nothing to change the requirements of the Open Meetings Act, but does amend the method for which compliance is achieved. Many members of our soil and water conservation districts and drainage districts tend to have members who are elderly, who… many of whom do not own computers and are incapable of complying with the strict terms of the Act. So, what this Bill does is allow for group setting of training to comply with the Act. I'd be glad to answer any questions. And would ask for an 'aye' vote."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation on House Bill 5315. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, 'Should House Bill 5315 pass?' All those in 09700115.doc 126 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 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? Dan Brady. Kelly Cassidy. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there are 78 Members voting 'yes', 32 Members voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Leader Acevedo, on page 9 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Second Reading, you have House Bill 4983. Want to move that Bill to Third, Ed? Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4983, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Jack Franks, on the Order of Second Readings, Jack, you have on page 4 of the Calendar, House Bill 3934, 3934. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 3934, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 and 2 were adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Robyn Gabel, on the Order of Third Readings, on page 16 of the Calendar, Robyn, you have House Bill 1666. Out of the record. Representative Will Davis. Will, on the Order of Third Reading, on page 18 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 4468. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk." 09700115.doc 127 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"House Bill 4468, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Will Davis." Davis, W.: "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4468 is an initiative of the State Fire Marshal's Office. Essentially, by way of a… a vehicle license plate, there is money put into a fund that they can use to make capital repairs on their building, but currently, the way it's structured is that those repairs are limited to only use of 10 percent of the funds. This Bill is an effort to give them the ability to go beyond that 10 percent under certain circumstances. Representative Ramey raised the issue about figuring out how to control that so that they would just not do that arbitrarily, and there was an Amendment put on the Bill that would require a board and… I apologize. I don't have the name of the board in front of me, but there is a mechanism that will allow for review of those expenditures before they are approved by an appropriate board. Be more than happy to answer, or try to answer, any additional questions."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation of House Bill 4468. Is there any discussion? The Chair recognizes the Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Dennis Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields." 09700115.doc 128 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Representative, do you know how much money that fund gets every year from the license plates? Are you aware?" Davis, W.: "I have no idea, Sir."
"And you said that 10 percent of it, initially, could be used for the repairs. Do you know what… what repairs are needed, or how much?" Davis, W.: "Well… do I know how much?"
"Yeah, that would be needed to… to sustain any repairs that are ongoing, or is it a yearly…" Davis, W.: "Well…"
"…thing?" Davis, W.: "…well, the example that they give was a need for a roof repair, and the repair of that roof exceeded the 10 percent that they would be allowed to use out of that fund. So, they're seeking the ability to exceed that 10 percent."
"And, you're saying that…" Davis, W.: "In this case, it was a roof repair."
"And so then, by the Amendment, it says that there's a majority of the members, then, would be able to say, well, we need 15 percent, and you could go ahead and do that with the majority…" Davis, W.: "Right."
"…of the members?" Davis, W.: "That was at the request at Representative Ramey, who felt that there should be some mechanism in place to make the decision whether or not they can exceed the 10 percent."
"Thank you, Representative." 09700115.doc 129 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Davis, W.: "And that was the Amendment."
"Thank you." Davis, W.: "Thank you."
"Representative Davis to close." Davis, W.: "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Appreciate the help of Representative Ramey in trying to help refine this Bill, and certainly ask for your 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The question is, 'Should House Bill 4468 pass?' 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? Representative Phelps and Verschoore, the back row, would you like to be recorded? Thank you. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there's 110 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Camille Lilly, on the Order of Second Reading, on page 14 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 5689. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5689, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Lilly, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Lilly on Floor Amendment #2."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to adopt Amendment #2 to House Bill 5689, which creates a task force to develop a statewide high school course on domestic violence prevention based on the Step Back program from Oak Park River Forest High School in Cook County. The Amendment includes replacing two of the task members with 09700115.doc 130 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 appointments of the Minority Leaders from the House and the Senate. It adds a provision that nothing in the Bill is… of the domestic violent prevention course intends to infringe upon the constitutional rights to exercise freedom of expression religion. And it removes the reference to bullying."
