Illinois Senate Floor Debate — July 15, 2015

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Regular Session of the 99th General Assembly will come to order. Will all the Members please be at their desks? Will our guests in the galleries please rise? The invocation today will be given by Pastor John Standard, Springfield Bible Church, here in Springfield, Illinois. Pastor Standard.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Please remain standing for the Pledge of 1  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Allegiance. Senator Cunningham, to lead us in the Pledge.

(Pledge of Allegiance, led by Senator Cunningham)

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Mr. Secretary, Reading and Approval of the Journal.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Good afternoon, Senator Hunter.

Good afternoon, 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 SULLIVAN) Thank you. Senator Hunter moves to postpone the reading and approval of the Journal, pending arrival of the printed transcripts. There being no objection, so ordered. Justin Fowler with The State Journal-Register requests permission to photograph. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Mr. Secretary, Resolutions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Resolutions Consent Calendar. Mr. Secretary, Committee Reports.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Mr. Secretary, Messages from the House.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Ladies and Gentlemen, if I can have your attention. All Members within the sound of my voice, please come to the Senate Floor immediately. All Members within the sound of my voice, please come to the Senate Floor immediately. We will be going to the Order of Senate Bills 3rd Reading, House Bills 3rd Reading, Concurrences as well. All Members, please, within the sound of my voice, to the Senate Floor. Paul Elders with WICS-TV requests permission to video- and audiotape. And Rodney Correll with WLS- TV requests permission to videotape. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Senator Mulroe, for what purpose do you rise? 3  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015

Thank you, Mr. President. A point of personal privilege.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your point, Senator Mulroe.

Mr. President, Members of the Senate, I have a -- a few friends with me this afternoon. They are seated -- in the gallery above the Republican side of the -- the -- the Senate. With me today are Joseph and Barbara Genovese, if they can stand. They are in, actually, Senator Murphy's district. I also have with me Trish Conlon, mother of Aubrey Conlon and Will Conlon. And, finally, I have little Joe Genovese, Juliana Genovese, and Dominic Genovese from Lake Zurich, which I think is in Senator Althoff's or Senator Duffy's district. I don't see them on the Floor at this time. But if they could all stand and if we could give them a nice Senate welcome, I'd appreciate that.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Ladies and Gentlemen, let's welcome our guests here to the Senate. Thanks for joining us today. Appreciate having you here. Lisa Chess-Gustafson with Blueroomstream.com requests permission to videotape. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'll turn to your regular Calendar, on the Order of Senate Bills 2nd Reading on page 16, with leave of the Body, on page 16, Senate Bill -- excuse me, on page 2, Ladies and Gentlemen - correction, on page 2 of the regular Calendar - Senate Bills 2nd Reading, we have Senate Bill 2049. Mr. President. Mr. Secretary, please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate -- Senate -- on page 2, Senate Bill 2050. President Cullerton. Please read the bill, Mr. Secretary.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2051. Mr. Secretary, read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2052. Please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're on page 3, the regular Calendar, on the Order of Senate Bills 2nd Reading. Senate Bill 2053. Please read the bill. 5  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2054. Please read the bill, Mr. Secretary.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2055. Please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2056. Please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2057. Please read the bill, Mr. 6  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Secretary.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2058. Please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Senate Bill 2059. Please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. And Senate Bill 2060. Mr. Secretary, read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 7  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 3rd Reading. Senator Hastings, for what purpose do you rise?

A point of personal privilege, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your point, Senator Hastings.

I regret to inform the Chamber today that a former colleague of ours that served in the south suburbs, Senator Richard F. Kelly, had passed away at the age of seventy-eight. Senator Kelly…

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Shhh. Ladies and -- excuse me, Senator Hastings. Ladies and Gentlemen, please could we -- can I have your attention? Please keep the visiting down for Senator Hastings' announcement. Senator Hastings, please proceed.

I just regret to inform the Chamber today that I've been informed that Senator Richard F. Kelly has passed. He's a former State Senator here in our Chamber and he served the south suburbs with dignity. I know that he cared for young children with special needs. He was also a -- a huge advocate for Little League sports. I can remember Senator Kelly throwing first pitches out at our Little League baseball game and I remember sitting with him at dinner last year and as most recently as a couple weeks ago and him telling me how things were in the Senate when he had served. And, Mr. President, I just ask that the Chamber rise in a -- a moment of silence to pay their respects to Senator Kelly.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Ladies and Gentlemen, will all Members please rise and be at their desks for a moment of silence for the passing of former 8  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Senator Kelly? (Moment of silence observed) Thank you, Senator Hastings. Senator Morrison, for what purpose do you rise?

I rise on the point of a personal privilege to introduce two guests with me today.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your point, Senator Morrison.

This afternoon I'm very happy to have and introduce Molly Collins, who has been working in my legislative office this summer. She's from Deerfield. She goes to the University of Maryland and is majoring in government and politics. And she is joined by a friend, Shae Giampetroni, from Lake Forest, who goes to Chapman University, and she's majoring in film producing and French. Please help me in welcoming them to Springfield.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Molly and Shae, please rise. Welcome to the Illinois Senate. Thanks for joining us today, and you're with a great Senator. Ladies and Gentlemen, if I can have your attention. Just very shortly we're going to turn to the Order of Secretary's Desk, Concurrence on Senate Bills. Senate Bill 2040. Just momentarily, we'll be going to that order. Senator Nybo, for what purpose do you rise?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your point, Senator Nybo.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Rose and Jody and Ryan, if all three of you would stand and be recognized. Welcome to the Illinois Senate. Nice to have you joining us here today. You're with a great Senator. Senator Manar, for what purpose do you rise?

Also a point of personal privilege.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your point, Senator Manar.

I would like to welcome Bella Lytle, who is my Page for a Day. She is going into the eighth grade at Glenwood Middle School in Chatham. She's actually a constituent of Senator McCann's. She's interested in politics. She spent a day at the House. I'm convinced that after her day in the Senate, she's going to prefer 10  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 the Senate over the House, but I just rise to welcome Bella Lytle to the Senate today.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Welcome to the Illinois Senate. Please rise and be recognized. Thanks for joining us today. Paul Nickols with WMAQ- TV requests permission to videotape. And Ed Cross with WAND-TV requests permission to videotape. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Like I mentioned earlier, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'll turn to page… Momentarily we're going to turn to page 16, but for right now, Senator Steans, for what purpose do you rise?

A point of personal privilege.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your point, Senator Steans.

Thank you. Yes, I have three summer interns, who have been working in my office and doing a fabulous job, who are visiting here today. They're up in the gallery above me. Henry Bensinger, Catherine Young, and Samantha Neal - all attend the University of Chicago in political science and public policy majors and have really just been top-notch. And please welcome them to Springfield. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Would Henry, Catherine, and Samantha please stand, be recognized? Welcome to the Illinois Senate. Thanks for your work and your help. Senator Harmon, for what purpose do you rise?

