PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) The regular Session of the 102nd General Assembly will please come to order. In place of the invocation today, I ask all Senators and those watching the proceedings to observe a moment of silence in accordance with your beliefs and in honor of all those lost during this pandemic and especially remember those who have been affected by the tragedy of 9/11. Let's have a moment of silence. (Moment of silence observed) Please remain standing for the Pledge of the Allegiance. Senator Cunningham, please lead us in the Pledge.
(Pledge of Allegiance, led by Senator Cunningham)
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) The following are seeking recognition. Lee Enterprises wants to photo and video. WCIA wants to record and video. State Journal Register wants to take photos. WGEM wants to film and Blueroomstream wants to video. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Mr. Secretary, Reading and Approval of the Journal.
Senate Journal of Tuesday, August 31st, 2021.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hunter.
Mr. President, I move to postpone the reading and approval of the Journal just read by the Secretary, pending arrival of the printed transcripts.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hunter moves to postpone the reading and approval of the Journal, pending the arrival of the printed transcripts. There 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 being no objection, so ordered. Mr. Secretary, Communications from the President.
Letter dated September 10th, 2021. Dear Mr. Secretary- Pursuant to Rule 2-10 and House Joint Resolution 52. The regular Session of the Senate will convene at 12 p.m. on Monday, September 30th {sic} (13), 2021. If you have any questions, please contact my Chief of Staff. Sincerely, Don Harmon, Senate President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Mr. Secretary, Resolutions.
Senate Resolutions 488 and 489, offered by Senator DeWitte and all Members. Senate Resolution 490, offered by Senator Anderson and all Members. Senate Resolutions 491 and 492, offered by Senator Barickman and all Members. Senate Resolution 493, offered by Senators Rose, Bailey and all Members. Senate Resolutions 494 through 497, offered by Senator Crowe and all Members. Senate Resolution 498, offered by Senator Koehler and all Members. Senate Resolutions 499 through 503, offered by Senator McClure and all Members. Senate Resolutions 504 through 510, offered by Senator Anderson and all Members. Senate Resolution 511, offered by Senator Rose and all Members. 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 And Senate Resolution 512, offered by Senator Koehler and all Members. They are all celebration of life resolutions, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Mr. Secretary, Resolutions Consent Calendar. Mr. Secretary, Introduction and Reading of Senate Bills for the first time.
Senate Bill 2912, offered by Senator Johnson. (Secretary reads title of bill) 1st Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Mr. Secretary, Appointment Messages.
Appointment Message 1020235 Governor's salaried appointment To be a Member of the Prisoner Review Board, LeAnn Miller Appointment Message 1020236 Governor's salaried appointment To be an Arbitrator of the Worker's Compensation Commission, Jacqueline Hickey Appointment Message 1020237 Governor's non-salaried appointment To be a Trustee of the Chicago State University Board of Trustees, Cory Thames Appointment Message 1020238 Governor's non-salaried appointment To be a Member of the Children and Family Services Advisory Council, Nate Pietrini Appointment Message 1020239 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Governor's non-salaried appointment To be a Member of the Illinois Community College Board, Craig Bradley Appointment Message 1020240 Governor's non-salaried appointment To be a Member of the Illinois Finance Authority, James Fuentes
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Mr. Secretary, Messages from the House.
A Message from the House by Mr. Hollman, Clerk. Mr. President - I am directed to inform the Senate that the House of Representatives has concurred with the Senate in the passage of a bill of the following title, to wit: Senate Bill 2408. Together with the following amendments which are attached, in the adoption of which I am instructed to ask the concurrence of the Senate, to wit: House Amendments 1, 2, and 4 to Senate Bill 2408. Passed the House, as amended, September 10th, 2021. John W. Hollman, Clerk of the House.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Request from NPR Illinois to take photos. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Senator Holmes, for what purpose do you seek recognition?
Thank you, Mr. President. Pursuant to Senate Rule 4-1(e) I move that Senators Collins, Curran, Ellman, Feigenholtz, Harris, Jones, Lightford, Morrison, Peters, Plummer, Stewart, Stoller and 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Villivalam be allowed to participate and vote remotely for today's Session.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? If not, the question is, shall Senators Collins, Curran, Ellman, Feigenholtz, Harris, Jones, Lightford, Morrison, Peters, Plummer, Stewart, Stoller, and Villivalam be allowed to participate and vote remotely for the September 13th, 2021 Session Day pursuant to Rule 4-1(e). All those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the motion carries. And Senators Collins, Curran, Ellman, Feigenholtz, Harris, Jones, Lightford, Morrison, Peters, Plummer, Stewart, Stoller and Villivalam are allowed to participate and vote remotely for September 13th, 2021 Session Day. I would just mention, as well, when you are standing at your chair and speaking into the microphone you have an option of removing your mask for the purpose of an understanding you very clearly. Beyond that, please, maintain your masks. The Committee on Assignments to the President's Anteroom please. Committee on Assignments. The Senate will stand at ease. (at ease) Mr. Secretary, Committee Reports.
Senator Cunningham, (Vice) Chair of the Committee on Assignments, reports the following Legislative Measures have been assigned: re-referred from the Executive Appointments Committee to the Assignments Committee: Appointment Messages 1010461, 1010481, 1010482, 1010483, 1010485. Signed, Senator Bill Cunningham, (Vice) Chair. Senator Cunningham, (Vice) Chair of the Committee on Assignments, reports the following Legislative Measures have been assigned: Be Approved for Consideration - Appointment Messages 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 1010461, 1010481, 1010482, 1010483, 1010485, Motion to Concur with House Amendments 1, 2, and 4 to Senate Bill 2408. Signed, Senator Bill Cunningham, (Vice) Chair.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Remind everyone that we are going to go to business of the Senate. We're going to go to Executive Appointments, so if everyone would please make their way to the Senate Chamber. Senator Holmes, for what purpose do you seek recognition?
Thank you so much, again, Mr. President. Pursuant to Senate Rule 4-1(e) I move that Senator Van Pelt be allowed to participate and vote remotely for today's Session.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? If not, the question is, shall Senator Van Pelt be allowed to participate and vote remotely for the September 13th, 2021 Session Day pursuant to Senate Rule 4-1(e). All those in favor, will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it. In the opinion of the Chair, the Ayes have it, and the motion carries and Senator Van Pelt is allowed to participate and vote remotely for September 13th, 2021 Day {sic} Session. To fulfill our responsibilities under Article V, Section 9 of the Constitution, we now proceed to the Order of Advice and Consent. Chair Murphy.
Thank you, Mr. President. To fulfill our responsibilities under Article V, Section 9 of the Constitution, we will now proceed to the Order of Advice and Consent. Mr. President, I move that the Senate resolve itself into Executive Session for the purpose of acting on appointments set forth in Appointment Message 461, 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 481, 482, 483 of the 101st General Assembly.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Chair Murphy moves that the Senate resolves itself into Executive Session for the purpose of acting on the Appointment Messages just read. All those in favor, will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the motion carries. The Senate is resolved into Executive Session. Supplemental Calendar No. 1 has been printed and distributed. Mr. Secretary, please read Appointment Message 1010461.
Mr. President, the Committee on Assignments recommends that the Senate Do Consent to the following salaried appointment: To be a Member {sic} (Commissioner) of the Illinois Commerce Commission, Michael Carrigan.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Chair Murphy.
I move that the Senate consent to the nomination.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? The question is, does the Senate consent to the nomination just made? All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Senator Collins.
Collins votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Collins votes Yes. Senator Curran.
Senator Curran votes Yes. 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Curran votes Yes. Senator Ellman.
Ellman votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Ellman votes Yes. Senator Feigenholtz.
Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes. Senator Harris.
Harris votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Harris votes Yes. Senator Jones. Senator Lightford. Senator Morrison. Senator Peters.
Senator Peters votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Peters votes Yes. Senator Plummer.
Plummer votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Plummer votes Yes. Senator Stewart. Senator Stoller.
Stewart votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stewart votes Yes. Senator Stoller.
Stoller votes Yes. 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stoller votes Yes. Senator Villivalam.
Senator Villivalam votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Villivalam votes Yes. Senator Van Pelt.
Senator Van Pelt votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Van Pelt votes Yes. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. On that question, there are 57 voting Yea. None voting Nay. None voting Present. And the Appointment Message just read is declared approved {sic} (. Mr. Secretary, please read Appointment Message No. 1010481.
Mr. President, the Committee on Assignments recommends that the Senate Do Consent to the following non-salaried appointment: To be a member of the Waukegan Port District Board, Greg Petry.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Chair Murphy.
Mr. President, the Committee on Assignments recommends that the Senate Do Consent to the following non-salaried appointment: And I move that the Senate consent to the nomination.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? The question is, does the Senate consent to the nomination just made. All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Senator Collins. 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
Collins votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Collins votes Yes. Senator Curran.
Curran votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) I need to see you Senator. Senator Curran.
