Illinois Senate Floor Debate — May 26, 2014

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) The regular Session of the 98th General Assembly will please come to order. Will the Members please be at their desks? Will our guests in the galleries please rise? The invocation today will be given by Senator Dave Koehler. Senator.

First of all, let's say thank you to all of our veterans on this Memorial Day. Want to read first, as a meditation, the Prayer of Saint Francis, and then followed by the invocation. (Reading and Prayer by Senator Dave Koehler)

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Pledge of Allegiance, Senator Jacobs.

(Pledge of Allegiance, led by Senator Jacobs)

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Tony Yuscius, Blueroomstream.com, requests to videotape. There being no objection, leave granted. Mr. Secretary, Reading and Approval of the Journal.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Senator Cunningham.

Mr. President, I move to postpone the reading and approval of the Journal just read by the Secretary, pending arrival of the printed transcript.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Senator Cunningham moves to postpone the reading and the approval of the Journal, pending arrival of the printed transcript. 1  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 There being no objection, so ordered. Mr. Secretary, Resolutions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Mr. Secretary, Resolutions Consent Calendar. Mr. Secretary, Messages from the House.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, if we can have everybody come to the Senate Floor. Please come to the Senate Floor. We'll be going to 3rd Readings, final action. Senator Cullerton, for what purpose do you seek recognition?

Point -- point of personal privilege, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) 2  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 Please proceed on your personal privilege.

I'd like to introduce my cousin who is down here with me today, Bill Schultz, from up in the McHenry County area. He is a computer programmer. He is in Pam Althoff's district, and he will be spending the rest of today and most of tomorrow with us. So if I could get the Senate to welcome him, I'd appreciate it.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Welcome to the Senate, Bill. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, we will be going to the Calendar, page 9, for 3rd Readings. House Bill 3681. Senator Raoul. Indicates he wishes to proceed. Mr. Secretary, read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Senator Raoul.

Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. House Bill 3681 allows firms that provide software to process payments from cell phones, tablets, or other -- other wireless devices to operate without a State-issued license that would require the firm to prove financial strength.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Is there any discussion? Any discussion? There being none, the question is, shall House Bill 3681 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 3  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 the record. On that question, there are 45 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. House Bill 3681, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. House Bill 4417. Senator Mulroe. Indicates he wishes to proceed. Mr. Secretary, read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Senator Mulroe.

Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. House Bill 4417, as amended by Senate Floor Amendment No. 2, allows probation officers to take the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board forty-hour firearms training course. Currently that training's limited to peace officers. We're adding probation officers so they can get that type of training for -- for carrying firearms as well.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Is there any discussion? Any discussion? There being none, the question is, shall House Bill 4417 pass. All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Take the record. On that question, there are 46 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. House Bill 4417, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. Senator Manar, for what purpose do you seek recognition?

4  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 Thank you, Mr. President. For a point of personal privilege.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Proceed on your personal privilege.

Thank you, again. I would like to introduce Aria Bender, who is my Page for the Day. She is the daughter of Sunshine Clemons, who, you all know, is Senator Clayborne's legislative assistant. Aria is thirteen years old. She's a seventh grader at Franklin Middle School. She is a member of the 4-H, the Girl Scouts, and she is also an Emerging Young Leader from the Alpha Kappa Alpha's. Her interests include reading, dance, volunteer work, and youth group activities at Cherry Hills Baptist Church, here in Springfield. Her favorite books are the Percy Jackson series. She is a very, very smart, intelligent, and polite young lady. I just rise and would like to welcome her today to the State Senate.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Congratulations and welcome to the Senate. The Senate will stand at ease for a few minutes to allow the Committee on Assignments to meet. The members of the Committee on Assignments will come to the President’s Anteroom immediately. The Senate will stand at ease. (at ease) Senate will come to order. Mr. Secretary, Committee Reports.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) The following committees will meet tomorrow morning: Local Government will meet in Room 212 at 9 a.m. Criminal Law will meet in Room 409 at 9 a.m. Senator Haine, for what purpose do you seek recognition?

Point of personal privilege, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Please proceed, Senator.

Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. Today, as we know, across the United States is a great -- we celebrate a great holiday. It's a time of family, a time of joy, but it is also a time, a unique time, in the history of America, beginning after the Civil War, where we reestablish - "the mystic chords of memory", to quote Mr. Lincoln - with those several million of our citizens who willingly gave their lives for our liberty, for those thousands and tens of thousands who came back from war broken in body or mind. And these are -- these visits to cemeteries, to the war monuments are indeed mystical. One of the earliest war memorials in -- in history was a stone slab created 6  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 hundreds of years B.C., erected by the soldiers of Sparta, who were all killed in the Battle of Thermopylae to bottle up the Persian armies to give time to the Greek freedom fighters in the cities to assemble and defend their homeland. That stone slab said simply: Passerby, tell Sparta that we were faithful to her service. When we visit a cemetery, when we visit a war memorial, thousands of which dot the countryside, including this great Capital of Illinois, or when we recall a moment here on the Senate Floor, we do the same mystical connection. We remember their service and they, in turn, in a mystical way, say to us: Passerby, tell America that we were faithful to her service. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Thank you, Senator. Senator Barickman, for what purpose do you seek recognition?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Please proceed, Senator.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Thank you, Senator. Senator Noland, for what purpose do you seek recognition?

