Illinois Senate Floor Debate — September 23, 2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) The regular Session of the 95th General Assembly will please come to order. Will the Members be at their desk? Will our guests in the galleries please rise? The invocation today will be given by Pastor Barrie West, Holy City Baptist Church, 1601 East Carpenter, Springfield, Illinois.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Senator Maloney.

(Pledge of Allegiance, led by Senator Maloney)

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Madam Secretary, Reading and Approval of the Journal.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) 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 CLAYBORNE) Senator Hunter moves the approval of the Journal just read by the Secretary. There being no objection, so ordered. Madam Secretary, Resolutions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Consent Calendar. Madam Secretary, Messages.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Madam Secretary, Committee Reports.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Any Members at the sound of my voice, we are proceeding to final action. Could you please come to the Floor? All Members at the sound of my voice, could you please come to the Floor for final action? Please come to the Floor. WICS Channel seeks leave to videotape. Seeing no objections, leave is granted. On middle of page 8 in the -- on the Calendar, in Order of Motions in Writing, Accept Specific Recommendations for Change, we’ll 2  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 start with Senate Bill 546. Senator Cullerton. Do you wish to proceed? Madam Secretary, read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Cullerton, to -- to explain.

Thank you, Mr. President. This bill had -- was an agreed bill that passed unanimously out of the Senate. It was in negotiations that took a long time to get that agreement. And we left in the bill the effective date of July 1st, 2008. And we realized after we passed it that that -- we needed more time to implement the bill, so we actually requested the Governor to do this amendatory veto. And basically what it does, it just extend the effective date to July 1st, 2009. It was at our request and I would ask that we accept the Governor’s recommendation.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Is there any discussion? Seeing none -- oh, I’m -- I’m sorry. Senator Cullerton moves -- moves to -- Senator Cullerton moves to accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to Senate Bill 546. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, shall the Senate accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to Senate Bill 546 in the manner and form just stated by Senator Cullerton. Those in 3  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 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. There are 52 voting Yea, none voting Nay, and none voting Present. The specific recommendations of the Governor to Senate Bill 546, having received the constitutional majority vote of the Senators elected, are declared accepted. Senator Cullerton, on Senate Bill 2327. Do you wish to proceed? Madam Secretary, read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Cullerton, to explain.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. This also was a bill that passed unanimously and the Governor’s changes are acceptable. They’re minor. All he’s saying is that this study is subject to appropriation and he changes the effective date to the -- rather than the effective date being the effective date of this amendatory Act, that it be with the completion of the study. So it’s not controversial. Would move to accept the Governor’s recommended changes.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Cullerton moves to accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to Senate Bill 2327. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, shall the 4  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Senate accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to Senate Bill 2327 in the manner and form just stated by Senator Cullerton. 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. There are 57 voting Yea, none -- 56 voting Yea, none voting Nay, none voting Present. The specific recommendations of the Governor as to 2327, having -- Senate Bill 2327, having received the constitutional majority vote of the Senators elected, are declared accepted. Senate Bill 2340. A.J. Wilhelmi, do you wish to proceed? Madam Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator A.J. Wilhelmi, would you explain the bill?

Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. I find that the specific recommendations of the Governor are acceptable on this bill, Senate Bill 2340. As passed, the bill creates standards for the preservation of evidence for offenses involving heroine, cocaine, PCP, LSD and fentanyl. The bill also provides for minimum quantities of each listed controlled substance that must be -- preserved and provides for the destruction of excess quantities and the destruction of unneeded evidence after conviction and after 5  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 notice to the defendant. The Governor has added a requirement that notice must be given to the State’s Attorney and that there must be a hearing prior to the destruction of any of this evidence. This is a problem in Cook County, where there are stores and stores of this kind of narcotic. We would like to be able to make it easier for the State’s Attorney’s Office and the -- the sheriff to be able to destroy this evidence. But we also want to make sure we preserve due process rights and we make sure there’s a hearing before such destruction of that evidence. I find the -- the recommendations of the Governor acceptable. I’ll be happy to answer any questions. And I ask for an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator A.J. Wilhelmi moves to accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to Senate Bill 2340. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, the question is, shall the Senate accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to Senate Bill 2340 in the manner and form just stated by Senator A.J. Wilhelmi. 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. There being 55 voting Yea, 1 Nay, none Present, the specific recommendations of the Governor as to Senate Bill 2340, having received the constitutional majority of the vote of the Senators elected, are declared accepted. Now we’ll be moving down to Motions in Writing to Accept Specific Recommendations for Change for House bills. Senator Dillard, do you wish to proceed? Madam Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Dillard, on House Bill 1533. Please explain.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Dillard moves to accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 1533. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, shall the Senate accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 1533 in the manner and form just stated by Senator Dillard. 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. There being 55 Yea, none Nay, none voting Present, the specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 1533, having received the constitutional majority of the Senators elected, are declared accepted. House Bill 3286. Senator Schoenberg, do you wish to proceed? Madam Secretary, please read the motion. 7  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg, to explain.

Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. It’s such a delight to be on the Calendar once again today. I haven’t been called on this much since fourth grade. I -- I’m urging the Body to accept the Governor’s amendatory veto of House Bill 3286. Makes a number of recommended changes that provide greater specificity on appointments and providing greater accountability to the General Assembly for how the Health Policy Center at the University of Illinois would spend its money and the research activities it undertakes. All this transparency is good. So I urge your support.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg moves to accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 3286. Is there any discussion? Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

The specificity I was referring to is that he -- he specifically designates which directors or designees - rather than just give the executive several appointments, rather they designate specifically which directors or their surrogates. And in this case - the Department of Health and Human Services, the Director of Healthcare and Family Services, Director of Public Health - three of those appointments would be -- are specified for who they are. There is an additional appointment at the discretion of the Governor. And as I mentioned also, that there’s a reporting requirement, which does not exist, which goes -- provides considerable accountability for expenditures and research that’s being done by the Health Policy Center.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

Senator Righter, I think the reason why I’m accepting these changes and why they’ve been -- also endorsed by the Illinois Hospital Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, and the University of Illinois itself, is because we want to make sure that all the relevant agencies are looped in at the highest levels on this advisory board for the new Health Policy Center. In the end, I think we just need to stay focused on the original intent of this, which is to minimize the amount of money we outsource to study things like managed care and reimbursement rates and how to have more effective health care policy and do all of those, taking full advantage of our academic institutions here in State.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) You -- you may proceed.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Seeing no further discussion, the question is -- oh, Senator Schoenberg, do you want to close?

I urge an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Seeing no further discussion, the question is, shall the Senate accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 3286 in the manner and form just stated by Senator Schoenberg. 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. There are 55 voting Yea, none voting Nay, none voting Present. The specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 3286 -- House Bill 3286, having received the constitutional majority of the vote of the Senators elected, are declared accepted. House Bill 5318. Senator Maloney. Madam Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Maloney, to explain the bill -- explain the motion.

11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Thank you, Mr. President. House Bill 5318 provides for the involvement of providers, consumers and workers in the implementation of the fingerprint check law we passed last year. The legislation gives oversight responsibilities to the existing Health Care Worker Task Force. And originally the bill shifted some of the appointment power away from the Governor to the task force. This returns that appointment power back to the Governor. He doesn’t appoint all the members of the task force, certain number. This has been -- this -- the House sponsor is fine with this. And also, the main supporter of this bill, the Health Care Council of Illinois, is also willing to accept this recommendation by the Governor. And I urge its support.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Maloney moves to accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 5318. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, shall the Senate accept the specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 5318 in the manner and form just stated by Senator Maloney. Those in favor -- 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. There are 54 voting Yea, none voting Nay, none voting Present. The specific recommendations of the Governor as to House Bill 5318, having received the constitutional majority of the -- of the Senators elected, are declared accepted. We will now proceed to the -- page 2, order on the Calendar, House Bill 3rd Reading. House Bill 2070. Senator DeLeo, do you wish to proceed? Senator DeLeo seeks leave of Body to return House Bill 2070 to the Order of 2nd Reading for the purpose of an amendment. Hearing no 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 objection, leave is granted. On the Order of 2nd Reading is House Bill 2070. Madam Secretary, are there any amendments approved for consideration?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo, to explain the amendment. SENATOR DeLEO: Thank -- thank you very much, Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Assembly. Let me explain what Floor Amendment No. 2 does. Floor number -- Floor Amendment No. 2 on House Bill 2070 actually becomes -- deletes all and becomes the bill. I don’t think there’s anybody in this Chamber that doesn’t know what this language does. Let me just brief you in case somebody has been out -- out of the planet for a couple years. House Bill 2070 is identical to Senate Bill 1900. We passed it out of this Chamber earlier this year on a vote of 50 to 4. It passed the House 113 to nothing. And then, over in that other Chamber, Senate Bill 1900 came back here with the anti-rulemaking language. We filed a motion to nonconcur and to date -- to date the House has not receded from that amendment. So, if you care about the autism community -- you know what’s in here. There’s a cap on there for thirty-six thousand dollars for reinsurance. It’s a disability that’s affecting the nation. The population is -- the autism community older -- getting older. I can’t tell you how many children it’s affecting. This is our fourth attempt. Our fourth attempt to pass this bill. It’s passed unanimously in both Chambers, and because of political rhetoric 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 in both of these Chambers, this bill -- the autism community is caught in that vacuum. So I’d ask very strongly, for every Member, let’s send this back over to the House for the fourth time and hope to God that we get a bill that helps the autism community. Mr. President, I’d ask the adoption of Floor Amendment No. 2 to House Bill 2070, sir.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Is there any discussion? Senator Pankau.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield, Senator Pankau.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: That’s -- that’s correct, Senator. There’s -- the identical language in 1900 is in -- in this Floor amendment.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Pankau.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Well, Senator Pankau, it’s -- it’s interesting. But from what our studies tell us and what we originally -- you and I had this debate in committee, the lifetime savings -- and I don’t know about the initial costs and it could be in the hundreds of millions, but the lifetime savings, the annual cost will save about two hundred to four hundred billion. So, I look at it as further out - the -- the savings to the State to health care with this appropriate legislation.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Pankau.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Yes, they are.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Any further discussion? Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield. 15  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Yes, they’re still exempt.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Senator Syverson, we can’t -- we’re following the federal law on this. We can’t exempt or change that portion of it.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Let’s hold it down in the back a little bit. Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: They’re not. And they can encourage their employer to -- to get this coverage. But, they’re not.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Not -- not that we know of. I -- I don’t -- I don’t know, Senator.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) 17  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Senator, I can’t answer that. I don’t -- I don’t have any raw numbers. I -- I -- I would be guessing. I would -- I would be making up numbers. I don’t have any raw data that would tell us.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Hendon. And this is -- this is not the final vote. This is just on the amendment. Seeing no further discussion, Senator DeLeo moves the adoption of Amendment No. 1 to -- No. 2 18  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 - I’m sorry - Amendment No. 2 to House Bill 2070. All those in favor will say -- say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the amendment is adopted. Are there any further Floor amendments approved for consideration?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) 3rd Reading. Now on the Order of 3rd Reading, House Bill 2070. Senator DeLeo, do you wish to proceed? Madam -- Madam -- Madam Secretary, read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. We just adopted the amendment, which is -- which is the bill. I don’t know if there’s any further discussion. If there is, I’d just like to hold my rights to close, sir.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Is there any discussion? Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: With the amendatory veto, Senate Bill 1900, I believe the other -- House Bill 415 and this will be a total of five bills with the autism language on.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. 20  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 SENATOR DeLEO: Senator Righter, I couldn’t agree with you more. There’s a few people in this Chamber that are still left with a little institutional knowledge. And let me just give you a little history about that little salesman that went knocking at the door. There was a State Representative that represented the northwest side of Chicago; he came from the 39th Ward. He was a Representative by the name of William Laurino. When I came to Springfield in the early eighties, when I got elected to the House, every year he introduced this bill; it was called -- it was called - and it was his twenty-first year of introducing the same bill - it was called mandatory automobile insurance. And on the twenty-first year, Representative William Laurino passed that bill and it became law in Illinois. And just like this autism bill, the insurance companies and small businesses fought the mandatory insurance bill. And after twenty-one years of introducing it, it became law in the State of Illinois. And if I have to introduce autism bill seventeen more times for it to become law, I’ll be proud to do that and I’ll stay around here until this becomes law in Illinois. It’s about the families that bore these expenses. And if you went to the hearings and you listened to the testimony and you listened to families with the children who -- who’ve borne this cost and they’ve lost their mortgages, they’re living with their relatives. They have accumulated a lot of debt. Some family -- one woman testified they went bankruptcy to try and finance the medical services for her children with autism. So I think that if I have to keep knocking at that door over there to get this, and we stop with the JCAR amendments and we stop with the political maneuvering 21  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 and we stop with the nonsense and we put the people first -- we put the people first yesterday with an ethics bill. Let’s put the children with autism, the families, first and let’s pass this bill and let’s send it over to the House and let them play their games or whatever they have to do, but let’s be a responsible Body here in the Illinois Senate and pass this legislation over there.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) You may proceed.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Lauzen.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Yes, it is.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Lauzen.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Yes, it is.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Lauzen.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: No, sir.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Lauzen.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: I -- I -- Senator Lauzen, I don’t know. I didn’t write the ALL KIDS legislation. And if I was part of that task force, I would have added autism to it. It just -- it just was not part of the ALL KIDS coverage.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Hendon.