Curran votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Curran votes Yes. Senator Ellman.
Ellman votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Ellman votes Yes. Senator Feigenholtz.
Curran votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Curran votes Yes. Senator Ellman.
Ellman votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Ellman votes Yes. Senator Feigenholtz.
Feigenholtz votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) I need to see you Senator Feigenholtz.
10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes. Senator Harris.
Harris votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Harris votes Yes. Senator Jones. Senator Lightford. Senator Morrison. Senator Peters.
Senator Peters votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Peters votes Yes. Senator Jones. I'm sorry, Senator Peters, I need to see you.
Senator Peters votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Peters votes Yes. Senator Jones. Senator Jones, I saw you briefly. Senator Jones. Senator Plummer.
Plummer votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Plummer votes Yes. Senator Stewart.
Stewart votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stewart votes Yes. Senator Stoller.
Stoller votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 I need to see you Senator Stoller.
Stoller votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stoller votes Yes. Senator Villivalam.
Senator Villivalam votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Villivalam votes Yes. Senator Van Pelt.
Senator Van Pelt votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Van Pelt votes Yes. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. There are… I'm sorry. Senator Jones, I did not hear your vote. Do you wish to vote, Senator Jones? I do not see you, Senator Jones, I'm sorry. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Senator Jones, we're going to try this one more time, can you please vote? We have technical difficulties, please hang on. Senator Jones, I see you. Do you wish to vote? Senator Jones, because we cannot see you or hear you, you're going to be voted as Present. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. On that question, there are 56 voting Yea. None voting Nay. And 1 voting Present. The majority of the Senators elected concurring by record vote, the Senate does consent to the nomination. Senator Rose, for what purpose do you seek recognition?
Well, thank you. I sought recognition five minutes ago, but how did you just change Senator Jones' vote? I think you're -- 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 you're -- you could’ve disposed of the entire roll call and started over, in which case and time, Senator Jones would’ve not been eligible to vote of if he had suddenly appeared on the screen or we would’ve been amendable to appointing a commission to go find Senator Jones. I mean, by the time they get back from Chicago it'd still be way earlier than we started on the Energy bill last time. So, but the bottom-line question is, how did you sir, just change his vote?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) We were in the middle of a roll call, Senator. And because LIS could hear him but they could not have him on where I could see him and so we wanted to not record his vote as -- as a affirmative vote.
Then vote Present.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) …not see him vote Present.
Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Because he was not in the system.
I would suggest -- I would suggest that we have an additional -- we jettison that roll call and do it right. Thank you. I see your lawyer is agreeing with me.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Mr. President, what purpose do you seek recognition?
Thank you, Mr. President. Having voted on the prevailing 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 side I move to reconsider the vote by which we just confirmed the Governor's Appointment. Mr. President, did you mean that you wanted to verify a roll call?
Thank you, Mr. President. Apparently, I would like to verify the roll call just taken. I appreciate the guidance. And I would like that verification for the purpose of striking Senator Jones from the -- from the list.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) President Harmon, has requested a verification. Will all Members please take their seat? Mr. Secretary, will you please read the affirmative votes.
Those voting in the affirmative: Anderson, Aquino, Bailey, Barickman, Belt, Bennett, Bryant, Bush, Castro, Collins, Connor, Crowe, Cullerton, Cunningham, Curran, DeWitte, Ellman, Feigenholtz, Fine, Fowler, Gillespie, Glowiak Hilton, Harris, Hastings, Holmes, Hunter, Johnson, Joyce, Koehler, Landek, Loughran Cappel, Martwick, McClure, McConchie, Muñoz, Murphy, Pacione-Zayas, Peters, Plummer, Rezin, Rose, Simmons, Sims, Stadelman, Stewart, Stoller, Syverson, Tracy, Doris Turner, Sally Turner, Van Pelt, Villa, Villanueva, Villivalam, Wilcox, and President Harmon.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) President Harmon, is there anyone read who you question their vote?
Thank -- thank you, Mr. President. Given our technical difficulties connecting with Senator Jones and Senator Rose's 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 usual attention to detail, I would move to strike Senator Jones from the roll call.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Please strike Senator Jones from the roll call. The record will reflect that Senator Jones has been stricken from voting on this and so we're going to proceed. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record, on that question, on a verified roll call there are -- waiting for the -- on a verified roll call there are 56 Yeas, no Nays, and none voting Present. Having received the required constitutional majority, the motion is considered passed. That was easy. Mr. Secretary, please read Appointment Message 1010482. Chair Murphy.
Mr. President, after the Secretary reads the appointment, I'd move we consent.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Mr. Secretary, please read Appointment Message No. 1010482.
Mr. President, the Committee on Assignments recommends that the Senate Do Consent to the following non-salaried appointment: To be a member of the Waukegan Port District Board, Ben Veal.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Chair Murphy.
Mr. President, I move the Senate consent to the nomination.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? The question is, does the Senate consent to the nomination just made? All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Senator Collins.
Collins votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Collins votes Yes. Senator Curran.
Curran votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Curran votes Yes. Senator Ellman.
Ellman votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Ellman votes Yes. I need to see you, Senator Ellman. Senator Ellman.
My apologies, I'm sorry. Ellman votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Ellman votes Yes. Senator Feigenholtz.
Feigenholtz votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes. Senator Harris.
Harris votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Need to see you, Senator Harris.
Harris votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Senator Harris votes Yes. I don’t want to try Senator Jones again. Senator Lightford. Senator Morrison. Senator Peters.
Senator Peters votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Peters votes Yes. Senator Plummer.
Plummer votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Plummer votes Yes. Senator Stewart.
Stewart votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) I need to see you, Senator Stewart.
Stewart votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stewart votes Yes. Senator Stoller.
Senator Stoller votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stoller votes Yes. Senator Villivalam.
Senator Villivalam votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Villivalam votes Yes. Senator Van Pelt.
Senator Van Pelt votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Senator Van Pelt votes Yes. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. On that -- a majority of the Senators elected concurring by record vote of 56 voting Yea. None voting Nay. None voting Present. The Senate does consent to the nomination. One more to go. Mr. Secretary, please read Appointment Message No. 1010483.
Mr. President, the Committee on Assignments recommends that the Senate Do Consent to the following non-salaried appointment: To be a Member (Employee) of the Workers' Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Board, Mike Macellaio.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Chair Murphy.
Mr. President, I move the Senate consent to the nomination.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? The question is, does the Senate consent to the nomination just made. All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Senator Collins.
Collins votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Collins votes Yes. Senator Curran.
Curran votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Curran votes Yes. Senator Ellman.
Ellman. Senator -- Senator Ellman votes Yes. 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Ellman votes Yes. Senator Feigenholtz.
Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes. Senator Harris.
Harris votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) I need to see you, Senator Harris.
Harris votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Harris votes Yes. Senator Lightford. Senator Morrison. Senator Peters.
Senator Peters votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Peters votes Yes. Senator Plummer.
Plummer votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Plummer votes Yes. Senator Stewart.
Stewart votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) I need to see you, Senator Stewart.
Stewart votes Yes. 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stoller, can you remove your camera for a second? I need to see Senator Stewart.
Stewart votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stewart votes Yes. Senator Stoller.
Stoller votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stoller votes Yes. Senator Villivalam.
Senator Villivalam votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Villivalam votes Yes. Senator Van Pelt.
Senator Van Pelt votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Van Pelt votes Yes. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. On that question, there are 56 voting Yea. None voting Nay. None voting Present. And a majority of the Senators elected concurring by record vote, the Senate does consent to the nomination. Chair Murphy.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen, I move that the Senate arise from Executive Session.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Chair Murphy moves that the Senate arise from Executive Session. All those in favor will vote -- will vote -- say Aye. 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the motion carries. The Senate has now arisen from Executive Session. Continuing on Supplemental Calendar No. 1 is the Order of Concurrences. We have Senate Bill 2408. President Harmon, do you wish to present your concurrence? Mr. Secretary, read the motion.
I move to concur with the House in the adoption of their Amendments 1, 2 and 4 to Senate Bill 2408. Signed, by President Harmon.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) President Harmon.
