“For we know when a nation goes down and never comes back, when a society or a civilization perishes, one condition may always be found. They forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what brought them along.”
~Carl Sandburg
Galesburg, Illinois
Veto Session Begins October 19
After regular session ends on May 31st, the state legislature usually does not come back until Fall. ON the calendar is two weeks of Veto Session October 19-21 and October 26-28, often times the second week is canceled.
Veto session is a time where we consider legislation that is pending from the Spring, legislation that the Governor Vetoed and the sponsor wants to try to override, and even new legislation that the majority party wants to pass.
Here is what you can expect will be debated:
1. Healthcare Rights of Conscience Law. This legislation protects people from having to participate in medical procedures against their conscience. Gov. Pritzker wants the law changed so that people who do not want to take the COVID vaccine cannot use this law to protect themselves from the mandates he has imposed on public and private workers.
2. Repeal of Parental Notice of Abortion. The Pro-Aborts are out for blood. This legislation stalled in the Spring session but may be up for consideration next week. The Democrats are looking for a win for Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby that funds their campaigns in the wake of the Texas law limiting abortion before a heartbeat is determined. It is under the same mood that the Democrats passed one of the most extreme abortion laws in America in Spring 2019. They couldn’t stand that life was winning in other states.
3. Congressional Maps. With other state maps fully gerrymandered to the Democrat advantage, we will now consider Congressional Maps. Our current 18 districts with 13 – Democrat and 5 Republican has been pared down to just 17 Congressional Districts. The Democrats are attempting to divide up the state precinct by precinct to pick their voters and give them a 14-3 advantage which would strengthen their grip on Congress.
4. IDES. We owe $4.3 billion to the federal government for borrowing to shore up our unemployment insurance fund. We have already accumulated $6 million in interests costs on the borrowed money and there are laws that will trigger automatic cuts to benefits if we don’t pay back the funds and also increases to employers. Read more here.
5. Criminal Justice Reform. Democrats want to get rid of Qualified Immunity for police officers. This protects them in the performance of their duties from lawsuits as long as they have complied with best practices and training. It is a highly controversial topic.
Lofty Energy Promises From Pritzker
Gov. J.B. Pritzker hailed the energy policy overhaul he signed last month as a “giant leap forward” in addressing Illinois’ contributions to climate change, but Illinois has a track record of setting and celebrating renewable energy targets only to miss the mark by a wide margin.
At the heart of the wide-ranging new law are ambitious goals to vastly increase the share of electricity consumed in the state that comes from renewable sources like wind and solar — to 40% by 2030 and 50% a decade later — and to eliminate carbon pollution from power production by midcentury.
The reality is, in 2007 the state set a goal of reaching 25% renewable power by 2025, and 14 years in, we are only at 8%.
One of the major reasons the state has failed to meet its targets is that utility regulators essentially instructed the Illinois Power Agency to ignore the percentage-based goals in favor of other policies that focus on in-state renewable energy development. As long as this continues to be the policy focus, it’s going to naturally raise the cost of complying with the target because it’s not searching for the lowest-cost source of energy, it’s searching for an in-state source of energy.
TOP PRIORITY: PROTECT KIDS’ HAIR
Forget illegal immigration, crime and the economy. Illinois cares about your kid’s hair. On October 6, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 817. The measure, that prohibits Illinois schools from issuing policies on hairstyles associated with race or ethnicity, will soon be state law. State Sen. Mike Simmons brought the bill forward, and the legislation will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022.
See You In Court
Money is being raised in several Chicagoland school districts to join a consolidated action against Governor J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Public Health, The Kerr Report has learned.
Tom DeVore, an attorney based in downstate Greenville, IL, plans to file the action within the next week to 10 days. “We want to consolidate it all into one case,” DeVore told The Kerr Report by phone Friday. “Parents and teachers in individual school districts, if they want to join on behalf of other school districts and put into one big case.”
The large scale aspect of this action, involving three of the largest school districts by enrollment in Chicagoland, is unprecedented. Devore hoped to have all the participants in the lawsuit confirmed by Oct. 13 and has already notified the Illinois State’s Attorney Office of plans to file the complaint by Oct. 18.
Dangerous Nonsense
Apparently, Attorney General Merrick Garland doesn’t know that a real crime requires violence or a threat to commit either violence or some other illegal act. Instead he is choosing to use the power of his office to go after furious parents across the country who are pushing back against their school boards about Critical Race Theory in classrooms, mask mandates and explicit materials for minors about sexuality and gender.
Here in Illinois, it’s been over two years since a federal criminal investigation was opened about Gov. JB Pritzker’s removal of toilets to reduce property taxes. It’s still open. But now the U.S. Attorney’s office in northern Illinois, which is handling the case, is ordered to spend time on parents and school boards.
Oh, and there’s this little nugget: Garland’s son-in-law is the co-founder and president of Panorama Education, which sells teacher training and curriculum for race-focused surveys and conducts training on systemic oppression, white supremacy, unconscious bias, and intersectionality. Isn’t that special.
We Are Here To Serve You!
Thank you to everyone who participated in
our Town Hall meeting on October 13!
Enjoyed My Visit with the First Responders At The Monticello Fire Department
Central Illinois Pumpkin Patches And More
http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/ILpcentral.php
As a state representative, my office is available to assist you with any issues you may have when interacting with a state agency. Whether you need help with unemployment claims, getting a FOID card, renewing your drivers license or resolving a tax problem, we are here to serve you.
Oftentimes, some of the best legislation comes from people who see where the law is unworkable or simply unfair.
If you have ideas on how the state of Illinois could improve, let’s sit down and discuss if a legislative fix is needed.
Please call our office at 217.876.1968 to get help or schedule an appointment to see me. The office is located at 715 W Imboden Dr, Decatur.
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