For purposes of an introduction, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Please make your special introduction, Senator Harmon.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'm very pleased to have with me on the Floor today a special Page. My son Don, who just finished his driver's education course and had some free time this week, came down to join me. And he's grown up on the Senate Floor here, but I'm glad to have him while he's still shorter than I am. Stand up, kiddo.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Ladies and Gentlemen, let's welcome Don Harmon to the Illinois State Senate. Great to have you here today, Don. Good to see you. Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, page 16 of the regular Calendar, on the Order of Secretary's Desk, Concurrence, Senate Bills, we have Senate Bill 2040. Senator Steans, do you wish to proceed? Mr. Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans, to your motion.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. So the underlying bill the Senate had passed was for the one-month temporary -- temporary budget preserving health, life and safety issues for the month. The House amended this to include making sure we're paying all personal {sic} (personnel) expenditures for State employees. So I want to concur on that motion. I think this is something that we have certainly heard the Governor speak 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 to as well. I think that's a shared priority in trying to make sure all State employees are paid. And I would urge an Aye vote on this concurrence. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion? Senator Murphy, for what purpose do you rise?

To the motion, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Murphy.

The -- appreciate the -- the interest in taking care of the State employees. Of course, the Governor supported the notion of a continuing resolution to remove them from the ongoing battle for the entire year, which Leader Radogno put into bill form down here. So, there's -- you know, they get paid for the first half by Comptroller Munger already. This is really of very little comfort to State employees and there's actually a better solution available if -- if you're willing to take it, which, based on the action today, you're not. More broadly, the temporary budget is just one month on a path to a budget that's up to four billion dollars out of balance. I know you don't see it that way, but when you add in all of the costs that are fixed and you add in your spending from your bill, this puts us on a path to basically just cementing in an out-of-balance, unconstitutional budget. Let's -- let's stop doing this month at a time and get down to the real business of compromising on the fundamental reforms necessary to make Illinois great again and pass a sustainable budget that balances and funds our core priorities. This doesn't do that. This is not even a 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 worthwhile Band-Aid. I encourage a Present vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Kotowski, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you -- thank you very much, Mr. President. To the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Kotowski.

I just want to speak to what the previous commentator was addressing. I completely disagree with him. This is an opportunity to continue to move the ball forward and negotiate in good faith to figure out a way to resolve our budget challenges in the State of Illinois. It addresses key essential services, key components of the budget to make sure we continue to invest in the people of our State, make sure they have every opportunity to lead a good quality of life. I appreciate the hard work of the sponsor on this. I appreciate the fact that State employees are going to be able to get paid as a byproduct of this legislation. I just want to point out again and note that, the previous speaker, I gave him an opportunity to file legislation or file amendments to the budget, has not done that for a month and a half. There's been no action on the part over there. We are taking action. We are being responsible. We are doing what's necessary in order to keep the budget afloat, again, but emphasizing we need to continue to work together and move forward to address this budget challenge that we face. We're -- we look forward to the opportunity to work with our colleagues, people from both sides of the aisle, to achieve that. And I want to thank again the sponsor, Senator 14  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Steans, for her leadership on this.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Oberweis, for what purpose do you rise?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Oberweis.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Seeing no further discussion, Senator Steans, do you wish to close? Senator Steans.

Thank you. Yes. You know, first there's been discussions about an alternative way of keeping State employees paid. We even analyzed the alternative and we believe it's unconstitutional in -- in a number of different ways, first, because the delegation of a legislative appropriation authority, it allows agency directors and GOMB to certify unspecified amounts to cover personal expenditures. We don't think that's constitutional. We also 15  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 believe it's unconstitutional as it provides for appropriations in a substantive bill. It's not in an -- an appropriations bill. And, also, it's an infringement on constitutional officers' authority to over -- over their own divisions of government by requiring GOMB to participate in the certifications of their personal expenses. We don't think that's a legitimate alternative. Further, I just want to note that this is a very -- aside from the personal services for all State employees for one month, capped at the amount that was spent in July of '15, it's very narrowly focused. This in no way sets us on a path to overspend, rather we're trying to ensure that some key services that really do impact the life and welfare of particularly vulnerable groups are being met. And doing so, it is just one month, because the overall goal and hope is that the Governor and -- and Legislative Leaders can -- will -- he will continue to work with them and try to get to an overall agreement for an annual, full budget. That's certainly the goal, certainly the hope and expectation. This is just providing time and making sure that State employees are paid in addition to core services for vulnerable folks are being met and provided. I would urge an Aye vote. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, the question is, shall the Senate concur in House Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 2040. All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. And the voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 39 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 15 voting Present. Having received the required constitutional majority, the Senate does concur in House Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 2040, and the bill is 16  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 declared passed. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'll turn to the regular Calendar on page 16, Total Vetoes. The Motions in Writing - correction - is on page 17. Page 17 of the regular Calendar is the Order of Motions in Writing to Override the Total Veto of the Governor. This is final action. Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be -- we will be starting with Senate Bill 2031. President Cullerton. President Cullerton.

Yes, I would ask Senator Steans to handle this motion for me, please.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Mr. Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President and Members of the Senate. This bill, Senate Bill 2031, appropriates a total of a 143.4 million in General Revenue Fund, 48.4 in other State funds and 6.5 to the agencies, the Department of Juvenile Justice, Labor, and the State Fire Marshal. We are -- you know, these are -- we're limiting doing these override vetoes to areas that are due to public safety concerns. We think in addition to funding them for a month, we should be funding them for the entire year. Juvenile Justice and the State Fire Marshal, clearly, we think are a public safety priority, and would urge a vote to override. Thank you. 17  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion? Senator Murphy, for what purpose do you rise?

To the bill -- or to the motion, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Murphy.

There is -- just like there wasn't in May, there isn't the revenue to back up the budget that you passed in May. The Governor wisely vetoed your out-of-balance budget. We're still in a situation where you've got 36.3 billion in spending in your plan and only about thirty-two billion in revenue. We're four billion dollars out of balance and yet you persist in wanting to unconstitutionally push a budget that is out of balance. This is not the way to go forward. The way to go forward is to finally convince the Speaker of the House to sit down in good faith, like I know all of you want to do, with the Governor and actually bring together a comprehensive solution. He's willing to work with you to get the budget balanced. I know you're willing to work with him, but until someone stands up to speaker Madigan and forces the conversation, this is -- this game is going to persist. You can override this, but it's still not the right policy. It's still an unbalanced budget and it's not a real solution. I encourage a No vote on this motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Senator Kotowski, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you very much, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of 18  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 the Senate. Again, to the previous speaker, on May 26th, we offered him and his caucus an opportunity to file any kind of amendments to this legislation to offer a way to come up with any kind of cost savings or any kind of reforms related to investing in the State. They've offered nothing since May 26th. Their refusal to submit any kind of legislation to amend these policy initiatives is basically an acknowledgement and an abrogation of the fact they're not going to take any responsibility. I'll be stating this again and again and again today. This bill allows us to have the resources to protect our first responders, to keep them safe, to make sure they have the resources to do the job that they need to do to keep us safe. If we do not fund them, we do not invest in them, we endanger our communities and we endanger the lives of our first responders. We need to make sure we protect them and we protect our communities and we invest in them. This lays out a plan to make sure they can do their jobs. I would ask for, quite frankly, support to override the veto of the Governor. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Senator Righter, for what purpose do you rise?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your inquiry.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 19  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 We'll check on that, Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you, Senator Righter. I believe that the previous speaker was speaking with regard to the original bills. Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Indicates she will yield, Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans.