Thank you, Mr. President. I’m going to be the angry one here so Senator DeLeo can remain calm, because I know he really wants to explode because this is about children. It’s not about anything other than helping these babies. And I have nothing but respect for Members on the other side of the aisle over there, but it -- it’s just troubling that we would be more concerned about the other Chamber today. We weren’t concerned about the other Chamber all Session, except when it benefited individuals’ political posturing. Here, Senator DeLeo is trying to do something that is good for the children of the State of Illinois, not for the adults. Helping the parents is fine, but these babies are suffering. Five tries, ten tries, if it takes a hundred tries. Take a hundred years for the Cubs to get to the World Series again. Nobody’s saying stop trying, stop hitting, stop pitching. Senator DeLeo is doing a great thing here. Give the man his due. Give the children the help they need and quit playing these political games over something this damn serious. If makes no sense. I’ve been dealing with this all year, when Jimmy first started pushing it really, really hard. And the parents have come to my office. The -- the calls 25  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 are just -- you can’t say “stop trying, Senator DeLeo”, because you don’t know what’s going to happen across the Rotunda. Please, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, put partisan politics aside. I like the insurance industry, have friends in the insurance industry. Fine. This is about the babies. Everyone should vote with Senator DeLeo.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) That’s a statement, or…

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Hendon, to respond.

…President. Since my esteemed colleague and friend mentioned my name, I just have to mention the hypocrisy here and how thick it is, because you were against ALL KIDS. So, if you were for ALL KIDS, you should have supported it when it first came up. Senator DeLeo has found something that was left out and said, “okay, now we want to fix it” and now you want to throw ALL KIDS up in his face and take it out of the record. Why don’t you just be honest? Just be honest and say you don’t give a damn about the kids who have autism and let ‘em fend for theirself. Don’t hide behind ALL KIDS program, which you were against when it was proposed.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: 27  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 …not opposed to it. And if you’d like to sponsor the -- the appropriation bill with me, I’d be glad to put it into ALL KIDS, the -- the entire program. And we can deal with that after what -- we see what the House does on House Bill 2070.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Delgado.

Thank -- thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. Let -- let’s -- let’s put this in perspective. Let’s move forward and -- and think going forward. Not only were you -- we challenged with trying to provide secure medical services for young folks and others with autism, but let’s talk about now, with more and more families through Autism Speaks and -- and Autism of America -- the Autism Society of America that continue to bring more families out. Let’s take our children to the swimming pools in the park districts. What’s going on in the 28  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 infrastructure? Can a family go and help their child change and be able to recognize the autism symptoms of a child? We’re going to need a complete infrastructure. I see an entire Act coming out of here. Let’s have some vision as we move forward, as pioneers in this area of something that’s impacting our State. Let’s talk about the families that are about to sue park districts because this summer they wanted their autistic child to swim and could not go into the swimming pool because Johnny couldn’t change his own clothes, therefore a mother wasn’t allowed to accommodate that child. Let’s talk about having to build family centers for these families in those parks. Let’s talk about school and -- and -- and therapies and what’s going to be necessary in the infrastructure of our educational system. You have not begun to address the issues of this community with this type of -- of challenge. We cannot -- we can build a bridge and say it’s going to cost three million, but as we’ve discussed this before with a colleague of mine on the other side of the aisle in front of stakeholders recently this summer, we know that health care changes in your family and those dynamics change. And oh, yes, they do want to hear about us arguing for not only the children, but the moms and dads who need respite, who have become zombies in their own homes because they don’t have the freedom and the moneys that it takes. It approximately would take about 3.2 million dollars to provide care for an autistic person over his or her lifetime. And already they’re over twenty-one and we know someone who is forty-five. Poor mom and dad. Talk about the quality of the employee for that small employer. What kind of employee is going there? So let’s talk about autism. Let’s talk about all of the things we’re going to 29  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 have to do and the dollars we’ll have to spend putting together a comprehensive public health Act to address this needy population. And why go backwards? We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Let’s continue. And I agree, we should have this in ALL KIDS. That’s one of our faults. But let’s not go ahead and throw the -- as you will - no pun intended - throw the baby out with the bathwater here. I commend the sponsor and I commend the organizations that are behind it. We have -- and to close, Mr. President, according to Dr. Michael Ganz, Assistant Professor of -- of Society, Human Development, and Health at Harvard School of Public Health, it is going to cost quite a bit to be able to take care of this population because of our own neglect and our inability to want to get up and do the right thing. So, when we start talking about this, get ready. I have a slew of bills that are going to come so that we can accommodate this population, because they live and pay taxes in Illinois just like we do. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Sandoval.

