PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Regular Session of the 95th General Assembly will please come to order. Will our Members please be at their desk? Will our guests in the gallery please rise? The invocation today will be given by the Reverend Martin Woulfe, Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universal {sic} (Universalist) Congregation, Springfield, Illinois. Reverend.
(Prayer by the Reverend Martin Woulfe)
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Please remain standing for the Pledge Allegiance. Senator Maloney.
(Pledge of Allegiance, led by Senator Maloney)
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Madam Secretary, Reading and Approval of the Journal.
Senate Journal of Thursday, July 26th, 2007.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Hunter.
Mr. President, I move that the Journal just read by the Secretary be approved, unless some Senators has additions or corrections to offer.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Hunter moves to approve the Journal just read by the Secretary. There being no objection, so ordered. WICS-TV seeks leave to videotape. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Committee Reports, Madam Secretary. 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007
Senator Crotty, Chairperson of the Committee on Local Government, reports House Bills 1664 and 2306 Do Pass, as Amended.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Madam Secretary, Introduction of Bills.
Senate Bill 1858, offered by Senator Sandoval. (Secretary reads title of bill) 1st Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) All Members at the sound of my voice, please come to the Floor immediately. All Members at the sound of my voice, please come to the Floor immediately. We will be going to business. Ladies and Gentlemen, you have a Supplemental Calendar on your desk. It’s being distributed now. We will be going to No. 1, which is being distributed. On Supplemental Calendar No. 1, to the Order of 2nd Reading on Supplemental Calendar No. 1, we have Senate Bill -- House Bill 1664. Senator Haine. Madam Secretary, please read the bill.
House Bill 1664. (Secretary reads title of bill) The Committee on Local Government adopted Committee Amendment No. 1. 2nd Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) 3rd Reading. The State Journal-Register seeks leave to photograph the proceedings. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. House Bill 2306. Senator DeLeo. Madam Secretary, 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007 please read the bill.
House Bill 2306.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) With leave of the Body, we will go to page 7 on the Calendar to Senate Bill 770. Senator Sullivan. Madam Secretary, please read the bill. Senator Sullivan seeks leave of the Body to return Senate Bill 770 to the Order of 2nd Reading for the purpose of amendment. Hearing no objection, leave is granted. On the Order of 2nd Reading, Senate Bill 770. Madam Secretary, are there any amendments approved for consideration?
Floor Amendment No. 1, offered by Senator Sullivan.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Sullivan, to explain your amendment.
Thank you, Mr. President. The amendment actually becomes the bill. I’d be more than happy to discuss it further on 3rd.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Senator Sullivan moves the adoption of Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 770. All those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, the amendment is adopted. Are there any further Floor amendments approved for consideration?
Floor Amendment No. 3, offered by Senator Sullivan.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Sullivan, to explain your amendment.
3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007 Floor Amendment -- Mr. President, I got an inquiry. Was the first amendment -- did we just adopt Amendment No. 1? I need to table that amendment and adopt Amendment No. 3.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Sullivan moves to table Floor Amendment No. 1. All those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it. The motion is approved. Senator Righter, for what purpose do you rise?
Thank -- thank you, Mr. President. An inquiry of the Chair.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) State your inquiry.
Thank you. I’ll -- just so that we’re clear on this side of the aisle. We adopted Amendment 1 and now we’re kind of retracting that action and we are tabling Amendment 1. Is that right? We adopted Amendment 1 by a -- a voice vote just a moment ago. Now we’re -- we’re going to -- we’re going to pull that back and we’re going to table Amendment 1 and put 3 on. Is that right?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) We -- that’s exactly what we did. We passed -- table -- we adopted Amendment 1 and then the sponsor asked to table Amendment No. 1. Now he is asking for consideration to amend -- adopt Amendment No. 3. Senator Sullivan, to explain your amendment.
Thank you, Mr. President. I’m sorry about the confusion. Indeed, Amendment No. 3 is the amendment that becomes the bill and I’d be more than happy to discuss it on 3rd Reading. 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Sullivan moves for the adoption of Amendment No. 3 to Senate Bill 770. All those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it. The amendment is adopted. Are there any further Floor amendments approved for consideration?
No further amendments reported, Mr. President.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) 3rd Reading. Madam Secretary, please read the bill.
Senate Bill 770. (Secretary reads title of bill) 3rd Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Sullivan.
Thank you, Mr. President and Members of the Senate. The Department of Military Affairs has built a new armory in the City of Galesburg and -- with the understanding that two older armories would be closed and those properties donated to their respective cities, which is the City of Monmouth and the City of Galesburg. Those two communities are going to use those facilities for the betterment of their communities as a convention/civic center, so on, so forth. And the Department of Military Affairs is in favor of this, as well as the communities. I’d be more than willing to answer any questions. It simply allows the Department to convey those properties to those respective cities.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007 Senator Risinger.
Thank you, Mr. President. To the bill: This is a good bill. One that makes a lot of sense. It -- it benefits the community. It also benefits the -- the veterans, and I would hope that we would get all Yes votes on this bill. Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) The question is, shall Senate Bill 770 pass. All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. On that question, there are 50 Ayes, no Nays, none voting Present. Senate Bill 770, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. With leave of the Body, we will go to page 32. House Bill 3388. Madam Secretary, please read the bill.