The entirety of what we plan on overriding today - there's going to be five bills that we will potentially be taking votes on here - is a total of 2.3 billion dollars. It certainly, in its entirety with -- between that and the one-month budget, is in no way above what we have in revenues. I do not think we have an issue of constitutionality here.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans.

About half of them. What's -- nine.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 21  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Senator Steans.

Well, you know, it's -- it's hard to respond to this one with a straight face. I'm sorry. You know, the -- the Governor chose to sign one of the budget bills in place and not all the others. I think we, right there, have a very narrow focus on what was being chosen to be funded. You know, if you would like to vote on more of them, we will certainly happily take them up.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans.

You know, I -- again, I would just point to the fact that we haven't had a single vote from any on -- on your side of the aisle on any budgets. I don't think you've been funding and putting forth a plan to fund any of State government at this point, not even on a one-month temporary basis. So, I think that's going to 22  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 be up to you to how you want to present the way you have been making choices here.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Righter.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Seeing no further discussion, Senator Steans, to close.

Yes, thank -- thank you, Mr. President. This is serious business and just a quick review here. Let's remember in February, the Governor did present a budget. It was clearly out of balance, included 2.2 billion in savings from pensions that clearly cannot be achieved and many other areas as well of underfunding: Medicaid and many other programs. It was out of balance. We did put forth a budget. The Governor chose to sign one of those, the one, by the way, that was the biggest increase over current -- over last year's budget, and chose not to pass -- or sign into law any of the other budgets. We -- we need to get to an overall annual budget. That is clearly the case and I would suggest that your side of the aisle, the Republican side of the aisle, and Governor could be taking some leadership here in terms of presenting an alternative, rather than focusing on all sorts of stuff that have nothing to do with the budget. Illinois, the singest {sic} biggest challenge clearly we face in this State is the lack of fiscal stability and certainty. And what we're doing here now, through having this ongoing budget impasse, clearly worsens that situation, does not ameliorate it; it is not helpful to anyone in this State - nobody who needs to have schools that we know are functioning on time, people who need to get services, roads, public safety. We need to be getting serious into the business of actually getting through this budget impasse and I would wish that the Governor would certainly be getting the four Leaders together and having regular conversations around this. I urge an Aye vote 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 on this. We want to at least keep basic safety issues functioning in the State of Illinois. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. This legislation requires a three-fifths majority, or thirty-six, for passage. Ladies and Gentlemen, the question is, shall Senate Bill 2031 pass, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 39 voting Aye, 15 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. Senate Bill 2031, having received the required three- fifths majority, is declared passed, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. Next up, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have Senate Bill 2032. President Cullerton again has indicated that he would like Senator Steans to present the bill. Senator Steans. Mr. Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans.

Thank you. Yes, this is the bill that provides funding to additional public safety agencies: State Police, Department of Military Affairs, Police Merit Board. I would urge again an Aye vote to put in place public safety funding for the year for these agencies. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 25  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Thank you. Before we begin discussion, Lee Milner with the Illinois Times requests permission to take photographs. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Senator Hastings, for what purpose do you rise?

To the motion, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Hastings.

You know, this weekend the Illinois State Police -- I have the utmost respect for their director. I think he's a tough guy. He's on-the-streets guy. He definitely puts his boots on the ground and I think it's important that we support him. I think it's important that we support 'em because they did some great things this weekend and I think that should be noted -- that we continue the funding for the Illinois State Police. We had an Iowa prisoner escape from one of their prisons and crossed the border into Illinois. And if it wasn't for the Illinois State Police, that person would be running through Illinois right now. I don't know what's worse, being in Iowa or being in prison in Iowa, but the fact of the matter is that they caught him. I guess the second notable thing that the Illinois State Police did this weekend, they helped out Aretha Franklin. Aretha Franklin's tour bus broke down and she couldn't get to where she had to go, so the Illinois State Police helped her get to her hotel. So I think it's important that the other side of the aisle give some R-E-S- P-E-C-T to this process. I also look forward to the day when the Governor actually governs, 'cause I -- for some reason, I see him going around the State with all these attack ads. He's not focused 26  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 on this, he's not focused on child care, and he doesn't have a problem cutting out thirty percent of Governors State University, which shuts it down. So, Mr. Governor, I ask that you pay some R- E-S-P-E-C-T as well to the process. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Further discussion? Senator Murphy, for what purpose do you rise?

To the motion, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Murphy.

I -- I'm struck by the previous speaker's notion -- their comments about what the State Police was able to get done this week. They did all that without the budget in place. That's pretty fascinating. Real simple, real straightforward, but apparently we need to drive the point home. 36.3 billion in -- in spending, thirty-two billion in revenue. You're over four billion out of balance. Eventually, all these people that you're talking about that you're helping with your budget, you're going to let some of 'em down, because if you don't have the money, you're setting 'em up to fail and you're giving 'em a false sense that they're going to get covered when we all know they can't be because you don't have enough money. Vote No.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Kotowski, for what purpose do you rise?

Again, thank you very much, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. I think the previous statement that was 27  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 made in reference to our public safety officers who put their lives on the line every single day, the fact that they're willing to do their job because they're public servants, we should never, ever take them for granted - ever. And we've laid out an investment plan to make sure we support them, so they can do their job and do it well. Their willingness to stand up and put their lives on the line should never be taken for granted. Secondly, I want to point out, again, this bill was filed. We had a discussion with it -- on it on May 26. We offered an opportunity for amendments to be filed by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. There's been a refusal to do that. That's sad, but we are moving forward with an opportunity to make sure we continue to invest in our public safety officers to make sure they're able to be safe in the line of duty, to make sure they can keep our communities safe. I would simply ask for support of the -- the bill sponsor's motion. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Senator Steans, to close. Ladies and Gentlemen, the question -- once again, this requires a three-fifths majority, or thirty-six, for passage. The question is, shall Senate Bill 2032 pass. All -- notwithstanding the -- veto of the Governor. 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 39 voting Aye, 15 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. Senate Bill 2032, having received the required three-fifths majority, is declared passed, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. Next up is Senate Bill 2034 and, once again on these - - this bill and the next two, President Cullerton has indicated 28  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Senator Steans will present those bills as well. We have Senate Bill 2034. Mr. Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans, to present.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. This bill is providing funding for the Department of Revenue, the Executive Ethics Commission, Executive Inspector General, the Procurement Policy Board, Property Tax Appeal Board, and Racing Board for the fiscal year '16 operations. Again, we are wanting to ensure that funding is in place for the year to keep these issues, particularly with the Executive Ethics Commission and Inspector General, being able to do their duties and their jobs. I would urge an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Discussion? Senator Murphy.

Question of the sponsor, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Indicates she will yield for a question, Senator Murphy.

Senator, are you going to put forth a tax increase bill to pay for this budget?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans.

29  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Not today.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Murphy.

To the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion.

