"House 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 May 17, 2016: approved for consideration, referred to the floor is Floor Amendment #1 and 2 to House Bill 673, Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 4167; approved for consideration, referred to Second Reading is House Bill 1127, 1128, and House Bill 1129."
"(sic-The House will be in order.) We shall be led in prayer today by Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein who is with Congregation Kneseth Israel in Elgin. Rabbi Klein is the guest of Representative Moeller. Members and guests are asked to refrain from starting laptops, turn off cell phones and rise for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. Rabbi Klein."
"A rabbi is a… that's really loud… a rabbi is a teacher and so, how many of you drove down or up to Springfield today and saw all of the new growth? Some of you. It's okay. You can raise your hand. We have audience participation at our place. So, that new growth, there's a song from Psalms that says (Rabbi Klein speaks Hebrew) light is sown or planted it for the righteous, enjoyed for the upright in heart. And it took me a long time to figure out that verse. But, you have to do the righteous actions, which is what this Body is about, before you get the joy. Our God, and God of our ancestors, as has been done since Jeremiah's day, 27 years ago… 27 thousand years… 2,700 years ago and was done by the Jewish community for Presidents George Washington and for Abraham Lincoln, and on to today. We ask Your blessings on our government, for its Leaders and advisors. 09900131.docx 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 Teach them insights of Your Torah and other sacred scriptures so that they may administer all affairs of state fairly, that peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom may forever abide in this state. Creator of all, help us to understand that each of us were created in Your image. Bless all the inhabitants of this state with Your spirit. May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony to banish all hatred and bigotry and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions which are the pride and glory of this nation and this state. Let us come together in God's name and prepare ourselves to do God's will. May the Divine Presence dwell among us, drawing us closer to God and to serve God's creatures, all of our people with justice and with love. Let us listen to each other with respect, and treat each other with wisdom and generosity. May our eyes be open to see Your greatness in the smallest things we do. Merciful One, remind us that we were sent here for a purpose, chosen by the people. Let us also be witness to the Master whom we serve which justifies God's choice of each of us sitting here and standing here today. May none of our controversies rise up from ambition and self-seeking. Let them only be for the sake of heaven, like those of the great ancient rabbis Hillel and Shammai who learned from their passionate arguments that 'These and these both are the words of the living God.’ Compassionate One, we are reminded that 36 times in the Bible it tells us that our tasks as leaders is to take care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger, the most vulnerable amongst us. Help us to find that compassion, Your compassion, so that no child will go to bed hungry, no parent will worry 09900131.docx 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 for that child's safety, no senior will be forced to choose between heat or lights, food or medication. As God clothed the naked, Adam and Eve, we must clothe the naked. As God gave manna, a gift, to those hungering in the wilderness, we must feed the hungry. As God buried Moses, we must comfort the bereaved. Then everyone will dwell in peace and unafraid as they sit under their vines and their fig trees, or maybe here in Illinois, a big strong oak. Finally, we are told that the day is short, the task is great, the workers are idle, the reward is great. It is not incumbent upon us to finish the task. Neither are we free to ignore it. And the Master of the House is impatient. So, let's get to work. Together, Amen."
We’ll be led in the Pledge by Representative Moeller."
"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. Leader Currie."
"Please let the record show that Representatives Monique Davis and Ford are excused today."
"Mr. Brown or a someone. Representative Bourne."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All Republicans are in attendance today."
"Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, please take the record. There are 116 Members in attendance and we do have a Quorum. Mr. Clerk." 09900131.docx 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"A message from the Secretary of State dated May 17, 2016. To the Honorable Speaker of the House: In compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the State of Illinois, I am forwarding herewith the enclosed House Bill from the 99th General Assembly as vetoed by the Governor together with his objections. House Bill 580. Respectfully signed, Jesse White, Secretary of State. Introduction of Resolutions. House Joint Resolution 152, offered by Representative Butler and House Joint Resolution 153, offered by Representative McSweeney are referred to the Rules Committee."
"The Chair recognizes Mr. Martwick."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of personal privilege."
"Go right ahead, Sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the gallery, Ladies and Gentlemen, there are some people here that are part of my staff back in the district. They do a hard work helping me connect with my constituents and vote in their best interest. Would you please welcome Dan Pogorzelski, Dave Feller, Rob Reed and Jacob Kaplan are up in the gallery up there. Give them a warm welcome."
"Welcome aboard. Thanks for being here with us. Mr. McAuliffe is recognized."
"Point of personal privilege."
"Proceed, Sir."
"Today is Hepatitis C Advocacy Day in the State Capitol. And I invite all Legislators and staff for a free screening on the second floor of the Comptroller's Conference 09900131.docx 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 Room. And the screening will be… is free. Takes about 20 minutes and will be open at 2:00 today. Thank you."
"Thank you, Sir. Representative Jimenez."
"Point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."
"Please proceed."
"I'd like to introduce today my page for the day, Jayme Barham. She's a fifth grader at Glenwood Intermediate School. And it's also her birthday today. So, let's wish her a happy birthday."
"Happy birthday. And welcome to the House Floor, thank you for being here. Mr. Meier."
"I, too, rise for a point of personal privilege."
"Go right ahead, Sir."
"I'd to welcome in the gallery the Illinois Jaycee Chairman of the Board, Tricia Buehne with her parents, Norma and Gerp. Thank you for being here today."
"Thank you and welcome aboard. Mr. D'Amico."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Point of personal privilege."
"Proceed, Sir."
"I just want to announce to everybody. Tomorrow night is the House-Senate softball game. You see the trophy here in the gallery right here. We're going to have practice tonight at Washington and Amos, right by Sacred Heart Griffin High School there on the parking lot there. So, let's come out and have a good practice and make sure tomorrow night we win that trophy back here in the House."
"Very important. Mr. Brady. No running, Sir."
"Point of personal privilege, please, Mr. Speaker."
"Go right ahead." 09900131.docx 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, please help me join in welcoming my page for the day, Sophia Downes, if she'd stand up. Sophia, from my Legislative District, a sophomore at Normal Community West and her mother who's in the gallery who's standing up cheering for her right now from the Illinois State University. Welcome both of you."
Speaker Lang: "Welcome. Thanks for being with us today. Representative Cassidy is recognized."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"Go ahead."
"Want to take a moment to welcome back somebody that I like to refer to as the previous occupant, our former colleague, former Representative Harry Osterman, now alderman of the 48th Ward, has come back to join us. And his son… his sons Jack and Harry are paging with us today."
"Welcome to all of you."
"And oh… and wife Peggy Osterman is up in the gallery with their daughter Katie somewhere. There they are."
"There's a big crowd of Ostermans here today. Welcome. You can let us know if we do it better than City Hall, Sir. Mr. Sims is recognized."
"Thank you… thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"Proceed, Sir."
"Mr. Speaker and Members, if I could have your attention for a moment. On February 11, we adopted House Resolution 974. 974 recognized the life of Sandy Hunte. On that… on November 4, 2015, the towns of Momence and Manteno were changed forever because on that day we lost an educator, we 09900131.docx 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 lost a public servant, we lost a community leader and most importantly, we lost a friend. Sandy was married to Bruce Hunte and they lived in Momence for many years. She worked for a kindergarten teacher in Manteno schools since August 26 of 1998. But, Sandy didn't become a teacher early in life. She waited 'til late in life to dedicate her life to education. But at that time, she showed and demonstrated a true commitment to education, being a straight-A student herself, and oftentimes studying while her children were studying with her. I had the good fortune of talking with her family about Sandy and there were a few things that came across. Sandy was loved; Sandy was cared for; but Sandy left an impact. What you saw from Sandy and even to this day, the town of Momence and the City of Manteno and their schools still hurt from Sandy's loss. We have with us in the gallery… we have Bruce, her husband; we have Amy, her daughter, who she was profoundly proud of; we have her sister-in-law Pat; we have Mr. and Mrs. B., who were dedicated coworkers of Sandy. And I'd like the entire House to join with me in welcoming them and giving them… giving them our greatest condolences for their… for their loss. Know that Sandy is no longer with us physically, but the impact that she's had on those communities and the children that she served will live on forever. Ask Mr. Speaker if we could join in a moment of silence."
"Thank you, Representative. The Chair recognizes Representative Moeller."
"Point of personal privilege."
"Please go ahead." 09900131.docx 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Thank you. I'd like to welcome my page for the day, Olivia Halik. Welcome her to Springfield and the House Floor. And she just graduated from Dundee-Crown High School and she'll be attending Elgin Community College in the fall. And joining us, also, is her father, James Halik in the gallery. So, welcome to Springfield."
