May 24, 2025 • 29 mins
Illinois lawmakers passed several bills this week including reform for the Prisoner Review Board and banning carbon sequestration near the Mahomet Aquifer. But with one week left in the spring session, big issues like the budget and mass transit reform still remain. Hosted by Jak Tichenor.
GUESTS:
Jerry Nowicki, Editor-in-Chief, Capitol News Illinois
Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), Senate President
Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet)
Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado (D-Chicago), Assistant House Majority Leader
ABOUT THE SHOW:
“Illinois Lawmakers” is the longest-running television series offering continuing coverage of the Illinois General Assembly. Now in its 40th year of production, the series has found a new home with Capitol News Illinois. Learn more at capitolnewsillinois.com. Capitol News Illinois is a program of the Illinois Press Foundation.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heartland-newsfeed-radio-network--2904397/support.
GUESTS:
Jerry Nowicki, Editor-in-Chief, Capitol News Illinois
Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), Senate President
Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet)
Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado (D-Chicago), Assistant House Majority Leader
ABOUT THE SHOW:
“Illinois Lawmakers” is the longest-running television series offering continuing coverage of the Illinois General Assembly. Now in its 40th year of production, the series has found a new home with Capitol News Illinois. Learn more at capitolnewsillinois.com. Capitol News Illinois is a program of the Illinois Press Foundation.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heartland-newsfeed-radio-network--2904397/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome back to our weekly edition of Illinois Lawmakers. I'm
Jack Titchener along with Jerry Nowicki, editor in chief for
Capital News Illinois. Jerry, good to have you back on
the show.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good to be back.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We're less than a week and a half away from
the General Assembly scheduled of German on May thirty. First.
Lots to be decided at this point. The budget, of course,
is the biggest item that remains to be settled. And
what are you hearing from your sources about where things
stand behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, you know, as we sit here, it's sort of
just watching what the federal government is doing, watching the
prospects of President Trump's budget bill and just the what
they're calling the Big Beautiful bill, and just sort of
taking in the level of cuts that will happen to
Medicaid and as a state reacting to that, and just
(01:11):
kind of acting with the information that's available right now.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
As things stand now. Of course, some of these issues
we may not know the answers to them for weeks,
if not months to come. So is it likely lawmakers
are going to basically sit down with the revenues that
they know that they have in hand, and it looks
like that somewhere between fifty four and fifty five billion
dollars and basically pass a budget and then take a
(01:40):
look and wait and see what happens.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, I think there's always the possibility that they come
back to sort of tweak the baseline budget numbers. I
think you can get a pretty good sense of the
general revenue in terms of what's going to be available
for certain things. But it's Medicaid that's really going to
have a wrench thrown into it should this congressional bill
become law.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, the latest figures I've seen from the Congressional Budget
Office say somewhere around a half a million Illinois might
lose Medicaid coverage. And there's no way that the state
can actually this state or any other state can actually
make up that kind of money because of the kinds
of taxes you'd.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Have to raise, right, And I mean that type of
thing makes hospital care more expensive. The costs are just
sort of shifted into people with insurance and whatever else.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Mass transfer reform also remains to be done. We've heard
a bit in the interviews that have been leading up
to our conversation this morning. Is your what is your
biggest takeaway. They say they're getting very close to consensus,
but there are so many moving parts to this issue.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Sure, there's somewhere between seven hundred and fifty to eight
hundred million dollars fiscal cliff that the transit agencies have
been talking about for some time. So I think it
sounds like they're close. On governance reform. There might be
just a bit of specifics to iron out, but you know,
that type of money, it's hard for lawmakers at any
(03:08):
time to talk about raising taxes. But who knows what
type of you know, tax proposals will crop up to
sort of cover that gap, if at all.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Is this is this the bill? This kind of bill
going to have to be carried over the finish line
with the Democratic super majorities. Will Republicans actually have a
dog in this fight?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
It's a good question, you know, Usually these things end
up passing with Democrats support only, especially if there's going
to be new taxes involved to pay for it. I
think what you'll hear is a lot of Republicans calling it,
quote unquote a Chicago bailout, you know, And we'll just
have to wait and see. You know, the language of
the actual bill is it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Likely to get done by me thirty first or is
it going to drag out sometime.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
That's a great question, you know, I don't think I
have a great answer to it at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You've been covering some other issues, of course, that have
been passing here in the last few days. There was
a bill that passed on forever chemicals. It's a ban.