So, just to be clear, you have the votes to do that. The Governor has made it very clear he's willing to work with you on the revenue side if you're willing to work with him on the reform side. As I said before, I think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in this Chamber are actually willing to do that with him, but, unfortunately, it's -- it's -- it's -- it's a compromise. The Governor doesn't want to participate in raising taxes, but he said he would be open to doing that if you give him some reforms, but there's been no cooperation in that regard. So, maybe you should just do what you did in 2011 and whatever you want to spend at, go ahead and pass your tax increase to fund it. I mean, the Governor offered a deal. It appears that you guys aren't prepared to work with him, or at least maybe the Leader of the other Chamber isn't. But if you were -- if you're not, then just go ahead and pass the tax increase that you want to fund -- fund the spending that you want. You don't need us to do that. You've got thirty- nine Members. You're proving that all over here today. But in the interim, if you're not willing to do that, then stop with the nonsense of a thirty-six-billion-dollar spending plan that only has thirty-two billion dollars to back it up. Thirty-six in spending - thirty-two in revenue - four billion out of balance. I 30  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 vote No.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Kotowski, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you very much, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. We've seen this "moving the goal post" routine before and it's getting kind of tired. So, if you want to participate in the process, you had every opportunity to file amendments to this legislation. You refused to do it and you should have done it, and you're -- you're trying to lay it at our -- our doorstep and -- but we take responsibility for laying out an investment plan to invest, from the top, issues that has faced the State of Illinois. It's been about both parties. It's political corruption. And we have an investment plan to deal with political corruption and we support confronting and addressing political corruption to change business as usual, to make sure that people who are violating the rules to the game don't get an opportunity to serve in public office. So, I think this is an opportunity for support and stand up and do something, confront political corruption in the State of Illinois. We have put this in place and we have led the charge, as Democrats, to make sure we address these -- these corruption issues and to make sure that we confront the way business was conducted and how poorly it was conducted. So this is an opportunity for you to do that. We look forward to your support to override the veto. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Bivins, for what purpose do you rise?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Bivins.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Manar, for what purpose do you rise?

To the bill, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the bill, Senator Manar.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to offer a -- a perspective on this bill that -- that hasn't been talked about, one that I think should lead the Chamber to unanimously vote for this motion. The bill contains appropriations for the agencies outlined by the sponsor: the Department of Revenue, the Executive Ethics Commission, the Executive Inspector General, the Procurement Policy Board, the Property Tax Appeals {sic} (Appeal) 32  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Board, and the Racing Board for fiscal year '16. In total, this bill that was adopted by this Chamber and by the House spends less than the Governor's introduced level. This bill that was passed by the Senate cuts State government deeper than what the Governor introduced in February. So the idea that this bill is somehow worse than the Governor's proposal is complete nonsense. We should step away from the debate and look at what's in this bill. This bill cuts State government deeper than what the Governor proposed in February. It leads us toward a balanced budget because it identifies savings where savings can be achieved, which is what the sponsor set out to do when she sponsored the bill and introduced it in the Senate. I urge an Aye vote to override the Governor's veto.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans, to close.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President and Members of the Senate. I -- I -- I want to add to the -- to the previous statement that there's been a lot of conversation around process here and the way we should and should not go about things. You know, if -- if the Governor would like to introduce the Republicans and myself and bring us together in a meeting and try to get to some agreement, I would welcome that. I don't see those kind of actions happening right now. There's a difference between campaigning and governing. We here are actually taking actions to do governing and try to put things in place. I think there needs to be a lot more focus on what is actually in the best interests of residents in this State. Fiscal certainty, fiscal stability - those I think are the number one priorities for Illinois at this moment. I think we need to be 33  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 taking the actions to do that. I think doing this override does, in fact, move us down that path and certainly encourage an Aye vote on it. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, the question is, shall Senate Bill 2034 pass, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. All those in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. This does require three-fifths, or thirty-six, votes for passage. 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 39 voting Aye, 15 voting Nay, 1 voting Present. House -- or excuse me, Senate Bill 2034, having received the required three-fifths majority, is declared passed, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. Next up is Senate Bill 2036. Senator -- please -- Mr. Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans, to present.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. This -- this total bill -- fiscal year '16 appropriation is 2 -- 23 -- 22.3 million GRF, 3.3 million other State funds, and 9.3 million. It's for funding just very small agencies that have a very hard time being able to operate without budgets. They don't have a lot of flexibility. It's for the Guardianship and Advocacy Agency {sic} (Commission), the Human Rights Commission, the Department of 34  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Human Rights, and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission. Again, we want to -- ensure that these small agencies are not -- made ineffective and inoperable. Would urge a Yes vote to override the Governor's veto. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Discussion? Senator Murphy, for what purpose do you rise?

To the motion, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Murphy.

Just to drive home the point - thirty-two billion in revenue, thirty-six in spending. Please vote this down and let's get back to the negotiating table.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Manar, for what purpose do you rise?

To the bill, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the bill -- to the motion, Senator Manar.

I rise to make the same point again. This bill spends exactly what the Governor suggested we spend in February. Governor should have signed this bill. He shouldn't have vetoed this bill because it's his proposal. This bill should be overridden and it should be enacted. I urge an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Oberweis, for what purpose do you rise? 35  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Oberweis.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Kotowski, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you very much, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. I think some people are kind of confused about this concept of what it means to invest in people. These specific areas here, that if we don't invest in them, they're going to cost taxpayers billions. The State's going to have to take over guardianship and they're not going to be able to live with their families and live in their homes and they're not going to have a decent quality of life, and it's going to cost taxpayers billions. So investing in people is a little bit different from generating revenue, generating profits for a very few people. This is about investing in the people of the State of Illinois and laying out a sound conscientious plan to do that. So this is very important to the previous speaker, Senator Manar. This is what the Governor 36  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 proposed. We're looking to make sure -- as we've talked about before, we have points of agreement and we have a lot of 'em and we're willing to do that. That's what statesmen do. That's what people do in this Chamber. Hopefully that -- you can join us on that journey towards statesmanship. But I think it's very important moving forward when you look at these measures, we're talking about people who live with developmental disabilities, people who are -- have -- are challenged by the fact that they're deaf and hard of hearing, people who in fact that have their -- human rights have been violated. We need to look out for them. We need to invest in them, because if we don't do that, it's going to cost taxpayers billions. It's very short-sighted to not do that. This is part of a long-term, long-range plan to make sure the people of Illinois, our greatest resource, our greatest talent, are supported and invested in. I simply ask for support of the motion of the sponsor, Senator Steans. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Seeing no further discussion, Ladies and Gentlemen, the question is, shall Senate Bill 2036 pass, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 38 voting Aye, 15 voting Nay, 2 voting Present. Senate Bill 2036, having received the required three- fifths majority, is declared passed, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. Next up, Ladies and Gentlemen, is Senate Bill 2037. Mr. Secretary, please read the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans, to present.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. This budget bill appropriates funding for the Departments of Public Health, Children and Family Services, and Aging. It appropriates in total 2.8 billion to all these funds - for general revenue, other State funds, and federal funds. Again, these are focused on public health and safety issues, providing care for foster kids, ensuring that our public health -- local public health agencies maintain their sources of funding. They won't get their grants without the appropriation authority to do their work. Department of {sic} (on) Aging can continue to provide funding for senior meals and community care programs and whatnot to take care of seniors who require services. I would urge a Yes vote on the motion. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Discussion? Senator Murphy, for what purpose do you rise?

