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END-OF-SESSION ROUND UP
Concealed Carry
On the final day of regular session, I voted for and aided in the passage of concealed-carry legislation. The passage of this legislation was a product of six months of hard work and compromise, and brings us one step closer to providing concealed carry to the residents of Lake County. The bill now waits for the governor’s signature.
Responsible Budgeting
 Last year, those that took profits on stock sales created unanticipated revenues for the state. Because of this, we were able to allocate $876 million in 2013 and $650 million in 2014 to pay down overdue bills. Because the governor’s budget called for disastrous cuts to K-12 education, the unanticipated tax revenues allowed us to restore K-12 education funding to 2012 levels and not cut it even further. Additionally, there is no cut to school transportation in our budget, as was also originally proposed by the governor. We were also able to hold the line on General State Aid by adding $155 million above what will be spent in the current state budget. And finally, we collectively fought for and restored full funding to the Local Government Distributive Fund.
While I understand that our fiscal crisis is severe, I strongly opposed any attempts to balance our state’s finances on the backs of children, local governments or those most in need.
Fracking
This session also saw the passage of fracking regulations in Illinois. For those who are not already aware, “fracking” refers to high-volume oil and gas drilling that is especially effective in Southern Illinois.
Although I preferred a moratorium on fracking until a final Illinois Environmental Protection Agency study is released in 2014, I am pleased that the bill that passed includes some of the strictest protections and environmental safeguards in the country. These protections will help us conscientiously encourage an industry that will provide extraction jobs and low-cost energy to Lake County refineries and manufacturing plants. Fracking also requires steel tube and pipe, which could enhance the Illinois steel industry and put steelworkers around our area back to work.
Energy
We were also able to pass legislation that creates the Offshore Wind Energy Economic Development Policy Task Force. The task force will report back with an analysis and evaluation of opportunities for renewable offshore wind energy. It is my hope that success with wind energy will aid in a cleaner and greener Illinois for generations to come.
The Economy
 In hearings I attended across the state, the message we heard over and over again was that Illinois needed a strategic statewide economic development plan. This idea spurred on legislation to create a public-private partnership tasked with forming such a plan. Lake County used a similar concept to great success, creating jobs through a public-private partnership called Lake County Partners. House Bill 1544 will help Illinois replicate Lake County’s successes by putting our own business leaders in the driver’s seat of our state’s strategic business plan. I truly believe a unified plan written in cooperation with the public and private sectors will create new business opportunities and sharpen Illinois’ economic development agenda. It would help set state economic development policies and strategies, giving the state clear, measurable goals for future economic success.
Election Reform
The General Assembly passed a package of election reform changes that do a number of important things, such as allow absentee voters to register online. As a whole, I was a huge proponent of the reforms. Unfortunately, the bill included a provision that created a five-member Lake County election commission to effectively take over the election duties of the county clerk’s office.
This piece singled out Lake County for a separate and unrelated unilateral change in the elections process, without our constituents’ consent. In my mind it was unneeded interference with local government and potentially wasteful duplication. Despite my “no” vote, the bill passed both houses and is currently in the governor’s hands.
Gaming Expansion
The Senate passed a gaming expansion bill on May 1. I voted "no," because this particular gaming bill diverted almost all its revenue to special interests. It is simply a continuation of the culture that I vowed to fight when I came to Springfield. If we are to pass gaming expansion in Illinois, it needs to be done responsibly – which means taking the revenue generated from gaming and directing it to education funding and debt relief. Although the legislation passed the Senate without my support, it has since stalled in the House of Representatives.
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