"Thank you, Representative. And welcome to both of you. Mr. Clerk, the Adjournment Resolution. Ignore my comment, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Meier is recognized."
"Point of personal privilege."
"Go ahead, Sir."
"I was very happy to be in Springfield this weekend where we honored one of our own here. Avery Bourne was one of the 10 outstanding young people in the State of Illinois. So, for Avery, we ought to give her a round of applause."
"Congratulations, Representative. Mr. Clerk, House Resolution 1014, Representative McDermed. Please proceed, Representative. The Members will rise."
"House Resolution 1044, offered by Representative McDermed. RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we, along with her family and friends, mourn the passing of Olivia Kresach; and be it further RESOLVED, That, in recognition of the work of Brain Up and the continued need to recognize and bring awareness to brain cancer, we designate May 17, 2016 as Gray Day in the State of Illinois."
"Representative McDermed." 09900131.docx 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Olivia Kresach was a beloved honor roll student at the University of Chicago when she unexpectedly and tragically passed away from glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive form of cancer. Today would have been her 25th birthday. The numbers for glioblastoma are disturbing. The most common length of survival following diagnosis is 12 to 15 months with less than 3 to 5 percent of people surviving greater than 5 years. About 3 people in every 100 thousand develop the disease per year. Gray Day is a national movement to recognize and bring awareness to brain cancer. Her parents, Dan and Meg Kresach are in the gallery on the right side today and have, in her memory, taken up the fight to end brain cancer. They work with Voices Against Brain Cancer to help find a cure by advancing scientific research to increase awareness within the medical community and to support patients and their families who have been affected by this devastating disease. Olivia passed away two years ago, but her memory is still alive and well with the people that knew her. Please join me in welcoming Olivia's family to Springfield and recognizing their work as well as honoring Olivia's memory with this Resolution today. I respectfully request a moment of silence."
"The Body will take a moment of silence. Those in favor of the Resolution will say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'ayes' have it. And the Resolution is adopted. Thank you, Members. Mr. Meier, for the hat trick."
"Yes. If I could have a moment of quiet for a second. This weekend, in my home county, I lost two very good friends from the little town of Irvington. The one I've known since 4-H. 09900131.docx 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 I got to know him through the county when we were in high school and we called him 'Hongz'. Hongz was one of the best friends you could have, came from a dairy farm just like me. Hongz has worked his whole life until when 14 years ago he had a stroke after… after doing the right thing and losing a hundred pounds. Hongz's life's been challenged since then, but Hongz kept living. Kept going, helping the community, raising funds for everybody he could and yes, Hongz was part of my election campaign and helped me. He was very good to me. He excelled in the Illinois Jaycees. He excelled in the National Jaycees. He created Jaycee chapters across this country. He helped with that so they could go out and help people. We lost Hongz very suddenly Saturday night while we were up here with the Jaycees. Hongz just didn't have a good day and couldn't make it. And then on Monday morning, Hongz was the… was still on the Irvington Town Board. On Monday morning we lost Bill Windler. Bill Windler was our county Democrat and he was our treasurer. He was a wonderful man. I knew Bill Windler from back when he was my 4-H leader. And he helped me and I knew his children. And he was the town policeman, the police chief. He volunteered usually to do that. Both those two ran many of the organizations in that town to help have fireworks or whatever else. And we will be having both their funerals this week. So, for the little town of Irvington and for their families, I ask for a moment of silence. Thank you."
"Thank you, Representative. Mr. Clerk, House Bill 4167, page 2 of the Calendar, under the Order of House Bills- Second Reading. Please read the Bill." 09900131.docx 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
Clerk Bolin: "House Bill 4167, a Bill for an Act making appropriations. The Bill was read for a second time previously. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #1 is offered by Speaker Madigan."
"Speaker Madigan on the Amendment."
"Mr. Speaker, I would move for the adoption of the Amendment on Second Reading, then consider the Bill on Third Reading."
"Mr. Sandack."
"Speaker, at least tell us what it is he's proposing so we have some idea on this Amendment?"
"The Amendment would provide full funding for the MAP program and higher education. I would move for the adoption of the Amendment on Second Reading and propose to consider the Amendment on Third Reading."
"Mr. Speaker, with that, the Republicans would like a one-hour caucus."
"We'll… we'll deal with the Amendment first. Those in favor of the Amendment say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. The Republicans have asked for a caucus. They will caucus immediately in Room 118. The Democrats will be at ease. The House will be in recess 'til the call of the Chair. The House will be in order. On the Order of House Bills-Third Reading, House Bill 4167, Speaker Madigan. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"House Bill 4167, a Bill for an Act making appropriations. Third Reading of this House Bill." 09900131.docx 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Speaker Madigan."
"Mr. Speaker, is the Bill on the Order of Third Reading?"
"It is, Sir."
"Has the Bill been read a third time?"
"Has been, Sir."
"Thank you. I rise in support of this Bill. Just over three weeks ago, Governor Rauner signed into law Senate Bill 2059, a small portion of emergency stopgap higher education funding for community colleges, universities and MAP grant recipients. My public statement at the time of the passage of this small portion of emergency funding was that I supported greater funding for our universities, our community colleges and MAP grant recipients to sustain our institutions of higher education for a longer period of time because I believe that Republicans, including Governor Rauner, they consider Senate Bill 2059 to be a final action on higher education. Today, I renew my call and urge the Governor to approve full fiscal year funding for MAP grants. The lack of a comprehensive, full-year budget has resulted in tremendous hardship on our state universities, their communities, the hundreds of businesses within those communities, the middle-class families that count on universities for their livelihoods, and the students who rely on funding for their education. We all know the funding passed a few weeks ago is not enough. Just four days after Governor Rauner signed the small portion of emergency funding for higher education, Chicago State University announced the layoffs of 300 employees, one-third of its workforce effective immediately. In January, Western Illinois University announced 50 layoffs of faculty and 09900131.docx 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 staff, an announcement of 110 additional layoffs was made in April. I recently received a letter from David Glassman, President of Eastern Illinois University. The letter was addressed to me, Governor Rauner and the other Legislative Leaders. Representatives Phillips, Brady and Hammond received courtesy copies of the letter as well. In his letter, President Glassman stated that in the 10 months since he has become President of Eastern total employee headcount has been cut by 363 individuals, an overall reduction in employee headcount of 22.6 percent in just one year. Again, 22.6 percent reduction in headcount in just one year. Eastern stopped all hiring, indefinitely postponed construction projects, and depleted almost all of the $27 million in cash flow reserves. President Glassman also stated his concern with media reports that suggested approval of Senate Bill 2059 and that universities had been given a reprieve, that is, this funding would get universities through until they started to receive tuition revenues in the fall. He stated, this is simply not true for Eastern. And that if Eastern continues at current operational levels, which had already forced the school to lay off nearly 400 employees, Eastern would struggle to make payroll by July. Let me say that again. This is quoting the President of the school. If Eastern did not receive additional funding, it will struggle to make payroll within two months. Eastern must receive additional funds from the state within the next 30 days or risk further layoffs and be forced to spend restricted bond funds in violation of bond covenants during the summer in order to make payroll in just a few short months. The crisis facing 09900131.docx 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 Chicago State, Eastern, and Western force students and their families to decide whether or not to attend college in Illinois. Students across Illinois who are on financial need seeking a college education deserve better than a 43 percent effort from this Body and from the Governor. My proposal to fund MAP grants at the level proposed in the May 2015 budget adopted by House Democrats would be about 225 million more than was offered in the small emergency stopgap funding measure, will deliver a needed infusion of funding for colleges and universities across the state. With this funding, not only will we help universities we will help students in financial need receive a college education. While I still support more funding directly to our universities, I support this measure because I believe our students need to have stability and they need to know that their MAP grants have been funded by our State Government. I believe and I think we can all agree that students across our state deserve better than 40 percent of their funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
"Mr. Brown is recognized."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Please excuse Representative Grant Wehrli for the remainder of the afternoon. Thank you."
"Thank you, Sir. Mr. Sandack."
"Thank you. Will the Gentleman yield for a few questions?"
"Speaker yields."
"Senate Bill 2059 which, I think, was universally approved by the House had a revenue source or direct funding mechanism. Isn't that correct, Mr. Speaker?" 09900131.docx 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"The Bill was a… had a fund which was fueled by the General Revenue Fund, general state collections."