To the motion, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Murphy.

Couple things. You know, again, we're out here and we always hear about the priorities and the people that are cared about, but when you -- when you don't match up what you tell people you're going to give 'em with the money to actually give it to 'em, you're 38  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 not showing people how much you care, you're letting them down. The social services in this State have been mistreated for a decade or more. That's while you guys ran this place, not Governor Rauner. This budget, again, thirty-six billion in spending. That sounds great until you only have thirty-two to match it up with and you don't have the ability. Who you letting down? I see you're not doing the -- the higher ed -- the higher ed pension payment. Are we going to skip a pension payment? Is that the plan? There's been talk in here about this is all about public safety. You're not doing the bill - these are all Senate bills I'm referring to - you're not doing the -- the Supreme Court probation services bill. You're not doing -- you know, we were talking about Governors State University. That's in a Senate bill that isn't even being called today. So if we care that much about Governors State University, why isn't that bill being overridden today? Maybe you will, I don't know. At the end of the day, though, when you say you're committing to taking care of people, but then you're really not walking the walk and getting the money for 'em, you're not -- you're not taking care of people. You're trying to convince people you are. It's an insincere effort and this is a false budget. Vote No.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Nybo, for what purpose do you rise?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the motion, Senator Nybo.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Kotowski, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you very much. With -- with great deference to the previous speaker, I think he made some good points, but I want to 40  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 get back to some issues that we've talked about here. I think the dirty little secret that -- our friends on the other side of the aisle don't really want to talk about is the fact that they don't really want to cut the budget. They don't want to do that. You know why? 'Cause cutting the budget, disinvesting in key programs and the people of the State of Illinois will cost taxpayers billions. That's -- that's why you don't want to do it. That's why you haven't -- you never filed an amendment to the budget bill that we introduced. I -- I proposed that and I said if you want to file an amendment, we could have a discussion, we could look at these bills. But the -- the -- the dirty little secret that you don't want to reveal to your constituents is you really don't want to cut the budget, and I can understand why. I mean, it's really tough work. We've had to cut the budget. We've made difficult decisions to reduce services and reduce programs that impacted real lives, real people. I get the fact that you don't want to do it. We've had to take that responsibility and take leadership on that front. But this bill is so important, funding for wards of the State. There are twenty-four hundred wards of the State, eighteen to twenty-one. If we don't fund services for them, if we don't invest in services for them, they're not going to have any support. They're going to either be homeless, they're going to be incarcerated, they're going to go to emergency rooms, and that's going to cost taxpayers billions. We can't afford not to support this bill. So I would ask, quite simply, to support the -- the motion of Senator Steans to override the Governor's veto. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Steans, to close. 41  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015

Yes, all right, thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. Just to note for the record, the House will have fifteen days after we override these budgets to consider them. It's not -- no action required today for that to occur. They have up to fifteen days to take action on it. And there's been a lot of discussion that we should be setting aside doing this and going back to the negotiation table. That would fine if there was actually a negotiating table to go back to. You know, that we've been hearing proposals made to the media. There's not been pulling together the Leaders and having any conversations for weeks to my understanding. In this case, we need to ensure that we in fact are providing basic levels of services for safety, health and welfare of our most vulnerable. I urge an Aye vote to override the budget. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, the question is, shall Senate Bill 2037 pass, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 39 voting Aye, 15 voting Nay, 1 voting Present. Senate Bill 2037, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed, notwithstanding the veto of the Governor. Ladies and Gentlemen, with leave of the Body, we will go to the Order of Senate Bills 3rd Reading. If you'll turn to page 5 of the regular Calendar, Senate Bill 316. President Cullerton. President Cullerton seeks leave of the Body to return Senate Bill 316 to the Order of 2nd Reading. Seeing no objection, 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 leave is granted. Now on the Order of 2nd Reading is Senate Bill 316. Mr. Secretary, are there any committee or Floor amendments approved for consideration?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton, on Floor Amendment 1.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. We had adopted this bill in committee two weeks ago, and as a result of some discussions with some of the opponents, we've adopted a couple of amendments that we would like to adopt now and then I'd debate the whole bill on 3rd Reading. Try -- I'd like to adopt the amendments and then discuss the bill on 3rd Reading.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion on the amendment? Seeing none, all those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the amendment is adopted. Mr. Secretary, are there any further Floor amendments approved for consideration?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton, on Floor Amendment 2.

I move for its adoption.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Is there any discussion on Amendment 2? Seeing none, all those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the amendment is adopted. Mr. Secretary, are there any further 43  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Floor amendments approved for consideration?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 3rd Reading. Now on the Order of 3rd Reading, Senate Bill 316. Mr. Secretary, please read the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton.