Speaker Lyons: "You've heard the Lady's Motion. Seeing no discussion, all those in favor of the adoption of Floor Amendment #2 signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And Floor Amendment #2 is adopted. Anything further, Mr. Clerk?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Karen May, on page 9 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Second Reading, you have House Bill 4986. Out of the record. Representative McAsey, on page 19 of the Calendar, you have, under House Bills-Third Reading, House Bill 4638, 4638. Out of the record. Deb Mell, on page 18 of the Calendar, Representative, you have House Bill 4526. Representative Mell, 4526. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4526, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Deb Mell."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. HB 4526 amends the Environmental Protection Act. The Bill phases out the use of perk (perchloroethylene) drycleaning machines that have only a primary control system." 09700115.doc 131 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"You've heard the Lady's explanation on House Bill 4526. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of… Representative Bost."
"Yeah. It… Will the Sponsor yield? I'm sorry."
"The Sponsor yields."
"Just with the noise. I… Can you repeat one more time what it was that you said this Bill does?"
"This Bill amends the Environmental Protection Act. The Bill phases out the use of perk drycleaning machines that… that have only a primary control system."
"Right now, it's showing there's several opponents to the Bill. Right?"
"It was my understanding that the… that there were no opponents to this Bill."
"Okay. I… Okay. I'm… I’m going to go ahead and yield my time to Representative Tryon, please."
"Representative Tryon."
"Mr. Speaker, will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative Mell, if I understand this Bill right, this is only phasing out older machines that don't have the proper environmental controls that control air pollution at secondary containment, things that newer equipment today would provide for environmental protections. Is that correct?"
"That's correct."
"This does not phase out the use of the drycleaning chemical perchloroethylene that additionally requires additional training for people who use perchloroethylene, 09700115.doc 132 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 as well as logging of the use of perchloroethylene and putting some accountability on the users. Is that correct?"
"That's correct."
"So… to the Bill. Last year, there was an initiative to actually ban the drycleaning solvent perchloroethylene. But when we look at some of the additional options that we have in the drycleaning industry, we find that the additional solvents have just as many environmental problems. So, I would like to thank the Sponsor, Representative Zalewski, and many members of the Energy & Environment Committee for working on this Bill and coming up with a Bill that the industry does support, and… and allows us to continue to use the dryclean solvent that most of our clothes are cleaned in and do it in an environmentally safe way. So, I'm going to support the Bill, and urge an 'aye' vote."
"Representative David Reis."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor awaits your questions, Sir."
"Representative, when it says phase out these machines, does that mean phase out the purchasing ability of the new machines, or that all drycleaners throughout Illinois will have to have gotten rid of these machines by a certain date?"
"I’m sorry, Representative. Can you repeat yourself, please?"
"Does… does your legislation mean that all existing machines that use this type of technology will have to be replaced, or does it simply mean that you can't purchase any new machines that use this kind of technology?" 09700115.doc 133 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"It would phase out the machines that don't have the proper control system."
"Well, I raise this as a concern 'cause I'm thinking through my head here. I may only have one or two drycleaners in nine counties, and if we force them to purchase new technology, they may be out too. And I understand if you're wanting to pick a point going forward, but to just say we're going to have an outright ban after a certain date may put a lot of small drycleaners out of business and our access to drycleaners may be several hours away, or several days, in getting back your… your clothing."
"Well, it's… it's been my understanding that there's been multiple discussions regarding this and all parties are involved in this."
"We're… we're a little confused, Representative. Our… our staff's telling us that they can use existing machines until the end of their useful life, but you're saying that they can't. So, which way is it?"
"Well, it… I'd like to pull it from the record, please."
"Mr. Clerk, take this Bill out of the record. Representative Michelle Mussman, on page 22 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Third Readings, you have House Bill 5440. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5440, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Michelle Mussman." 09700115.doc 134 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. House Bill 5440 provides that the Business Location Efficiency Incentive Act, which sunset on December 31 of 2011, to have been and will continue to be in effect until December 31 of 2016. This Act is an enhancement to the EDGE tax credit utilized by the DCEO to encourage businesses to undertake projects at site near affordable housing and mass transit or to create plans to develop such areas. This is an initiative of the DCEO and the Metropolitan Planning Council. I ask for your consideration, and I'm happy to answer any questions."
"You've heard the Lady's explanation. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the passage of House Bill 5440 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? Skip Saviano. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there's 110 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Bob Rita, on page 22 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Third Readings, you have House Bill 5359. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5359, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Bob Rita."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 5359 is basically some cleanup language 09700115.doc 135 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 to the Real Estate Licensure Act. This is an agreed Bill. And I'd ask for your favorable vote."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the passage of House Bill 5359 signify by saying… 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? Representative Acevedo, Feigenholtz, Deb Mell, Nekritz, would you like to be recorded? 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 Dennis Reboletti, on the Order of Third Readings, on page 21 on the Calendar, Dennis, you have House Bill 5265. Representative Reboletti. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5265, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Lyons: "The Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Reboletti."