"Right. But it's not GRF, is it?"
"If it's not GRF, then what is it?"
"It's a designated revenue."
"Well, Mr. Sandack, there's a label on that fund."
"Right."
"But, that money comes from the state income tax and the state sales tax."
"Correct. And it was… it's a fund and I think there's more dollars that go in there, but it's a designated source to fund the appropriations out of 27… 2059. Isn't that correct?"
"That's correct."
"Okay. And the proposal that's on the board that you are sponsoring has no designated source of payment other than General Revenue Funds. Isn't that correct?"
"That's correct."
"And there is no specific source. So, when you were mentioning earlier that Eastern may have a payroll problem in July, there is nothing that you can tell Eastern or anyone else that says whether this is… your proposal's funded or not, whether they'll get any money directly to them to address their July potential payroll problem?"
"And that program directly helps Eastern Illinois University."
"How would they get their money, Sir?"
"Well, they'd get it when we vote for this Bill and the Governor signs the Bill." 09900131.docx 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Oh, so they get a check directly therefrom. You think it just… the Governor's going to write a check or is the Comptroller going to write a check?"
"I presume it would follow the normal process. It might be the same process that was followed on Senate Bill 2059."
"20… 2059 has a funded source and we just talked about that funded source. But, with respect to just General Revenue Funds, it goes on the pile or within the pile of unpaid bills. Isn't that correct, Mr. Speaker?"
"It'll follow the normal process through the Comptroller's Office."
"Okay. But, we know there's no revenue source itself, so it will just follow the normal course and we know that means 60, 90, 100, maybe 180 days before payment is actually fulfilled. Isn't that the ordinary course, Mr. Speaker?"
"It’s my understanding, the Comptroller would change procedure in order to move the money over to the university more quickly."
"So, it's… essentially what we're doing when we've done this before or I should… my case, your side tried it before, it's to pass Appropriation Bills without actual funding and tell the Comptroller figure it out, essentially. Isn't that correct, Sir?"
"There is funding because the money would come out of the General Revenue Fund. There's money in the General Revenue Fund."
"But it's not a finite sum, right? We… it's not infinite. Infinite is finite and there's not enough to pay ongoing bills right now in…" 09900131.docx 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Well…"
"…the typical old-fashioned process in the ordinary course."
"Just to help you understand, Mr. Sandack, that's the same fund that the Governor would tap for his request for more appropriation for the Department of Corrections. So, the Governor has on file a request to raise the appropriation level for the Department of Corrections."
"Right. But that's not your Bill and…"
"That money would come from the same fund that this Bill would tap."
"I'll cosponsor that Bill if you want to run that, Sir. I'm talking about the Bill that you are addressing today and there is no revenue fund. There is no specific source of payment. So, when you use the word 'stability' and I agree with you… I think everyone agrees with you… we owe the citizens of Illinois including its students, its universities, all stakeholders, some sense of stability. But, your Bill doesn't provide any stability. It provides an unfunded promise or a hopefulness that maybe in the ordinary course come 60, 90, 120, 180 or beyond, maybe this money gets into the system. Isn't that accurate?"
"If we all work together, we could solve the problem of the families in need who need this money in order to educate their children, if we all work together."
"Why I'm… I'm totally amenable to that, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. Ladies and Gentlemen, I concur with the Gentleman's last comment. We should be working together. This is, however, an unfunded promise, a hopefulness and nothing changing the 09900131.docx 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 direction of how we budget because this isn't the budget. This is a vote on, hey we funded MAP grants when we're not really funding it. We're telling students maybe you'll get some money. And of course, the Gentleman talked earlier, this is not an appropriation to the universities directly. It's to fund MAP grants. And yes, Chicago State and Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois would obviously be the recipient if any money comes in 60, 90, 120, 180 days, but it would also go to private schools, too, which we do not appropriate money to. So, this if for MAP grants, maybe; for students in Illinois, maybe; whether they go to school at Eastern or Chicago State or otherwise. Indeed, let's take up the Gentleman's last challenge and let's work together on a real budget, comprehensive and full, whether it's directly to MAP or to the universities for infrastructure, public safety, education and all of our constitutional obligations. This is, again, piecemealing. It's not the appropriate way to do it. I urge a 'no' vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
"Leader Durkin."
"Thank you. To the Bill. The comment was made that students and families deserve better. They certainly do. They deserve to know the truth. They deserve to know that this Bill, if it passes, it will sit in the back of the line of the $7.5 billion of bills that we currently can't pay. This money's not going to get to those students who are in need of this money and the families who want their children to be able to stay in college or attend college. How we get there is by solving a budget problem, the crisis that we currently exists by the parties negotiating. Like we… I will say this. 09900131.docx 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 We had a meeting today. The Leaders had a meeting and I felt positive walking out of there that we could actually get there by the end of May, which is going to be a combination of revenue, reforms and some cuts. Why we are doing this Bill right now baffles me. We don't have the money to pay for it. Families… everybody who's watching… families, kids, anybody who's watching this, this money's not going to get to you. It’s not responsible. We need to be truthful to the families and the students who are desperately… desperately relying upon this Legislature to break the impasse. And I hope we get there. I'm going to stay positive on this. And I've said that before. But I believe we made progress and let's let that progress and negotiations to continue. This is not the way to go. I'd recommend a 'no' vote."
"Mr. Harris." Harris, D.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A question of the Sponsor."
"Sponsor yields." Harris, D.: "Representative, if I may. Why just MAP? Why are we funding just MAP?"
"Because the MAP program provides support to all of the schools, public and private in this state. And it's particularly important to several private small universities all over the state. A very interesting study would show, if you read through a list of all the private colleges in the state and you see the percentage of their enrollment that is in the MAP program, it's very significant. Several of these schools are close to 40, 50 percent of their enrollment is supported by MAP. And so, the significance of the Bill is that it would provide a monetary support for Chicago State, 09900131.docx 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 Eastern, Western, the University of Illinois and all these private schools all over the state." Harris, D.: "You mentioned the layoffs by Chicago State University within a week after we passed Senate Bill 2056. I will tell you that in my contact with President Calhoun on that issue, I said I was somewhat dismayed that we of the Legislature were not made aware of the fact that we were going… he was going to suffer… which his institution was going to suffer layoffs after we just appropriated, I believe, $20 million for CSU. So, it was a bit of a surprise to… to me, certainly and maybe to other Members of the Legislature. But, let me ask you. How many layoffs have there been… do you know how many layoffs have there been at Western or Southern? You mentioned a letter from Eastern. What about those other schools? Any idea how many layoffs may have occurred at those other schools?"
"Well, Western in January they announced 50 layoffs of faculty and staff and in April, 110 additional layoffs. I don't have any statistics from SIU." Harris, D.: "Okay. I have just a few more questions, if I may, before I address the Bill. Do you know what our… I was going to ask what our expenditures are going to be for FY16, but given the fact that we don't have appropriations to determine what our expenditures are going to be, do you have any idea how much liability we are incurring because of consent decrees and court orders for FY16?"
"I wouldn't have that number available." Harris, D.: "Well, I think the… the Senate Democrats put out a figure not too long ago that it was in the vicinity of $37 09900131.docx 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 billion or thereabouts, give or take a little bit. Do you have any idea based on our current tax structure what our revenues are going to be for FY16 based on our current tax structure?"
"I don't have that with me at this time." Harris, D.: "Well, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, COGFA, indicated that our revenues are going to be just shy of 32 billion. Think about that for a second, folks. We're bringing in 32 and we're sending out 37, a bit of a disconnect. Can I ask you… do you know, Sir, what the percentage of funding of higher education was in the Bill that we passed 2056… what percentage of funding for higher education that was… that amount was, the amount that we send in 2056, roughly? I think you…"
"2059?" Harris, D.: "Or excuse me, 2059. Excuse me, 2059."