Tell us more.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
About that, Yeah, just phasing it out from firefighter equipment.
Firefighter unions and groups, advocacy groups are big on supporting
it because they say this equipment, equipment that's designed to
protect is actually endangering people. It's elevated cancer risk for
exposure to it. But it's also used sort of flame
(04:33):
reduction and stuff like that. So it'd be interesting to
see how that works out.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
There's been other action on fronts, like the passage of
a Prisoner Review Board reform bill that would give victims
more rights when it comes to the release of their offenders,
and then more on tougher background checks for police officers
because of the Sonya Massy case here in Springfield. Anything
you expect in the next few days that come to fruition,
(05:00):
we've been about twenty seconds left.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, We've just been watching bills like those two ban
solely community college courses solely taught by AI, so that
type of stuff is interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Jerry Newiki, thanks so much for your time on Illinois Lawmakers.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Leading off this edition of Illinois Lawmakers, a Newsmaker interview
with Democratic Senate President Don Harmon about Park Welcome back
to the program.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's great to see you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Well, let's starting general. When you went into this session,
what were your priorities for the spring session and how
are they playing out now as the session is well
basically about a week and a half away from completion
on May thirty first.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, at the beginning of a legislative session, for me,
in my role as Senate President, my only personal priority
is making sure we pass another responsible balance budget. Beyond that,
it's trying to make sure all the members of the
Senate have a chance to represent their districts in the
past legislation important to them. So we're doing fairly well
on both counts.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Well, with respect to the budget, we now know that
we have about a half a billion dollars less than
what the governor originally proposed for Fay twenty six, so
the budget looks like it's going to come in somewhere
between fifty four and fifty five billion dollars. Is that
about right, man, the neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
You're in the right neighborhood. Yes, we're wrestling with all
those fine details right now.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You said that this is going to be an incredibly
difficult your budget wise, and conditioned your members to this.
The Speaker was here last week and he said, we're
going to spend what we bring in and nothing more.
What did you tell Senate Democrats about what their expectations
should be.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Well, we have finite resources and infinite demands, as we
always do. This is a tougher year than we've seen
in recent years, certainly the toughest since I've been Centate president.
We have some newer members who've never had to put
together a budget like this one, so we tried to
make sure people tempered their expectations. They focus on the
things that were a priority for the broad districts that
(06:59):
they represent, and not to expect much new spending on
new programs.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You've also said that whatever baseline budget passes by the
end of the month, it could be upended by a
tweet from President Trump. The President's big, beautiful budget bill
just passed. What are the potential implications for Illinois.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
The potential implications could be devastating if things go the
way some of the folks in Washington want them to go.
It's not unique to Illinois. There's no state in the
Union that could survive the sorts of cuts they're proposing
to healthcare for working families. That said, you can't predict
the unpredictable. We're going to pass a responsible balance budget
with the information we have today, and we'll deal with
(07:41):
the future in the future.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Speaking of the healthcare issues, the Congressional Budget Office is
saying that the budget Reconciliation plan could cost Illinois something
like twenty four point four billion dollars a year over
a nine year period, and the CBO numbers mean nearly
a half a million and a half if a million
Illinois could lose Medicaid coverage. Is that your chief concern.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
More than anything else. The fact that our friends in
Washington are throwing working families off the healthcare roles in
order to finance tax cuts for billionaires is unconscionable. And
there's no state in the country that can backfill those
sorts of cuts. It's going to be catastrophic for working families.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Back to what we know for the moment, how are
the budgeteers in each caucus trying to make up the
difference in that half a billion dollars that apparently won't
be there. Where will the necessary cuts be made, Where
will the where will the priorities.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Be We're going through that exercise right now. The Governor's
office has worked in partnership with the House and the
Senate trying to economize on some of the administrative expenditures
that the executive branch would make. Our members are trying
to focus on the things that really drive us. The
unifying factors are continued investment in education from early childhood
(08:58):
through high school and into higher education, healthcare, trying to
make sure we do what we can with the resources
we have. Housing, the sorts of investments that make sure
people have a good place to live.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
So the governor said that there won't be any new taxes,
no general taxes, no income tax increases in this so
that eliminates that limits lawmakers. You don't have a lot
of budget wiggle room in there, because a lot of
the spending in healthcare, education and the like is already
mandated either by law or by court decisions.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Again, nothing about this is easy. As you know what
the governor and has introduced budget proposed some fairly modest
revenue enhancements that don't impact working families. We're going through
the list of things like that, trying to make sure
we maximize the revenue that's currently coming in without putting
an additional burden on families across Illinois.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
The other big issue, among many issues, of course, is
mass transit reform. The Chicago Transit already, Metropace and the
Regional Transportation Authority collectively face something like a three quarter
of a billion dollar deficit later in fiscal year twenty
twenty six. The federal pandemic money is running out. If
(10:14):
there is no new money, our TA officials say their
services might be cut as much as forty percent. What
are your goals for transit reform as we wind up
the session.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
My goals are simple. We need to make sure that
there are reforms to the system that are rider focused.