Thank you, Mr. President. Point of personal privilege. Mr. President, I…

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Please proceed, Senator.

Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR MUÑOZ) Senator Link, in the Chair.

Mr. President, I served eight years in the Navy. However, I never ever served in the field of combat, was never in harm's way. It can be said, if anything, I fought the Battle of Great Lakes. So it is with great reverence that I hold the memory of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for and on behalf of our nation 8  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 that -- that I rise here today as one of those passersby, as Senator Haine had mentioned, and bringing to our attention the life and the contribution of a man I called my friend. In 1942, at the age of sixteen, Gordon Schnulle dropped out of school to enlist in the Marines, where he fought in the pivotal battle at Iwo Jima during World War II. Serving as a machine gunner in H Company, he was part of the eighth wave of Marines to storm the island. Descending upon the island with his comrades, Comrade Schnulle hunkered down for the entirety of the pitched thirty-six- day battle as he watched his company of two hundred and sixty-six Marines reduced to only thirty-nine. Having survived the hellish battle of Iwo Jima, Corporal Gordon Schnulle continued to serve his country as a Marine until 1946, when he returned home and lived out a quiet and humble life as a -- as a maintenance engineer for the Elgin Corrugated Box Company. In his retirement and in his retired life, public service and his life of public service was just beginning. Over the years to follow, Schnulle volunteered for his American Legion, his VFW, Elgin's Senior Center, and countless hours for projects too numerous to list. Every time I saw Gordon, he was in the service of others. On April 21st of this year, at the age of eighty-eight, Gordon Schnulle died after a brief illness, leaving behind his wife, Dorothy; his sons, Gerald, Keith, Kevin; ten grandchildren; twelve great- grandchildren; hundreds of friends; and having touched thousands of lives and a grateful nation that will never know the contribution he made to their lives. I ask that -- as we observe our moment of silence in a few moments that we keep him in our thoughts. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) 9  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 Leader Muñoz. SENATOR MUÑOZ: Thank you, Mr. President. Point of personal privilege.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) State your point. SENATOR MUÑOZ: Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. First of all, I want to thank all my colleagues here in the Senate, for those who have served, all our staff members, our sergeant- at-arms, and everyone that's in the Chamber up in the galleries. Thank all my colleagues for speaking today that spoke. I, too, just want to rise to honor our fallen that have given the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. We can never repay the families for their -- for the loss of their loved ones in all the wars since the beginning, up until now. It's unfortunate that we still have men and woman {sic} in harm's way. We can only just keep them in our prayers so that they can come home safe once and for all. But I ask this Chamber and I ask all of you to reach out to your friends, as I always have stated in the past, thank a veteran, thank their loved ones, always look out for their families - for the ones that their loved ones that -- are fighting in harm's way. We can never do enough for the veterans. But when they are here, at least the ones that are alive, let us thank 'em for their great service to this nation, because a lot of us have no idea what he or she has gone through since they've been away from home. Again, please, let us keep our veterans in our prayers.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Senator Tom Cullerton, for what purpose do you rise?

10  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014 Point of personal privilege.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) State your point.

I'd like to reiterate most of my -- all of my colleagues' thoughts. As a veteran of the U.S. Army, it is my privilege, it is my honor, and it is my duty to talk about Memorial Day and to recognize the people that came before us, the people who passed away in our wars. And I will take a moment out of Bill Haine's playbook - it was originally called Decoration Day. I'm amazed he missed that little piece of history. And it was originally done after the Civil War to commemorate the soldiers of the Union and Confederate armies. But it has been extended to all of those who have passed in military service and conflicts. And please remember those who passed, but also, as Leader Muñoz stated, remember those who are in the present. Remember those who are serving in foreign countries right now and hope that they get back safe and hope that we have fewer and fewer people to remember on -- on these upcoming Memorial Days. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR LINK) Shall we all please stand for a moment of silence for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and those who are serving in harm's way today? (Moment of silence observed) The Senate will stand in recess to the call of the Chair. After committee meetings, the Senate will reconvene to receive Messages from the House and paperwork. The Senate stands in recess. (SENATE STANDS IN RECESS/SENATE RECONVENES) 11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 98th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 128th Legislative Day 5/26/2014

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) The Senate will come to order. Mr. Secretary, Committee Reports.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR HARMON) There being no further business to come before the Senate, the Senate stands adjourned until the hour of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the 27th day of May, 2014. The Senate stands adjourned. 12