"Well, my memory is that it's mixed. Some institutions would have been funded at about one-third and the MAP program at 45 percent. And I don't recall the percentage of funding for community colleges." Harris, D.: "Right. Well, I think the… I think you're right… you're right. I believe the figure was in the 45 percent level or thereabouts based on the appropriation that higher education had for FY15 and what we sent… what we approved in Senate Bill 2056. Let me, if I may, Ladies and Gentlemen, just address this Bill for a second. You know, we had a debate not too long ago on an Appropriation Bill and I stood up and said the money's not there and that it's not available. It's not there. It's just from the money… the bills are just going 09900131.docx 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 to go in the queue. And the distinguished Gentleman from the 13th District stood up and said and corrected me. And I… this is my opportunity to admit when I make a mistake. Corrected me and said, well, no, the funds are coming out of the Education Assistance Fund and the moneys are there. And you know what, he was right. Not entirely because there were some other dollars involved in that Bill that we discussed, but he was right about those dollars that were coming out of the Education Assistance Fund. The money was there. Ladies and Gentlemen, the money is not there this time, definitely not there this time. The Speaker indicated that the question came up about the Education Assistance Fund and they get… and they have for a whole bunch of years… they get 7… roughly 7.8 percent of the income tax revenues. But, this Bill appropriates money out of the General Revenue Fund. Now, let me ask you, why the General Revenue Fund when… we know we're spending 37, we know we're bringing in less than 32, so any bills that come in go into a queue. The General Revenue Fund, the money simply is not there to pay the bills. But, what about all those other funds where the money is there to pay the bills and let me give you an example which many of us know about. The Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund has $68 million in it. There are… there are businesses that have laid off individuals, that are now those individuals instead of having a job and paying taxes, they're now in the unemployment line. There's $68 million in that fund and there are businesses that are waiting to be paid for bills that they have submitted to the State of Illinois and all we have to do is pass an appropriation and they will get their money. And 09900131.docx 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 the money's there. The funds are there to pay them. Ladies and Gentlemen, the funds are not there to pay this. They're not there. And again, I've said before, we don't have a printing press in the basement so I take the Gentleman at his word where he says he supports… and this was… he just made the statement… he supports more funding for our universities. He made that statement. Okay. Then why not put the funding in this Bill? Why not simply say instead of giving our universities 40 percent of what they got in FY15 we'll give them 80 percent or 90 percent and put more money in this Bill for our higher education and not just through MAP? Because it doesn't make any difference whether it's MAP or whether it's an appropriation for our higher universities of straight dollars. Guess what's going to happen? They're going to send the bill to the Comptroller and the Comptroller's going to put it in that queue and sometime in the distant future, unless we take action, sometime in the distant future that bill may get paid. My friends, there is no one in this Body who knows the appropriation process better than the Sponsor of this Bill. So, when you… when you pass an appropriation or put in a Bill that takes money out of the General Revenue Fund and you just know that the dollars aren't there, this is a disingenuous exercise on our part. Our Leader was very clear when he said to those students who are relying on MAP and they're only going to get… right now they're only going to… they're going to get that 45 percent because that's coming out of the Education Assistance Fund, but they're not going to get these dollars anytime soon. And those universities aren't going to get these dollars anytime soon because the 09900131.docx 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 money is not there. And this time I can say it with confidence; the money is not there. We are not being fair and honest to the students who rely on MAP. We are not being fair and honest to the universities because of the MAP assistance that they provide to those students to make up for it. And we're not being fair and honest to the families whose students… whose children rely on the MAP grants for funding. This Bill deserves a 'no' vote. Let's pass a budget that funds higher education in total and then we can really support the Gentleman's Motion or the Gentleman's idea of supporting more funding for our universities. Let's get a budget in place because what we are doing right now, up to this point, is we are destroying… destroying reputationally our higher education system. We are doing that. Do you think a professor wants to come to the University of Illinois these days? Not a chance. Do you think a professor wants to come to any of our institutions of public higher education in this state given the situation that we have and they're not getting funded? No. Let's pass a budget. Let's get those universities the funding that they need so we can continue the quality high level education that we deserve and should have in this state. And I'm here to tell you this Bill, with all due respect to the Sponsor, this Bill does not do it. Please vote 'no'."
"Mr. Pritchard."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to hear that you have read the letter from those Presidents that you mentioned. A number of 09900131.docx 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 us have been hearing from university Presidents at community colleges as well for the last 11 months talking about the crisis they were facing, the layoffs that they were making, the unfilled positions that they weren't able to add. So, I'm glad that this message is resonating throughout the Leadership and the Legislature as well as is in the Executive Branch. Many of us on this side of the aisle did not acknowledge that when we passed 2059 that it was going to be the end of funding for 2016. I think all of us over here expected that there would be some follow-up legislation that would take people closer to what we had allocated in 2015. And I hope we will still have that opportunity because even with this Bill we're not reaching the needs that we have to perpetuate the structure that has been so vital in Illinois for us to attract workers and jobs to Illinois. You mentioned that this program is going for the Monetary Assistance Program. Is that strictly for grants or is it also for the operation of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission?"
"The Student Assistance Commission could use some of this money for operations."
"That's good to hear because they're the ones that help promote the MAP program as well as get students engaged in our Illinois universities rather than going out of state. It was simply back in the year 2000, as I remember, that our state used to fund the 100 percent of the applications, ellible app… eligible applications for the Monetary Assistance Program. And they received full funding for their tuitions. Is that your recollection as well?"
"I'll take your word for it." 09900131.docx 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"The year 2000, here we are 16 years later unable to fund half of the eligible applicants and giving us something less than $5 thousand per student, when the tuitions are more than double in many cases. So, clearly, even with a level that you're appropriating here, I don't know that we can say we're giving stability to the students. I don't say that this is something that will stop the students from leaving our state to attend other universities. Perhaps you’ve heard in your district, as I've heard in my district, that students this fall are enrolling out of state. They're accepting the aggressive offers of Iowa and Wisconsin that make their tuitions much less for out-of-state students than what we offer for in-state students in Illinois. We need to fund higher education to be competitive to have that workforce that will attract jobs to our state. And I'm glad to see that we're talking about MAP grants, but we must be talking about much more than that. Your Bill talks about using General Revenue Fund and it has already been pointed out that this probably will put these requests for funding in queue with a lot of other requests for funding. Do you have any concept of what our current unpaid bills are?"
"My memory of the last report I read was in the… in the nature… in the neighborhood of maybe $6.9 billion potentially rising to $10 billion this summer."
"I accept that recollection. I thought the Comptroller's report said that we were currently at a much higher level than 6, but do you know what the interest is that we're paying on that 6 or eventually 10 billion dollars of unpaid bills?" 09900131.docx 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"I don't have the answer to that question."
"Again, I thought we had seen some communication from the Comptroller's Office that suggested it was upwards or nearly upwards by the time we get to July, of $1 billion in interest charges. So, what you're proposing here is that we add to those unpaid bills and rise that interest charge even higher? Is that your intent?"
"My intent is to attempt to pass this Bill which would raise the funding level in the MAP program to 100 percent of what it was in May of 2015."
"Well, and I applaud that, but we have to look at the current situation and where we are with unpaid bills. And if this is not tied to new sources of revenue that will pay for those new obligations that we have here, we're going to be raising unpaid bills and we're going to be paying even more interest. And Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, we've got to change that practice. We've got to put real money behind the appropriations that we make in this chamber. And I look forward to working with you to make sure that we have a balanced budget and that we're addressing the real needs and priorities of our state. I look forward to doing that here in the next few days."
"Mr. Brady."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to hear your comments about trying to support the funding… more funding for higher education. And I agree with you on that. Obviously, it's just a matter of how do we get there. But, I want to take everybody back to 09900131.docx 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 a day in February. It was actually February the 19 of this year on a Friday. At that time, Governor Rauner rejected the so-called funding Bill for MAP grants sent to him by the Democratic Majority in the General Assembly. He vetoed it because it was a sham. It was a funding Bill that contained no actual funding. How is this Bill different, Mr. Speaker?"
"Well, Mr. Brady, this Bill would provide 100 percent funding for the MAP program with the payments coming from the General Revenue Fund. I've consistently said publicly that the number one problem facing the government in the State of Illinois is the budget deficit problem. And I think that to work our way out of budget deficit problem we have to have a balanced approach, some cuts, some new revenue. And I'm prepared to negotiate with the Governor on new revenue."
"Was that Bill back in February that was vetoed trying to appropriate dollars for MAP grant funding from General Revenue Fund?"
"I presume there was."
"And again, my question, Sir, is how is this Bill from the General Revenue Fund different from that Bill back in February from the General Revenue Fund trying to fund MAP grants in the State of Illinois?"
"I'm not attempting to distinguish the one Bill from the other. I'm simply trying to provide 100 percent funding for the MAP program at a number that was in existence in May of 2015."