…you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. This bill has three basic components. The first part is a property tax freeze for levy years 20 and -- '16 and 2017 for all home rule and non- home rule taxing districts with the exception of Cook County, where the levy years would be 2017 and 2018. The mechanics of the freeze are similar to PTELL. Where PTELL limits the growth in a taxing district's property tax extension, this limits the growth to zero percent. The bill has an exemption from the freeze for levies for public safety purposes, including levies for police and fire protection, levies for special police and fire districts, and levies for police and fire pensions that would be exempted from the two-year freeze. That was in response to concerns about the municipalities having to pay an additional payment into the pension funds. So rather than a ramp change, we allow them to collect what they otherwise would. The second part of this bill states that the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund employer normal cost would 44  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 be paid for by the State. That would be a hundred and ninety- seven million dollars in fiscal year '16, and afterwards, whatever the actuarial certification was for the normal cost. So that's called pension parity. And the ramp is changed for the CPS, which, by the way, is funded at a higher level than the State TRS Fund. They would have a ramp change for two years, which would still require them to make fixed payments of two hundred seven million in fiscal year '16 and two hundred and eleven million in fiscal year '17, and to be ninety percent funded by 2063. The fact is that this collective normal cost plus the ramp change would benefit the Chicago Public School system by approximately five hundred million dollars, which will be sorely needed and, if not filled, there will be some massive teacher layoffs. So we're trying to avoid that with this -- provision. And finally, the third part of the bill deals with the current general State aid formula. We acknowledge that it's difficult to reach an agreement on changing our school aid formula. We in the Senate have passed some legislation in a bipartisan way; it hasn't been taken up in the House. So, the -- the process here would be to sunset this current school aid formula, and that would be on June 1st, 2017. We would then have a committee, a legislative committee, since we would need to have legislation to put a new formula in, and that legislative committee would be made up of an equal number of Members from each caucus and they would make a recommendation by the end of 2016. The Chicago block grant would also be eliminated with regard to -- as well as the general State aid formula. We acknowledge that this freeze might have a -- a effect on some of the poorer school districts, so we have a separate piece of legislation increasing the funding for education by seventy-four 45  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 million dollars, which would bring that total up to the exact amount that the Governor had introduced, and the hope's then that that would provide some help to some of the poorer school districts. And we would say that the same thing we did this year in this year's budget would be done next year with regard to providing money in a lump sum to do that. So, I'll be happy to answer any questions. This is a -- a compromise in that these are controversial issues. If they were called individually, they probably wouldn't -- wouldn't pass, and so that's what we end up doing down here, trying to put pieces of the puzzle together to try to move forward. Again, I think we are dealing with a real concern among most folks about property taxes being too high by having a two-year freeze. I know it's not everything that the Governor had in his bill, but it does definitely freeze property taxes. It acknowledges that there are certain exceptions to that freeze for pensions for municipalities. It deals with a real crisis in the Chicago Public Schools and it attempts to, in a sensible way, deal with our school aid formula. So, with that, I'd ask for an Aye vote and be happy to answer any questions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Before we begin discussion, Matt Porter with WCIA requests permission to videotape. Seeing no objection, leave is granted. Senator -- Leader Radogno, for what purpose do you rise?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the bill, Senator -- Leader Radogno.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Kotowski, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you very much, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. To the previous comment that was raised, when we talk about what we can do to provide relief for local governments, I - - I think we took several steps this year to ensure that that happens. Some people may not be aware of this - and I know the previous speaker is aware of this - but there -- there's about six billion dollars a year that goes to local government from the State of Illinois in -- in a variety of different ways, from the Local Government Distributive Fund, the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax, from sales tax - six billion dollars. We talked about that significantly and at length at the budget meetings we had with the Governor's Office and my colleagues from the other side of the aisle in the House and the Senate. So it's very important to note that we did an excellent job of protecting those funds and making sure that local government was supported and 48  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 protected, and that is very important, because that is a way of making sure that property taxes are contained. Because in many cases ten percent of the budget does, for local government, come from the State of Illinois. So, I just want to comment on this bill why it's so important for, I think, those who are in the area that I represent. The number one issue that people talk about is how the rising cost of property taxes is keeping them from staying in their community, keeping them from staying in their home. It's basically something that's put a stranglehold around their -- their necks financially. It's -- it's -- it's an intense burden. I have literally talked to thousands of people in my district door- to-door-to-door where the number one top issue that they're confronted by is the fact that property taxes are too high. So what this bill does is it provides meaningful property tax relief for a period of time and it moves us forward to make sure that we have quality and fair and equitable funding for education across the State of Illinois. I compliment my colleague, Senator Manar, on all his hard work on that. But let's keep in mind here that the goal - two major goals - as I talked about property tax relief, that's something that is addressed and brought up every time I go to a door, and education funding is something that's brought up every time - property tax relief and funding for education. And this bill does that and it's something to be, quite frankly -- to be quite frank, this is a watershed moment in the State of Illinois, to finally have a bill before us that provides meaningful property tax relief for homeowners, for families who are working hard and playing by the rules, for seniors who've paid their dues, for seniors who just, quite frankly, what to stay in the communities that they've lived and worked in and have paid taxes 49  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 in. So this is an opportunity to do that. I'm excited about the work that the Senate President has done. I appreciate what he's done to accommodate the concerns of our friends from the other side of the aisle and also to be responsive to what the Governor's proposed. The Governor has said this repeatedly and I think he's got his finger on the pulse of constituents who want meaningful property tax relief, and I agree with him. That's something that I've talked about from the time that I was elected. So I think we need to vote for this bill and support it because of how important it is and how key it is to make sure we protect the pocketbooks of taxpayers, allow them to stay in their homes, while also making sure we have equitable funding for education in the State of Illinois. Thank you.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Further discussion? Senator Murphy, for what purpose do you rise?

To the bill, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the bill, Senator Murphy.

I join Leader Radogno in commending the President on trying to find some common ground on this issue and really a couple of different issues that are in here. I also agree with her that this doesn't get there and there are some other, I think, concerns that I've had. I want to be clear, I have filed a property tax freeze bill in this Chamber for the last several years. I would love to have a real property tax bill. What really concerns me is the totality of this - the totality of this bill. We in the 50  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 suburbs, as a suburbanite, saw the onslaught of last Session's Senate Bill 1 and this Session's Senate Bill 16, where the target for the new education formula was suburbanites. So, with this bill, the -- the future I'm picturing for suburbanites: We get two years of a property tax freeze, which is great, but then we go back to the old property tax system that we have now that everyone can't stand. But on the education funding formula side, we eliminate the current structure and the architects of the bills that wanted to target suburban school funding are going to be drafting the bill to replace the current system. So I see a -- a vision of the suburbs in a couple years where we're back to the same old property tax hell, but we're also being targeted from - for our schools from State funding. And I think to myself, why is that a good deal for the people I represent? I appreciate that you're working on property tax relief and I mean that, but this isn't it. And -- and -- and to Leader Radogno's point, it is going to be important for us to make that property tax relief affordable for those local units of government. This is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't go -- it doesn't nearly address the comprehensive problem that we have and the threat it poses to education funding in the suburbs with the uncertainty going forward. And, again, this Chamber passed Senate Bill 1 with votes from every region of this State, suburbanites, downstaters, Chicagoans. So if you're a suburbanite, you better be afraid of what comes next when this bill passes and you eliminate the education funding formula, 'cause we weren't protected when that bill flew out of this Chamber last time. Returning to the same property tax structure we have now and having a worse system for suburban schools is what this bill encapsulates and I -- I just 51  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 don't understand why somebody from the suburbs would support it.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Further discussion? Leader Lightford, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you, Mr. President. To the bill.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) To the bill, Leader Lightford.

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, I am a suburbanite, but I also represent parts of Chicago as well. This is not an individual walk. If all of us would just realize that we have to protect all children across the State of Illinois, many of us should come to the conclusion that we cannot allow the Chicago Public School system to lose three thousand teachers. This is about layoffs. This is about making sure that our kids are not in overcrowded classrooms. And I would encourage all of us to just take a deep look at the bill. The bill has a lot of shared sacrifices from every single angle that we can think of and they're all very tough, difficult issues to address, but we all know that we have a dysfunctional system. Our school system -- our formula is wrong. It's been wrong for decades. If you live in a property rich district, you're paying more money into your school system. The kids are learning, but the residents are suffering because their property taxes are so high. But now switch that around. If you're in a property poor school district, you're paying a whole lot for schools, but your kids aren't learning, because the property wealth is still too low. So why don't we find a way to strike a balance to help all our kids learn? Why don't we come up 52  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 with a formula that's based on need, in which government is designed to do? So there's a way to finally get rid of the dysfunctional formula. We all know that we've talked about this with Senator Manar's bill for the last couple of years. Apparently that was not the answer, but we need to find the answer. We're constantly ranked fiftieth in everything across the board as it relates to giving our kids a quality education. So here's an opportunity for us to have a win-win in terms of helping our residents freeze their taxes, addressing our dysfunctional school formula, but also looking to make sure that the downstate pension and police and fire system has what they need. I mean, we're one State. We're the State of Illinois. We have to stop dividing ourselves geographically. So here's an example where we all have a shared sacrifice. This is real. Stop imitating or pretending that every bill come up on the board has some hidden agenda that is not real. This is real. This is an opportunity to make sure that we are still moving this State forward. I commend the President for coming up with a bill that brings all of us to the table, identifies some of our most critical problems that have an adverse effect on our budget. It has an effect on local government and it has a direct effect on the people, all of us. We're all taxpaying people in this room. We're not exempt from paying taxes. We're all a part of what's happening in the economy in the State of Illinois and I think we should stop taking an individual walk at this point and saying this is what my district need, but say this is what we need for the State of Illinois and for all its residents. I encourage an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Senator Manar, for what purpose do you rise? 53  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015

Question of the sponsor, Mr. President.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Indicates he will yield for questions. Senator Manar.