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to commend the sponsor, Senator DeLeo, on House Bill 2070. I was quite impressed and moved by the impassioned speech he gave just a few minutes ago. It’s probably one of the more sincere and passionate speeches I’ve heard all year here in the Legislature. To see a statesman and a man of the caliber of Jimmy DeLeo speak on an issue like autism is quite inspiring. Nonetheless, let’s really put it in perspective. I’m quite impressed with the homework that Senator Lauzen did on this bill. I see that he was able to find that -- 30  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 that ALL KIDS does not provide that coverage. Doesn’t hold back the fact that the issue of autism is important. It affects many families in the State of Illinois in our backyards. And I -- although I support Senator DeLeo’s bill, let’s not be hypocritical here in the General Assembly, in the Illinois Senate. Because it is government that serves to be the net for all those who are less fortunate in society. And it is to government that the people and the children look for, for coverage for issues like autism. And it is quite a sad day today, once again, that the State of Illinois, the government -- and government exists for those people who don’t -- can’t -- who can’t fend for themselves, those who need a hand. And it’s quite alarming to hear the fact that the ALL KIDS program does not provide coverage for all children in the State of Illinois as relates to autism. Government should lead by example. It is very rare that we -- that we see to the private sector to lead by example. It is the State of Illinois that should be at the forefront and, quite honestly, I think we’ve been caught with our pants down. It’s quite embarrassing. It’s quite embarrassing for all of us as State Senators and Representatives of the people of Illinois to sit here and do nothing or promise that ALL KIDS will be amended to include coverage for autism. Once again, I remind you that government should lead by example. And if we don’t lead by example, we should not expect the private sector to do that for us. I support Senator DeLeo’s sponsorship of this bill and I look for passage of it.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Luechtefeld.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Senator Luechtefeld, as you know, we talked to people in the health insurance and that’s why there’s a cap in this bill of thirty-six thousand dollars, a ceiling. And so I think that -- that was a -- a fair negotiation. 32  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Luechtefeld.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Yes. Actually, in the bill, there is a definition what defines and who can define the patient, and what -- what can be prescribed by who and what doctor. So, there is a total definition in -- in the -- in the legislation.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Last speaker is Leader Watson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator DeLeo, to close. SENATOR DeLEO: Thank you very much, Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. I’d like to thank all my colleagues for that -- some very pointed questions and it seems to me that there’s a real awareness to everybody in this Chamber about the importance of this bill. I’d just like to close and say just a couple things real quickly. Each day there’s -- sixty-six children are diagnosed with autism. So, if you do the math, it’s an estimate of about three per hour. It’s been highly documented that when children with autism which -- that secure the appropriate health care and appropriate services while it’s early in life, they make extraordinary strides in their -- in their future. So, we heard some talk about bridges. This is Illinois. This isn’t Alaska. We’re not asking to fund a bridge to nowhere. I’m asking you to fund -- pass this legislation so we have a bridge to somewhere for these children and these families. Mr. President, I ask an affirmative roll call on House Bill 2070, sir.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Thank you, Senator. Remind the Body that it takes three- fifths to pass, or thirty-six votes to -- to pass. The question is, shall House Bill 2070 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 35  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 the record. On the question, there are 47 voting Yea, 6 voting Nay, 2 Present. House Bill 2070, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Link in the Chair now. We’ll be going to page 2. Top of page 2. Senate Bill 780. Senator DeLeo. Senator DeLeo seeks leave of the Body to return Senate Bill 780 to the Order of 2nd Reading for the purpose of amendment. Hearing no objection, leave is granted. On the Order of 2nd Reading is Senate Bill 780. Madam Secretary, are there any amendments approved for consideration?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo, to explain your amendment. SENATOR DeLEO: I -- thank you very much, Mr. President. I’d like to adopt the amendment. The amendment does become the bill on 780 and I could do discussion, full discussion on -- after the amendment is adopted, sir.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Is there any discussion? Senator DeLeo moves the adoption of Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 780. All those in favor, say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it. The amendment is adopted. Are there any further Floor amendments approved for consideration?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) 3rd Reading. Now on the Order of 3rd Reading is Senate 36  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Bill 780. Senator DeLeo, on Senate Bill 780. SENATOR DeLEO: Thank you very much, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Assembly.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Madam Secretary, please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Yesterday, in Executive Committee, we adopted Floor amendment to Senate Bill 780, and that came following -- after we passed ethic reform here earlier in the day, before we went down to the Executive Committee, Mr. President. We passed a bill for the first time in Illinois history and my colleague, Senator Radogno, got up - and I was presiding over the Chamber yesterday - and she was very happy that finally, after a year of people asking for this change in the way that business is done and politics is played in Illinois, Mr. President, we passed it. Well, now comes Floor Amendment No. 1 to Senate Bill 780 to the Executive Committee. This is a bill that’s been asked for, language, by the second floor, the Office of Governor. And let me tell you what’s in this amendment that now becomes the bill, Mr. President. Per the recommendations, this would ban outside employment for -- for -- by legislators for any unit of State or municipal 37  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 government. Would now be -- in this bill, would be prohibitive. There’s an exception in this prohibition - teachers, counselors, university instructors, police officers and firefighters. And if you’re elected to a township post, that’s exempted also. One of the other recommendations, Mr. President, is disclosure. Disclosure. We hear this in this Chamber all the time. Let’s put a little bit of sunshine on the process. Let’s open up the process. Well, in this legislation it’s disclosure. Legislators, declared candidates, their spouses must disclose lobby activity before boards, commissions, units of local government, including their own clients who they lobby and they get fees from, Mr. President. We’re going to find out who’s lobbying people. Disclosure. Then we have -- this is the third part of this bill, Mr. President, is the Compensation Review report. Now, you know, as Members in this -- and I say this -- this is directed to senior Members, freshman Members, sophomore Members. Every year when we have the compensation pay review report, Mr. President, yes is a no, no is a yes. Yellow means you’re not here. Yellow means you’re -- you’re -- you’re chicken. There’s -- it doesn’t -- we don’t even know what yes, no. One Chamber has to reject it. No Chamber -- both Chambers can’t reject it. How we get pay raises, it’s hypocritical. We don’t know, as Members of the General Assembly, how to vote on the Compensation Review report. So how does the public know? So let’s take off the little disguise act. Let’s take off the disguise act in both Chambers. In this piece of legislation, Mr. President, both Chambers -- both Chambers either accept the pay raise or reject the pay raise. It’s that simple. So when the neighbors in your district and your -- and your colleagues 38  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 and your constituents open up the newspaper, they can look at a roll call that said, Legislator A, Legislator B voted for his or her pay raise. Let’s stop this -- the game. One Chamber -- so that’s in this bill, too, Mr. President. And last -- last, the fourth part of this legislation, Mr. President, it expands contribution bans. Campaign contribution restrictions will be all - all constitutional officers, Members of the General Assembly, candidates for office and State parties. So, you’d have to -- people who do business with the -- with the State, who have State contracts over fifty thousand dollars, they’d have to register. They’d have to disclose and there would be penalties and sanctions against people that gave contributions. And I said this in committee yesterday, Ladies and Gentlemen of this Chamber, if I’m a contractor and I’m a road builder and I’m a vendor that does business with the State of Illinois, I’d be jumping up and down with joy. I can’t contribute any longer. I can’t make that contribution to that Member or that constitutional officer. Now I have to bid on a contract and hope that I’m -- get it. And there -- I don’t have to go to anymore rubber chicken dinners. I don’t have to go to any of these parades. I’m a contractor. I will be a contractor. I’ll be a vendor. So these four provisions, Mr. President, is what’s contained in that amendment which -- just adopted on Senate Bill 780. And I ask that -- I’ll be willing to answer any questions and let’s keep this ethic ball rolling.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Can we keep the noise down in the Chamber, please? This is a very important piece of legislation. Senator Silverstein.

39  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Thank you, Mr. President. You know, when this bill was in Executive last night, we had a very lively discussion about the bill. And there are a lot of good points in this bill. However, I have a concern, because what’s going on over here is that we’re starting the games again. We’re starting all the games again. Yesterday was a major step forward we took under the leadership of Senator Harmon, Senator Halvorson in passing that bill, that ethic bill. What this bill does is just, to me, face-saving legislation for the Governor. Lobbing it over to the House, where it’s probably going to be DOA, does -- does nothing for ethics. Now, a lot of my colleagues will say it’s part of the process, and they’re right. That is the process. However, for the last year and a half or two, that process has not been working, plain and simple. We’re fed up with it and so is the public. Now, we’re all for ethics. We want something done concrete. My recommendation is, let’s keep the bill here, work on it. Even in the Executive Committee, representations were made that this was going to be a work in process. And I was very encouraged when Cindi Canary told us that she was going to have negotiations with the Governor’s Office. And I thought that was the first step. But by sending this over to the House, we’re playing ping-pong again. And how long did it take to get that bill passed yesterday? Well, Senator Harmon will tell us. I don’t want that to happen again. ‘Cause we -- we, as a Body, must stand up to this and we must show our credibility to the public, which we are losing out there with these games we’re playing. So, I’m requesting that we vote Present on this bill. Let the negotiations continue. Maybe we’ll be working more expeditiously than the other bill. But please concentrate on 40  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 this bill. Look what this bill does and what the future does -- what it will bring. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Harmon.

Thank you, Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Sponsor indicates he will.

Senator, this bill is identical to the Governor’s specific recommendations for change to House Bill 824, which we unanimously rejected yesterday. Is that correct?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: The language -- yes, it’s…

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Harmon.

Thank you, Mr. President. And -- and, Senator, you’re aware that I’ve begun negotiating that very language in your bill with the Governor’s Office, with the House sponsor, with the -- the advocates. You’re -- you’re aware of that negotiation, Senator?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: I’m aware there -- there’s been negotiations going on for about a year with the House and Members from the House and 41  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 yourself with the Governor’s Office. Yes, that’s correct.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Harmon.

Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, Senator. We’ve actually been negotiating the language in the amendatory veto for the last several weeks. We had a meeting scheduled for today, which we’ve cancelled because we’re here. We’re trying to get another meeting scheduled for later this week. And those negotiations were moving along nicely - until now. The effective date of your bill would not be until June of 2009, as I understand it. So I don’t believe there’s any urgency in passing this right now before we conduct any more negotiations. Ethics bills are a very difficult thing to negotiate, as we found out with House Bill 824. Once language is committed to paper, anyone attempting to revise it or improve it risks being painted as unethical or as attempting to water it down or to kill the bill. And it’s even more difficult to negotiate once one Chamber has approved the language. So the language in your bill, the Governor’s language, includes many good ideas. And I’ve said that from the beginning. But it’s a rough draft. It’s a first draft. It has not been subject to the legislative process as it’s supposed to work. And even you admitted in committee that it is in need of refinement. If -- if you advance the legislation today, I think you not only undermine our negotiating position with the Governor and the House, but you also put many of your own colleagues in a horrible place by suggesting with this bill that the way they conduct themselves in their private lives and their business is somehow unethical. 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 So I would ask, Senator, please don’t do that to your colleagues. Please don’t do this to Members of your own caucus. Would you consider taking this bill out of the record, Senator? Would you consider taking this bill out of the record and giving us the chance to negotiate it in earnest without compromising your colleagues?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Senator Harmon, I believe that you -- you’re not a freshman anymore. You’ve been around here a few years. I think six -- six years. Is that correct, sir? As you know, we had a public hearing in a hearing room last night - quite a spirited debate, a lot of questions, members of the Executive Committee. This -- this took quite a long time. This is the beginning of the legislative process. This is a work in progress that you asked about. This is a Senate bill. And if I have to give a -- a -- a -- a -- a little background on how a bill becomes a law to the fifty-nine men and women in this Chamber, I’ll be glad to do that this morning, but I don’t think that’s necessary. But as this progresses, like your bill, Senator Harmon - that went back and forth and changed fifty-two times and got stalled in different Rules Committees in different Chambers - this bill is a work in progress, which I told Cindi Canary last night. I’ll be -- want to pass this, continue working on it. This -- it’ll go over to the House. It -- a Senate bill sometimes - work with me - goes over to the House. They make necessary changes. They have amendments. They have hearings, and then it comes back over here, and then sometimes we even have conference 43  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 committees. Sometimes we have concurrences, nonconcurrences. So, this bill -- you know, I don’t want to undermine the institutional integrity of this -- of this Chamber. We made major strides yesterday and I want to continue that. And I think there’s certain people in this building want to continue that. So let’s not act like, oh, we passed the ethics bill of the century and we’re okay now. Let’s stop there. No, I don’t think we should stop. The door’s open and let’s put integrity back into this Chamber. Let’s do ethics. And so I want to continue working on this bill and I pledge to everyone -- Member in this -- in this Chamber and everybody that knows my reputation, I -- when I say I will work with you, I will work with you. And if we need to make changes and we need to go to the House committee and we need to come back here, I will take any amendment and any language possible to make this become law in the State of Illinois. So I want to keep this working, Senator.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Harmon.