"Mr. Speaker, I was chief House Sponsor of a proposal which was trying to adequately fund higher education overall and it was about $1.68 billion. In fact, it was House Bill 4539. 09900131.docx 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 What the Bill did was move from what the Governor's introduced reduction to higher education in his budget speech was at around 31 percent to 20 percent obviously coming up from the budget from the Democrats regarding around 6.87 percent in reductions in spending. That Bill attempted to have a source of revenue as well by fund-sweeping. And I don't know if you recall the Bill at all, but the Bill was never put into a committee or heard and I was wondering if you could tell me why?"
"Mr. Brady, did that Bill attempt to do a connection with extraordinary budget powers to the Governor?"
"Yes, it did. That had been done previously to other Governors."
"Yeah. That's the reason why it didn't move."
"Why I would certainly ask for reconsideration as we continue to navigate through the trials and tribulations of a… of our budget impasse, Mr. Speaker. And Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Bill. The fact of the matter is, is that these two Bills that I spoke about back in February and this Bill today, as well intended as they are, they don't have funding. They don't have funding because we don't have a budget. They don't have funding that the Governor is going to agree to sign unlike with funding he agreed and did sign, Senate Bill 2059 which was a measure that was worked on by rank and file Democrats and Republicans all of which whom I thank again today. But, the reality is if we don't have the money 'cause we don't have it appropriated for a budget, we send out another false hope to the students for MAP funding. And please keep in mind, this is not operational funding for 09900131.docx 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 our universities of which several months ago I spoke to the Presidents of all of our nine state universities who told us they needed money for operations; MAP grants was second. Community colleges, it's their priorities. Privates, it's their priority. But, it's operations funding that our state universities need. That's why they're anticipating the layoffs. That's why they have the force reduction going on, not because of the lack of MAP funding. So, what we're doing here, Ladies and Gentlemen, in my opinion is we're playing voodoo economics. We're taking the students of Illinois as a voodoo doll and we're just sticking a pin in them and making it hurt even further because this is a façade. The money's not there in this particular piece of legislation that will be approved. I ask for a 'no' vote."
"Mr. Franks."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to speak to the Bill. I appreciate my friends on the other side of the aisle and what they've been saying and I agree with much of what they've said. And Mr. Pritchard, I think you hit the nail on the head on some of the things you were saying. And I also agree with the Governor in that we need to cut some of the administrative costs at these universities. They're outrageous. There was a recent Senate study that indicated that the costs of the administration had increased, I think, 31 percent over a short period of time. So, we need to be doing that. And I'd encourage the trustees that the Governor has appointed to the universities to go forward and make those cuts to administration at this time. So, I think that's one way we can help get through this. But, I also thinking of this Bill 09900131.docx 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 what the… what the Speaker's bringing forward and some of you had talked about on the other side by funding these MAP grants. If we don't do this, and Mr. Batinick and I had talked about this and we've… talked about this in committee, our students are leaving the State of Illinois. We've lost almost 16 thousand students in the last few years. That's like losing an entire northern Illinois university. Our kids are not going to come home if they go to school out of state, most likely. The long-term ramifications of our failure to fund MAP grants we will be paying for generations to come. Beyond the economic reasons, we also are creating a permanent underclass if we're not allowing kids without the means to be able to better themselves through college. One of the few things that we can do here in the General Assembly is to help those folks with the faintest voices. By helping them, we're helping ourselves. We're helping the state go forward to be a place where employers are going to wish to be coming. This is a jobs Bill. This is definitely a jobs Bill because if we don't fund this it'll make it much more difficult to attract and retain jobs in the State of Illinois. Now, I wrote down some of the comments that people had talked about and I'm going to… what they had said about this Bill. And they said it's false hope, an unfunded promise, hopefulness, a disingenuous exercise and my favorite going back to George Bush is voodoo economics. Now, I'm wondering if you guys are going to make the same argument when the Governor says please pass my K-12 budget cleanly. I haven't noticed a revenue source for that. So, should we just tape your comments that you just made so we can play it during that debate? Or should we quit playing 09900131.docx 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 the political game that it's so obvious is happening here? You talk about how we can get this funded. There are ways to get this funded. One way that we talked about numerous times is perhaps closing some corporate loopholes to help pay for this. This is a $227 million proposition. We have probably 10 times that amount of corporate loopholes that aren't necessary. And also remember, once this Bill passes, nothing in this Bill requires the Governor to actually spend this money yet. This gives him the option… the option… only the option of funding it so we can determine what the real priorities are for the state. So, if the Governor doesn't wish to do so, he could veto this. He could amendatorily veto this. But, what we're doing is allowing another option in order to avoid the collapse… the collapse of our education system in Illinois which we are making those people with the faintest voices, we are beating them like dogs. We are making them suffer because we won't do what we're supposed to do here. So, I heard many of you say, well, we need to pass a budget to get this done. You're a hundred percent right. If this is not the incentive enough needed to go pass a comprehensive budget, I don't know what is. Perhaps, you're going to need for all the social services to crash before you're ready. I'm not sure what the impetus is, but certainly voting for this gives the administration another option. That's all it does. Everyone here should be voting 'aye'."
"Mr. Demmer."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields." 09900131.docx 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Mr. Speaker, just briefly, a point of clarification. Earlier you mentioned that this… this MAP funding is funded out of the General Revenue Fund which you said was the same source as the Governor had desired to use for some emergency funding in operations for things like the Department of Corrections. But, isn't it true that that proposal is actually funded from the Budget Stabilization Fund and not the General Revenue Fund?"
"I’m sorry, I missed the end of the question. Could you repeat it?"
"Isn't it true that the Governor's proposal for emergency funding at places like the Department of Corrections is funded by the Budget Stabilization Fund and not the General Revenue Fund?"
"That may be the case. You know and I know that a huge percentage of the funding for the Department of Corrections comes from the General Revenue Fund."
"I appreciate that aspect, but specifically with regards to the proposal from the Governor, the call was to use the Budget Stabilization Fund. And I think that's the instructive lesson we have in this. Before we make an obligation for the state to spend money, we need to check the fund and check the balance in the fund. What we're doing today is writing checks out of a fund that's already been overextended. We can't cash those checks. Funds that are appropriated out of the Budget Stabilization Fund there is money available there. And that's why it's been proposed for uses in things like the Department of Corrections. Thank you."
"Representative Ammons." 09900131.docx 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. Back in January, exactly January 22, 2016, there was an article written in relationship to MAP grants. And this article highlighted a couple things and in this case, it's specifically regarding the University of Illinois. It says, having the University of Illinois not agree to dip into its reserves to cover state grants to low-income students, the student body would have gotten smaller this semester. Taking from its President and that's Mitch Dickey who's the President of the Student Senate are among nearly 18 percent of Urbana students receive the MAP grants. There definitely would have been less people here said Mitch Dickey, who has a $4,005 grant this year, MAP recipient, do. MAP recipients don't have to… the wiggle room when it comes to finances, he suggested. Because state lawmakers haven't approved a higher education budget, the university is footing the $59.2 million bill for its students, helping the campus avoid drops in enrollment in other state colleges and universities have already experienced it that year at that time. This is gone to double that at this point. The MAP grant itself is a promise to the students and it is necessary in many cases unfortunately for low-income students because their parents don't make enough money to foot the bill for their own children; and therefore, we have the Monetary Awards Program. This conversation really is… it's an interesting conversation almost like circling the wagons. We keep circling the wagons around these issues. Because there was a full Appropriations Bill, just like K-12 was a full Appropriations Bill for K-12 students, there was a higher education Bill that was a full Appropriations Bill for higher 09900131.docx 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 education. The only factor that changed between K-12 and higher ed was the decision by the Governor to veto the higher ed spending Bill, which did include MAP money. And the reason why that's important is because the public has to understand that, yes, there's always a political maneuver going on all the time, but part of the responsibility and actually the most important thing that the Legislature's supposed to actually do is to pass a budget. And so, even if other aspects of the budget was too far out of whack for the Governor, he had more than one option to veto those items. And ho… here we are today. Clearly, there is a way for us to find money and revenue in this state if we truly, truly want to. If this is a priority, meaning policy priority, we could actually sit down and say, hey, let's have a revenue discussion and let's actually find the money for our programs. And will all of the money be available in this fiscal year, no, but it will be available in the coming fiscal year so we can shift some responsibilities… like we kind of do at home… if you don't have enough money on one side you kind of shift money to where you really need it until the money comes in in the next several months. But, this is as if we don't have any options and we're kind of sitting around like, we just don't know what to do, how are we going to find this money. There are many options. And that is our responsibility is to find the money for this Bill. So, at this point, I am the mother of a student who's a junior in college who does not attend the college in his community right down the street from our home. He doesn't attend it because we did not make enough money to afford that tuition. And so, my son decided to go to a 09900131.docx 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 historically black college or university which is where he will graduate from next year. And because he's in that college and university, I call him every week and I say, hey, you should come back home and do your master's at the university. And as my colleague to my right just said, they don't come back home. So, each time I mention this to my son, who's going to graduate with a degree in finance, who could be helpful to us here in the state, he laughs off my proposition about returning. Every single semester that we lose students, Illinois students to be particular, 'cause we're gaining students but they're not all Illinois students. Every year and every semester that we lose students, we lose them for specific reasons and one of them is greatly because we cannot afford to fund the critical programs that support their enrollment. And so with that, I ask our colleagues to really consider, not just passing this Bill, but let's actually have a meeting about where our revenue really needs to come from as opposed to voting against a Bill that you really should be funding. Thank you for your support and I encourage an 'aye' vote."
