- Introductory Music - Following.

General assembly is entering the final month of a scheduled spring session at the Illinois state Capitol after an historic change in leadership in the Illinois house of representatives.

Welcome to Illinois Lawmakers.

I'm Jack Tichenor along with Rich Miller of capitolfax.com.

Rich, there's some breaking news as we start the program.

- Yes, the governor plans to announce today that the bridge phase will start in a week from Friday whatever that date is.

And that means a full reopening if everything stays on track.

We'll be at approximately June 11th.

Also because the revenues, a state revenues, are coming in much better than expected, he had deleted a $350 million appropriation to K through 12 education for the evidence-based funding formula that took years to get in place.

And he's going to put that back in.

- And that was - That had been a major sticking point with Democrats and Republicans in both chambers and the speaker of the house, the Senate president, the Republican leaders that were all clamoring for that to go back in and - That's an extremely important part for for both parties because the, the, the reform that led up to that was, was truly bipartisan in nature.

I want to ask you, of course, the history made earlier this year with the first black speaker of the Illinois house of representatives, State Representative Emanuel "Chris" Welch.

We'll talk to him later.

How's he doing on the job so far?

- Well, I mean, you know, he's new, right?

I, I think he's still getting his arms around it.

I think he's always been perceived as a gentleman, a person of his word, and he's dealt with various issues pretty well as they've come up.

But, you know, as you know, you been around quite awhile the real test is the next four weeks.

So I ask me that question at the end of May and I'll be able to tell you better.

- We will be back at the end of May to ask you that question exactly but in the next 30 seconds or so, the real thing is, at this point, got to pass a budget.

The budget is looking a little bit better after those new numbers that have codified though.

- Right.

They have to pass a budget that the new numbers actually make it more, a little bit more difficult because the more money you have, the more they want.

Members want to spend, right?

So that could make it a little difficult but they also have to pass a new district map.

It's been a 10 year census was done and now they need to do redistricting.

They'll have the votes for that.

It's just kind of a pain in the rear to get that done, but they'll get it done.

- Rich Miller, thanks very much for your expertise and your time on Illinois Lawmakers.

Always appreciated.

Democratic house speaker, Emanuel "Chris" Welch of Hillside joins us now on Illinois Lawmakers.

His first appearance on the program after his historic election earlier this year as the first black speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Congratulations, Mr. Speaker.

It's great to have you on the program.

- Well, thank you, Jack.

It's an honor.

Thank you so much for having me.

- I'd like to kind of do a little bit of a background here.

You started out your career in broadcast journalism in college in Chicago then went on to become a successful lawyer.

You were a school board member for many years in the Proviso township high school.

How did that lay the foundation for for your career in the Illinois House of Representatives?

- Well, I'll tell you actually, I feel like all of my experiences have come together nicely and prepared me for the job that I have today.

From my time on the assignment desk at WGN TV to practicing law for the last 23 years, I've been on a school board for 12 years, 10 of those years as the board chair and eight years here prior to becoming speaker, I think it all comes together very well.

And I use those talents that I learned in each of those jobs on this job almost on a daily basis.

And, but I will tell you a school board definitely prepares you well for life in the legislature Being a school board president all those years, I'm seeing a lot of similarities in that old job and this new job.

- No doubt about it.

You took office after one of the after the longest serving house speaker in the United States, Michael Madigan.

Speaker Madigan was known affectionately to some as the velvet hammer for his style and leading the Illinois House of Representatives quiet, but a very firm.

How would you describe your leadership style?

I'm hearing some folks refer to you more as the chairman of the board type of leader.

- Well, yeah, my my style is definitely a little different.

I believe in democratized, decentralized leadership.

I definitely don't believe in the old top-down approach.

We have a very diverse caucus and, you know, diversity is our strength.

And I think it's important that all voices are heard.

Everyone feels a part of the process and that's what makes us strong.

That's what's gonna make us stronger.

And so I would describe my role in the process as a speaker with a little bit more of an inclusive approach.

- You know, as you said, the diversity is a strength of the house democratic caucus but it's also a kind of a balancing act.

As you, as you walk through the various interests that come to the table in, in Springfield, one of those areas of course has to do with police reform, the bills that move out of the legislature earlier this year, you know, resulted from years of pent up frustration on the part of the black community in the state of Illinois but it was a hard sell for some white members of the general assembly.

Some Democrats still want to end qualified immunity for police officers.

What, where do you stand on that?

- Well, you know, I think that first of all, we have to be proud of the work that we did back in January and really be proud of the historic legislation that we passed in the criminal justice reform pillar and the other three pillars.

And when I say we, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus worked all last summer, a fall and winter on a black agenda.

In all four of those bills actually passed the legislature and had been signed by the governor.