Thank you, Mr. President. I would move to concur in the House Amendments to Senate Bill 2408 and I defer to the Chair of our Energy Committee, Senator Mike Hastings, to present the details of the bill, as amended, by the House.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Thank you, Mr. President. This Floor amendment is a page and line amendment which reflects a compromise between the proponents of 2408 and Municipal Coal. There's also a litany of technical amendments which I want to make note of. I -- I spoke of the underlying bill the last time we were here in Session. I'm just going to go ahead and read off what some of those changes are, in this amendment, so we don't have to relitigate all the other issue points that were discussed in depth the last -- the last time. This bill -- first, I'd like to say is a historic culmination of a difficult but worthwhile negotiation process where we refused to 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 accept anything but the best for Illinois in terms of a clean energy future. Our product -- our work product is one that is renewable, reliable, and affordable for all Illinoisans. But when it comes to decarbonization, the change from Senate Bill 18 to Senate Bill 2408, it requires all public greenhouse gas submitting units that use coal to permanently reduce the carbon dioxide equivalent omissions to zero by December 31st, 2045. These units must also reduce their carbon dioxide equivalent omissions by forty-five percent by January 1st, of 2035. If they do not meet the 2035 targets, there's a process for an extension that they would have to go through. There's other technical changes in regards to the air pollutant construction permits. There's a correction made to include the decarbonization statute. For gas decarbonization; it prioritizes closures of gas plants located in environmental justice communities designated as of January 1st, of 2021, it adds definition of CO2, which includes emissions as measured by U.S. EPA eGRID or a successor, it adds the Director of the IEPA to the task force for non-for-profit Electric Generation Task Force, it changes the tariff effective date, it doesn’t apply -- it doesn't begin until January 1st, of 2022. Utilities are still required to file a tariff. When it comes to the Energy Transition Community Grants, especially for Zion and Lake County, it maintains the existing grant program but it also adds that units of local government that have jurisdiction over Zion Nuclear Plant shall receive fifteen dollars a kilogram of spent nuclear fuel stored at that facility. In terms of the Equitable Energy Future Certification, it eliminates that from the categories of community driven --community driven -- community solar equity category of the Adjustable Block Program, equity accountability system within 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 the ABP, modifications to equity accountability enforcement of the EEFC, jobs in Environmental Justice Grant Program. It specifies for the SOO Green project, the high voltage direct current transmission lines must have project labor agreements. When it comes to coal to solar, the first procurement will be March 31st, of 2022 unless the IPA delays it until May 1st, of 2022. The original date, in the previous bill, was January 30th. As for the renewable portfolio standard rollover, it requires that unspent funds, except those already credited back to rate payers, to remain in the utility account and use in first in, first out basis, towards payment obligations. The new bill will prohibit -- let me say this for consumers, it will prohibit all public utilities from requiring low-income residential customers to provide a security deposit against non-payment, it requires utility companies to report monthly on disconnections and for all those across Illinois who use a credit card to pay your bill, this will prohibit electric and gas companies from charging a credit card convenience fee. This bill will establish an electric vehicle rebate funded through the Alternative Fuels Act. In regards to the high impact business, it removes language that was already removed by law. The task force which was the Prairie Research Institute Carbon Capture, that was already in law, so we had to remove that from the bill since its already in law. In terms of the Energy Assistance Act, it removes Energy Assistance Act language, tax credits, it removes a repeal, that we have spoke of, for coal research and then for stretch code which we talked about ad nauseam in the last bill, Senate Bill 18. The stretch code applies to all projects where Energy Conservation Code is applicable that are funded by the CDB by January 1st of 2024. The development of the Code must be 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 completed and available for adoption by municipalities by December 31st, 2023. Mr. President, with that I'll answer any questions anyone has and I look forward to answering them. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? Senator Cunningham.
Thank you, Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Sponsor indicates he'll yield.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to ask the following questions for the purposes of establishing legislative intent. Senator Hastings, what is the intent of the Self-direct renewable portfolio standard compliance program?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Thank you, Senator. The intent is for the Illinois Power Agency to do all it can to encourage and incentivize private investment in renewable energy through the self-direct program.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Cunningham.
Secondly, Senator Hastings, can you explain the intent of the House of Worship exemption to the new prevailing wage requirement in the IPA Act?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings. 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
Thank you, Senator. The intent here is secular. We want to provide financial relief on projects that provide an entry to the solar market for small, emerging, and equity eligible contractors. This was intended to make it easier for new entrants who would benefit most from participation in the renewable energy -- industry to bid on projects.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Cunningham
And finally, Senator Hastings, what effect will any legislation or legislative action or inaction have on the State and Federal class action lawsuits currently pending against Commonwealth Edison and Exelon arising out of the conduct described in the Deferred Prosecution Agreement?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Thank you, Senator. Any legislative action or inaction will not have any effect on those lawsuits. The courts where those lawsuits are pending have jurisdiction to preside over and adjudicate those lawsuits on their merits through trial and appeal and to resolve all matters raised therein.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator Wilcox.
Question of the sponsor.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Sponsor indicates he'll yield. 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
So, the RPS, or the Renewable Portfolio Standards, collects a fee from every ComEd and Ameren customer and it's deposited into the Renewable Portfolio Fund. This bill doubles that fee to subsidize renewables, correct?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
That's a fair estimation, yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Wilcox.
We didn’t change any of the RPS standards for the credits, despite many known limitations and outright problems with the program after FEJA enacted it a number of years ago. Can you confirm we'll still be paying out based on installer estimates of production for solar arrays versus paying based on validated production results?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
I do believe in the last debate we had answered that question, the answer is yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Wilcox.
And in that component of this bill, arguably, will raise costs on ratepayers about three-hundred and sixty million per year, adding up to about three point six billion over the next ten years. 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Is that correct?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Senator, just a -- correct estimates of approximately two dollars for the average residential customer.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Wilcox.
Not necessarily a question for you, more of a statement. The question will be whether the benefits of this bill will outweigh that sizeable cost. Specifically, will the investments and renewables lower our overall carbon footprint, sustain our electricity needs, help our struggling small businesses and families, or will we be back here in a few years asking more from the ratepayers because this bill is shortsighted? FEJA never came close to producing enough renewable energy to meet the goals. We significantly overpaid for it. We're on track to possibly overpay again and maybe put Illinois into a similar position that Europe is seeing right now, skyrocketing energy prices when renewables fail to produce as designed and we've eliminated our potential for falling back to fossil fuels. This bill does fix the solar cliff but ComEd has been rebating a million dollars per day since the deadline passed. So, a question for the sponsor in that, will that rebating stop as soon as the bill is signed? And if that’s the case, are we going to be in a position of some people got rebates and others didn’t, or will there be a rollback collection for those who have already received a rebate?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Senator Hastings.
Senator, thank you very much. I -- you know, I want to just kind of, just touch base, just briefly, on your -- your question. So the, in terms of the rebates, you can look at the -- the bill itself, and I know I talked about the RPS refunds in my opening remarks towards the bill. So, I just want to make sure if you would like for me to repeat that I can, but I will say that we talked about reaching our goals and we talked about that through our working group. I will say that this bill, although it increases the RPS budget, it fixed solar cliff, it restructures REC contracts in a manner that’s more advantageous to developers, it restructures utility-scale contracts to create greater incentives, it establishes coal to -- coal to solar program, it creates a pilot utility-scale solar program. There's a lot of things in this bill that, and you -- you and I both know that we've identified a lot of these problems throughout the last two years of working groups. The goal of this bill is to identify our problems that we had in the past and it creates solutions for the future. That's what this bill does and I can go over, like probably, about twenty-five different points for you as to what this bill does to help better our Renewable Portfolio Standards.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Wilcox did you have a…
Yea -- no, I appreciate that sponsor. To the bill. PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER)] To the motion.
28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 We've also seen many scandals under this dome with ethical lapses being a constant problem. Yet apparently, in this bill, we couldn't find it in ourselves to put any ethical standards on place for wind and solar or the renewable industries. I still struggle to understand what makes them special. Let's hope that this industry doesn’t become the future ComEd case in court. We could’ve increased those ethical standards that have proved to be such a problem. We could’ve removed legislators from the ratemaking process all together. Yet we're going to continue the ICC status quo and pick and choose what companies need to follow ethical rules and requirements. We also made no attempt to place carbon footprint goals on the production processes that occur all over the world to allow wind and solar to be installed in Illinois. No discussion of the carbon footprint in the -- in the creation of renewable energy equipment. No discussion of the strip mining for lithium, but yet we're going to continue to push for electric vehicles. It's a little baffling, we won't change climate just in Illinois but we had an opportunity to set markers that told all of our industries that are generating and producing energy for Illinois, that we expected a cleaner back end even if it didn’t occur in Illinois. This was our chance to really change the way we work with utilities in Illinois. We could have improved the process more, made it stronger and more transparent, more ethical, and acknowledged the need to get greener, deeper than just here in our great State. But that would have required more work and apparently it wasn't in the cards this time. So, I'm sure we'll see trailer language in the future and look forward to maybe including some of this in future legislation. But most importantly, we could've taken legislators out of the game all 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 together. Let some free-market dictate things, let that private investment thrive. But instead here we are, another bailout bill that's going to be the greatest energy increase in Illinois history. I urge a NO vote. Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator Doris Turner.
Question of the sponsor?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Sponsor indicates he'll yield.
Senator Hastings, the way I read the bill, the definition of “existing emissions” for CWLP would be the average of all emissions at the Dallman Station for the years 2018 to 2020. Is that correct?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Yes, Senator.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Turner.
My second question. Does this language mean that each unit must reduce the unit’s emission by forty-five percent or does it intend the total emissions from coal generation at the plant to be reduced by forty-five percent?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
The total, Senator. 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Turner.