Thank you, Mr. President. To the bill, then: And I appreciate Senator DeLeo’s commitment to working on this. But I don’t want us to repeat all the same mistakes we’ve made in the past with House Bill 1 and House Bill 824. And I’m very worried we’re on the road to doing just that. We worked for the last two years on what is arguably the most stringent ethics bill in Illinois history and we just finished that work yesterday. The reason it was so difficult to do was because we were throwing bombs back and forth across the building. We weren’t 44  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 negotiating beforehand. We were simply lobbing things back and forth at each other, which made the negotiations infinitely more difficult. And what we’re doing today is just more of the same. We’re throwing a bill over to the House and we hope that what comes back is going to be acceptable. This undermines our negotiation. We should simply negotiate. We should simply get together - Democrats, Republicans, House and Senate - and put together a bill that we can bring back to this Chamber knowing what’s in it, fully vetted and ready to pass. I am not accustomed to opposing ethics bills, but I’m opposed to this one at this present time in this present form. It’s simply not ready for action by the full Chamber. I know it’s difficult to vote against ethics bills. I know folks facing election, in particular, don’t want to have to explain that. But there is strength in numbers and comfort in good company. So I will vote Present on this bill and I’d urge all of you who are committed to real ethics reform to do the same. We are all better off if we put the brakes on this effort right now and redouble our efforts to negotiate in good faith with the House, with the Governor. Then we can bring back to this Chamber a proposal that we can all be proud of. I urge a Present vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Murphy.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Illinois Information Service seeks permission to videotape -- record the Session. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Senator Dillard.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Garrett.

Thank -- thank you, Mr. President. I -- I would like to talk about how the process worked, since Senator Dillard did bring it up, when we did come out with a massive reform measure in 2003. And he is right. We did work collectively together, Republicans and Democrats, all the caucuses, and it did take a - - a great deal of time and effort, but the finished product was something I think we were all proud of. I am going to support this bill. This bill is not perfect, but I -- I’m beginning to think that -- that we are setting the stage for, sort of, either, if we vote for it, we’re for or against the Governor and 48  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 going back and forth, and we’re actually initiating this ourselves. I think we just have to look at what’s in the ethics bill that Senator DeLeo is presenting and -- and work together and pull out parts of it that really aren’t that good. But there are many, many good aspects to that bill. It is our responsibility to take a look and pick apart and make good public policy. We can’t ignore this. This is not a Present vote. Either we are for good ethics, changing the way business has been done in Illinois for decades, or we’re against that. I also believe that -- one of my favorite expressions is that democracy is messy. This isn’t a bill that’s going to make everybody happy. But I think, too, what Senator Dillard said, this is what our constituents expect from us. And for that reason, I would ask everybody for an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Raoul.

Thank you, Mr. President. To the bill: And I -- I think for a rare occasion I’m going to agree with Senator Murphy. Not as to the hug, but to the fact that right now is -- the iron is hot and we need to strike while the iron is hot. But I’m going to also agree with Senator Harmon that this needs to go through a negotiations process. And I don’t think the two are inconsistent. I think just as House Bill 1 came over here in a manner that was imperfect and incomplete and after further negotiations, it became 824. The negotiations took place. I want to reiterate some of the concerns -- specific concerns that I raised in committee, because, you know, one of the issues that this bill deals with is the double dippers. And -- and Senator 49  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Clayborne in committee pointed out that we are a part-time Legislature and it invites a diverse Legislature. People come - - come from all walks of life, including people who work in the public sector. I just happen to be one of those people. I didn’t get my job in the public sector from any political connections. I sent in a resume and I was evaluated, interviewed, and I was hired as a lawyer for the City Colleges of Chicago. And when I was appointed to the Senate, I continued to work. And guess what? We have a provision in the law that says that you cannot be paid when you’re here on a Session day. That’s a provision that prevents double dipping. I don’t know whether we want to create a situation where you’re deterring people who work in the public sector to seek public office if they have that interest. With regards to the Compensation Review Board, I expressed my concerns when we considered the pay raise that if there is a problem with the Compensation Review Board, we need to look at the Compensation Review Board. We need to evaluate the appointments. We need to evaluate the standards. I don’t believe that determinations, no matter how it’s framed, no matter how it -- we vote on it, with regards to pay raise should be coming before this Chamber at all. I think it should be going before another Body, perhaps the judiciary, because political considerations come in and people don’t really vote their conscience when issues with regards to compensation - their own compensation - come before the legislative Body. I think there’s some very good provisions in here. There’s a closure of a loophole. We banned contributions to the constitutional officers. But, you know, you can make that contribution to the political party and it -- it -- that -- that 50  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 contribution ends up in the fund of that constitutional office - - officer anyway. So there are very good provisions in here. And I don’t think there’s any inconsistency with advancing this bill, yet continuing negotiations.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Sandoval.

Thank you, Mr. President. I stand in support of Senate Bill 780. I think on the south side of Chicago -- after listening to some of my colleagues -- on the south side of Chicago, we say, “Either put up or shut up.” And you know what? What happened just yesterday, in passing this ethics bill, was not a -- not a process of cleansing. Now that we’re -- we should feel a lot purer and better and feel good. I think it’s a darn shame that that’s about as far as we went, was to put -- just basically put a Denver boot on the Blago combine. ‘Cause that’s all we did, Ladies and Gentlemen, put a Denver boot on the Blago combine, nothing more, nothing less. You know, there -- there’s also another saying, Senator Harmon, on the south side, “You just can’t be a little pregnant.” You just can’t be a little ethical. You’re either ethical or you’re not. And so -- you know, when I started my federal career in the federal government, I -- federal employees - you might not know this - but federal employees are some of the most ethical public employees in this country. When I was a federal employee -- and it exists. We talk about how it’s -- we got to negotiate. We got to deliberate. We got to talk about it. We got to go around the navel and we got to figure it all out. Well, you know, today there are federal employees that live by some of the 51  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 toughest ethical rules and regulations known to mankind. I lived by them for sixteen years. I remember that when I decided to run for office or take office, I couldn’t raise any money. I was prohibited. It’s federal law to prohibit raising money while being a candidate. And, in fact, when I got elected, I had to leave my federal job - park sixteen years of a federal career to take on this new role as a Commissioner of the Water Reclamation District. I had to put up or shut up. Did I want to serve the greater good and serve the public as an elected official? Or did I want to keep both jobs and keep it -- keep my ninety-three-thousand-dollar-a-year job and take my forty- thousand-dollar-a-year commissioner job and -- and fix it and figure it out, and live real well? No. I had to put up or shut up. I had to leave my job. I couldn’t raise money as a federal employee. And, in fact, when I left federal government, I was a contracts manager. And as a contracts manager, I awarded multimillion-dollar contracts to a number of environmental firms and firms in the federal sector. And you know what? I was prohibited from working for any of those contractors for three years, this strong revolving-door policy that exists. There’s such a thing called -- there’s the Hatch Act - the Hatch Act in the federal sector that has a myriad of prohibitions for federal employees. We should have a State Hatch Act. We should have prohibitions about double dippers. We should have stronger legislation and ethics rules regarding contributions. What just has happened in the last couple years during this Blagojevich administration is a damn shame. And I didn’t come here to serve Springfield. I didn’t -- I wasn’t sent here as -- to fix Springfield. I was sent here to fix the southwest side of 52  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Chicago, the Town of Cicero, Berwyn and Stickney. I refuse to fix Springfield. I need to fix the roads and the bridges and the schools and the parks and the libraries back home. We just cannot be a little pregnant. We cannot be just a little ethical. You know what? We should take advantage of the shamefulness of Governor Rod Blagojevich and what he’s done over the last couple years, now that he wants to set the record straight. Now that it’s a year before the next election, he wants to come out like, you know, looking like Jesus. You know what? We should take advantage of that and we should promote a higher ethical standard in the State of Illinois. And I’m quite surprised that great leader from the west side, Rickey Hendon, who’s had a great career in the Illinois Senate, who inspires me on occasion on the Floor of the Senate, yesterday in committee when he -- he was right. I am surprised that even the good government people, even those -- those do-gooders, those good government people, were opposed to this legislation. For God’s sakes, what has the world come to when even the do-gooders, the good government people, are opposed to being ethical. I stand in support of Senate Bill 780 and I think Jimmy DeLeo’s got a great bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Brady.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Maloney.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just to the bill: A couple of things in my own experience came to mind, as I was looking at this legislation this morning. And -- and that is -- most of you know, my background has been in high school education. I’m no longer affiliated with any high school, but I often thought it’d be a nice opportunity at some point to teach a community college class in -- in -- in government. And I think many of us could make that contribution based on your experiences here. This bill precludes us from doing anything like that. Also, over the years, I was involved in coaching. My State Representative is a football coach. This bill would preclude him from doing anything like that. My past experience as a basketball official - because I would get a check from a local high school, I would not be able to do that. So, I point these out simply as illustrations that -- that this bill does need more work. And I would -- I -- I would hope that we could put something together that is more complete, has less holes on it, before we send it over to the House and I would feel much more comfortable in that regard. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Jacobs. 54  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

Question of my esteemed colleague.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Indicates he will yield.

Senator, how does the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, the chief ethics self-watchdog group in Illinois, feel about your bill? Are they for it or against it?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Interesting question. Cynthia Canary appeared at the Executive Committee last night. She filed a slip that they were opposed to this bill. She got up for oral testimony and she testified that she was opposed to it in its current form, and she liked the idea that this was going to be a work in progress. And she wanted to be - as she was with Senator Harmon’s bill - she wanted to be part of -- of the strengthening or the changing of this legislation. So, the answer to your question is, she filed an opposition slip, but in her oral testimony, she wanted to work with us.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Jacobs.

I know you’re like I and you’ve read that we’ve had some corruption problems in Illinois. Specifically, Levine was convicted for coercing -- or -- or charged with coercing kickbacks from a Hollywood producer. Would this bill stop Stuart Levine from trying to get a kickback from a Hollywood 55  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 producer?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: I -- I don’t -- I don’t think so, Senator. But the fact that I believe Mr. Levine was on a board and commission and this strengthens the -- the people on boards -- the lobbying, the outside contact with boards and commissions. So, I -- I -- I can’t answer that question.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Jacobs.