Qualified immunity was something that was a contentious issue.

It was taken out of the bill in January.

And I think it's important that we allow the bill that has now been signed into law time to work.

And we also allow the task force that was negotiated as a part of that bill, time to do its job in time to report back to us on its findings.

I think that's extremely important.

That was some huge monumental historic legislation.

We need to give it time to work allow the taskforce time to do its job before we make any other changes.

And we'll be happy to revisit that at the appropriate time.

- You know, we're, we're less than a month away from the scheduled end of the legislative session on the 31st.

Talk about the mechanics now of trying to put a budget together in the time of COVID.

You know, we, we just had, of course, last fall, the governor's graduated income tax referendum fail.

There will be billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds coming into the state.

How do you put the whole package together and try to balance this thing out before the end of the, end of the session, on the 31st.

- Well, Jack, you know last year, we put a budget together in three days.

We were only here last year in 2020 for three days in the month of May.

We have been here in Springfield.

We are working during the work of the people.

We've had a very, very busy April and we're going to have a very busy May.

Everyone's been vaccinated and we're here ready to do the people's work.

And we're going to take it piece by piece, step by step.

The appropriations committees are doing their work.

And I anticipate in the next couple of weeks that it all come together and I will get a budget passed on time that protects our most vulnerable, is balanced and something that we can all be proud of.

- The federal stimulus money will be a key to getting this together.

Of course, the tax increase that passed a couple of years ago, you're still generating money, but the the legislative's bipartisan committee or commission on government forecasting and accountability said the other day that we're not out of the woods by any stretch, at this point, we're still on thin ice.

How do we continue to make progress given the fact that we're still billions of dollars behind because of COVID and the economy?

- Well, I think we're, we're going to continue to make progress because now we have some leadership in Washington that supports what States and local governments are doing.

Make no mistake about it, the American rescue plan is certainly something that we should be thankful for.

We have a huge infusion of dollars coming into the state.

$13.2 billion was allocated to the state of Illinois.

7 billion for the state, 6 billion to local governments.

That's something that as a new speaker, I'm certainly happy that we have that in hand, as we prepare to put this budget on the board, that's very helpful.

I also think we're in pretty good shape because we've seen higher revenues in the general fund than we had anticipated.

You know, we thought the pandemic would, would be more devastating than it has been but we've seen some good numbers coming out of Kakoa.

And let me, let me say this.

We're going to put a responsible, balanced budget on the board and I'm really proud of the fact that just recently, the comptroller announced that from we're down from $17 billion in unpaid bills to about 3.5 billion.

You know, we've, we've making some significant progress and we're going to continue to make progress just like that.

- One of the things that Governor Pritzker has asked for is he wants to close something like $900 million in the, the gap between revenues and spending by closing some certain business tax loopholes.

Democrats of course might be interested in that.

The Republicans are fighting tooth and nail against it.

Will that be, will those closing of those tax loopholes be part of the final package in your view.

- Jack, you've covered us a long time down here in Springfield, you know that anything the governor proposes in his budget speech is just a proposal, is mandated by the Constitution, that he kick off the process by giving a budget speech.

And that's just a proposal.

And now the process is well underway and we are negotiating, you know, the House, the Senate, Dems, Republicans the governor's office is involved.

The process is working.

And I think you're gonna find that we agree with a lot of what the governor proposed but we also disagree with some of the things that he proposed.

And that we're, we're, we're pushing back but the process is working the way it's intended.

And I believe by the end of the month, we're going to pass a budget that most folks can be proud of.

- Of course, the lawmakers, a few years ago, on a bipartisan vote passed a historic school funding reform promising to add $350 billion a year in new school funding.

Will that be a part of this package, Mr. Speaker?

- Well, evidence-based funding is one of those issues that, you know, we're already seeing pushback on.

You know, the governor's proposal, I believe left it flat and members both on both sides of the aisle want to see us to continue to increase the funding for EBF.

And so that's an issue that, again, that was one of the areas of disagreement right now.

So the process is working and we gotta, we gotta keep pushing.

- One of the things too that still out on the out on the horizon, of course, is legislative redistricting.

You've, you've in the past, favored more of an independent commission to do this.

What will be in your view, a fair map when before we get to before we get to June and this might have to go to the old, the old fashioned legislative redistricting commission.

- Well, I'll tell you this, and I've said it before.

I think a fair map is a map that will reflect the diversity of our great state.

This is a truly diverse state and any map that's put on the board that doesn't reflect its diversity, I don't know how anyone could call that a fair map.

And you know, at the end of the day, that's the bottom line.

A fair map is going to have to reflect the diversity of the state of Illinois.

- Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your time on Illinois Lawmakers.

We will be happy to have you back on the program later on in the year.