Great. I do want to commend everyone's hard work on this and as you know, CWLP has been one of the issues that I have been strongly concerned about. So, I'm happy to get the answers that I did from those two questions. Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator Bryant.
Thank you, Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield for a couple questions?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) He indicates he'll yield.
Thank you. Senator, how is this bill going to affect State facilities who have power plants and how is that different from how it will affect private businesses who have power operations in their facilities?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Thank you, Mr. President and thank you, Senator, for the question. We're holding the State to the same standards, and however, there's a few distinctions here. First, this bill is about electricity, we're decarbonizing generators that rely on fossil fuels to produce electricity. The Capitol Complex Power Plant produces steam and heating -- steam for heating and cooling, not electricity. And this bill focuses on generators with twenty- 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 five megawatts or greater capacity. Smaller generators are not subject to the decarbonization schedule contained in this legislation. So, in regards to the State, the State Capitol, for example, is currently undergoing renovations that'll improve efficiency and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The master plan has outlined that our goal is for heating to switch from steam to all electric. This will be accomplished via a phased approach by converting individual buildings one -- one at a time. The benefit is, that we'll reduce burning fossil fuels onsite and once all the buildings have been converted, the State will decommission the two natural gas and coal boilers at the power plant.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Bryant.
So, facilities like UIUC, EIU, UIC, SIU, WIS, Logan Correctional Center, Vienna Correctional Center, a couple of the developmentally disabled facilities that depend on coal for generating their electricity, so -- so those facilities, there was a question asked in committee in the House of the Deputy Governor, on what would be the timeframe for those facilities to switch over, what's the timeframe, what's the dollar amount and what are you switching them to.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Well, I think first to answer your question. It would be prudent, because you've listed off a litany of different universities that are there, what is the actual generating capacity for those universities. There's a -- I'm sorry, a megawatt amount 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 that's in the bill, twenty-five megawatts or higher that would be subject to this bill. So, in order for me to adequately answer your question as to who this would apply to, I think it would be appropriate for you to tell me which universities and what the generating capacity is for each one and where. As you well know, universities across the State have multiple generating facilities across their campuses and they could ebb and flow by what their capacity is. So, in general though, just to answer your question, if those plants were to generate more than twenty-five megawatts, they would be held to the same standard that we've established in this law. And, if you want me to go over that with you ad nauseam or in detail, I will and it'll -- it'll -- it'll be a very complex and articulate conversation that we could have.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Bryant.
All due respect, but parts of this are nauseating to me anyway. But since it's your bill not mine, I would say that you should tell me what those are generating, not me tell you that, but I have some other questions, just very quickly. I noticed that the electric rebates in the bill are for pure electric vehicles not the Hybrids and that it's for Cook County area and Collar Counties, but not for the downstate areas. Can you explain that?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
I will say yes. It does apply to electric vehicles and it applies to those under the Alternative Fuels Act. And there's a 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 list of different counties that that applies to and I do believe that it does impact counties outside of the Cook and Collar area.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Bryant.
But not what you -- we would consider downstate. So, I think it's Kendall, there might be three or four other counties none of which are in central or southern Illinois. But, let me -- let me switch to the bill because I think there's a lot of people that are going to ask these same questions. Downstate Illinois was completely forgotten and ignored in this bill, as is often the case here in Springfield. It's pretty typical of the majority party continuing to do that to downstate. Our communities, especially, in deep southern Illinois, where small businesses are the backbone of our economy, have been decimated by COVID-19 and the Governor's shutdowns. We need assistance and recovery and support. We need leaders who will lift up our job creators, not add to the burdens with energy rate increases. And, I submit that this bill is a blatant attack on small businesses and a disservice to downstate Illinois. I strongly urge a NO vote for the highest energy increase in Illinois' history. Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator Rose.
Thank you, Mr. President. I do have a question of the sponsor, if I may?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) He indicates he'll yield.
34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Okay, so a lot of this hasn’t changed since the last time. So, I'm only going to ask one question. If you’re a U of I professor in Urbana, Illinois looking to buy a Tesla, where do you get your four-thousand-dollar credit at?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
If you live in one of the applicable counties, to which, the alternative fuels fund is collected from, you'd be eligible for that grant, or rebate, I should say.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Rose.
So, if you're a professor at Eastern that wants to go get their four-thousand-dollar credit, where do they get their credit?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
So, if you were to understand my last answer, that the -- and let me just clarify it just one more time for you, so, the rebates are given to the counties in which, where the funds are collected from. So, if your county, for example, or whatever example you're going to give me following this answer to your question, if they do not collect the funds, they're not eligible for a rebate. But, Senator, if you want, you can go ahead and introduce legislation and we'd gladly consider it in the Energy Committee.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Rose.
35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 To the bill. We'll just dispense with it and I'll answer my own question.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) To the motion.
To the motion. Thank you. We'll dispense with the additional questions here. The answer is nowhere. If you live in Chicagoland, you get a four-thousand-dollar credit on a new car, good for you. If you live downstate Illinois, you do not get a four-thousand-dollar credit on a new car. Fancy that, fancy that. I will say, before I move on here, that I will salute you guys for at least doing this at 1:20 in the afternoon, when its daylight and people can pay attention, unlike last time. But here's what hasn’t changed from last time, here's what hasn’t changed. Under domain, you're still going to give private-for-profit companies that are essentially venture capitalists out of, I don’t even know where they are, the right to put up new power lines across my constituents' homes, private-for-profit companies, the right to put up power lines over my constituents' homes. Take their property, take their homes, effectively take their homes by putting one in their backyard. Take their farm ground, take whatever. We're going to require and get tough on certain utilities, ethics, tough, tough, tough. Renewables, oh never mind, nothing for you guys, good job, go -- go climate, go climate, we don’t need -- we're not going to regulate you. You guys wouldn’t be multinational companies spending billions of dollars, treating my constituents, when they come to my community, like complete dog meat. The people of Newman, Illinois, bodies in the streets, chasing little kids off of front porches, to the point where they 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 have to call the police. Ethics, yeah ethics, we're going to get tough on those ethical companies. And here's -- here's a great - - here's a great progressive liberal one, if you were a private producing energy plant, you'll get shut down, or if you are a State-owned plant, universities, all the list that Senator Bryant just capably read off, no big deal, no big deal, carbon, carbon, carbon, carbon. Springfield, City of Springfield, okay, but if you're Prairie State, bye-bye, bye-bye. And for what? And this is the biggest fallacy of them all. For people to go out and issue press releases that their getting tough on carbon, that we're going to get rid of coal, and get rid of that evil coal. But you know what, for those of us who live along the Indiana border, we know exactly what's going to happen. All those -- all those electrons are going to get backfilled from Indiana and Kentucky with carbon. We're going to trade carbon for carbon, except this time, we get the privilege of paying more for it. We get the privilege of paying more to put up big ole transmission lines over homes, farms, businesses and paying for that is ratepayers. Also, you guys can issue press releases that you're getting rid of carbon. …look at us, yay, we're clean, we're clean and green. What's going to come back from Indiana and Kentucky, folks, is carbon. But we're going to pay more for it. Somedays, in the mortal words of George Orwell, some things are just so stupid that only intellectuals and academics will believe them. And that's where we are today. We're all going to go put our little press releases out, yay, rah us. And twenty years from now, those ups and downs to Illinois, we'll still be paying four-thousand-dollars more for a car. I sure as hell ain't going to go buy a Tesla now. And my power bill is going to go up and I'm still going to be burning carbon electrons. Just 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 like everything here, start with the goal. The goal is to keep the nuke plants in Chicagoland open. Start with that goal, start with that goal, accomplish that goal. All the rest of this, all the rest of this, are you serious? Are you serious? Vote NO.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator Bailey.
Thank you, Mr. President. May I inquire of the sponsor?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Sponsor indicates he'll yield.
Well, as I stated the last time, I stood up here and spoke, one of the most shocking and egregious aspects of this bill is obviously, the eminent domain provision. Senator Rose, kind of made an allegation, and I just want to make sure that I understand and get the direct answer. Does this bill allow for a private -- does this bill allow a private-for-profit company to take away personal property from property owners?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
I'm going to answer this question very clear and very slow so everyone can understand it and so that Orwellian -- Orwellian theory isn’t brought up in debate again. We are authorizing the ICC to delegate eminent domain authority for a transmission line because the public is the primary intended beneficiary. This transmission line will benefit the Illinois public by decreasing energy cost, decreasing carbon emissions, and increasing reliability and renewable resource adequacy. Affordable wind and 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 solar generation located in Illinois and other states, including the Great Plain states will be interconnected to the GrainBelt line and delivered to the PJM market. The direct current line will be granted limited utility status to petition. Let me just say that again, will be granted limited utility status to petition the ICC for a certificate of public convenience and necessity. The ICC will need to conduct a hearing to determine the new construction will promote public convenience and necessity because it has demonstrated its necessity to provide adequate, reliable, and efficient service to customers and is the least cost means or will promote the development of competitive electricity and that their capable of efficiently -- or effectively managing and supervising the construction process. Their capable of financing the construction. Landowners must be given just compensation and there must be three pre-filing public meetings with suffice notice to landowners. This is the same process as other public utilities, what they must comply with. I hope, I hope that answers your question.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Bailey.