Tony Rezko was convicted on twenty -- sixteen -- I think, sixteen counts of twenty-four. His crimes were mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering. Would this bill stop any of that?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: Senator Jacobs, this bill is not going to stop drug dealing or bank robbery. This is a bill focused at ethics in government. I -- I don’t -- I -- this is not going to change somebody’s corrupt, under-the-table, backroom deals. This is to get sunshine - sunshine, what everybody says in this building all the time - transparency in government. And I think this would help it.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Jacobs.

56  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 So when Ali Ata testified in court that he took twenty-five thousand dollars to the Governor and gave it to him in exchange for a job, would this prohibit that?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo. SENATOR DeLEO: The testimony that came out in the federal court was testimony of illegal activity. This is an ethics bill, Senator. This is apples and oranges, sir.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Jacobs.

I don’t want to belabor the point, but I just would say that this is a problem looking for a solution. The problem is not on this Chamber. I’m -- I’m not aware of any legislator for many, many years that has been charged with anything. The problem in Illinois, the cancer in Illinois, is the Governor. And I find it ironic that the Governor is proposing ethics bills when he has his own ethic problems. Now yesterday we made some good legislation. Wasn’t perfect, but it was okay. This is just a tit for tat. It’s wrong. It’s the kind of thing we need to move away from in Illinois. Look, I think the Governor’s a good person. I think he’s trying to do the right thing, but fighting with Speaker Madigan and just trying to bully people to get his way is not going to work. I -- I wish you would take a message back to the Governor. Let him know that this legislator, and I believe many more legislators in this Chamber, are done, that we’re fed up. We are absolutely tired. You know, he needs to come clean of what he knows, when he knew it, 57  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 and he needs to tell us exactly what went on with Ala Ata, and he needs to tell us why he didn’t return the sixty-five thousand dollars that he gave to his campaign. Then, the Governor can come lecture me on -- on ethical issues.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Radogno.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Schoenberg.

58  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Thank you, Mr. President. I -- I know, like many others, I was inspired by the conscience of Cicero, the esteemed gentleman, and that moved me to share a couple of observations with my -- with my colleagues. You know, someone else made reference to the need to engage the courts. It’s something that I personally am familiar with. About ten years ago, I sued the State in order to block a sweetheart - more than ten years ago, closer to twelve years ago - sued the State in order to block a sweetheart deal for construction of a office -- of an office building that the State didn’t really need. And we ended up settling. We took it right to the brink. Half a dozen of us who were House Members thought that the Constitution was being violated and circumventing our approval for the expenditures on this. So, we sued. And as part of that settlement agreement, we, for the first time, had formal competitive bidding on contracts in Illinois. Before, we used to have a competitive selection process where someone in government had a cup of coffee with two separate individuals. That formally constituted a bidding process and we got past that. I certainly know what it’s like to be patient. It took me fifteen years - fifteen years. I’m not -- Representative Laurino - I remember, prior bill, Senator DeLeo talking about Representative Laurino from the 39th Ward on mandatory automobile insurance. Took fifteen years to put the Toll Highway Authority - which then was the poster child for everything that could be wrong and was wrong in Illinois government - to put them into the Procurement Code to have the same bidding laws, procedures and restrictions applied to the Toll Highway Authority and reform them the way that they would apply to other State agencies. That opposition came from 59  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Democrats in power. It came from Republicans in power. It -- the opposition for those who wanted to maintain the status quo knows no partisan identification. And that’s why we need - with all due respect to Senator Harmon, who has done an extraordinary job moving a major boulder off the road for our ascent up the mountain - why we need to seize the momentum and continue further. I -- I want to make a couple of other quick observations. As long as we are forming a menu of what else needs to be incorporated in these discussions, which I hope will take place among all four caucuses and the -- and the Governor’s office, we need far greater restrictions and far greater accountability for decisions which involve billions of dollars involving pension funds and other major investment decisions. When there’s a lot of cheese out there, we have to build bigger and better mousetraps. And some of the greatest offenses which have occurred, or which have the potential to occur, involve billions of dollars in pension and investment funds. We have previously passed greater accountability measures, in Senate Bill 1305, out of this Chamber on more than one occasion. We need to make sure that those are ingredients in the next recipe. We also need to better delineate how private individuals represent the public interest when they’re called to do so. All too often we’ve seen, regardless of which party -- all too often we’ve seen - over the years, over the decades - how private individuals have engaged themselves on behalf of the public and the State’s interests. And, yet, weaving themselves in and out of those respective roles, the lines get blurred and it’s hard to differentiate when someone is representing the public interest and when they’re representing their own private 60  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 interest. We need to provide greater clarity for that as well, as private individuals seek to advance a public agenda. So, in closing, what I would say is we all recognize that there are imperfections to this particular bill. We can do more. We need to do more and I hope you’ll join me in voting for this bill. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Hendon.

Thank you, Mr. President. Well, in the words of my esteemed colleague, Senator Christine Radogno, yesterday, “Hallelujah!” This is what the framers of the Illinois Constitution envisioned - Republicans supporting a Democrat bill, Democrat’s opposing a Democratic bill, do-gooders against the ethics bill. And if you listen and read the Capitol Fix -- I mean, Capitol Fax today, people like Senator DeLeo, who is serious about this, and Senator Hendon being disparaged as not being for ethics, and the publisher going on to say, now he can roll over and die ‘cause he’s seen everything, because the do- gooders, people for campaign reform and ethics, testified against the bill in committee yesterday. This is bipartisan here. This is what we really need, where people just really say what they think. The only thing Rich Miller left out of the story - I wish he was here - was die and go to hell. But I guess, after this pass, he can add that to his Capitol Fax, because he didn’t believe we would do it. But Senator DeLeo is about to pass this today with bipartisan support. Now, let’s get down to the real deal. If the Governor’s name was anything but Blagojevich - and I’m going to say it again, Blagojevich, 61  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Blagojevich -- it’s his idea - that’s why some of you are against it, because it’s his idea. Now I was told by some friends that I need to be kinder and gentler and not even speak on this bill, ‘cause I’m going to lose the two or three votes that I do have to be Senate President. But I guess that’s just the way it’s going to be, ‘cause I got to be me. Why should we allow people to give money to the political parties, which is a pass-through, and then the heads of the political parties, if they don’t like you, which has been the history of Rickey Ricardo Hendon’s life, they spend millions of dollars against you? They spent so much money against me they finally said forget about it. They can’t beat me, because I have the people, as Senator Sandoval talked about. We supposed to have the people. But, oh, no, Senator Harmon’s bill’s a good bill. Guess what? That’s the law now. Why not go the next step? Why not end the abuses that allow the money to be spent and be given to people who are just as political, even more political, than many of us in this Chamber? This is a great day. This is a wonderful moment. I couldn’t have -- I had to speak, Mr. President, because to see the reformers saying they’re against this and talking about all the reasons why, and -- and I want to be able to double dip and I want to be able to get my money in my law firm. And everybody knows that many of the law firms are working for these big companies that have matters before this Senate, but they don’t want to disclose that. They don’t want to end that gravy train. They just want to hurt Blagojevich. Has he made some mistakes? Sure, he’s made some mistakes, but he won’t be Governor forever. Be careful of the rules you make today, ‘cause you’re going to have to live by ‘em tomorrow. And 62  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 I urge my good friends, who I still like here, don’t vote Present. And all of you want to run for higher office. I have no plans. But voting Present is a -- a issue right now. Republican running for President, running on ethics reform. Democrat running for President, running on ethics reform. Don’t vote this down just because Blagojevich thought of it. This is a good bill. Let’s send Rich Miller where he needs to be and vote for it.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) We’re going to have Senator Harmon, because his name was mentioned in debate, and then the last speaker will be President Jones. Senator Harmon.

Thank you, Mr. President. And I appreciate being recognized a second time. My name has been used in debate several times. I will not respond to the more inconsequential mentions, but I do want to -- to respond to Senator Radogno’s point and to ratify her point. She made a good one, and I want to correct a misperception that may be there. I don’t believe we should keep the bill in the Senate because we have a monopoly on good ideas. I think it’s, in fact, just the opposite. By acting today and unilaterally sending over something to the House, we are saying that we have a monopoly on good ideas. Why should we act without coordinating with the House? Why can’t we come together and negotiate before we take action? What’s going to happen if we send this over there? My prediction is that the House has no incentive then to negotiate with us if we’ve declined to negotiate with them. They’ll come up with their own proposal and send it back to us as an amendment to this bill, 63  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 and we will have had no input and we’ll be looking at a bill that we have a take-or-leave proposition and have had no input into. We should be rational about this. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. Let’s negotiate this bill before we start throwing bombs across the building.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) President Jones.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator DeLeo, to close. SENATOR DeLEO: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I want to thank all the Members on both sides of the aisle for the very spirited debate. And I think it’s - as Senator Hendon mentioned - it’s - - it’s good when it’s not a partisan issue; we can really get a lot of input and feeling on a piece of legislation. I just want to close with a couple quick points. I have here in my hand, it’s the restrictions for outside employment for members of the United States Congress. And it was the Ethics Reform Act of 67  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 1989. And as a congressman, you can’t do anything. As a congressman, Senator Halvorson, the only thing that you can do is teach. As a congressman, you can’t have your name -- you can’t be employed by a firm. You can’t live -- you can’t let -- use your name to any firm or partnership or corporation. You can’t have any compensation for practicing a profession. So -- and even if you teach, Senator Halvorson, your -- your only earned income -- your outside earned -- earned income for a calendar year can only be fifteen percent of your salary. Congress did it. Congress did it. They wanted ethics. Congress did it. Double dipping, let’s talk about double dipping. Let’s talk about double dipping, Senator. Let’s talk about double dipping. Who are we responsible for? The person that pays you - your county, your city or municipal job. You have a eighty/ninety thousand dollar job. Or the constituents who sent you down here? Just think about that. Who -- paycheck or your constituents? We should stop the practice. You want to be a legislator, be a legislator. You want to be a county employee, be a county employee. You want to be a lawyer, go do your lawyering. If you want to be a legislator, come down -- let’s stop the conflicts. You know, and we talk about contributions, expands the contribution ban. I have a list here of the four -- the four constitutional officers and the four leaders of our four Chambers. You know what the contributions were from vendors with State contracts last year? This isn’t the Governor’s Office. This is our four constitutional officers and our four leaders - over two million dollars in contributions by people that do contracts with the State of Illinois. You know what? If we pass this legislation, this -- we could stop 68  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 this nonsense. Greater disclosure - greater disclosure for General Assembly Members - out disclosing our -- all the other little things that go on. Oh, this is original. Seventeen states passed that. Seventeen states passed that in the last two years. Oh, that’s original. We’re real original here in Illinois. We’re always the last one. This is the piece of legislation. As I mentioned, it came out in debate. I heard the message. It’s a bill in progress at work. Let’s pass this bill, Mr. President. Let’s get this into law. Let’s stop the conflicts. Let’s ban the contributions. Let’s make everybody on an even playing field. As the President mentioned, this even -- candidates, declared candidates -- I don’t want to be in a disadvantage. I want to be on an even playing field if I’m running for re-election. So let’s -- let’s adopt this language. Everybody will be on the same playing field. All the constitutionals will be on the same playing field. The four Leaders will be on the same playing field, Mr. President. And with having said that, sir, I ask for an affirmative roll call, affirmative vote on Senate Bill 780, sir. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) The -- the question is, shall Senate Bill 780 pass. All those in favor, 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, 1 Nay, 5 voting Present. Senate Bill 780, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Clayborne in -- back in the Chair. We’re going to 69  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 stand at ease for a moment. Don’t leave the Chamber. We will - - proceeding to further action. Senator Risinger -- I mean, Senator Righter, I’m sorry. Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Yes.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) We’re still working that through. We’ll get back with you. Please stay in the Chamber. We are going to proceed to -- for further action. We’re going to take up additional action. Senator Hendon.