I'm agnostic on governance. People can fight over who's on
what board. I'm focused on the rider. If we're going
to put more money into the system, we should be
building the transit system for twenty fifty, not trying to
rebuild the one from nineteen seventy five. People should be
able to walk out their front door and get to
(10:46):
where they're going, whether it's work or the school or
the doctor's office, without knowing whether they were on a
CTA bus, a pace bus, a CTL a metro train.
It should be seamless to the rider.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
So you say, as far as governance goes, you're agnostic
about that. Whatever wallmakers come up with in the next
few weeks will be fine by you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It needs to be responsible, obviously, but it needs to
be focused on driving that rider focused reform. How do
you make sure you have one fare card? How do
you make sure the schedules line up? How do you
make sure that I don't have to worry whether I'm
getting on a CTA bus or a pace bus.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How do you pay for it? Though, in the end,
there's some different ideas going around as far as delivery taxes,
all kinds of things like that, maybe toll increases. Do
you have any thoughts on them, How the money should
be made up.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
There's a whole menu being talked about right now. My
idea would be, and I think It's consistent with others
is focus on the transit system. Who's using the roads
instead of taking the public transportation system? How do we
make sure the users finance it.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Another big issue, of course to the session has to
do with changes to Illinois pension law, trying to bring
ill pension systems back to compliance with Social Security by
improving benefits for employees who were hired for the state
since twenty eleven in what's called Tier two. How much
(12:13):
progress has been made in that respect, mister President.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
We've had some excellent conversations. I think a lot of
progress has been made. There's broad based recognition that the
Tier two pension has some legal infirmities that will need
to be addressed, and some practical challenges. We want to
make sure people are attracted to and retain public employment positions.
All of the solutions, however, require more money, and this
(12:37):
is a year when we just don't have much more money.
So I expect some of those conversations to continue into
the summer.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So you're saying this will probably go past May thirty first,
as far as.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
That goes, that's my expectation today.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Another issue, of course, has to do with higher education funding. Reform.
You're looking. Leader Leitford is proposing a bill that would
we completely overhaul the way to the state funds public universities,
kind of along the lines of what you did back
what twenty seventeen with K through twelve education? How would
(13:11):
this work?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Well? I really applaud Leader Lightford's work on this. She's
shined a bright light on the deterioration of funding for
our public universities over the last decades. She is, I think,
appropriately using the model we developed for grade schools and
high schools to drive funding where the evidence says it's needed.
Incredibly grateful for that work. Again, it's a solution that
(13:34):
requires more money. Even if we are to pass that
framework this year, I don't see the requisite amount of
money being driven into higher education funding formulas to achieve
the outcome this year.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So we're going to have to wait and see you
on that. I wanted to ask you another question about
something that was a legislative priority for your own agenda.
Both houses have now approved Senate bill in nineteen reform
the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. What are some of the
key components of that reform.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
This is a long overdue modernization of the Prisoner Review Board.
If you think back sixty years when most every prisoner
in Illinois prisons was eligible for parole, it's just a
different model. This is a model that focuses on crime victims,
victims of domestic violence. We're improving the professionalism of the
Prisoner Review Board members so that they're well trained to
(14:28):
tackle issues that they weren't asked to tackle sixty years ago.