They -- awesome political answer of intent, which, you know, is what is destroying our State. How does this -- how does this line -- these lines that are being laid from this ground that's going to be taken from property owners, how does -- how is this going to benefit Illinois, this -- this exact line that's going to be run across our State?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings. 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
Senator, in the courtroom we'd say, ask and answer, but I'm just going to tell you that, I just -- having this generation line or this transmission line coming in will help us with clean energy resources, whether that’s going ahead and -- and crossing in a cross-market. State of Iowa, for example, or Kansas, for that matter, we can sell our energy to them, because after this bill passes, we will be a leader in renewable energy generation in this State.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Bailey.
Thank you. Well, constitutionally protecting private property rights was so important to our founding fathers that they wrote an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that addresses it and that's Amendment 5. Eminent domain can actually devalue the property in question. I have several counties and I'm a farmer myself and I know what this means, and in the case they will take out prime farmland in Illinois. This is -- has nothing to do in comparison with underground oil pipelines. This is not the government coming in and taking your land for public use. This is a private company taking private property so that they can make money off of it. Next question, are there risks to having overhead transmission lines running through property?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Senator, there's risks associated with everything in life. You have utility poles, you have transmission lines already 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 throughout communities. So, this isn’t something that's just a brand-new construction topic that -- that's just being brought about. So, I mean, of course, there's risks with everything you do in life and transmission lines, right now, that are there, whether they -- whether it's through storms or other damage that takes place, of course. But, to this point, this isn’t anything out of the ordinary in terms of construction that's already being done.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Bailey.
To the motion, please.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) To the motion.
You know, I -- I -- I appreciate your answers and I think that's the very -- your answer, you know, opens up the -- the argument of the -- the -- very problem that we're talking about here. The simple fact that we're already generating what we need. Know well, on top of that, we're actually importing some electricity and now we're talking about taking away the rights of Illinoisans and, oh by the way, increasing your utility bills and let's not worry about the fact that we're not going to deal with any of the unethical activity that -- that's -- we've been talking about and dealing with for the last couple years. Amendment No. 5 says that no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment of indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense -- for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor, key words here, be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Pursuant to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, government is able to acquire real and personal belongings of a citizen for public purpose and a person should be provided just compensation. The Bill of Rights are made applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of law. The Fifth Amendment's Public Use Clause is applicable to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment Clause. The taking of property for private purpose is unconstitutional. But what does this Body care about that? What we are about to do is to tell Illinois residents one thing, you don’t matter, the Constitution doesn’t matter, and your property doesn’t matter. And unfortunately, that's going to come to no surprise to the average Illinois citizen. At a time when I thought nothing coming out of this Body could surprise me, here we are giving for-profit companies the right to put up their lines over constituent's homes and farmers livelihoods. The only commonsense approach to this is simply no. Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Our last speaker is Senator DeWitte. I'm sorry are the lights up now? Going on, Senator DeWitte. SENATOR DeWITTE: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Question of the sponsor. 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Indicates he will yield. SENATOR DeWITTE: Thank you. Senator Hastings, thank you very much for all of your -- Senator Hastings, thank -- thank you very much for your work on this legislation. I'm sure it seems like a never-ending process. I'll try not to belabor that. Just a couple of quick questions. Will every ratepayer in the State of Illinois see an increase?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings. SENATOR DeWITTE: That is due to this…
Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator DeWitte. SENATOR DeWITTE: And, what in your opinion, will be the average additional monthly cost to ratepayers regarding residential, commercial, and industrial rates?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Approximately, three dollars and fifty-five cents for 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 residential customers, and I would have to sift through my notes, that's how fast I sift through it. For commercial customers it would be approximate five-point five percent increase, industrial would be approximate seven-point five percent increase.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator DeWitte. SENATOR DeWITTE: …for those responses Senator Hastings, to the motion, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) To the motion. SENATOR DeWITTE: Thank you. Senator Hastings just referenced approximately a two dollar a month increase for residential taxpayers. For the record, there was an independent analysis of this bill done by the Chapman Energy Strategies for AARP Illinois, that shows over the next ten years, the bill will cost consumers up to fifteen dollars per month. There's no reference what that's averaged against. An additional analysis performed by Crain Chicago Business predicts legislation will add about seven seventy-five per month to ratepayer utility bills or about a nine percent increase. The fact is, Ladies and Gentlemen -- oh, and I forgot to mention, it was reported over the weekend that the Governor suggested eighty cents monthly increase to residential property tax bills. The fact is, no one knows how much this piece of legislation is going to cost Illinois ratepayers. Well, what we do know is that it will be borne by all ratepayers in the State. I guess what we're seeing and hearing today, is that we'll just have to watch our friends across the aisle pass this legislation. And then we'll 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 find out how much ratepayers will really be on the hook. It isn’t just good paying union jobs that everyone has referenced that we will be losing, or the communities and surrounding businesses who will be absolutely devastated by the shuttering of coal plants in this State, it'll be the single mom who's going to have to decide between heating her house or paying for groceries because she just doesn’t have the extra money or whatever the numbers going to be, that they're going to be stuck with in increased energy costs. Or how about the elderly couple on a fixed income, who won't be able to afford to buy a back-up generator to power their oxygenator for medical purposes. And it’s the small business owner, across this State, trying to employ members of their own community, who will finally throw in the towel because this State is more interested in being first across the clean energy line than being concerned about keeping energy costs manageable for family budgets. This is not the way we should be legislating, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is irresponsible to the constituents we serve, to the people of Illinois who count on us to enact meaningful and thoughtful policies. It is absurd, and frankly it's embarrassing, that we stand up on this side of the aisle and have to call out what a bad idea this really is for the State. Having said that, this remains a tough vote for me because I do in fact support cleaner energy future for Illinois. And I do see some good provisions in this bill. I'm pleased to know our nuclear fleet will remain operational and that we are making an investment in renewables. Some of you may know, I was on the City Council in the City of St. Charles back in 2004, when our city approved a thirty-five-year agreement with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency for an equity position in the Prairie State facility. We entered this agreement, 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 so we would assure our families they would be receiving reliable, affordable energy well into the future. That rug is now being pulled out from under them. Through this bill, all of my constituents who pay Commonwealth Edison for power will see their rates increase through the largest energy rate hike in Illinois history. And in my 33rd Senate District, those living in St. Charles, Geneva, and Batavia will be stuck, stuck paying off long- term debt for energy they will not be receiving from Prairie State, while also paying for backfill energy that will be -- need to be secured from other sources. I believe a path to cleaner energy does exist that does not create such an overt financial hardship for Illinois ratepayers and those involved in the Prairie State co-op. But unfortunately, those people and those municipalities have been ignored during the crafting of this legislation. Ladies and Gentlemen, we can do better. I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of this aisle to do the right thing, get back to the drawing board and vote No. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator McClure. SENATOR McCLURE: Thank you, Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Sponsor indicates he'll yield. SENATOR McCLURE: Thanks, Senator. So, I see the debate is still strongly opposed to this legislation and I think that goes back to these rebates that were discussed for other cars and other counties not for Sangamon County but for other counties. So, why are electric motor vehicles not allowed to also get a rebate for that purchase 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 -- the owners, excuse me, not the vehicles themselves?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Let me just be clear, the electric vehicle rebate is paid out of an account that is collected only from carbon -- or certain counties where its collected, thus, the rebate only goes to those counties. So, Senator if you would like for Sangamon County to start contributing to this fund, as I spoke to a previous colleague of ours, if you want, file a piece of legislation and we'll consider it in our committee. You're more than welcome to do that.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator McClure. SENATOR McCLURE: I appreciate that Senator, but to the motorcycles, why is it that electric motorcycles are not allowed to take advantage of this rebate in certain counties?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Mr. President, can you give me one second please, thank you. Mr. -- Senator -- Senator, were -- we plan on addressing that in a trailer bill and that's a very valid point.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator McClure. SENATOR McCLURE: So, I guess the first question I've got, because I really haven’t heard a clear answer. I'm hearing different numbers from different sources, what is the cost of this bill -- the total cost 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 of the bill, overall?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Mr. President, give me one second. I'm going to go over what's included in the cost, so that everyone knows and then I'm going to go over some offsets. They consider them. I know in a previous question, we have -- there was -- the AARP, I believe, was referenced by the previous speaker. There's also other reports that were out from the Chapman Energy Institute or something I've never heard of before because they've never presented or gave us anything in our committee, for that matter. I also recently saw one in Crain Chicago Business. A lot of these reports, what they fail to include, are some of the offsets that are included within this bill. So, the price point at which they're giving for whatever -- whatever it may be, whether that’s the residential customer or the commercial, industrial customer, is artificially inflated because they do not include some of those offsets. But we look at various accounts that -- or various impacts to the bill that will take place. There's an RPS charge, there's carbon mitigation credits, there's the Energy Transition Assistance Charge, there's the Coal-to-Solar Program, which by the way, does affect downstate Illinois. If you were to ask any of your coal workers, there's Coal-to-Solar Storage. There's increase -- there's increases for energy efficiencies, there's intervenor compensation, there's credit card socialization, and then there's also the consolidation of the accumulated depreciation income tax credit. When you look at these costs, those are what would affect the impact on, in terms of an increase, in terms of the offsets, 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 which would decrease. You're looking at new renewables, you're looking at transmission lines, that obviously I spoke of the accumulated deferred income tax and lower capacity prices as a result of us saving a nuclear fleet. Those are what we consider offsets and those are what would decrease the bill and as previously stated before, the average price to the consumer is approximately three dollars and fifty-five cents and then when you look at the commercial cost, it's approximately thirty-five dollars and if you look at the average industrial cost, it's approximately three-thousand dollars.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator McClure. SENATOR McCLURE: Thank you, Senator. But, and I appreciate the explanation, the thorough explanation, but I'm asking for what the total cost is of the bill itself to the State, to the taxpayers, to businesses in our State. So, just the total cost, what's this going to cost all of us, just a number. I'm just looking for a number.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings.