"Mr. Fortner."
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"Mr. Speaker, is this intended to be appropriations for fiscal year '16 or for fiscal year 2017?"
"'16."
"Then, I guess I'm trying to understand a couple of aspects then about that. As I look in Section 998 of this Bill, it says the appropriation authority granted this Act 09900131.docx 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 shall be valid for costs incurred prior to September 1, 2016. So, that would seem to me to read costs incurred up to the first two months of fiscal year 2017?"
"That was modeled on Senate Bill 2059 and it’s intended to give ISAC enough time to process the paperwork."
"So… and I understand the language in 2059. I just want to try to understand was… is this supposed to have then… if there are new costs that ISAC grants out in… at the beginning of fiscal year 2017, would those qualify to be funded under this?"
"That's not the intent."
"I understand that's what you said earlier, but the way I read this it looks like if there was new… there was something new that came up. In 2059, being certainly much less than a full year of funding, I think we had identified that many of our institutions of higher education had fronted essentially what they expected their MAP grant awards to their students would be. And it was easily expected that the request for funding that would come from those institutions would certainly have all been easily accommodated within the expenses of fiscal year 2016. And… and I'm just looking at this and I want to make sure I understand whether or not new moneys… And the reason I say that is because some of those same institutions of higher education, because of the uncertainty created by the lack of MAP grant funding at the beginning of fiscal year 2016, did not choose to provide upfront money to their MAP students in the spring semester. With this appropriation, which would then bring us up to what would have been normally been a full year… full fiscal year's 09900131.docx 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 funding, it's not clear to me at least that all of the MAP awards that would have gone out effectively did go out because many students were unable to be given their awards in the spring semester. Which is why I raise this initial question, would this be able to be applied? I understand your intent is that it is for fiscal year 2016 expenses, would this be applied towards new awards that occur for fall semester 2016, which would be in fiscal year 2017? That was a really long question, wasn't it?"
"It sure was. Could we file some briefs to answer the question?"
"I think… I don't know that anyone wants to wait quite that long."
"Correct."
"I think we've got some committees…"
"Or read the briefs."
"…coming up later this afternoon. But, I guess my concern is that if, in fact, there weren't enough MAP grant awards in 2016 because many schools could not front the MAP grant money for the spring semester, the way I read this language it looks to me like awards that would be given into fiscal year 2017 for the fall semester upcoming would qualify as long as those awards were made prior to September 1, 2016?"
"I simply don't have an answer to your question. It's very thoughtful."
"Well, thank you. Mr… Mr. Speaker, to the Bill. I think this just shows how the fact that given the lack of really sitting down and working out the details of how to appropriate money for higher education, which we need. And I think we've 09900131.docx 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 heard from both sides saying we need to sit down and take care of this because… both for the MAP grants as well as for operational funding of higher education… we need to really understand what are the priorities, both how to make up for what actually happened in fiscal year 2016, which is now largely complete. We only have a month and a half left of fiscal year 2016, so I think we're getting a pretty good idea of what the actual costs that we should be incurring are, what we need to do to address that, as well as look ahead towards 2017. My concern with the… just this one little provision I raise is, it doesn't seem to me that we have adequately addressed that with this Bill. I'd like to sit down and really start addressing how to go beyond what we did in Senate Bill 2059 and look at what the real costs are that we need to address for this year as well as for the next fiscal year. I will be voting 'no'."
"Representative Kifowit."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My comments are going to be directed to the Bill. The questions that we've heard from the other side of the aisle, it's ironic and borderline hypocrisy because these are the same questions we ask department heads in committee… every single Appropriation Committee… and… and right now… right now departments have just spent $633 million. We asked these department heads how are you spending this money without appropriation authority and they say it's a necessity. It's a necessity and they shamelessly admit that the budget has issues and they are incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in… in bills… in obligations for the state that they have no appropriation authority about. So, the 09900131.docx 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 Governor's staff thinks it's perfectly fine… perfectly fine to rack up obligations to the State of Illinois and to the tune of over… over 600, 700 thousand dollars, shamelessly, but yet we don't view these MAP grants at $227 million as a necessity. We… we sit there and belabor the same stale talking points that we've been hearing that the colleague rightfully pointed out since February 19. Rightfully pointed that out, since February 19 it's been acknowledged that we need to fund MAP grants and yet, nothing has been done except for a grand road show around the State of Illinois that's all talk and no action, a bunch of hot air. To the distinguished colleague who's a veteran friend of mine points out the LUST Fund. I am here to point out that Senate Bill 2046 is sitting on the Governor's desk since April 14. If he was so concerned about other state funds, so concerned about the LUST Fund and those other instances, he should be acknowledging that the Governor has line item Veto authority and line item out the items that the Governor doesn't… doesn't like and release the LUST Funds. Release the other state funds for seniors, the $8 million for the senior property tax deferment program which, ironically enough, is funded from other state funds. But… but it sits on the Governor's desk since April 14 and the colleagues on the other side of the aisle apparently have no motivation to talk about line item vetoing that Bill. They're going to sit and complain and complain and complain. Their complaints go, as was mentioned by my colleague behind me, that, you know, false promises, voodoo economics. The point is the only reason to oppose this Bill is to tell the students they are going to get nothing, to tell the students they don't care because the 09900131.docx 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 bottom line is an appropriation does mean something. An appropriation does have worth; an appropriation tells the student that there is hope. You will get paid because you will be in a queue and you will be considered when money arrives. Right now, to vote against this Bill is to say the student is not considered, the student has no relevance; the student is completely and utterly irrelevant. And… and I do not think students are irrelevant, I do not think that we should be making students get more loans out just so that the State of Illinois can continue to be a deadbeat debtor. So, that we can sit there and say, oh, well, as the colleague mentioned, interest on unpaid bills upwards of $1 billion. We shouldn't pay interest. We shouldn't pay interest on money that is duly owed, so we're going to stick it to the students to have interest accrue on more loans and more debt because the State of Illinois wants to be a deadbeat. That's appalling, completely and utterly appalling. The fact of the matter is there is no action from the other side of the aisle. There is no action from the other side of the aisle since… since February 19 because it's all talk. Because what we have here is a violation of the checks and balance system in the State of Illinois. There will be no talk of any solution until the grand puppeteer on the second floor of this building tells the other side of the aisle what to do. We, as a Body, have to be an independent Body. We should not be bringing up what should or should not be signed. What we should do is to be voting independently for the good of the State of Illinois, for the good of the educational system and for the good of 09900131.docx 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 the students. This is why this is a good Bill and this is why it deserves a 'yes' vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
"Mr. Wheeler." Wheeler, K.: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields." Wheeler, K.: "Mr. Speaker, does this Bill appropriate General Revenue Funds?"
"The answer is yes." Wheeler, K.: "Thank you. Mr. Speaker, when will the House adopt a revenue estimate as required by State Law?"
"I don't have an answer for that question." Wheeler, K.: "I'm going to go to the Bill, then. There's a very good reason why the revenue estimate matters. And there's a very good reason why I keep bringing it up every time we talk about spending General Revenue Funds on this floor. Because there's an unpaid bills crisis in Illinois State Government. There's a backlog… we've already discussed… will reach $10 billion this summer. The COGFA Act requires this Body to adopt a revenue estimate. And that law is in place to keep us, as a Body, from spending more than we actually take in. It was ignored last year when my friends on the other side of the aisle passed Appropriation Bills in excess of $36 billion when the state's only expected to bring in 32 billion that year. This is the type of budgeting approach that has made Illinois the worst managed state in the nation for more than a decade. And here's why I raise this issue. It's simple. It's in the State Constitution, Article VIII Section 2 Paragraph (b). 'The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the 09900131.docx 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.' If we're going to get Illinois right by honoring our responsibilities to taxpayers and filling the balanced budget requirement of the Illinois Constitution, then we cannot blindly continue to appropriate General Revenue Funds until we actually adopt a revenue estimate. Therefore, we should all vote 'no' on this Bill. Thank you."