- Listen, Jack.

Thank you so much for having me.

- Illinois Lawmakers welcomes Senator Jason Barickman to the program.

Senator, thanks for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

- It's been a quite a year in terms of a 12 month span on what the legislature has been able to do and not do when it comes to COVID-19.

Obviously things look a lot different this spring.

The Senate and the House are able to meet at the Capitol in person.

But how do you think priorities have changed in terms of what is top priority this year versus last year?

- Well, you know, top priority every year, I think, COVID or not is the budget and the impacts on the state budget have been extreme as result of COVID.

You couple with that, the federal stimulus funds that are evidently in route to the state and what it means is we're going to have a budget year like none other that we've seen at least in recent years.

We still have monumental challenges in front of us.

I think the federal stimulus money has an ability to put a bandaid under, on some of those underlying problems.

Hopefully that doesn't mean we just punt those problems off to the future.

You know, the, the work that has long been needed by the legislature to address some of these systemic budget issues, it still exists whether COVID, whether federal stimulus or not those challenges are there and they deserve to be addressed this year.

- COVID related, but not necessarily budget related.

A new report came out last week.

The Pritzker administration released findings about what happened at the LaSalle Veterans Home where dozens of veterans died in a COVID-19 outbreak.

There were a lot of details in that report that showed lots of problems.

Miscommunication, protocols that were either not known or not followed.

In your mind, is there enough oversight over the veterans homes and the Department of Veterans Affairs in this state?

- Well, first of all, this is a just a devastating situation and your, your heart goes out to the families and the people who've been impacted by it.

Ultimately, this is a devastating failure of leadership that starts at the top.

You know, our veterans homes are under the oversight of the Governor.

The Governor is accountable to the people and what's clear is that the Governor failed in delivering services to a critical population for us, right?

These are, these are our war veterans, people who've served their country.

The state needs to care for, for these, you know for these individuals and the Pritzker administration just totally failed here.

That report, I think, is a stunner for anyone to read.

There's no defense to it.

You know, in addition to the communication challenges that you presented, the bottom line is this that agency was run by someone hand-selected by Governor Pritzker.

It's an appointee of him, of his.

His lack of oversight, his decision-making, on this critical issue just fell far short of what the expectations the public has.

So I think the Governor needs to address this report.

He needs to tell the public how he's going to make things different because ultimately he works for, he works for, the people of this state, and we all expect him to do better in this regard.

- You mentioned the budget earlier, which of course is is the biggest thing that the legislature deals with from year to year.

With federal stimulus money and recovery money coming in, there's still some talk of education funding, still kind of up in the air.

The $350 million when it comes to performance-based funding, evidence-based funding, is still in some people's eyes a question mark.

Where does education funding stand?

- Well, I think this is an area where there's a potential for a bipartisan agreement.

Notably the Governor in his introduced budget fell far short of what is required by law in terms of funding of our public schools.

Remember, we went through a historic change in law that was designed to put money in the hands of the schools and the kids who need it the most.

Governor Pritzker in his budget address earlier this year said he would not fulfill that obligation that law that requires that.

I think Republicans and Democrats are going to come together and push back on the Governor's initially proposed budget.

We're going to do the right thing here, not withstanding the governor's opposition to it, and I think we're going to be able to come to an agreement to put that money into the schools where, where it's needed and where it's required by law to be.

- About a minute or so remaining.

What priorities are you hearing from your district, from your constituents?

What do they need from Springfield this year?

- Well, everyone wants to see the state be stable and predictable.

I think that starts with a budget.

I, it starts with having an environment that is stable and predictable to the people that live there, taxpayers.

But also to the job creators who we need, not only in central Illinois, but in all pockets of this state.

So that's first and foremost, to the extent we can reform our environment to make Illinois a destination, I think would be a massive step forward.

You know we're seeing too many people leaving the state, middle-class families who see their future elsewhere.

We've got to keep them here and the way to keep them here is through having, growing our economy and creating job opportunities, you know, within our state.

Beyond that, the other issue, I think, is ethics reform.

People are just fed up with the corruption that exists in this state.

We saw it potentially, you know brought down Speaker Madigan.

The legislature has an important role here.

We need to prove to the people of this state that we understand, you know, that ethics reform might be tough but it's necessary and the people deserve it.

So I'm hopeful that we can see an agreement on that, those ethical reforms, and we can begin to take a step forward and restoring the faith that, that Illinoisans need to have in their government.

- Always out of time, before we run out of things to talk about.

Senator Barickman, thanks so much for your time.

- Thanks for having me.

Always good to talk to you.

- Illinois Lawmakers continues with state Senator Cristina Castro, the chair of the Senate Executive Committee, committees.