House Bill 3388. (Secretary reads title of bill) 3rd Reading of the bill.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Demuzio.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. President and Members of the Senate. Today we are looking at House Bill 3388 which will, in fact, create the Taylorville Energy Center. This is a bill that we need desperately here in Illinois that will create energy for approximately a -- a number of our families throughout central Illinois. The Taylorville Energy Center is a proposed six- hundred-and-thirty-megawatt facility using an advanced clean-coal 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007 technology called Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, or IGCC, to make it among the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the world. Located a mile northeast of Taylorville in central Illinois, the plant will create a new market for Illinois coal. Construction could begin as early as 2007. The Taylorville Energy Plant is an economic boost to central Illinois and it’s one that we understand will be created by -- will create about fifteen hundred construction jobs and other jobs that will -- in -- in other areas that will benefit. In addition to creating thousands of jobs and hundreds of million dollars in investment, the Taylorville Energy Center will make Illinois the first state in the country to build a large-scale plant. This will help establish Illinois as a national model for serving the interests of business, consumers and our environment. We know that -- just having completed several months here of problems with energy and electric, we know how vital it is to be able to offer to our customers and to our constituents throughout central Illinois the opportunity to be able to have a clean-coal, friendly, environmentally safe operation for our power plant. We also know that in creating jobs for central Illinois and throughout the State, from Chicago to Cairo, we understand that that will be a huge economic benefit for not only just here, but throughout the State of Illinois. We sit here in central Illinois on one of the largest coal reserves in the State of -- in the country and we are now asking that we put that coal to operation. We understand also that -- and we know that many of our forefathers have come and worked the coal mines and this is an opportunity for us to put those mines back in operation, but also at the same time to be able to offer clean air and an -- environmentally safe 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007 environment for all of our residents here in Illinois. So, I ask the -- the Members here today to give me a Yes vote and to bring our coal and our economy back to where it should be of -- and to send a message that we are supporting our coal to gasification clean-air plants here in Illinois.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Wilhelmi.
Thank you, Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) She indicates she will.
Senator Demuzio, I understand that this legislation sets forth a target price for the core construction cost of a clean- coal project and provides for an inflation adjustment based on the -- Producer Price Index. I also understand that there are several different producer price indices. Which index is intended by this legislation, Senator?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Demuzio.
Yes. Thank you, Senator Wilhelmi. I’m glad you asked me that question. The intent of -- of this is that we will be using the primary metal manufacturing Producer Price Index and that will be used to -- for the construction and for this plant.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Risinger.
Thank you, Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield? 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Indicates she will.
Senator Demuzio, are there any opponents to this bill that you know of?
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Demuzio.
Thank you, Senator. I’m so glad you asked me that question. We have support from a -- a huge amount of entities across the State and we have -- AFL-CIO, the American Lung Association. You know, we have a whole host of individuals. We have had some indication that -- and a suit has been filed by the Sierra Club, but that I believe is going to be addressed, and I think that can be worked out.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Risinger.
Thank you, Mr. President. To the bill: This is an important bill. I think it’s one that shows how we can use modern technology to use the resources of this great State of Illinois. As we all know, Illinois coal is a high, hot-burning coal. It puts out more BTUs than the western coal that’s being used in most of the power plants in Illinois right now. But with this technology, we can remove the high-sulfur content of our coal and -- and make use of a resource that we have here in the State, and also put a lot of people to work and also provide the -- the electricity and the power that is so necessary for us. And I -- I appreciate the Senator bringing this bill forward. 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Demuzio.
Like to go ahead and just kind of clarify a little bit on the Senator’s question to me about some opposition. I did mention the Sierra Club, but again, it’s my understanding that they oppose all new power -- or coal -- coal plants. So -- coal mines. So, I just wanted to clarify that.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Watson.
Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. President. If Sierra Club had their way, we’d be back with -- windmills and that’s about it, maybe water passing by a -- a turbine. I don’t know. But I want to commend Senator Demuzio on this legislation and the work she’s put into it. I want to thank the good people of -- of Macon County and Decatur. The water is going to be provided from the sanitary district. The Mayor of Taylorville and Christian County and all these people have worked diligently to put this together, and this, to me, is a -- a model for the rest of the country. And this has got to move forward. It’s -- has -- for all the right reasons. I mean, everything about this is positive: utilization of our great resource of coal, the economic benefit it’ll provide for the people of -- of this region, and -- and the energy and the -- that’s needed. We need competition in the energy market, and this’ll be a generator. We need more people out there creating power -- power sources. So, Senator Demuzio, I congratulate you and wish you well as this hopefully passes the Senate and proceeds through the House. 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007 Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Demuzio, to close.
Thank you. And, again, I would just like to urge an Aye vote. This particular power plant will be servicing about six hundred and thirty thousand people and customers throughout this area. There has been many articles written, from the Chicago Sun-Times to -- to the Trib and across this State, in support of this particular plan. And they understand the reality that we need to take our resources here that we are so very proud of and our heritage of coal and converting that into a power plant - a clean, environmentally safe power plant. So, this particular project is ready to go. It has the water in place. It’s been approved by IEPA. It has the permits. It has the labor agreements. And all we need now is to be able to pass the legislation and be able to get on with getting this particular power plant. I urge an Aye vote. It’s for the good of the State. It’s good for our economy. And I, again, ask for an Aye vote. Thank you.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) The question is, shall House Bill 3388 pass. Those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. On that question, there are 48 Ayes, no Nays, none voting Present. House Bill 3388, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. Senator Forby, for what purpose do you rise?
11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 76th Legislative Day 7/27/2007 A point of an announcement.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) State your announcement.
Today we know that we got young people, men and women in war that’s given their life away and they’ve passed away and they’re heroes. And we should not forget that. In my district today, we had another hero that gave his life away today. He was a firefighter. There was an accident on 57 today and they went out to put the fire out. The boy was rolling a hose up, a bus hit him on 57 and he lost his life. So, there’s a lot of heroes out there. So I would like to have a moment of silence for these people.
PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Will the Senate please stand for a moment of silence for a true hero? Thank you. There being no further business to come before the Senate, the Senate stands adjourned until the hour of 2 p.m., Monday, July 30th, 2007. The Senate stands adjourned. 12