"Thank you, Speaker, Members of the Body. House Bill 5265 deals with a situation that occurred in Elmhurst last year where a 17-year-old was on her way to York High School and was approached a few times by, what turned out to be, a convicted sex offender who tried to lure her into his vehicle. After some extensive investigation, they were able to capture the person, but the police and the prosecutor were only able to charge the individual with a Class C Misdemeanor of disorderly conduct because of the fact that luring only deals with children 16 and under, and the 09700115.doc 136 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 individual, the victim, was 17. So, this would change the age to 17. And I would ask for your 'aye' vote."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of passage of House Bill 5265 should signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Camille Lilly, want to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. With the help of Representative Rita and Representative Winters, House Bill 5265 received 110 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Chapa LaVia, for what purpose do you seek recognition, Linda?"
"Speaker, do we have Mr. Representative Reboletti under his first name and second name in the alphabet, because isn't that like four or five for him today? Can we check that."
"I was told that today is… we're celebrating St. Joseph's Day today which is a feast for the Italians to celebrate. So…"
"Oh."
"…special…"
"Basta. Basta."
Speaker Lyons: "…special considerations for the Italian Americans that we're proud to have in this Assembly. Any other questions? Representative du Buclet. Representative Chapin Rose, on the Order of Second Readings, on page 16 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 5865. On Second Reading, Chapin. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk." 09700115.doc 137 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"House Bill 5865, 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. Mr. Clerk, what's the status of Representative Skip Saviano's House Bill 4520?"
"House Bill 4520, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"In keeping with the spirit of a St. Joseph's Italian-American Day, Representative, all those in favor signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And House Bill 4520, move it to the Order of Third Reading. Representative du Buclet, you have your light on. For what purpose do you seek recognition?" du Buclet: "Point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."
"Please proceed, Representative." du Buclet: "I would like to introduce my daughter, Alexandria du Buclet, who’s down here from the University of Chicago Laboratory School. She's 13, in seventh grade, and on spring break."
"Welcome to your Capitol, and you get to see mom at work. Glad to have you. Representative Brandon Phelps, what purpose do you seek recognition, Sir?"
"Point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."
"Please proceed, Brandon." 09700115.doc 138 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I want us to take the time right now and thank the Sullivan Caucus for raising money last night for the tornado victims of southern Illinois. Truly a great caucus. We really appreciate it. Thank you."
"Great job Sullivan Caucus. Thanks, Brandon. Glad to hear that. Representative Elaine Nekritz, on the Order of House Bills-Third Reading, on page 19 of the Calendar, Elaine, you have House Bill 4622. Elaine, 4622. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4622, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Nekritz."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4622 has real… has two parts. It's really a… some very technical cleanup provisions for the IMRF Pension System, as well as for the State University Retirement System. The IMR… IMRF portion does two things; first, it cleans up a drafting error and removes an incorrect word reference in the IMRF statute; and, secondly, it removes references to Social Security payments being made by IMRF on behalf of its… of its participating members. This is due to a change in Federal Law that was made in 1986, and we have yet to clean up the statutes with regard to that. For SURS, there are five things, three of which are completely technical. The fourth is to assure that service… the service periods include periods for voluntary and involuntary furloughs. And the final is to extend the time in which a member in the 09700115.doc 139 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 portable plan must make an election to receive an optional form of benefit. That… that would shorten that period of… in which the employee has to make a… a determination from 180 to 90 days."
"You've heard the Lady's explanation. Is there any discussion? Representative Will Davis." Davis, W.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just one question for the Sponsor."
"And she awaits that question, Sir." Davis, W.: "Does this Bill eliminate the RTA?"
"Representative, I know you'll be shocked to learn this… this has to do with pensions and it, unfortunately, does not address the elimination of the RTA." Davis, W.: "That's too bad. Thank you very much."
"Yeah. I… I thank you."