"Mr. Batinick."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. I wanted to provide some extra context to the information the data that the fine Gentleman from McHenry County had brought up… brought up earlier about the net out-migration of 16,500 students over the past few years. To be clear, we've had a net out- migration of 16,500 students not the past few years. That was in one fiscal year, 2014. The concern is we've done nothing, but exacerbate the situation that has caused that situation. We don't know if 2016 is going to be a net out-migration of 20 thousand, 25 thousand, god forbid, 30 thousand kids that represent our future of our state, our future doctors, accountants, inventors, high-income taxpayers, the ones that actually pay the bills for all the social services and things that we need. So, that's an important issue. And the reason I bring that up is I've said many times that we've actually fund more per student than the MAP grants on the national average. We're about $5700 over the national average. This Bill does not address the issues. The main issue… for the life of me I can't understand why we're not working on why it costs so much more to educate a kid in this state. Why we 09900131.docx 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 spend more than a MAP grant per student versus other states. Why my daughter had to go to Truman State University in Missouri? Why my son just accepted a scholarship in the SEC? Why my Representative to the right his student is leaving the state? This Bill does not address this. There's a lot of low- hanging fruit that we have. I cannot for the life of me understand why we haven't passed procurement reform. There's no collective bargaining issues in procurement reform. I think it's a pretty boring issue that saves us a lot more than what we're trying to fund in this Bill. It's time for the General Assembly to get to work on the real issues of this state. Thank you."
"Representative Flowers."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. To the Bill. First of all, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for bringing forth this very important legislation. It's been a long time coming in making education a priority. Unfortunately, in this state, what we have been doing over the last 10 years has been a decline in regards to education and an increase in incarceration. Now, everyone is asking how are we going to pay for this; how are we going to pay for this? There's no line item. I want to remind everyone that GRF money is all taxpayers' dollars. And if you look at it as one big pie, it's up to each and every last one of us who gets the bigger slices of the pie. And today, we are making education the priority. We're saying that education today will get the larger slice of the GRF fund. And not to worry, Ladies and Gentlemen, not to worry, no, we do not have the money today as we speak, but we have been paying as we go. 09900131.docx 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 For instance, today, we only brought in 40… $40 million, but we anticipate more and more. But, let me tell you the reason why. Because if we pass this legislation and the Governor signs it, that means more people will be going to college, that means that we will be encouraging more kids and more adults to have adult education and job training, employment and job training, career and technology education. Those are the types of things that bring more money for education and other things in this state. When you factor in that we are also going to spend $5.7 billion on, not necessarily the incarceration, but for recidivism. We… no one asks the taxpayers do we want to pay this kind of money to put people back in jail because we did not educate and we did not try to do anything to help them to find a job or to better themselves. Once again, this is an excellent investment when you factor in that we're spending $10 thousand for education and over 40 thousand for incarceration. Once again, Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for making education a priority."
"Speaker Madigan to close."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be brief in closing, two points: number 1) this Bill would fund the MAP program at 100 percent of the May 2015 level; number 2) to those that are concerned about cost, it is estimated that the state will collect $32 billion in the current fiscal year, 32 billion. This Bill would cost approximately 225 million. Thirty-two billion against 225 million. I recommend an 'aye' vote."
"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? Please take the 09900131.docx 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 record, Mr. Clerk. On this question, there are 68 voting 'yes', 45 voting 'no', 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Mr. Clerk, House Bill 673 on the Order of House Bills-Second Reading. Please read the Bill."
"House Bill 673, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. This Bill was read a second time on a previous day. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendments 1 and 2 have been approved for consideration. Floor Amendment #1 is offered by Representative Bradley."
"Mr. Bradley."
"Once again, I offer the Governor's proposal for property tax reform. Amendment #1 is the property tax freeze. And Amendment #2 is his proposal regarding local collective bargaining. I would ask for an 'aye' vote on Floor Amendment #1 and a 'no' vote on Floor Amendment #2."
"Mr. Sandack."
"Inquiry of the Chair. We're just taking up the first Amendment right now, yes?”
"One at a time, Sir."
"Okay. Well, the Gentleman spoke to both and I just wanted to make sure it's one vote and we're on the first Amendment. A few questions of the Sponsor."
"Sponsor yields."
"John, you know this question's coming. What number… what attempt is this right now with…"
"You and I…"
"…on your second Amendment?" 09900131.docx 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"When I came over and courteously told you beforehand that I was going to call this again, you and I spoke about that. And we weren't sure if this was 17 or 18."
"Remind me, how did you vote on Representative Franks' Bills?"
"I voted 'yes'."
"On both Bills?"
"I believe so, yes."
"Okay. The second Bill, House Bill 696, how does the body of that Bill compare…"
"I… I'm not prepared to…"
"…to Amendment #1?"
"Yeah. I'm not prepared to compare those Bills."
"Well, I would suggest given that this is on Second Reading for the 20th time perhaps that ample time to compare the two because I would suggest to you, Sir, that they're substantially similar. However, you have two Amendments, which we'll get to in a second. So, this is substantially the Governor's Bill but not only the Governor's Bill because he didn't cut them in two, like you're providing, with two Amendments."
"Well, that's why I went ahead and talked about both Amendments 'cause when we have this exchange we always get into that. And so, if both Amendments were adopted… if both Amendments were adopted, it would be identical to the Governor's proposal. Now, we've run into this before with other major pieces of legislation where we tried to put everything together, but there were pieces that were objectionable to various groups of this House. I would argue 09900131.docx 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 that you give this the best chance at passage by doing that separately because there's a group of folks in here that will vote for Amendment #1 and won't vote for Amendment #2. But, there's a group of folks in here that would vote for Amendment #2, but not vote for Amendment #1 or vice versa. So, it's a matter of strategy… the strategy that I've chosen to… to demonstrate here."
"Thank you for that elaborate answer, John. Last question. Does this illit… does this Bill, your proposal with the Amendment on it… will, both Amendments, preempt Home… Home Rule?"
"I don't know the answer to that. I think it does, but I don't know. And if you really… you'd have to ask the Chair for an official recogni… or representation."
"Well, it's your Bill on the 18th, 19th, to 20th time. I'll suggest that it does preempt Home Rule."
"I think it does, Ron. I think we went through this before, but…"
"So, what… home many votes would you need if it does, in fact, preempt Home Rule?"
"Well, if it, in fact, preempts Home Rule, it would need 71. But, I think the ruling in the past has been that it needed 60, so."
"Well, I'll ask the Chair at the end at what the Chair believes is the case. To the Amendment… Amendment #1. The Gentleman from McHenry had brought a Bill that I thought was a really good Bill in the… in his first incarnation, House Bill 695. I thought that was the best Bill. Unfortunately, this Body did not agree. He brought the next Bill which was 09900131.docx 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 basically for non-Home Rule units of government, House Bill 696. It passed I think with overwhelming support. Why we're going through this Bill in piecemeal fashion for… on Second Reading only, well, basically demonstrates that it's, again, with all due respect to the Gentleman from Marion, not a real Bill. He said it's a… you know, sometimes we work on substantial pieces of legislation. We got to chop it up. This thing's on Second Reading for a purpose. It's not a real vote, neither is the second Amendment. I'm going to suggest folks on our side either vote 'present' or don't vote at all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would inquire as to how many votes are needed given it's my belief, Sir, that it does preempt Home Rule."