Thank you, Mr. President. Senator, to answer your question, I just gave you the answer to what it's going to cost every person.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) One -- one second, we need to have people who are on the zoom call please mute your microphones. Will people on the zoom call please mute your microphones? Thank you. Senator Hastings.
Thank you, Mr. President. And -- and obviously, my prior -- 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 my prior answer, Senator, I've given you every cost associated with every customer across the State of Illinois. And with the - - with the offsets coming online, I would, you know, like I said, it would be three -- approximately three-fifty -- thirty-five dollars and approximately three-thousand dollars for industrial customers. So, those are the costs for every class of person who utilizes electricity in the State.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator McClure. SENATOR McCLURE: Thank you, Senator. To the motion, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) To the motion. SENATOR McCLURE: So, after asking a couple of times, I still don’t know what this is going to cost all of us. We're -- we're hearing numbers, the AARP has their numbers, fifteen dollars per month per customer. We've got numbers from IMA. We've got, obviously jobs that we're going to be losing here, and we're going to lose reliable energy. But, you know, from the utility's perspective, they told the IMA that the bill would lead to an annual increase of eight to fifteen percent for industrial customers, eight to ten percent to annual increases for commercial customers, and five percent annual hikes for residential customers. So, I think there's several things to be taken into consideration here. One of which, so I've met with a lot of companies since I've been a State Senator, and I've tried to bring people to my district, as we all have, I suspect, and one of the things that I'm told quite frequently about one reason why people would come to Illinois, is because there's reliable energy, 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 and relative to other states it's very cheap energy. So, we just come off, well we're still in the middle, I guess, of the worst pandemic of my lifetime certainly, businesses are struggling, people are still having issues paying the bills, and yet we're now going to throw this on the laps of all of our constituents and all of our businesses. And we're going to give just one more reason as to why these companies should not move to our State. And it's very bizarre to me, particularly the way we had a crisis over the winter with energy, energy, she's in Texas. We've seen energy, she's in California, and, you know, as I was driving from Carrolton on Friday, I was giving a speech there and I was driving back to Springfield on 72 and I saw all these beautiful windmills, huge tall windmills. Not a single one was moving, not an inch, not a centimeter, nothing. And the question I asked myself, as I was driving, is what's going to happen when the -- when there's -- when the wind stops. And oddly enough, we know the answer to that, if we study what happened -- what's happening in Europe, and in California and other places. In fact, the Wall Street Journal today headlined "Energy Prices In Europe Hit Records After Wind Stops Blowing". So, we know the answer, we're going to lose reliable energy and energy prices are going to continue to skyrocket and they're not going to come back down to earth. Why we're picking this particular moment to do that when everyone is struggling still at this moment, to me is wrong. I mean it's -- it's just doesn’t make any sense. Now, this other aspect of it is, we talked about businesses that are struggling. We got farmers that are struggling right now too and you're going to take away their land for a private company. I mean, give me a break, and the transmission line has little to no effect on our State period. 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 It has some effect, don’t get me wrong, but not enough to take someone's farmland that they’ve had for generations away from them against their will. I mean, we still live in a free country, right? Now, you know the other thing about this is you differentiate between State plants and private plants, etc. I heard -- I heard a nice explanation as to why this building gets powered by coal. And we heard this plan for the future. Every - - why isn’t there a deadline for this building to meet that? Why is it we're always the exception to every rule? Its why people don’t trust politicians in this building, quite frankly. Why is it some -- some citizens get rebates and others don’t? If you have a car, you get the rebate, if you have a motorcycle, you don’t, if you live in this town you do. I mean people are sick and tired of this stuff and it drives them absolutely nuts. You know, the other ridiculous aspect of this -- which was touched upon by others, you know, you're -- you're -- the main effect on the environment is going to be the same because we're going to buy the same energy from other states that we’re going to have to produce in this State. The difference is, as Senator Rose said, it's now going to be more expensive and it's going to cost us our jobs in this State. It's absurd and there's no, you know, I mean, how many -- how many coal fire plants is China building right now. I mean, seriously, and compare that to this State or this country, not even on the same playing field. And what are we doing about that, absolutely nothing. Now, the other issue about this, that hits closer to home to all of us, we've got some of my plants that are closing early, even though they were built with the technology that was the best at the time with plans to make things better. That wasn’t good enough for the legislators in this room. And the 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 question I'm asking myself is how does this legislation impact a half a billion carbon capture storage plant in Decatur. And the answer is that this will likely cost us this half a billion plant in Decatur. This is a community that is already struggling with high unemployment and for what? For what? We all want cleaner energy and we all want a cleaner Illinois. But to pass the buck to other states that are going to produce the exact same energy and cause the exact same effect to the environment, is nothing more than an empty press release and I'm sick and tired of hearing about nothing but empty press releases out of this building. But I'll tell you something that's not empty, what's not empty are going to be the reality, what's not an empty press release, is the reality that all of our citizens in this entire State are going to now face the highest rate hikes in the history of our State. Just so that we can produce more jobs and more environmental impact in the states that surround us. This is wrong, and we could do something much better and I think we should do something better - - much better. But this isn’t it. So, based on this as it stands, I encourage a No vote. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator Syverson.
Thank you, Mr. President. To the motion.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) The motion.
So, today we stand here to vote on unravelling one of the few things Illinois has been able to rely on for decades, which is low-cost and affordable energy. A few weeks back, when we had 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 unprecedented heat, one thing those, I represent, had no concerns with, was being able to walk over and turn on the air conditioning and know it was going to be there. From California to Texas, to East Coast, we’ve heard horror story after horror story from communities suffering from brownouts, blackouts, all due to their reliance on so-called renewables. This has never been a concern for those that I represent until what we are doing now, here today. So, today I'm asked to vote on a lose-lose proposition for those I represent. We’re being told, at least in my area, here are the two options we're choosing from. If you don’t vote for this bill and it doesn’t pass, we're going to shut your nuclear plant down. As the nuclear plant closes, rates are going to go up dramatically, reliability will disappear as will many jobs. My communities will be forced to buy energy from out of State, as we discussed earlier, at a much higher cost and less reliability. Or, we have the option. We can keep our plant open for six more years, but we have to vote for this bill. A bill that contains the largest rate increase on consumers and job creators in history. Rates are going to fund, in part, millionaires invested in billion-dollar energy funds. These investors are going to be given, in this bill, some of the most lucrative contracts in the nation. Contracts that are going to make these investment firms ungodly amounts of money at the expense of our consumers, especially those on fixed incomes and seniors, which I'm sure is why AARP and others are so strongly opposed. In addition, we're going to have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year to go, what some are calling, Green Jobs Program. I was here when we passed the last energy bill, where millions of dollars were poured into the Green Energy Bill in Chicago to fund the Weatherization Jobs Program, for those who 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 remember that. We don’t have to rehash the results of this Quinn Jobs Program, but we know it made a lot of money for organizers but didn’t create any jobs or long-lasting jobs. We're being told we have to do this to make our State more green, but as was mentioned, let’s be honest, the carbon footprint left behind from manufacturing, delivery, installation, and removal of wind, and solar, and batteries is anything but green. Here's one more concern with this bill that I have, that I feel needs to be raised. Over the last few weeks the supporters of this bill have been telling groups, yes, we know there are things in this bill that we had to put in to get this bill passed, but we will be coming back in the future to make changes. In other words, this bill is going to get worse. So, I stand here today, being given a choice of two losses for us and that's wrong. Having said that, I know this bill has to pass today or those I represent will be devastated. But when it does pass, the results to our consumers and job creators will be negatively felt for years. That's why it's so disappointing with what we're doing here today. We had a third choice that we weren't given, and that was just to address the nuclear issue until technology and science can catch up to where we want to be. But we weren’t given that opportunity to vote on that bill. So, now after this passes, all I can do is tell people I represent back home, we will try to do everything we can to lessen the impact of the results of this measure today on them and their job creators. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Further discussion? Senator Rezin.