"Seeing no further discussion, the question is, 'Should House Bill 4622 pass?' 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? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there's 110 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative André Thapedi, on the Order of Second Readings, on page 7, you have House Bill 4559. Representative Thapedi. Second Reading, André. 4559. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4559, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee 09700115.doc 140 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Thapedi, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Thapedi on Floor Amendment #1."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. House Bill 4559 is an initiative of the Illinois Commerce Commission. They're joined by the AARP. Floor Amendment #1 resolves some issues with respect to notice. It ends all of the opposition to the Bill, and I urge its adoption."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation on the Amendment. Are there any questions? Seeing none, the question is, 'Should Amendment #1 be adopted?' All those in favor signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And Floor Amendment #1 is adopted. Anything further, Mr. Clerk?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Arthur Turner, on page 21 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Third Readings, you have House Bill 5264, 5264. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5264, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Art Turner."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 50… 5264 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Bill allows admission of a defendant's prior offenses as evidence at trial for murder that also involves domestic violence. The Bill will create a second exception in a domestic violence charge and allow prior instances of domestic violence to come in as evidence against the defendant if he or she is on trial for murder 09700115.doc 141 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 of a current or former intimate partner. The court will use its undue prejudice balancing test when determining whether a prior domestic violence charge will unduly influence a judge or jury. I ask for you favorable vote."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. The Chair recognizes the Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Dennis Reboletti."
"Will the Gentleman yield for a question?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, what would happen right now in the these types of prosecutions if… if it was a murder based off a domestic violence? If the domestic violence is not charged, you could not use all the prior domestic violence evidence of arrest and… and patterns that would be… is that the case right now?"
"Yes. Unless it meets some sort of exception."
"And so, the prosecutor would have to charge a… like an aggravated domestic batter, or a misdemeanor domestic battery, to try to use a different way to get that evidence in than just being able to bring it in because of the… the prior domestic battery history, right?"
"If I'm understanding correctly, yes."
"So, it makes more sense that the… the ultimate act of domestic violence is the murder and that all of these… the past history should be able to come in at the murder trials and end up having to add additional charges to circumvent some of the evidentiary rules. Is that what you're really trying to accomplish?"
"Yes, Sir." 09700115.doc 142 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"I think it's a… it's an excellent Bill. It makes a lot of sense, and I would urge its passage. Thank you, Representative."
"Thank… thank you, Representative."
"Leader Jim Durkin."
"Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, this still gives discretion to the court to determine whether or not this evidence is going to be admitted in that case, correct?"
"That's right, Representative."
"So, it's not going to be summarily introduced and placed into evidence. It still requires some type of hearing before the court, before it's going to be used."
"Yes, Sir."
"Thank you."
"Representative Turner to close."
"I ask for an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The question is, 'Should House Bill 5264 pass?' 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? Mr. Clerk… du Buclet, Gabel, Lilly, Riley, would you like to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there's 110 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Sosnowski, on page 13 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 5505. Joseph. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk. Representative, let's… check with the Clerk on 09700115.doc 143 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 the status of that Bill. If we didn't move it today, we may have to hold it. Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5505 was first read for a second time today."
"Representative, we'll hold that 'til tomorrow. Hold that Bill on the Order of Third Reading. Representative Bob Rita, on a point of personal privilege and a clarification for all the House Members. Representative Rita."
"Mr… Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, there was one of my colleagues and former seatmate who was making a presentation and he… he became a little confused on who he was honoring. And… and I do have some information that I'd like to share with the rest of the Body, and to present to my colleague from Chicago Heights. But you know, Joe Frazier was known as Smokin' Joe. And so, I do have a picture here that I'd like to present to Representative DeLuca because he… he did have a little confusion with Joe Lewis, who is also known… he was not known as Smokin' Joe, but as the Brown Bomber. And further, so he isn't confused on this day that we're celebrating St. Joseph in the Day in American Heritage that we got Joe Dimaggio, and he was known as the Yankee Clipper. And finally, so you're really clear that our Leader that's in the Chair today is Joe Lyons, known as Joe the Leader. So, if… May I have permission to present these to Representative DeLuca so that he is unconfused in who he's honoring."
"Thank you, Representative Rita. Representative DeLuca, you got your Joes all straightened out on St. 09700115.doc 144 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Joseph's Day celebration here at the Capitol? Thank you, Representative. Representative Kelly Cassidy, on page 4 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Second Reading, you have House Bill 3849, 3849. Out of the record. Representative John Bradley, on the Order of House Bills-Third Readings, on page 19 of the Calendar, you have House Bill 4568. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4568, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative John Bradley."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a Bill that was put forward by the Executive Ethics Commission that would ensure that the CPOs would have the ability to review exemptions to the Procurement Code. It was a process prior to the fall of last year. I would ask for an 'aye' vote."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, 'Should House Bill 4568 pass?' 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? Skip. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this Bill, there's 110 Members voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Sara Feigenholtz. Sara, on Second Reading-House Bills, you have House Bill 4708. 4708 on Second. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4708, a Bill for an Act concerning business. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments have been adopted. Floor Amendment #2, offered 09700115.doc 145 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 by Representative Feigenholtz, has been approved for consideration."
