PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) The regular Session of the 100th General Assembly will please come to order. Will the Members please be at their desks? Will our guests in the galleries please rise? The invocation today will be given by Father Kevin Laughery, from St. Mary's Catholic Church in New Berlin, Illinois. Father.
(Prayer by Father Kevin Laughery)
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Thank you, Father. Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Senator Cunningham, would you please lead us?
(Pledge of Allegiance, led by Senator Cunningham)
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, WAND Television, Blueroomstream.com, and the Illinois Times have all requested permission to videotape or take photographs of the proceedings today. Seeing no objection, permission is granted. Mr. Secretary, Reading and Approval of the Journal.
Senate Journal of Tuesday, February 28th, 2017.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Senator Hunter.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move to postpone the reading and approval of the Journal just read by the Secretary, pending arrival of the printed transcript.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Senator Hunter moves to postpone the reading and approval of 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 the Journal, pending arrival of the printed transcript. There being no objection, so ordered. Mr. Secretary, Resolutions.
Senate Resolutions 228 through 230, offered by Senator Haine and all Members. And Senate Resolutions 233 and 234, offered by Senator Manar and all Members. They are all death resolutions.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Resolutions Consent Calendar.
Senate Resolution 231, offered by Senator Koehler. And Senate Resolution 232, offered by Senators Koehler and Weaver and all Members. They are substantive.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Mr. Secretary, Committee Reports.
Senator Hastings, Chairperson of the Committee on Criminal Law, reports Senate Bills 191, 607, 639, 702, 903, 1238, 1276, 1328, 1343, and 1399 Do Pass; and Senate Bill 680 Do Pass, as Amended. Senator Sandoval, Chairperson of the Committee on Transportation, reports Senate Bills 52, 616, 633, 675, 789, 1298, 1376, and 1429 Do Pass; and Senate Bill 51 Do Pass, as Amended. Senator Morrison, Chairperson of the Committee on Human Services, reports Senate Bills 931, 955, 973, 1224, 1274, and 1353 Do Pass; and Senate Bill 660 Do Pass, as Amended. Senator McGuire, Chairperson of the Committee on Higher 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 Education, reports Senate Bill 930 Do Pass; and Senate Bill 83 Do Pass, as Amended. Senator Raoul, Chairperson of the Committee on Judiciary, reports Senate Bills 881, 910, and 948 Do Pass; Senate Bills 57 and 67 Do Pass, as Amended; and Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 69 Recommend Do Adopt. Senator Bush, Chairperson of the Committee on Government Reform, reports Senate Bills 666, 685, 701, and 1289 Do Pass. And Senator Biss, Chairperson of the Committee on Labor, reports Senate Bills 81 and 858 Do Pass.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Mr. Secretary, Introduction of Senate Bills.
Senate Bill 2169, offered by Senator Steans. (Secretary reads title of bill) 1st Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Mr. Secretary, Resolutions.
Senate Resolution 235, offered by Senator McGuire and all Members. It is a death resolution, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Resolutions Consent Calendar. Senator Cunningham, for what purpose do you rise?
For the purposes of an introduction, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Excellent news, Senator. Please make your introduction. 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017
I am happy to be joined today by a group of students from a high school in my district, the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, one of the real jewels of the Chicago Public School System. Their students, every year, participate in a job- shadowing program, where they follow around a -- a businessman or -- or, in our case, a -- a Member of the General Assembly to see what the job is like and to determine whether or not it's a -- a career they'd like to pursue. There are four students here from the -- from CHAS, the Chicago High School of -- of Agricultural Sciences. I ask that they stand. They're in the gallery behind me. They're Iyanna Hayden, Leah Wideman, Rob Robe, and Mae Noreigo {sic} (Noreiga). They're joined by their teacher, Mr. Brian -- McDowell. Like to ask the Senate Chamber to give them a warm Springfield welcome.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Glad to have you with us in Springfield today. Welcome. Senator Hutchinson, for what purpose do you rise?
Point of personal privilege, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Please state your point, Senator.