To the motion, Mr. President. 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) To the motion.
Thank you. For over two years, so many people have put in countless hours of hard work drafting and negotiating this legislation. I will say that, to all of the groups that are listening, that the negotiations were trying, they were difficult and often times, I did not think that we were going to bring this across the finish line. But hopefully, we will here today. I'd like to take a moment to thank some of the people involved in creating today’s energy and jobs legislation because it truly takes a village or villages to get it done. I'd like to thank the chief (co)sponsor, Senator Hastings, for your leadership on this bill. Senator Cunningham, for your leadership and your work on this bill. To my counterpart, Representative David Welter, who was our point person to represent the three nuclear power plants that we represent in the area. Scott Foiles, our staff, who's behind me and also to your -- your staff on the other side, thank you for the countless hours and when I mean our staff worked throughout the night, often times on this legislation, they did. I'd like to thank Pat Devaney, Terry McGoldrick, Billy Phillips, Jimmy Glidic. I'd like to thank the Dresden Community Coalition and their executive committee, Dr. Bugg from the Coal City Schools, Nancy Norton from the GEDC, Christina VanYperen, Grundy County Chamber, Dean Marketti, Coal City Fire Department, Ann -- Ann Gill, Grundy County Board. I'd like to thank the Save Dresden group, the Friends of Dresden Nuclear Station, and the Friends of Byron Station, just to name a few. For anyone that I may have mentioned, or forgot to mention, thank you for your tireless effort you have 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 put to get this bill across the line. This bill we're about to vote on, is probably the largest job-related bill this Chamber has voted on since I took office. While I don’t agree with everything that's included in this legislation, this bill will preserve thousands of jobs and keep our vitality, and keep our important nuclear fleet online. As I’m sure many of you know, today is the day that the Byron Generating Station was scheduled to go offline until we showed up to vote on this bill. And just to go through again, about what does that mean and what's the job impact at Byron. They have employed permanent jobs, seven-hundred twenty- seven permanent jobs, good paying jobs, six figure jobs. And when Byron is going through an outage, they have over thirteen-hundred contractors come on site to refuel that plant. They have an eighty-two-million-dollar payroll that funnels thirty-eight- million-dollars in property taxes in that region. And for Dresden, who was set to go offline in about eight weeks, which is in my backyard, there are eight-hundred direct jobs and during their outages, there are fifteen-hundred contract jobs during outages. There's seventy-four million dollars in payroll, which pumps twenty-four-million-dollars of property taxes back into our tax base. So, again, for -- as I said earlier, this bill is far from perfect, but if we want to keep our nuclear plants, which provides over fifty percent of our State’s electricity and nearly ninety percent of the State’s clean energy operational we must vote for this bill. This landmark energy legislation puts Illinois on a path to 100 percent clean carbon-free energy and undoubtedly serve as a model for our nation. Without this bill, any hope of bringing a carbon-free energy future to Illinois by 2050, will all be but impossible. Reliable, resiliency, cost effective, and clean 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 carbon, those are the four pillars to any good energy portfolio as I've talked about, you've heard me talk about for the last two years. But there is a cost of doing nothing if we allow the nuclear plants to go offline. According to modeling by Vibrant Clean Energy, who has done consulting for multiple state governments, the federal government, utilities and companies, they stated in their testimony that seventy percent of Illinois customers will pay billions more to reach the one-hundred percent carbon-free energy without reliable nuclear energy. We, and our State ratepayers, cannot afford to allow our nuclear power plants to go offline. There's one more person, before I close, that I would like to say thank you to and that's to President Harmon, who took a bill that virtually, over this summer, was stuck, as we called it, I called it near death many times, and you took this bill and you and your team worked on it behind the scenes for many, many weeks and put together a coalition that now could support a bill. And I want to say thank you for that. So, I urge an Aye vote on this critically important bill that will not only preserve our nuclear fleet and their jobs but create even more jobs throughout the State of Illinois. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Hastings, before I turn to President Harmon to close, do you wish to offer concluding comments?
Yes, Mr. President. I want to clarify and potentially -- I'm just going to quote the former Senator Dale Righter by saying that it sounds a lot like silly season and elections must be approaching because some of the comments that were made, not in form of question but to the bill, are downright deceptive, inappropriate, 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 and inaccurate, and I want to make sure that’s crystal clear and I'm going to articulate some of the things that were talked about today about eminent domain. I'm not running for governor, yet. …speaker spoke about due process and I read verbatim from the statute of what the due process is. I read it -- I read it explicitly so that you could understand. So, I hope everyone at home was listening, so they can understand the process which is due to them. I want to talk about downstate Illinois. I've been to Mascoutah, I've been to Shiloh, I've been all over Saint Claire County, I've been to Prairie State Generating facility. I've been to every nuclear facility in the entire State of Illinois as the Chairman. For someone to say, on this Floor, that you've done nothing, nothing for downstate Illinois is inaccurate and wrong. Whether that's the Energy Transition Community Grants, forty- million dollars annually, Coal-to-Solar, if you haven’t looked across the southern part of this State prior to this bill, coal plants are closing regardless and as of right now, we are doing nothing to help those communities, nothing to help those workers, and the Coal-to-Solar is a three-hundred plus million dollar investment in making sure people in those communities that have been impacted by coal plants are going to get a job, are going to get some sort of scholarship to get some increased education, are going to figure out how to work at that plant when we transition from Coal-to-Solar. We created Displaced Energy Worker Bill of Rights, we've created Displaced Energy Worker Dependent Scholarships, one point one million dollar annually, but we're not doing anything for southern Illinois. We've created workforce hubs job training, twenty-one million dollars annually. Ameren, which serves probably one of the greatest, the largest land masses 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 in terms of a utility company, they have a utility-scale solar pilot program that they're about to embark on. There's Brownfield reforms to allow the IPA to procure RECs from solar facilities built at closed mines. So, for anyone to say we're doing nothing to help Southern Illinois, you are wrong, wrong. When it comes to job loss this is the greatest job loss bill that the State of Illinois has had. Let me just read what some of these plants do. Now, we've talked about wind, we've talked about solar, let's talk about nuclear. Nuclear power plants power over eleven point six million homes, they -- they pay a hundred and thirty-six million dollars annually in property taxes. One of the speakers over there, who I want to say thank you to, and I'll say thank you at the end, but we're talking tens of thousands of jobs, not just at these plants but tens of thousands of jobs that'll be created, not just in Chicago, but in southern Illinois. We talk about ethics provisions and we're doing nothing, nothing to stop the corrupt, greedy insiders, well that’s a bunch of garbage. Those that cast a dark cloud over our State will be held accountable and if you read the bill that we've spent the last year working on, and the last two years talking about, you can see all the ethics provisions in here. Does it go far enough, as some of us would like? No, but does it give you an opportunity to go ahead and present your point of view in a further committee. I'm always more than welcome for your ideas. When it comes to the cost to the consumers, we've heard various cost estimates, Crains, AARP, The Chapman Institute. The numbers that I've given in this, on the Floor of the Senate today, are verified by the Citizens Utility Board. I'm not -- I'm not playing hide the ball. I went down every single cost component in this bill and I went over every offset included in this bill. 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 The question is, is do we do something or we do nothing. And if we do nothing, the economic impact on our State will be far, far greater than what it would be. It'd be terrible. And it just, the economic impacts terrible. So before I close, Mr. President, I want to say this, I want to say thank you to everybody in this Chamber. I want to say thank you to our energy working group and our committee's working group throughout the past two years. I want to say first, thank you to Senator Cunningham. Senator Cunningham brings not only expertise in wisdom to our group, but he's able to maintain order and I want to say thank you very much to Bill and not only for his leadership for being a great friend. And to Cristina Castro, thank you very much for your leadership on -- on whether its minority contracting, whether its labor rights. Senator Belt, our downstate. Senator Villanueva, for all of your advocacy for environmental justice communities, thank you. And this is a -- and as Senator Rezin said, because I want to say thank you, to you as well. It's a combined arms approach. You, Senator Anderson, Senator Wilcox, have always had, always, always had a place in our committee and you know that. And I'm just thankful for your leadership. And to our Energy Committee Vice-Chair Senator Ellman, regardless of the adversity, she shows up every day. She shows up at every meeting and a lot of respect has to be given to her. And, I want to say, and in terms of a lot of respect, our staff attorney, Mary Hanahan, doesn’t sleep. She's probably -- she's probably one of the best, if not the best, our State has to offer and has an unbelievably bright future. She was able to navigate the complex negotiations while maintaining normalcy and a -- and a very unusual sense of humor. A sick sense of humor, I would say. To our House counterparts, Marcus Evans, Jay Hoffman, 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Ann Williams, Robyn Gabel, Keith Wheeler, Eva-Dina Delgaldo (Delgado), and their staff attorney, Chloe, if I miss anyone else, I apologize but you know who you are. Thank you for being partners with us throughout the process. Governor Pritzker, Deputy Governor Christian Mitchell, Doug Scott, Jessica Himes and to their team, thank you