Mr. President, could you please describe for us the makeup of the commission that is designing the bill to come up with a new funding formula for schools?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton.

Yes, thank you. First of all, Senator, we changed the name from commission to committee, because there was some misunderstanding by some that thought that we were going to set up some kind of like a base closure commission that was going to impose its will on the General Assembly that we'd have to, you know, reject or -- or accept it with an up or down vote, so we changed the name to a -- a committee. It's a regular committee that we have for the General Assembly because we're talking about suggesting legislation and it would have a proposal for a new education funding formula to be -- reported by December 31st, 2016. The committee would consist of three Members of each legislative caucus with four co-chairmen.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Manar.

Thank you, Mr. President. To the bill. Let me begin by offering just a couple of corrections to the previous -- previous speaker, my -- my good friend. First of all, the -- this Chamber 54  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 hasn't passed Senate Bill 1. It was stated that the Senate has passed Senate Bill 1. Matter of fact, I think Senate Bill 1 is in the Assignments Committee today at this moment. The Chamber did pass Senate Bill 16, I believe on May the 27th of last year. Number two, the concept that suburban school districts are unified in opposition to what was contained in Senate Bill 16 or is contained today in Senate Bill 1 is just not true. That would be making a very complicated situation with school funding overly simplistic. There is a -- a shared disagreement among all of the State school districts about that particular bill, of which is still an open question. It's still an open question of public policy to us in this State. Number three, the idea that there should be fear or that people should be afraid of a conversation about school funding reform is exactly why we haven't been able to get it done, because those words were used by a previous speaker and that sets the conversation into a path that it ought not go, because we all know that there's all kinds of reasons why it's difficult to do it, but one of which, which we didn't take up in the conversation with EFAC, and I compliment the Democrats and Republicans that served on that committee here in the Senate, was property taxes. We avoided it because that dealt with the Tax Code and we decided we were going to deal with the School Code, not the Tax Code. So I compliment the sponsor for taking up the issue of property taxes. It should be said the reason why property taxes are what they are in the State is because we don't fund schools to the level that we ought to. That exacerbates the inequity. It relies more on local property taxpayers and school boards to raise taxes to do what the State isn't doing on its own. So we avoided that in the conversation. As a result of criticism, 55  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 constructive criticism, I would say - let me correct myself - from mostly the Republican side of the aisle - constructive criticism - this bill begins to address it. This bill begins to marry the issue of property tax relief, meaningful relief, with meaningful reform for public education. It's going to take time. It's going to take two years, but this is a step in that direction to get at what we've been trying to get at for years. Is it perfect? Of course it's not perfect, but it's a good step in the right direction. It begins to put us into a system that provides that every district plays by the same set of rules in the State, not - - not one set of rules for Chicago, not one set of rules for downstate districts or suburban districts or -- or any district. But one set of rules for every school district in the State. That's what this bill gets us closer to immediately and then long term. I would simply say that if there was ever an opportunity to advance the issue of property tax relief in the State Senate, this is the bill. It builds upon the fact that the Governor signed the education budget, because that was a good bill too. That was a - - a -- a glimmer of hope, of bipartisan compromise, because it changed how we appropriate money. This bill requires an increase investment to make sure that the districts that have any number of financial challenges are dealt with during that interim period. This builds upon what we've already established. This is our shot at passing a bill to answer the question that we need to answer in this State: How do we fix the worst nation -- the worst system in the nation when it comes to school funding? How do we offer meaningful property tax relief that is real, that can work for the people of the State and its schools? This is the bill. I urge an Aye vote. 56  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Rose, for what purpose do you rise?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Indicates he will yield for questions. Senator Rose.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton.

As best I can tell, I'm fairly certain that the Municipal League is neutral. There are unions who are opposed to the bill, teachers' unions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Rose.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton.

My staff tells me that they're opposed as well. They didn't testify in committee, so I wasn't aware.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) 57  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Senator Rose.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton.

Yes, first of all, it might be a small point, but we're calling it a committee, not a commission, because it's not going to have the authority to impose their will on the General Assembly. It's just meant to say that we're going to need to have a new school aid formula. And we have an equal number of -- of Members from each caucus and that we would -- because we want them to propose legislation. And the organization that you -- that had a report that you referred to, for example, was something that I think was even incorporated into Senate Bill 1. So all of those things could be part of the mix, but it's not necessarily going to be the same as Senate Bill 16, which we passed last year, or Senate Bill 1, which exists -- today. It's meant to be a process that is to make recommendations for legislation by the end of '16, because 58  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 the formula would -- would go away, sunset, a half year later. And, obviously, it's through legislation. And so that's why we have legislators making those recommendations and we can bring in any witnesses, obviously, to testify to the committee when -- throughout the entire State and I -- I would hope that -- that they would.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Rose.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) President Cullerton, to close.