Thank you. Yesterday ended Black History Month, today is the beginning of Women's History Month, and I thought I would offer a pretty unique piece of poetry as we start this Session today, because I think it does speak to why we're all here. This is a poem entitled "For My People", by Margaret Walker. It was written in 1948. 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 For my people everywhere singing their slave songs repeatedly: their dirges and their ditties and their blues and jubilees, praying their prayers nightly to an unknown god, bending their knees humbly to an unseen power; For my people lending their strength to the years, to the gone years and the now years and the maybe years, washing ironing cooking scrubbing sewing mending hoeing plowing digging planting pruning patching dragging along never gaining never reaping never knowing and never understanding; For my playmates in the clay and dust and sand of Alabama backyards playing baptizing and preaching and doctor and jail and soldier and school and mama and cooking and playhouse and concert and store and hair and Miss Choomby and company; For the cramped bewildered years we went to school to learn to know the reasons why and the answers to and the people who and the places where and the days when, in memory of the bitter hours when we discovered we were black and poor and small and different and nobody cared and nobody wondered and nobody understood; For the boys and girls who grew in spite of these things to be man and woman, to laugh and dance and sing and play and drink their wine and religion and success, to marry their playmates and bear children and then die of consumption and anemia and lynching; For my people thronging 47th Street in Chicago and Lenox Avenue in New York and Rampart Street in New Orleans, lost disinherited dispossessed and happy people filling the cabarets and taverns and other people's pockets and needing bread and shoes and milk and land and money and something—something all our own; For my people walking blindly spreading joy, losing time being lazy, sleeping when hungry, shouting when burdened, drinking when hopeless, tied, and shackled 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 and tangled among ourselves by the unseen creatures who tower over us omnisciently and laugh; For my people blundering and groping and floundering in the dark of churches and schools and clubs and societies, associations and councils and committees and conventions, distressed and disturbed and deceived and devoured by money-hungry glory-craving leeches, preyed on by facile force of state and fad and novelty, by false prophet and holy believer; For my people standing staring trying to fashion a better way from confusion, from hypocrisy and misunderstanding, trying to fashion a world that will hold all the people, all the faces, all the adams and eves and their countless generations; Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second generation full of courage issue forth; let a people loving freedom come to growth. Let a beauty full of healing and (a) strength of final clenching be the pulsing in our spirits and our blood. Let the martial songs be written, let the dirges disappear. Let a race of men - and women - now rise and take control. Margaret Walker, "For My People", 1948.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Thank you, Senator. Senator McCann, for what purpose do you rise? SENATOR McCANN: Thank you, Mr. President. On a point of personal privilege, please.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Please state your point, Senator. SENATOR McCANN: Mr. President, I hope that you and the Chamber will join me in saying "Happy Birthday" to Lisa Yuscius. She is the beautiful 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 young lady running the camera up here for Blueroomstream video. Today is Lisa's birthday, and if we can all wish her a very happy birthday and thank her for all of her hard work. Happy Birthday, Lisa.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Happy Birthday, Lisa. Senator Hastings, for what purpose do you seek recognition?
Thank you, Mr. President. Point of personal privilege, please.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Please state your point, Senator.
So, the foundation for our children is built upon our home, but it's also built upon our schools and where we send our children and those that work inside the school. I have a distinct opportunity to introduce a very special lady. And if you wouldn't mind standing in the gallery. I want to introduce the first Vice President -- I'm sorry, Linda Williams. Linda retired from the Chicago Public Schools with thirty-six years of service. Worked as a teacher. She worked as an assistant principal and an administrator. And she enjoys volunteering for her church and doing community service when she's not advocating for special causes. I would like the Chamber to join me in showing our respect and appreciation for your hard work. I had a chance to meet with Linda earlier. When she first entered her profession, she went back to the school and taught where she went when she was little. She ended up rising through the ranks as an administrator, and she's a true, true public servant - and for that, we say thank 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 you. And I was just hoping that we all can give Linda a warm Springfield welcome and thank her for her service.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Welcome to the Senate. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, if I could have your attention, please? You've all been waiting patiently. I wanted to outline the plan for this afternoon. We are shortly going to recess the Senate so that the afternoon committees can begin to meet. We're going to reconvene at 3:30 p.m. on the Senate Floor for Floor action. There'll be updates as we go on the -- the second or third round of committees. But we're going to recess now so that the first round of committees can begin to meet on time. We will return to the Senate Floor at 3:30 p.m. for Floor action. The Senate stands in recess. (SENATE STANDS IN RECESS/SENATE RECONVENES)
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) The Senate will come to order. Mr. Secretary, Committee Reports.