for your input and involvement in the negotiation process. To Mr. President, Senator Harmon. Senator Harmon stays above the fray. I want to make sure everyone -- I want to say that on the record, regardless of what’s going on inside this Chamber and outside this Chamber, Senator Harmon's focus is on a clean energy future for the State of Illinois. Saving jobs, not just in the Chicagoland area, but across the State. And it's -- we should be grateful for his leadership in terms of making this bill move at the pace as its moving today. And as I said today, today is truly a team effort, but I want to mention the workers at these nuclear facilities because they literally power approximately sixty percent of our State's baseload generation. And if we were to lose those plants it would be devastating not only to our baseload generation, but to our goals of achieving a clean energy job future, or, clean energy future in the State of Illinois. The workers at these plants and I'm going to use Byron for example, they've operated at ninety-nine-point eight percent capacity for the last year and that was during, probably one -- one of the hotter -- more hotter summers, and during a pandemic. And their doing it with the uncertainty of whether or not I'm going to have to have a job or not. And when I visited Byron's plant, which is in two Senator's districts here, you know, you look at generational jobs, you look at the young lady who's the engineer, University of Illinois graduate, who -- who specifically asked, do I have to 62 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 move. Do I have to start looking for another job? To the mom, in Rockford, who asked, do I have to put my house up for sale. If this bill passes, the answer to that question is no. You can keep your job. You've still got a great paying job, your kids are going to get to go to the same school, that’s what I'm happy about. If you go to Braidwood, I coach soccer with a lady who is not only a phenomenal soccer coach, but a phenomenal engineer. And she's been enticed with multiple offers, for the last year, to move and leave our State. They just built a new house in the western part of my district, nice pool, they have great kids, great family and every week we talk. Am I going to have to move? Am I going to have to do this? The answer to that is no, if this bill passes. We have an opportunity here today to vote on a bill that literally will save tens of thousands of jobs, hundreds of thousands of ancillary jobs and billions and billions of dollars economic impact in our State. This opportunity is unique and I know that it’s a tough vote given the circumstances what we -- that we find ourselves in today, but it is the right vote. It is the right vote and this is an investment, not just in our future, but our children's future and I urge an Aye vote. And I want to say thanks again to Senator Harmon, I'll yield my time to him. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) President Harmon, to close.
Thank you, Mr. President. For nearly two years legislators and staff have labored to assemble this legislation, this nearly thousand-page bill. …no worries often at this point of debate when a Member holds up a thousand-page bill and it's thrown into 63 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 the air in some sign of theatrical frustration. I'm holding it up as evidence of the work. I appreciate all the thanks that Senator Hastings shared. I would join him in thanking Senator Hastings, as well as, our Energy Committee for the countless hearings, the Energy Working Group and as Senator Hastings singled out, Senator Cunningham, as our lead negotiator, and our diligent counsel, Mary Hanahan, who did such extraordinary work. Now, we've done all of this because we understand the pressing dangers to our environment, the very real threat of climate change and the need to do something now to protect our future. Inevitably, politics has come into play from time to time. So, I want to make one thing clear, this has never been about the Senate or the House. It's never been about the Speaker or me. It's never been about the Governor. It's always been about our children and the world we're going to leave to them and that's the reason we're taking this bold step today. Now, I've watched over the last couple of days as the debate has been too often described as a sporting event, who's winning or losing. We're about to cross the goal line, it's fourth and inches, and time is running out. This isn’t a game. What we do here affects people's lives and livelihood. The people in Morris, Illinois, certainly don't think that this is a game. They're watching right now to see if they'll have jobs and a future in their community. The people in Byron don’t think this is a game. Their schools are tax based, their economic existence hinges on what we do here. My seventeen-year-old daughter Maggie doesn’t think that this is a game. She's been wondering, for far too long, if the grownups are going to do anything to leave her a habitable world. Let's not diminish their lives to a game. In fact, we probably owe them all an apology for dragging this out for so long, 64 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 for causing so much uncertainty and anxiety in their lives. They don’t care who did what. They just want it done. In fact, some of them watching now are probably saying thanks, but could you hurry up and vote already. Now a few weeks ago, I was on the phone with the Governor and talking about the energy proposal and I told him that the Senate's goal was for him to be able to sign into law the most aggressive, most progressive climate bill in the nation. And that's what we're doing with today's vote. This has always been a group project to achieve a shared goal. It wouldn’t happen, it couldn’t happen unless the Senate, the House, and the Governor all work together. What we have before us today is comprehensive energy policy, of which each legislative Chamber can rightly claim authorship and that will soon carry the Governor's signature. Our goal, all along, was to enact reliable, renewable, and affordable energy policies that put Illinois in a position as the nation's leader. That’s exactly what we're doing here today. Now, don’t get me wrong, there will be more votes. There will inevitably be changes, innovations that we can't even imagine today will happen tomorrow and we or some other future group of legislators will act accordingly. And while I don’t want to diminish, in any way, how important it is that we have saved jobs and provided economic stability right now, the lasting importance of this legislation is that we will forever have redefined our energy future. I will proudly push my green button to support this climate and energy solution. In a few hours, I'll find myself back at home. I'll see Maggie, and I'll know that we have done the right thing. Thank you, and I urge an Aye vote.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Just remind everyone this takes thirty-six votes to pass this 65 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 motion and be sure for anybody voting the buttons for those voting remotely that you wait till I call. The question is, shall Senate concur in House Amendments No. 1, 2, and 4 to Senate Bill 2408. Have all -- all those in favor vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Senator Collins.
Collins votes Present.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Collins votes Present. Senator Curran.
Curran votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Curran votes Yes. Senator Ellman.
Senator Ellman votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Ellman votes Yes. Senator Feigenholtz.
Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Feigenholtz votes Yes. Senator Harris. Senator Harris. Senator Jones.
Senator Jones votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Can we see you in person, Senator Jones? We'll come back to you, Senator Jones. Senator Lightford.
Lightford votes Aye. 66 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Lightford votes Yes. Senator Morrison. Senator Morrison. Senator Peters.
Senator Peters votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Peters votes Yes. Senator Plummer.
Plummer votes No.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Plummer votes No. Senator Stewart.
Stewart votes No.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stewart votes No. Senator Stoller.
Stoller votes No.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Stoller votes No. Senator Van Pelt.
Senator Van Pelt votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Van Pelt votes Yes. Senator Villivalam.
Senator Villivalam votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Villivalam votes Yes. Let's go back to Senator Harris. Senator Jones.
67 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Senator Jones votes Yes. And I'm trying to turn on my camera.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) I'm sorry, Senator Jones, I cannot -- there he is, alright. Get out the t-shirts, Senator Jones votes Yes. Senator Morrison. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record.
Harris votes Yes.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Senator Harris votes Yes. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted… Senator Harris votes Yes. I saw him and I heard him. I'm sorry the vote is already taken. On that question, there are 37 voting Yea. 17 voting Nay. 3 voting Present. Having received the required constitutional majority, the Senate does concur in House Amendments 1, 2, and 4 to Senate Bill 2408 and the bill is declared passed. Mr. Secretary, Messages from the House.
A Message from the House by Mr. Hollman, Clerk. Mr. President - I am directed to inform the Senate the House of Representatives has refused to concur with the Senate in the adoption of their amendment to a bill of the following title, to wit: House Bill 25. Which amendment is as follows: Senate Amendment 1 to House Bill 25. Non-concurred in by the House, June 16th, 2021. John W. Hollman, Clerk of the House.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) We will now proceed to the Order of Resolutions Consent 68 STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 60th Legislative Day 9/13/2021 Calendar. With leave of the Body all of those resolutions read in today will be added to the Consent Calendar. Mr. Secretary, have there been any objections filed to any resolution on the Consent Calendar?
No objections filed, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) Is there any discussion? If not, the question is, shall the resolutions on the Consent Calendar be adopted. All those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, the motion carries. And the resolutions are adopted. President Harmon, for what purpose do you seek recognition?
Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. It has been our tradition for the Senate President to say a few words at the end of the Spring Session. I'm proud to be able to do that right now. I also want to point out that I am the happiest person in the Chamber that we are sending you home at 2:20 p.m. and not 2:20 a.m. We will see you back for the Fall Session in a few weeks in October.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR KOEHLER) There being no further business to come before the Senate, pursuant to House Joint Resolution 52. The Senate stands adjourned until the call of the Senate President. The Senate stands adjourned. 69