"Sara on Floor Amendment #2. Take that Bill out of the record on the request of the Sponsor. On page 4 of the Calendar, Representative Saviano has House Bill 3881. What's the status of that Bill, Mr. Clerk?"
"House Bill 3881, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this House Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Representative Mell, again, I have House Bill 4498, I’m just reading them as I get them, on your priority list, Representative Mell. 4498. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 4498, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Representative Mell."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. Third time's a charm, here. House Bill 4498 makes it a Class III Felony to sell or give any firearm to a minor who does not have a valid FOID card, and to sell or give any firearm to a convicted felon. I pulled it out of the record a little bit earlier today. I apologize to the Body. We did a further infor… investigation, and pellet guns, paintball guns, and various other situations like that don't apply with this. So, I encourage… or I ask for its passage."
Speaker Lyons: "You've heard the Lady's explanation. Representative Jim Sacia." 09700115.doc 146 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"The Sponsor yields."
"Representative, why?"
"Well, what happen was… is we were getting an increase in violence in my area, and I went to the City of Chicago to ask if they, you know, had any ideas, and we… we came up with this idea. So…"
"Well, you know, Representative, as… as a downstate Member, how many times we see fire… antifirearms Bills initiative of the City of Chicago. We're the only state, Representative, that doesn't have concealed carry; the only state. And I think you and I would agree that Chicago has a significant crime problem, significant problem with guns. I don't… I don't argue that. But why do we continually have legislation come before us, this one as an example, another one that has sales tax of an additional two percent, and in our analysis, it says this will help people not want to shoot other people or words to that effect. Let me see now, I want to shoot somebody but if you raise the tax on ammunition two percent more, I won't. I know this isn't your Bill, Representative, but the point is we keep getting these Bills initiative of the City of Chicago. I think if you take Cook County and Chicago out of the equation, Illinois would pass concealed carry hands down. Both sides of the aisle want a good… along with the other 49 states and say its time has come. And… and the argument we constantly hear, as we hear of the crime problem in Chicago, and I listen every day to WBBM, and I recognize it's a horrible problem. Oh, we'll pass another law and 09700115.doc 147 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 that'll make the gang bangers not shoot one another. That's nuts. Those people are going to have guns. They're going to shoot one another. And… and this is just another one of those Bills that has no real significance other than it's a… it's a warm fuzzy. You know I have the greatest respect for you, Representative, and I understand you live in a difficult area where you have a lot of problems with crime. I live in a very different area. I recognize that. But I keep coming back to the question of why."
"Right. Well, you know, Mr… Mr. Representative, I appreciate your… your position, and with all due respect, I don't thing this is a warm and fuzzy Bill. I think it… what it does is it increases the penalty for illegally drug… gun trafficking, and I… I do think that it will be a better deterrent to…"
"No. Well, I… again, I respect that but, okay, so I'm out here and I'm a guy that… that has a gun and I'm convicted of something and I know I can't have the gun anymore, so I want to give it to my grandchild. And… and I'm… I'm creating a crime because of that, and it… it just makes no sense to me… to me. Thank you, Representative."
"Thank you, Sir."
"Representative Mell to close."
"I just would appreciate an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The question is, 'Should House Bill 4498 pass?' 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? Biss, Dunkin, Golar, Jakobsson, May. Mr. Clerk, take the record. 09700115.doc 148 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 On this Bill, there are 42 Members voting 'yes', 60 Members voting 'no', 4 Members voting 'present'. The Motion fails. Representative Chuck Jefferson, on page 11 of the Calendar, under House Bills-Second Readings, you have House Bill 5337. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5337, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative May, has been approved for consideration."
"Leader Jefferson on Floor Amendment #1. Do you want to present it or Karen May?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Amendment… Floor Amendment #1 simply says does not apply to vouchers presented by the Legislative Branch of the State Government. And I would move to adopt the Amendment."