Senator Martinez, Chairperson of the Committee on Licensed Activities and Pensions, reports Senate Bills 636, 659, 770, 896, 899, 901, 1345, 1348, 1354, and 1525 Do Pass; and Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 772 Recommend Do Adopt. Senator Landek, Chairperson of the Committee on State Government, reports Senate Bills 932, 1225, 1311, 1489, and 1501 Do Pass; and Senate Bill 1519 Do Pass, as Amended. Senator Harmon, Chairperson of the Committee on Executive, reports Senate Bills 870, 942, and 1439 Do Pass. 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 Senator Hutchinson, Chairperson of the Committee on Revenue, reports Senate Bills 586 and 1493 Do Pass. And Senator Mulroe, Chairperson of the Committee on Insurance, reports Senate Bills 634, 1286, and 1546 Do Pass; and Senate Bill 692 Do Pass, as Amended.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Illinois Public Radio requests permission to photograph the proceedings. Seeing no objection, permission is granted. Mr. Secretary, House Bills 1st Reading.
House Bill 703, offered by Senator Raoul. (Secretary reads title of bill) 1st Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Senator Silverstein, for what purpose do you rise?
Purpose of an announcement, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Please state your announcement.
There'll be a Democratic Caucus, for one hour, upon recess.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Senator Althoff, for what purpose do you rise?
Thank you, Mr. President. The Republicans would also like to caucus for one hour.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) Thank you, Senator. Senator Silverstein and Senator Althoff move that the Senate recess for the purpose of a -- Senate 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 Democratic and Senate Republican Caucuses, lasting approximately one hour. Being no objection, the motion is granted. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, we are going to recess for caucuses. We are coming back to the Floor after caucuses for Floor action. The -- the afternoon committees will continue to meet. Bear with me and I'll have the times. The afternoon committees will meet after we adjourn on the Floor. So, please bear in mind, those committees are still going to happen today after we return to the Floor. Senate now stands in recess to the call of the Chair. After the Senate Democratic and Republican Caucuses, the Senate will reconvene for the purpose of Floor action. The Senate stands in recess to the call of the Chair. (SENATE STANDS IN RECESS/SENATE RECONVENES)
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LIGHTFORD) The Senate will now come to order. Mr. Secretary, Resolutions.
Senate Resolutions 236 through 238, offered by Senator Link and all Members. They are all death resolutions, Madam President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LIGHTFORD) Resolution Consent Calendar. Rich Saal, State Journal- Register, requests permission to take pictures. Leave is granted. House Bills 1st Reading.
House Bill 303, offered by Senator Hastings. (Secretary reads title of bill) 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 1st Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LIGHTFORD) Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, when we adjourn on this evening, Public Health will meet at 5:15 - well, actually they will meet immediately following adjournment. In what room? In Room 400. And Agriculture will meet at 6 p.m. in Room 409. Immediately following adjournment, Public Health and Agriculture will meet this evening. Thank you. President Cullerton, for what purpose do you rise?
Yes, thank you, Madam President, Members of the Senate. I'd just like to -- I'm rising for the purposes of an announcement. I know there's -- there's been a lot of people anxiously awaiting action on the remaining components of our "grand bargain" proposal. And as you all know, this has been a bipartisan venture and it's going to take support from both sides of the aisle to pass this legislation. Unfortunately, I've been informed that the Governor has decided to interject himself in this process and doesn't want this approved in this form. So I'm told that any votes today on this legislation's plan, this bipartisan plan, would reflect that. So I'm committed to working this through. Our situation isn't getting any better. We're going to have to work together to solve this. I had hoped that that would be today. Unfortunately, it will not be. So, for now, we are in a holding pattern. We -- we'll be filing amendments to our plans, reflecting the compromises that we worked out, and as soon as we get word that there's Republican support to this bipartisan plan, we'll be ready to vote. Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LIGHTFORD) 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 17th Legislative Day 3/1/2017 Thank you, Mr. President. Leader Radogno, for what purpose do you rise?
Point of personal privilege.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LIGHTFORD) State your point of privilege, please.
I just wanted to say that this experience has been, at once, both one of the most frustrating, but rewarding experiences in the twenty years that I've been here. Our State is suffering so badly right now, and I know how many of us in this Chamber, I think almost without exception, want us to get the budget together so that we can move forward. To a person, the people that I have spoken with have been sincere, honest, willing to compromise, and with that kind of an attitude in this Chamber, I have no question in my mind that we're going to bring this thing in for a landing. My only hope is that it's sooner rather than later, because as you all know, we are looking at going in the hole eleven million dollars a day every single day we don't get this solved. So, I think there's enough goodwill in this building. I know the Governor will be joining us in trying to get that done, but we need to get it done and done soon. So, thank you, everyone.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LIGHTFORD) There being no further business to come before the Senate, the Senate stands adjourned until the hour of 11:30 a.m. on the 2nd day of March 2017. The Senate stands adjourned. 12