"Mr. Franks."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to speak to the Amendment, if I may. I would… I would encourage an 'aye' vote. The previous speaker talked about the Bill we passed with 71 votes which was non-Home Rule. The one that we had unfortunately rejected was the more comprehensive Bill that included Home Rule which is what this Amendment is. There was some criticism on the other side of the aisle saying, well, why didn't we include everything. We should have had everything. Well, here's our chance. Let's include everything to allow for the freezing of property taxes. And then the Senate will then have a choice of whether they'd like to have either non-Home Rule freezing or Home Rule. All we're doing is providing a choice because we all know that some of the biggest issues facing our local… our local governments and the… and our citizens are our out of control property taxes. 09900131.docx 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 Here in Illinois we are now the highest in the nation by some measures and certainly second worse in the entire nation. In my home county, we pay two and a half times more for the same valued home as one in Cook County, for instance. As a result, we are losing population in Illinois. We are losing population in my county and the reason we're losing population is because of the out of control property taxes. Now, here we have an opportunity to actually do something about it. We have an opportunity to push the reset button, to say no more. No longer will local governments automatically get an increase. They're actually going to have to talk and ask their citizens before they raise your taxes. When we passed PTELL in 1991, it worked for a while. But, no one anticipated the fact that the values of our property would fall. So, what was a good thing for the citizens turned into a ball and chain because when peoples' property tax… property values fell, their property taxes kept going up. And what happens is government became divorced from the economic realities of its citizens. So, when the citizens had less, the government still got more. We all agree that that's wrong, every one of us. This is the Bill to set that straight. All this will do is to stop the automatic increases. No government will get one penny less than they got the year before, not one penny less. This is not a cut. All it's saying is you're not automatically going to get an increase. And if you want to get that increase, you have to ask for it. Can we please stop playing politics and actually stand up for the citizens. Vote 'aye'."
"Mr. Bradley to close." 09900131.docx 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"I'll remind everybody that this is Taxpayer Advocacy Day. What a great opportunity to advocate for the taxpayers. As Lincoln said, I hope I'm smarter today than I was yesterday. Vote 'aye'."
"Those in favor of the Amendment will vote 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Please record yourselves. Please record yourselves, Members. Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 41 voting 'yes', 46 voting 'no', 11 voting 'present'. And the Amendment fails. Mr. Clerk."
"Floor Amendment #2 is offered by Representative Bradley and has been approved for consideration."
"Mr. Bradley."
"This is the Governor's collective bargaining portion of the property tax proposal. I do not recommend an 'aye' vote on this."
"Mr. Sandack."
"To the second Amendment. The Gentleman doesn't… the Sponsor recommends voting against his proposal. I recommend not voting at all and showing the Sponsor that he's wasting our time. Don't vote."
"Those in favor of the Amendment 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. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there's 1 voting 'yes', 86 voting 'no', 1 voting 'present'. And the Amendment fails. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed." 09900131.docx 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Please leave this on the Order of Second Reading. On page 7 of the Calendar, Senate Bills-Second Reading, there appears Senate Bill 2536, Representative Ammons. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2536, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2964, Mr. Hoffman. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2964, a Bill for an Act concerning employment. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Members, we're going to Senate Bills-Second Reading, page 5 of the Calendar. We're going to do… or some… a couple of these pages and we're doing it once and once only. So, follow the Calendar, be in your chair. The first Bill is Senate Bill 2155, Representative Kelly Burke. Kelly Burke. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2155, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2157, Representative Kelly Burke. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2157, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2158, Representative Kelly Burke. Please read the Bill." 09900131.docx 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Senate Bill 2158, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2159, Representative Kelly Burke. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2159, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2160, Mr. Bradley. Mr. Bradley. Out of the record. House (sic-Senate) Bill 2167, Mr. Moylan. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2167, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2174, Mr. Breen. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2174, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2196, Representative Hernandez. Representative Hernandez. Representative Hernandez. Out of the record. Senate Bill 2204, Representative Hernandez. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2204, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2221, Mr. Beiser. Please read the Bill." 09900131.docx 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Senate Bill 2221, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2228, Representative Cassidy. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2228, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments have been approved for consideration. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2303, Mr. Harris. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2303, a Bill for an Act concerning business. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2332, Representative Nekritz. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2332, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2343, Representative Williams. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2343, a Bill for an Act concerning the use of cell site simulator devices. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2354, Mr. Martwick. Please read the Bill." 09900131.docx 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Senate Bill 2354, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2358, Mr. Martwick. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2358, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2386, Representative Gabel. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2386, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2403, Mr. Mitchell. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2403, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2410, Representative Bourne. Out of the record. Senate Bill 2439, Mr. Zalewski. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2439, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2440, Mr. Pritchard. Please read the Bill." 09900131.docx 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Senate Bill 2440, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2465, Representative Cassidy. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2465, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2505, Representative Ammons. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2505, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2517, Mr. Sullivan. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2517, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2532, Representative Chapa LaVia. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2532, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Chapa LaVia, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Chapa LaVia on the Amendment."
"Thank you, Speaker and Members of the General Assembly. The Amendment just adds some technical issues that are happening right now in the one county that's in court 09900131.docx 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 having to do with how do we comprise a Veteran's Commission for the county? So, we've rewritten it so we don't find ourselves in litigation throughout the state. And I'll take any questions."
"Those in favor of the Amendment say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Mr. Clerk."
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2593, Mr. Andersson. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2593, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2610, Mr. Durkin. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2610, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2612, Mr. Demmer. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2612, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2657, Mr. Davis. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2657, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed." 09900131.docx 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2704, Representative Bellock. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2704, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2739, Representative Kifowit. Representative Kifowit. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2739, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2743, Mr. Burke. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2743, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2767, Mr. Mitchell. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2767, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2777, Representative Nekritz. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2777, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2782, Representative Mayfield. Representative Mayfield. Please read the Bill." 09900131.docx 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Senate Bill 2782, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2805, Mr. Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2805, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2806, Mr. Tryon. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2806, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2817, Representative Nekritz. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2817, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2833, Mr. Cabello. Out of the record. Senate Bill 2870, Mr. Sims. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2870, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2782, Mr. Sims. Out of the record. Senate Bill 2876, Mr. Sandack. Please read the Bill." 09900131.docx 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Senate Bill 2876, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2880, Mr. Sandack. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2880, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2885, Mr. Sims. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2885, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2889, Mr. Fortner. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2889, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2894, Mr. Martwick. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2894, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2900, Mr. Zalewski. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2900, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed." 09900131.docx 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2907, Representative Wallace. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2907, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Senate Bill 2918, Mr. Reis. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 2918, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Second Reading of this Senate Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions."
Clerk Hollman: "Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 1237, offered by Representative Phelps. House Resolution 1238, offered by Representative Morrison. House Resolution 1239, offered by Representative Bennett. House Resolution 1240, offered by Representative Welch. House Resolution 1241, offered by Representative Bennett. House Resolution 1242, offered by Representative Meier. And House Resolution 1243, offered by Speaker Madigan."
"Leader Currie moves for the adoption of the Agreed Resolution. Those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'ayes' have it. And the Agreed Resolutions are adopted. Mr. Clerk, committee announcements. Members, let's give the Clerk some attention."
Clerk Hollman: "The following committees will be meeting immediately: Cities & Villages in Room 115, Consumer Protection in 122, and Judiciary-Criminal in D-1. Meeting in one hour is the 2:00 and 3:00 committees. Meeting in one hour is the Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education in C- 09900131.docx 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 1, Agriculture & Conservation in 122, Insurance in Room 114, Public Utilities in 413, Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges in 118 and Appropriations-Human Services in D-1. The following committees have been canceled for Wednesday. On Wednesday, Energy was canceled and Youth & Young Adults was canceled."
"Mr. D'Amico is recognized."
"Mr. Speaker, just a point of personal privilege."
"Proceed, Sir."
"I just wanted to announce to everyone that we will be having softball practice at 5:00 today, so everybody knows, at Washington and Amos."
"And now, leaving Perfunctory time for the Clerk, Leader Currie moves that the House stand adjourned 'til Wednesday, May 18 at the hour of 1 p.m. Those in favor say 'yes'; opposed 'no'. The 'ayes' have it. And the House stands adjourned 'til tomorrow, Wednesday, May 18 at the hour of 1 p.m."
"House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Introduction and First Reading of Senate Bills. Senate Bill 577, offered by Representative Burke, Daniel, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 2787, offered by Representative Davidsmeyer, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. First Reading of these Senate Bills. Introduction and First Reading of House Bills. House Bill 6579, offered by Representative Nekritz, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. First Reading of this House Bill. Committee Reports. Representative Greg Harris, Chairperson from the Committee on Appropriations-Human Services reports the following committee 09900131.docx 62 STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 131st Legislative Day 5/17/2016 action May 17, 2016: do pass Short Debate is Senate Bill 2931, Senate Bill 3007. Second Reading of Senate Bills. Senate Bill 2931, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 3007, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Second Reading of these Senate Bills, these will be held on the Order of Second Reading. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 09900131.docx 63