Senator, thanks for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- You know, the session looks quite a bit different than last year with an abbreviated session, the house was in a different location because of COVID 19 restrictions, you're still dealing with COVID-19, it looms large in everything that's being decided but how would you compare to the two sessions?

Are you as effective last year as you can be this year or vice versa?

- Well, Jennifer, have you remember, you know, COVID-19 was still raging across the state and we didn't know a lot about the virus, right?

Obviously a year later we have vaccines, doctors have understood a little bit more about the virus.

Obviously the CDC has come out with various guidances and change them as the year has gone along.

So we've kind of followed those guidances.

I'm fully vaccinated so I, but I still wear a mask, and I'm fairly comfortable working through the setting.

And so it is a little different.

So we are, you are seeing more folks interact.

You're seeing obviously reporters and lobbyists are now allowed to come into building.

Obviously they have to get tested and follow the safety protocols that we do.

And it's really just to keep everyone safe.

So while it was a little different last year, you know, obviously you had, when you were watching us vote on things, it was little pockets of folks coming in.

Now, as long as we follow within the guidelines, you know, we still are able to do what we need to do to get work done.

So yeah, this is a much more livelier session maybe not as what people have seen like in 20, 19 and 18, but you know we're slowly getting back to what is normal, right?

And so lawmakers are down here.

We're talking about different things and while the rotunda may seem dead, there's still a lot of work going on, whether it's in the committee work, whether it's in folks' offices and whatnot.

- Obviously one of the largest things that the legislature works on from year to year would be the budget.

How have priorities for that changed because of COVID-19?

- I think we've, you know, as you saw the Senate as well I believe the house is doing there's but the Senate has held numerous hearings about the budget through the general main approach, a committee, but also the subcommittees talking about a lot of the impact not only how COVID-19 has impacted the budget, staff but also looking at all the different issues that will we still have to fund.

Right.

I think one of the things people are wondering and waiting to see is obviously all the federal care act money that came recently and how it could be applied.

I think one of the things that's it shouldn't be applied to create new programs.

This is my opinion, but mostly to look at where we fill in gaps and other things that we need to do based on shortages because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So I think we're having a lot of those discussions as we speak right now.

And we look forward to continuing those conversations as we get toward the end of May.

- COVID related, a new report came out.

The Pritzker administration released last week as it relates to the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home.

And it showed some, some pretty chaotic moments, lack of communication, protocols falling down.

In your mind, is there enough oversight over the Illinois Veterans Administration, Veterans Affairs department?

This only comes just a few years after the Quincy Veterans Home had issues with Legionnaires' disease.

- You know, I, when I saw the article in the Chicago Tribune it was very troubling.

I'm the wife of a veteran so obviously the care of our veterans is the first and foremost concern of mine.

I think, I have not fully read the Inspector General's report.

I would take that the Senate in the next coming, upcoming oasis sentience veterans committee will be hosting having those types of hearings to discuss, to review the report, and also discuss what has been done since the report has come out.

- Just a minute or two remaining.

Obviously the number of events that you're able to have in districts, talking with your constituents about their priorities and what they need from the legislature this year, has been curtailed because of COVID-19, but that doesn't stop people from contacting your office and getting in touch with you.

What are they saying in terms of what they want from Springfield this year?

- I think one of the things that I will say it may seem curtailed but it's actually not.

As you, as we are communicating right now, Zoom has been an integral way that we communicate with our constituents.

Many of them have created accounts and I have met with a lot of them.

Obviously where I can safely meet with some I have met with some, whether it's in my office or one-on-one obviously was six feet apart.

But I think one of the things that I have found is the impact, especially in disproportionately impacted communities like mine.

Elgin is heavily Latino, but you have a very, a lot of folks who have been impacted by COVID.

And I think making sure that the resources are there, vaccine availability which obviously now we have almost it seems like an abundance because you know, supply keeps ramping up but making sure they had access, communicating to them about the different programs that are available whether it's through the state or individual Counties.

So I represent two counties, Cane and Cook.

And so a lot of that has been just kind of helping them navigate that process.

When they talk about Springfield, obviously, just still priorities that were normal priorities in a regular session, but also, you know, just concerns about the budget, kind of where it's at.

Obviously education funding is very important.

Maintaining that, you know, constant payment of 350 I've heard a lot about that.

And I think that's something that we in the general assembly agree with and are trying to figure that out.

It is a priority to all of us, especially since I have the second largest school district.

As you know, and that's when we had education reform.

And that was very important to make sure we make those payments as required.

- Absolutely.

Senator Castro, thanks so much for your time.

- Thank you, Jennifer.

- That'll do it for this week's edition of Illinois Lawmakers.

Thanks for joining us.

For Jack Tichenor, I'm Jennifer Fuller.

- Closing Music.