Mr. President, as Chairman of Rules, I just wanted to ask - - answer a member of Rules Committee. We’re working -- waiting for a little paperwork and then we’ll have Rules and I guess we can finish up for the day. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) The Senate will stand at ease for a few minutes. (SENATE STANDS AT EASE/SENATE RECONVENES) 70  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) We’re going to recess to the call of the Chair. (SENATE STANDS IN RECESS/SENATE RECONVENES)

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) The Senate will now come to order. There is a -- a Rules meeting immediately in the President’s Anteroom. Again, a Rules meeting immediately in the President’s Anteroom. (SENATE STANDS AT EASE/SENATE RECONVENES)

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Committee Reports, Madam Secretary.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Link, for what purpose do you seek recognition?

Thank you, Mr. President. For a -- announcement. We would like a Democratic Caucus in the President’s Office immediately, for approximately twenty minutes.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) A Democratic Caucus immediately in the President’s Office - 71  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 twenty minutes. Senator Risinger, for what purpose do you seek recognition?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) So in order. Immediately after the caucuses, we will be coming back to the Floor for final action. Be prompt. The Senate stands in recess to the call of the Chair. (SENATE STANDS IN RECESS/SENATE RECONVENES)

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) The Senate will come to order. We will now go to Senate Supplemental Calendar No. 1. It has been printed and distributed. All Senators to the -- within the sound of my voice, please come to the Floor. This is final action. Come to the Floor. On the Order of Concurrence, Supplemental Calendar No. 1, Senate Bill 790. Senator Schoenberg, do you wish to proceed? Madam Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) One minute, Senator Schoenberg. Point of personal privilege. WAND-TV wishes to videotape -- seeking leave to videotape. Seeing no objection, leave has been granted. Senator Schoenberg, to explain your motion. 72  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

Thank you, Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. This is the Jenny Craig version of a fund transfer bill that we had considered earlier. I’m going to move that we concur with Amendments 1, 5 and 9 to Senate Bill 790 and the net result of this Jenny Craig version will mean that we will transfer 221.3 million dollars from various funds into a newly created Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Relief Fund. The bill includes several dates certain by which the Treasurer and the Comptroller transfer balances from these funds -- from these dedicated funds to the Budget Relief Fund and it also includes protections for these dedicated funds if, in fact, there are insufficient balances. All of which is important so as to ensure that there are no unintended consequences of reductions in services as a result of these fund transfers. The bill spells out a number of dedicated funds and the specific amounts and line items -- fund numbers for -- which would be transferred into this pooled fund that in turn would also enable us to access between twelve and sixteen million dollars in additional federal funding. As Senator Trotter will explain in subsequent legislation what -- this is the revenue side of restoration funding in a number of essential service areas, particularly in alcohol and substance abuse, for community-based services, for the developmentally disabled, for Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s, displaced homemakers, several of the programs from some of the constitutionals, and, as I said, other essential services. With that, I’d be happy to answer any questions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Is there any discussion? Seeing none -- Senator Righter. 73  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

According to my math - thank you for your patience - there are -- there are a hundred and forty-seven of the roughly seven hundred dedicated funds which are tapped. I think you’ll notice that there are some conspicuous absences that -- that are important to all of us. Like the earlier version, we’ve left those out.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

I think the best way to characterize how those decisions were made is, first, we separated out funds like the motor fuel -- like the gas tax, the Motor Fuel Fund, which many of us realize is -- is something that not -- should not be drawn down 74  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 from. And then, in looking at available -- at the most current available fund balances, the decision -- in -- in these hundreds of specially dedicated funds, determination was then made as to which funds could absorb a reduction in their current balances. Now one of the advantages that we have now versus the earlier one is that we actually have fresher and more recent data from the Comptroller on what those fund balances were. You may recall, several months ago we considered something that set a ceiling of five hundred and thirty million dollars. The data that we’re working from for this bill is far more current and that’s -- that’s pretty much how we determined which funds were going to be drawn from.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

75  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 On the expenditure side, I’ll defer to Senator Trotter in the next bill, unless he wants to address this now. But what I will say is that in -- in calculating this, we -- the most recent data was used on the amount of revenues the funds brought in, what the projected costs would be to administer the programs that those funds were supposed to pay for, and then with those surplus balances, a decision was made as to how much could indeed be drawn from them in order to make it possible for us to -- to fund some essential core services, like those I just described.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

Yeah, on that one, I’m going to defer to Senator Trotter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. If -- if I could, I’m going to try to answer your question. The -- the answer to the first question - did we work in tandem with the House as they put together the methodology in which they have used to -- to select these funds - the answer is no. This was a bill that 76  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 came from there. However, what they did use, and -- and from conversations that I had with them, was the historical methodology that we had used in the past; one, that these funds have been transferred in the past, using the caveat that, of those funds that we transfer, at no time will they ever be diminished to the point to where as there will be no dollars there. So as long as there was operating dollars to do whatever mission that they had asked these dollars to be for, we will continue to use these dollars. As you know, over the past -- since 2003, we have transferred over 900.8 million dollars with very few problems. What we have learned was that there were some, because of their federal grants or because they did get federal dollars, that we had to shy away from those. So from experience, we’ve learned that we will not use those. Some are presently in litigation. Certainly, we did not tap those funds again. But your initial question - did we work with them and did they contact individuals - the answer is we did not, and I cannot answer if they did.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Please.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Dillard.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield, Senator Dillard.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

I couldn’t think of a better person on the other side of the aisle to raise that question with me, because I think you know from personal experience, Senator Dillard, when former Governor Edgar inherited what was then the largest budget deficit in the history of the State from his predecessor, that there were many difficult decisions that needed to be made, not all of which the Governor’s Office relied upon the Legislature to make. And, as I recall, those difficult decisions and choices, many of them which resulted in very painful reductions in services to the most vulnerable people in our communities, that many of those decisions could have been averted had it been for a restoration of funding through another means. Here we have a recession, Senator Dillard. Won’t go into how we got here. We have very challenging economic times. I don’t think anybody’s going to take any pride in anything. I think we all understand the enormity of the task ahead of us. And as there’s greater economic uncertainty in households throughout communities in our State, we need to step forward and draw from existing resources in order to ensure that those most vulnerable in our communities and those most essential services that the government provides, that they can continue at some relative pace to what we need them to. As we all know, the irony is that people rely on us the most when the economy is the worst. We’re 79  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 already realizing, as we’ve heard from the most recent projections on the State’s revenues, as a result of the current economic conditions, sales taxes are down. That’s not a function of any policy decision that’s been made here in this State. It’s a much larger reality that we all have to confront, and in confronting that, what we’re saying is that there may be some difficult choices. I won’t go so far as to say that they’re cynical choices. But that we need to ensure that the revenues are there to make certain that these essential services can continue.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Dillard.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

As -- as I understand it, Senator Dillard, there -- all the due diligence was done so as to ensure that there would not be some unintended consequences. There may be some dispute on some of that, but the belief is that that due diligence was done. 80  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Dillard, to the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Brady.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

Senator Brady, immediately following our action on this bill, I anticipate that Senator Trotter will be presenting House Amendment No. 7 to Senate Bill 1103, which will go -- which will be the appropriation portion of -- of this package and which will, in detail, outline where those restorations will be. As I indicated, they are predominantly in core services - many of them human services, whether it’s alcohol and substance abuse, whether it’s averting layoffs in agencies like the Department of Children and Family Services or for foster care, whether it’s for psychiatric screenings, whether it’s for community service grants for individuals with mental illness. We’re simply trying to keep pace with expanding needs at a very difficult economic time. But I’ll defer to Senator Trotter at the next bill to outline in greater detail what all the spending will be.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) 82  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Senator Brady.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

So, if the question is what happens if the Governor vetoes or makes some changes to the spending -- to the spending bill on 1103, the money would sit in -- the money would sit in the fund. Remember, the -- the -- it’s written in the bill that there are transfers made on October 1st of ‘08, January 1 of ‘09, on April 1 of ‘09, and -- that pool the money and make it possible to then pay for the expenditures which will be coming -- the restoration, I should say, of services which will be coming in the next bill. If there are lines that are amendatorily vetoed out or if the bill’s vetoed entirely, if this bill becomes law, then those moneys are still going to be collected, pooled and held in that fund pending the need to disburse them.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Brady.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

No, they would stay in the Budget Relief Fund. And for 83  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 practical purposes, I think if you look at the next bill and you see where the restorations are and you realize what the spending pressures are from the increase of people who need services, then I think you’ll see that those funds will be very desperately needed in a following bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Brady.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Luechtefeld.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield, Senator Luechtefeld.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