Thank you, Mr. President. So if I can address some of the points that were raised. First of all, to my Republican counterpart, I understand that this bill does not have the collective bargaining provisions that were included in your legislation, but I would tell you that I did -- did have a meeting today with the Governor, where we discussed those same collective bargaining provisions and he made his point as to why he thought 59  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 they should be in here. Our discussion led us to talk, though, about the fact that there's other reasons why property taxes are -- are higher, especially for school districts. We talked, for example, about his own school district, which includes New Trier. I looked this up after the meeting. The last time we had these numbers reported, New Trier School District has eighty million dollars in reserves - three hundred and fourteen days of reserves. So that's part of a school reform -- or property tax reform conversation, I told him. Also, even though this bill says there shall be no cost shift, the fact is, and he acknowledged, that when you're negotiating teachers' contracts and you can send the pension bill to Springfield - if you're in every school district, except Chicago - that that might lead to higher property tax bills. And when you're the worst State in the nation in terms of providing State dollars to local school districts, of course that means the property taxes are higher than they should be. And while acknowledging all those things, he just wanted to make sure that the collective bargaining part was passed. And -- and so, you know, that's not -- all those things are not in this bill. And so what is in this bill, though, is a freeze. And the school districts can handle that freeze if they're sitting on eighty million dollars of reserves and the poorer school districts are going to get money with a seventy-four-million-dollar appropriation. Now, with regard to the school aid formula, just to make the point, I know we're not supposed to name names of legislators in debate, so the gentleman from Palatine, I can understand why you are concerned about property taxes, why you put those bills in, 'cause I am -- I'm assuming you were shocked last year when you got your property tax bill and it went up by two hundred and ninety-one dollars and 60  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 forty-eight cents. And you were probably shocked because the previous year it only went up by a hundred and three dollars and twenty-five cents. So, you and I want to do something about property taxes. This is a freeze. You -- hopefully you won't get any increase in the two years while we have this freeze. But you're concerned about Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 16. We have a Governor who's a Republican, who's from -- owns a home in Winnetka. I don't think you're going to have to worry about a school aid formula being imposed on you when the Governor has to sign the bill. If you don't trust him, I don't think that's fair. I think that he will be concerned about what the Legislature passes in that whole process. So, I just wanted to address the fact that I think the fact that it sunsets is not something for you to be concerned about. And as far as Chicago's concerned, obviously, there's been - everybody's aware of it - there's no more games to be played. They're out of money. The fact is that pension parity I think is fair. I think that the fact that they're -- the -- the change in the ramp is -- has been anticipated, because we passed a bill imposing this new ramp on 'em like five years ago. It's a reasonable two-year ramp. It's a change, it's not a holiday, and it would provide relief so that there won't be massive layoffs this year. So, for those reasons, I would ask for an Aye vote.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Ladies and Gentlemen, as the bill has an immediate effective date and it preempts home rule, passage will require thirty-six votes. The question is, shall Senate Bill 316 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 32 61  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 22 voting Present. Having failed to receive the required constitutional majority, is declared failed. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'll turn to the regular Calendar on the Order of House Bills 3rd Reading, we have House Bill 1081. President Cullerton, do you wish to proceed? Out of the record. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to turn to Resolutions on the Supplemental Calendar. Supplemental Calendar No. 1 has been distributed. Secretary's Desk, Resolutions. We have Senate Resolution 760. Senator Bush. Mr. Secretary, please read the resolution.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Bush.

Thank you so much, Mr. President. Senate Resolution, excuse me, 760 is something we actually saw earlier as a joint resolution. It wasn't called in the House, so we're bringing it back as a Senate resolution because I think the work is really important to get going on up in Lake County this year. So it creates a work group of local government -- on local government consolidation to identify benefits and challenges of consolidating units of local government and special districts in Lake County. The work group will be comprised of sixteen members and will be required to meet at least once every three months. We'll have a report to the General Assembly by October 1, 2016. I would urge an Aye vote. Happy to answer any questions.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion on the resolution? Seeing 62  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 none, as this resolution requires the expenditure of funds, it will require a roll call vote. The question is, shall Senate Resolution 760 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 49 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. Senate Resolution 760, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. Ladies and Gentlemen, on the regular Calendar on the Order of Resolutions -- Senator Delgado, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. I just wanted a personal privilege, sir.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Please state your point, Senator Delgado.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just want to acknowledge a friend of mine here from the local Springfield community, David Gonzalez, who's joined me here in the gallery and someone who's served as a translator and at one point in time was effected by these cuts down in Taylorville. Welcome to your Capitol, David.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Mr. Gonzalez, welcome to the Senate. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's welcome our guest to the Illinois Senate. Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, on page 15 of the regular Calendar on the Order of Resolutions, we have Senate Resolution 679. Senator Koehler, do you wish to proceed? Mr. Secretary, please read the resolution.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Koehler, to your resolution.

Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. This is exactly the same resolution as was introduced by Representative Don Moffitt in the House, HR 155. This would -- comes from a constituent. It requests that -- the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs to extensively examine the impact of depleted uranium exposure on Illinois servicemembers and veterans. This comes by the way of the family of Private First Class Barnes, who died, unfortunately, due to cancer, but was exposed to depleted uranium during his second tour of duty in Iraq. And we would like to make sure that our veterans aren't, you know, exposed to this without -- without knowledge and without something being done about it. So I'd ask for support.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion on the resolution? Seeing none, as this resolution requires the expenditure of funds, it does require a roll call vote. Ladies and Gentlemen, the question is, shall Senate Resolution 679 pass. All 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 51 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. Senate Resolution 679, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. Still on page 15, Senate Resolution 720. Leader Harmon. Mr. Secretary, please read the resolution.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Leader Harmon.

Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. Senate Resolution 720 would designate September of this year as Global Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month. Pulmonary fibrosis, for those of you who don't know, is a -- an awful disease with no cure. It has touched my family. It has touched President Cullerton's family. I'm sure it has touched many of your families and many of the families you represent. So I'd ask for your Aye votes in -- in recognition of this.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion? Is there any discussion? All those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the resolution passes. Next up, we're going to go to Senate Resolution 743. Leader Muñoz, on 743. Mr. Secretary, please read Leader Muñoz's resolution.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Leader Muñoz. SENATOR MUÑOZ: Thank you, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate. The resolution designates August 18, 2015 as Vision 20/20 21st Century Learning Day in the State of Illinois. I would ask for its adoption.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion on the resolution? Seeing 65  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 none, all those in favor will say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the resolution is adopted. Next, we're going to go to Senate Joint Resolution 30. Senator Koehler. Mr. Secretary, please read the resolution.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Koehler.

Thank you -- thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Senate. This resolution would designate a portion of Illinois Route 24 between Bartonville and Peoria as the "Jim Thome Highway". I hope I don't have to explain to a lot of people who Jim Thome was. He's a local hero. He'll be definitely in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but his dad still lives in the area, and this is a way to honor Jim because he is very giving back in -- in terms of all the philanthropy that he does in his hometown. So I'd appreciate support.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion on the resolution? Seeing none, as this resolution requires the expenditure of funds, a roll call vote will be required. Ladies and Gentlemen, the question is, shall Senate Joint Resolution 30 pass. All in favor will vote Aye. Opposed, Nay. And the voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Secretary, take the resolution {sic}. On that question, there are 53 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. Senate Joint Resolution, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. Still on page 15, House Joint Resolution 78. 66  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 Senator Barickman. Mr. Secretary, please read the resolution.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Senator Barickman.

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Thank you. Is there any discussion on the resolution? Seeing none, as this resolution requires the expenditure of State funds, roll -- a roll call vote will be required. The question is, shall House Joint Resolution 78 pass. All 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? Mr. Secretary, take the record. On that question, there are 54 voting Aye, 0 voting Nay, 0 voting Present. House Joint Resolution 78, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. We will now proceed to the Order of Resolutions Consent Calendar. With leave of the Body, all those resolutions read in today will be added to the Consent Calendar. Mr. Secretary, have there been any objections filed to any resolution on the Consent Calendar?

PRESIDING OFFICER: (SENATOR SULLIVAN) Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the question is, shall the resolutions on the Consent Calendar be adopted. All those in favor, say Aye. Opposed, Nay. The Ayes have it, and the motion 67  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY REGULAR SESSION SENATE TRANSCRIPT 61st Legislative Day 7/15/2015 carries, and the resolutions are adopted. Ladies and Gentlemen, there being no further business to come before the Senate, pursuant to House Joint Resolution 85, the Senate stands adjourned to the call of the President. The Senate is adjourned. 68