"You've heard the Gentleman's explanation. All those in favor of the adoption of Floor Amendment #1 signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Anything further, Mr. Clerk?"
"No Further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
Speaker Lyons: "Third Reading. Representative Rich Brauer. Rich, on the Order of Second Reading, you have House Bill 5234. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 5234, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1, offered by Representative Brauer, has been approved for consideration." 09700115.doc 149 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Representative Brauer on Floor Amendment #1."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Floor Amendment #1 just simply adds to the Bill. And what it does is it reduces the amount of required meetings every year from four to three."
"Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the adoption of Floor Amendment #1 signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And Floor Amendment #1 is adopted. Anything further, Mr. Clerk?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions."
"Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 876, offered by Representative Mayfield. House Resolution 879, offered by Representative Mulligan. And House Resolution 880, offered by Representative Dunkin."
Speaker Lyons: "Leader Lang moves for the adoption of the Agreed Resolutions. All those in favor signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Agreed Resolutions are adopted. Ladies and Gentlemen, I think there's a salmon piece of paper coming through the chamber that should list all the committee meetings, but the Clerk will, for the purpose of second Bills, so we're letting you know where they're at. Please read them into the record, Mr. Clerk."
"The following committees will meet at 3 p.m. today: Cities & Villages in Room 413, Agriculture & Conservation in Room C-1 Business & Occupational Licenses in Room 114 and Higher Education in Room D-1." 09700115.doc 150 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012
"Hey, Mr. Clerk, why don't you put the wake-up call in here for tomorrow… schedule meetings for tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., Appropriations-Public Safety will meet in Room 114. At 8:30 a.m., three committees will meet. The Judiciary I – Civil Law Committee will meet in Room D-1 State Government Administration Committee will meet in Room C-1 and the Adoption Reform Committee will meet in Room 115. And at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, the Executive Committee will meet in Room 114."
"And the Chair wants to remind all the Members that at 3:30, starting momentarily, I'm sure they'll wait for us to get over there, in Room 114, NCSL has a Medicaid briefing. We all know the situation with the Medicaid program in the State of Illinois and across the country. I think it'd be time well spent for anybody who has the time to go down to Room 114. NCSL will talk about Medicaid briefing. Second announcement from the Chair is the deadline to file Amendments to your Bills, your House Bills, will be Tuesday, March 27 at 4… 4 p.m. So, please, work on any Amendments that need to be added to any Bills. Tuesday at 4:00 will be the deadline. And now, seeing no further business to come before the General Assembly House of Representatives… hold the phone for Representative Sara Feigenholtz."
"Hold the phone. Adoption Reform will not be meeting tomorrow. Thank you."
Speaker Lyons: "All right. So, scratch the meeting for tomorrow. Thank you, Sara. Representative Lang now moves 09700115.doc 151 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 that the House stand adjourned 'til Friday, March 23 at the hour of 9:30 a.m. All those in favor for adjournment signify by saying 'yes'; those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. Allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk, the House stands adjourned to 9:30 a.m., tomorrow, Friday, March 23. Have an enjoyable evening, one and all."
"House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Introduction of Senate Bills. Senate Bill 2819, offered by Representative Bost, a Bill for an Act concerning corrections. Senate Bill 2820, offered by Representative Mell, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Senate Bill 2844, offered by Representative McAsey, a Bill for an Act concerning corrections. Senate Bill 2488, offered by Representative Mathias, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Senate Bill 2492, offered by Representative Sente, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 2503, offered by Representative Hays, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Senate Bill 2524, offered by Representative Williams, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Senate Bill 2528, offered by Representative Beiser, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Senate Bill 2537, offered by Representative Franks, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law, which may be referred to as Caylee's law. Senate Bill 2577, offered by Representative Osmond, a Bill for an Act concerning insurance. Introduction of Resolutions. Senate Joint Resolution offered… #51, offered by Representative Mautino. This Resolution is referred to the Rules Committee. House 09700115.doc 152 STATE OF ILLINOIS 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 115th Legislative Day 3/22/2012 Perfunctory Session will come to order. Committee Reports. Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, Chairperson from the Committee on Rules reports the following committee action taken on March 22, 2012: recommends to be adopted, referred to the floor is Floor Amendment #5 to House Bill 3812, Floor Amendment #4 to House Bill 3816, Floor Amendment #4 to House Bill 4541, Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 4986, Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 5190, Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 5761, and Floor Amendment #4 to House Bill 5831. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 09700115.doc 153