I -- I don’t control the next bill. That’s Senator Trotter’s prerogative.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Luechtefeld.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

…I said, I -- I’m not -- I’m not that bill sponsor, so I can’t -- I -- I would leave it to him at the appropriate -- as I understand now from Senator Trotter, my third base coach, it’s his intention to move forward regardless of the outcome of this concurrence motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Luechtefeld.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

I believe that if you look at where some of the -- I don’t know what the source of your figure is. There are -- the largest fund that’s being swept is the Fund for Illinois’ Future Fund. The Fish and Wildlife Endowment Fund is also being transferred. The first one is ten million. That one is two million. I guess if you want to add up every fund that touches DNR, you could do so, but, you know, I -- I think implicit, Senator, in all of this is an acknowledgement that those of us who feel strongly about conservation, about our State parks, and -- and the critical role that they play, not just in -- in being destinations in our State, but also for providing employment for many people in downstate communities, that -- that those needs come -- press up right against some very critical human needs throughout the State as well - in southern Illinois, central Illinois and in the larger metropolitan areas further upstate. It’s not a perfect balance. But as I indicated earlier, the demand on services goes up, especially for human services, when there’s a recession or at difficult economic times. There’s more substance abuse. There’s more alcohol abuse. There’s more difficulty with mental illness. More people suffer from depression. There’s a greater demand for community-based mental 86  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 health services. There’s a greater demand for those government agencies like DCFS, who intervene with troubled families. There’s a greater demand on their services. I’m sympathetic, but I also recognize that people are hurt and bleeding in communities throughout the State and we have to provide some immediate relief, as imperfect as it might be.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Luechtefeld.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Jacobs.

Just quickly. There’s enough bologna to go around for all of us. And if we could print that bologna, we could probably run the State. But the fact is that we need these parks filled and we need to put the money where our mouth is. DCFS children are on the front lines and they aren’t -- cases aren’t going to be able to go forward because DCF workers won’t be there to testify in court. Child abusers could get off. There’s a myriad of reasons to pass this bill, but the simple best reason is, is nobody else has an option. I am looking very forward to working with my friends across the aisle to find out exactly what you want to cut, to find out exactly how you want to grow the government, how you want to move Illinois forward. But year after year, we come to this Chamber; we do the same thing. We never talk about the future. But we better start talking about the future in Illinois, because our past is too rich with history for us not to move forward. I would just urge everyone to vote on this and save the bologna for the kids at home.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Sandoval.

88  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Thank you, Mr. President. You know, I looked forward to coming to Springfield these past couple days simply because -- and I don’t want to play into the lore that many of -- many of us do at times - I listen to some of my colleagues say, “Well, we get all these phone calls. We get all these messages and we get all this e-mail.” Well, you know, for the first time, I can actually -- actually confirm that since May 31st, there hasn’t been a day, there hasn’t been a week, there hasn’t been a month that I haven’t received a phone call, an e-mail or a visit or gone to some public event where some social service agency, family, child, woman has not been affected by these cuts made by Governor Rod Blagojevich. I remind everyone that on May 31st, we provided a budget in that he cut two billion dollars - two billion dollars - and affected working families and real people, kids, women, children. And since, for two and a half months, those working families and -- and mothers and families that Rod Blagojevich pretends to protect -- I think the guy on the fifth floor of city hall has got it right. The man has gone cuckoo - cuckoo - if not schizophrenic, because he has put in harm’s way real people. These are children. These are mothers who face domestic violence. These are real people, DCFS, historic sites. The man has gone mad, by putting the most vulnerable people in society in harm’s way. I know this is not the best public policy. But, you know, there’s a saying in the Bible that goes: He who has no sin, cast the first stone. And we’ve been sweeping funds for Republican and Democratic administrations for as long as we can remember. So, what’s wrong with it now? You know, we need, once again, to put the people ahead -- the people first and put Illinois first and restore these cuts to substance 89  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 abuse, historic sites, to our parks, and to working families in Illinois.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Lauzen.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Sponsor indicates he will yield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

The answer to that -- the answer to that question, Senator, is, yes. One of the alternatives that was considered and rejected was the Budget Stabilization Fund, which I think would have been a far less suitable alternative to draw down from. And -- and, you know, let me add one other thing. For -- one of the reasons why we’re still here as the hour is approaching five o’clock is because there was, throughout much of the day, a greater bipartisan appetite to draw a larger net amount of money from these hundreds of dedicated funds. What -- so, to refocus everyone’s thinking, what we’ve really done is take an incremental approach towards something that we all know that 92  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 we’re going to need to revisit in the weeks or months ahead by virtue of the sheer pressures that are being put upon us as a result of the current economic conditions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

Those are -- those are matters really for another bill. This bill is seeking to maximize the amount of revenue- generating activity from hundreds of specially dedicated funds, which have historically represented an off-budget budget in this State. We’ve had this off-budget budget in Republican administrations and Democratic administrations. We heard earlier about how during the Edgar administration they sought to 93  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 confront very severe -- budgetary pressures during a bad economic crisis by using the same -- by using the same tools. And -- and I just want to add one other matter, and that is, this bill passed with ninety-seven votes in the House. So, there was obviously strong bipartisan support, not rushing with enthusiasm, but an acknowledgement that people are hurt and bleeding in our communities. Providers have had to shut down programs or lay people off entirely. Those who need services the most, whether they’re -- a family who has a loved one with methamphetamine addiction in southern Illinois or someone with an alcohol or substance abuse problem in the Quad Cities or -- or a -- a -- or a family that needs interventions that are provided from the Department of Children and Family Services in the southern suburbs. There’s an interdependence in all of this. These tools are not new inventions. They’re hardly our preferred options, but we’re in a recession and we can’t turn our backs on people. And when we start turning our backs on people, that’s when we have to rethink why it is we’re doing what we’re doing here in the first place.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Thank you. Just to remind everybody, we’ve had a lot of debate, a lot of questions. Please make your -- your comments brief right now. Senator Hendon.

…President, if I was in Washington right now, a Congressman or U.S. Senator, I would be supporting President Bush in his move right now to get this country back on economic ground with the fiasco on Wall Street. This is not time to be partisan. There is not time in Washington to be partisan. America is in a recession, not just Illinois. The alternative to this is further layoffs. They’ve already talked about the drug and alcohol abuse people. Right now in my neighborhood, they’re selling two dollar heroin, two dollars a bag, and it’s more powerful and more potent than ever, heroin, white heroin, from Afghanistan. We must put this money back in. You’ll get your shot at Rod Blagojevich in a couple years and you can deal with 95  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 him then.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Radogno.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Haine, briefly.

Briefly, to the bill, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. I believe that -- that a valiant effort was made by Senator Schoenberg and the -- and the leaders to craft a better bill, which means actually more funds to be susceptible to the so-called sweeps. We didn’t get across the goal line. So here we are at this hour and rather than shooting the -- coming upon the scene of this great battle and shooting the survivors, we should be focusing on the need to fund what’s coming next, Senator Trotter’s bill. And as referred to earlier by Senator Schoenberg, this is it. If we want to have a better bill, certainly we have November to take up another effort. But now we have many people watching this, on the edge of their seats. They’re watching this. The House sent us their bill. They crafted their bill with Republican support. And if it goes back, we don’t know what’ll happen if -- if we change it. The people that are watching this -- the people that depend on the Alzheimer’s funding, the people that depend on the mental health programs are watching this, the people that depend on the programs that deal with substance abuse, which are really public safety programs, the many, many other things that Senator 97  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Trotter will outline. Just as Senator -- the previous speaker indicated, yes, there could be a better bill. But this is what we have now and let’s get it done. And certainly the criticism is warranted. And the criticism is good to remember in the budget process in the future, I agree. But now is the time to tell these people back home that there is not going to be a disaster and there’s not going to be injury and harm as a result of our inaction and our concentration on other mistakes. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Last one’s Leader Watson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg.

I have not. I’m dealing with the revenue side of this, not the spending side.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Watson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Garrett, briefly.

Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing me to speak. I usually don’t stand up and speak to these types of issues, but I feel very strongly, and I encourage my friends on -- on the other side of the aisle to really think very seriously about voting No. When Senator Watson says that there’s a political price to pay, I think that’s really dangerous when we’re talking 101  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 about closing disabled communities and making sure that they don’t have another place to go, that there are no other recourses for the most vulnerable people in this State. This isn’t about politics. It might be right here today in this Chamber, but we have to think about what our role is here. We’re here as a safety net. These people need us. This is not something that we can pretend is going to go away, because it’s not. It’s up to us, right now, today, to do the right thing, to vote Yes to make sure that these people are going to get the funds that they need. Otherwise it’s going to be a disaster. We’re kidding ourselves if we think that we can just parlay this off to politics as usual in Illinois. This is different. We may have gotten here because of politics, but now we have to find a way to get out of it. And these people need us and we need to vote Yes.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Schoenberg, to close.

Thank you, Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. I think we’ve had a very healthy and extensive discussion on the imperfections of this bill, but there are simply too many people in this State who are hurt and bleeding and who need us. My friends, the world is so different than what it was just two weeks ago, when we have watched major financial institutions in this country either teeter on the verge of collapse or fail entirely. We have seen an economy which has forced more people to lose their homes which has turned them to alcohol and substance abuse, which has turned them -- increased the amount of -- the amount of people who 102  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 require mental health services in our communities. We cannot turn our backs on people. No matter whether we’re Democrats or Republicans, we can’t turn our backs on people. And we all like to go to our local community service providers for human services or mental health or the developmental disabilities and we all like to go every year and get an award and get our plaque and take a picture and look at it and -- and see how good it all looks in the newspaper, but how many bodies do we have to step over now to do that? We have to restore these essential services. We need to have a way to pay for it. This is not the first time we’re going to need to take a -- a step like this. But we have to move forward, because we cannot leave people behind. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) This is final action and requires three-fifths vote. The question is, shall the Senate concur in House Amendments No. 1, 5 and 9 to Senate Bill 790. 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 the question, there are 40 voting Yea, 15 voting Nay, none voting Present. The Senate concurs in House Amendments No. 1, 5 and 9 to Senate Bill 790. And the bill, having received the required constitutional three-fifths majority, is declared passed. Point of personal privilege. WCIA-TV requests permission to videotape. With leave of the Body, seeing no objection, leave is granted. Senator Sandoval, do you have a point of personal privilege? Senator Sandoval. Moving on to Senate Bill 1103. Madam Secretary, please read… Oh, Senator Trotter, do you wish to proceed? Madam Secretary, 103  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter, please explain your motion.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. If I can just get your attention, please. I -- I do concur with the House on 1103. This is the appropriation bill that will restore funding to the various agencies that were impacted by the Governor’s vetoes. But before I -- begin, I just want to say thank you for those who did speak on the last bill. I did write up my speech to which I was going to put this on Postponed Consideration, ‘cause I -- ‘cause as you know, there’s no need having an appropriations bill if you don’t have moneys to spend, which would automatically allow the Governor to veto the bill. So, for those who did vote for it, thank you very much, ‘cause this is a step forward and forward is where we need to be going. This is not the saddest day, and as some said, this is -- this is a day that we have to look at. If I can get your attention, please. So, with that, there -- there has been sadder days. It was sad when we did not have a budget, or we, as the Senate, passed out a budget here back in May with a revenue stream and if that would have been passed in the House and then subsequently signed by the Governor, we wouldn’t be here today. But it was because the President called for a Session day to fix this, we are looking at that. Thank you very much… 104  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter, could you hold off for a second? Can we - - can we hold the noise down so that Senator Trotter can proceed? Thank you.

I’m -- I’m starting off unusually from -- from the back end to the front end, but I just to thank those individuals that did get us to this point ‘cause this is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed. Thank you very much, Senator Radogno, because you’re absolutely correct, for the past day and a half a -- a very conscientious, concerted effort was to put together a bill, two bills to be exact, which would certainly resolve, not totally resolve, but certainly dealt with these impending layoffs, these -- these imminent cuts on people who were not getting their dollars and closures, in some cases, to individuals. However, it -- that did fall apart and we are here today with this bill, 1130 {sic}. This bill, and if I could -- again, Mr. President -- Mr. President, if -- if you can, just get a little -- little more… ‘cause I’m not going to read the whole thing, ‘cause we’re -- we’re talking about what we have here. This provides a…

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Please, please can we hold it down? Can we please hold it down? Thank you.

Thank you. 1103 provides for the fund transfers for the amount of 219.1 million dollars, with a total of 11.9 million dollars will paid from OSF funds. In this bill, we see 1.6 million dollars will go the State Appellate Defender’s Office. 105  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 This will restore seventy percent of -- of those vetoes to the personal services and operational lines of the budget. A total of 2.3 billion was voted -- voted {sic} out of that. Again, this restores seventy percent. We see dollars which will go one hundred percent to the Attorney General, bringing them up to their level, which will give them the authorization to do their work. It also funds the other constitutional officers up to one hundred percent as well. Department of Aging will receive one million dollars for the Elder Abuse and Neglect program. Human Services will get an additional 55.1 million dollars for alcohol and addiction treatment services. This funding will fully restore the program to its F’09 level, which was passed by the General Assembly. More dollars of -- one million dollars will go to the -- to Department of Human Services for funeral and burial expenses. A -- two million six hundred thousand will go for Community Service Grant Programs for people with mental illness. Is -- more dollars will go to -- 1.9 will go for the programs in the CILA services and the DCFS children. We see 2.1 million dollars to the Department of Natural Resources. The Board of Elections -- the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board was not taken up to the level which we would like to see, that would have been done in the other board, but we -- it goes up for another hundred thousand dollars to them. The -- another million dollars to Healthcare and Family Services, Historical Preservation. And I believe all of us have had an opportunity over the past two days to look at this list. But, more importantly, it restores those cuts. It will forestall those layoffs to our workers that are out there and it also provides 36.6 {sic} million dollars to the RTA subsidy. If there’s any 106  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 questions, I’ll answer.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) We -- we -- on the previous bill -- bill, we had extensive discussion. Senator Trotter also was -- was in a position to ask -- answer questions and he did, so we would request that you be brief. Senator Watson. Any discussion? Senator Watson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter.

There is no guarantee, in -- in that we cannot -- the Governor has the spending authority; however, what we did guarantee with the passage of Senator Schoenberg’s bill is that we have what -- we now have, the Budget Relief Fund. So, the dollars that will be transferred will go specifically into this fund, so they cannot be used for any other thing. And as pointed out by the Senator, that if those dollars are not expended in this fiscal year, they will revert back to the fund. So, at -- at no time will these dollars be transferred into the General Revenue Fund which will give the Governor ultimate 107  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 discretion on they’re -- how they’re spent.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Watson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) The sponsor indicates he will yield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter.

Excuse me, I did not -- I haven’t red the specific language on -- on that, as that was in Senator Schoenberg’s bill. Senator, I -- I’m being told that there is no specific language in there that would expedite the payments in -- in Senate Bill 790.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter.

Again, to my knowledge, there’s no specific language to do otherwise; however, it would seem, I believe, the unwritten intent is to ensure that these dollars are taken out of this fund very expeditiously to pay these individuals and to pay these workers. So, assumingly - was it fifty-five million dollars is needed for treatment - I’ll make an assumption that transfer can happen as soon as the Comptroller allows that to happen and those dollars can go straight to start going -- being paid to the various providers that are out there. And the same with the -- the closures of the historical sites as well.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) 110  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter.

Since these are -- now become dedicated funds, dedicated to these various agencies, then I would make the assumption - again, there’s no language there - that they will be jumped ahead of the line and receive the dollars, ‘cause these dollars have already been taken out of these funds, not commingled with the general revenue or with the other billing practices that the other groups have been subjected to.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Syverson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter.

Arguably, you could say that there’s nothing here that needs to be cut, ‘cause there is really no fat. Mostly what we’re talking about here are essential services that haven’t been paid. And as a consequence of there being not enough dollars to go forward, they’re going to cut themselves, ‘cause they’re going to be eliminated. So, the -- the urgency is that we do that so we do not have these total layoffs, so we do not have these reductions in staff, and certainly for those providers. And they’re essentially not jumping in front of the line ’cause they’ve been in line. They haven’t been paid. So this is also just bringing them up to speed before they get to that closure level of -- of existence. So this -- things are being done, as -- as pointed out by Senator Schoenberg. We did talk about some options, as -- as mentioned Senator Radogno. Think we’ve had some -- some very fruitful conversations. We’re going to be looking forward of -- of how we’re going to address this deficit that we have at this point in time, even if it includes looking at the Budget Stabilization Act. Because when 112  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 -- when do we officially say, today is that rainy day that we need to be looking into this rainy day fund, if we have to go there? I don’t think we have to have Hurricane Jezebel for us to really get to a point of that devastation for us to be looking at these other options.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Jones, to wrap up. Senator Hendon, your light went off.

Thank you, Mr. President. I had turned it on - turned it off - turned it on. But very briefly, I just want to thank those on the other side of the aisle who voted for this -- the previous bill -- along bipartisan lines, and I will personally call the Governor and ask him to make sure that he spends the money the way that we indicated to him for the parks, for the substance abuse. I did want to point out that it was not -- this bill is not necessarily something that the Governor wanted. It was the other side of the aisle -- I mean, the other side of the Chamber -- the Rotunda who wanted to put in some language in there, this bill, that just totally wouldn’t have allowed the Governor to change one word without killing everything. And we simply don’t want that. If there’s something -- one little thing here or there that the Governor doesn’t want, we don’t want him to destroy the whole thing. So I just want to thank all of our Members on this side and that side who voted for this and I hope that we can do the same -- the last bill. I hope we can do the same on this bill. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator -- President Emil Jones, to wrap up. 113  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Trotter, to close.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. The bottom line is, could there have been a better bill? Could we have found a better way to fund this? Certainly, if we would have had the time to do so. Certainly, we could have done it if there were other people, who unfortunately felt that they had to load this tree up to a point to whereas it was bending by its own weight. But what this bill does, it does take care of those essential services. Those things that are very important to all of us, things that we always talk about doing, and that is taking care of the folks back in our communities. This is going to keep those historical sites open. It’s going to still be -- the dollars are going to be there and the people are going to be there to encourage tourism, so we can, again, get those revenues, those revenue streams back in here. This is going to 115  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 ensure that those individuals that -- that work hard and work very diligently to serve those people who are at many times at risk, those individuals at DCFS, those -- those frontline workers, ensures that they have their jobs so they can continue to do the work to make people, other people who are less fortunate, more whole. It’s going to make sure that DHS has their dollars. There’s more dollars in here for the mentally -- for the DD individuals, for the -- the group homes, and also for the community homes. So, it doesn’t do everything, but it certainly is going to keep this State alive until something better comes along. And I ask for an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) This is final action. It requires three-fifths vote or 36 Members voting for it. The question is, shall the Senate concur in House Amendments No. 1 and 7 to Senate Bill 1103. 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. 55 voting Yea, none Nay, none Present. The Senate concurs in House Amendments 1 and 7 to Senate Bill 1103. And the bill, having received the required constitutional three-fifths majority, is declared passed. Senator Sandoval, for what -- what -- what point do you seek recognition?

Thank you, Mr. President. For purpose of announcement.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Please state your announcement.

Just to announce for the record that Senator Antonio Munoz 116  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 is on medical emergency leave today.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Thank you. Madam Secretary, Resolutions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Consent Calendar. We will now proceed to the Order of Resolution Consent Calendar. With the leave of the Body, all those resolutions read in today will be added to the Consent Calendar. Madam Secretary, have there been any objections filed to any resolutions on the Consent Calendar?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) There any discussion? If not, the question shall -- is, shall the resolutions on the Consent Calendar be adopted. All those in favor, say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it. The motion carries and the resolutions are adopted. Senator Watson.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR CLAYBORNE) Senator Watson moves that Senate Bill 3061 be tabled. The motion is always in order. Those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and Senate Bill 3061 is tabled. There being no further business to come before the Senate, the 117  STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 172nd Legislative Day 9/23/2008 Senate stands adjourned until such time as the Senate assembles in regular, Veto or other Session pursuant to the schedule established and published by the Senate President and in accordance with Senate Joint Resolution 105, as adopted on May 31st, -- May 31st, 2008. The Senate stands adjourned. 118