So grateful for the partnership with the House and the
Governor's Office on making that happen.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
One of the aspects of this it gives victims the
ability to file victim impact statements ahead of hearings. How
would that help?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I think it's important for the Prisoner Review Board members
to understand how their decision would impact someone who's in
the community and would be directly impacted by someone leaving
jail and returning to the community.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
There's also the creation of an office of Director of
Victim and Witness Services. What would that what would the
components of that be?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Again, we're thinking about this differently than we did sixty
years ago. If you imagine your standard issue prison movie,
when the prisoner comes before the parole board, they weren't
asking what the impact on victims was they weren't asking
what's going to happen to the family members when people
are released. We're trying to think of this holistically and
give the PRB members the training they need to make
(15:24):
smart decisions in the twenty first century.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
There's also a change in the qualifications for Review Board members.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Indeed, we wanted to make sure we're taking the best
of the cross section. It's not just retired law enforcement officers.
We want judges and social workers and people with expertise
and domestic violence to be opining on the best course
of action.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Center President Don Harmon, We covered a lot of ground.
Thanks very much for your time, sir.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Thanks Jack, great to see you you too.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Up next on Illinois lawmakers, Republican Senator chap And Rose
of Mouhammet. Senator Rose is the Senate Republican's chief budget
negotiator in Springfield, or what we can call a budget
to You're good to have you back on. Thanks you,
I appreciate it. Senate Republicans call for no new taxes
and more transparency in the budgets.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
When the governor.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Rolled out his budget planned back in February, So what
have you seen so far?
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Well, we still have more questions and answers. I can
tell you that much.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
One of the biggest problems out here is what is
your revenue estimate going to be? And you remember Jack
the governor said the weekend before the election November, we
had a three billion dollar budget hole. And then suddenly
the day, the day before his budget address, it was
only a billion, right, So what's the real question, you know,
what's the real number out there? So thankfully we have
other sources in the governor's office to give us some guidance, so,
(16:40):
you know, but whatever it is, it's not good and
you're you're looking at at least a billion. We're also hearing,
you know, anecdotal evidence of other unpaid bills that aren't
included in his spending package, you know, so you're getting
north of you know, two billion or so, depending on
where you're at and what ultimately passes. As You'll remember,
(17:01):
he actually said he's going to cut some of the
immigrant health care funding. Well, there are other coxes here
that I don't believe we'll ever let that happen, right,
So that'll throw another four hundred million dollars three hundred
and fifty million dollars hole into the budget. You know,
so less than ten days out. It's exactly where you
expect to be. More questions than answers have.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Senate Republicans had a seat at the table in the
budget negotiations this spring.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yeah, you know, we've been talking with our Senate Democratic counterparts,
which is fairly normal. The Senate, frankly, is far more
democratic small d than the houses. We have conversations all
the time, and so you know, we've got things we're backing,
and I know that they are aware of those those things,
and you know, but I'll also I'll give you an example.
(17:46):
We think we need to do far better for development
disabled in this state than Governort Pritzkraz under his leadership,
he's gone for one hundred and fifty percent of minimum
wage for frontline workers who bathe, toilet feed our most
vulnerable population, development to saber friends and neighbors. And you know,
he's down under one hundred and fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
That's horrible.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
It's absolutely horrible.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Democrats are sounding the alarm bill about the President Trump's
big beautiful bill that just passed. They're worried about the
impact on Medicaid. Do you share their concerns.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Well, a couple of things. First of all, we've been
very clear and asked every agency director and the director
of GABI how many cuts have we actually had in
next year. The answer is not many. There's a lot
of smoke, but so far, nothing has been passed in
the law okay that actually is going to make it
to a cut in the state. And even for example,
some of the cuts that you just reference on a
bill that passed one chamber has not become law yet
(18:36):
still has to go through a reconciliation process. You're talking
about things that would be in the out years, not
this current fiscal year. But let me say this too.
Remember under President Bill Clinton, who I will remind everyone
was a Democrat, the last time they did workfair right,
expenses actually went down because as people found gainful employment,
gainful employment came with health benefits and then suddenly they're
(18:58):
not on Medicaid. So you know, there's a lot of
opportunity there too to help the state budget.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
In the last couple of minutes we have, I want
to ask you about a bill that's been very important
to you in the East, Central and Central Illinois area,
and that has to be that has to do with
a bill to ban carbon sequestration in the Muhammad aquafer.
It's already passed the General Assembly. You've been working on
that for the last couple of years.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
It's more than that, buddy, We've been working on Muhammad
officer protection for a long time. Look, it's not just Muhammad.
The Mahama Office serves a million people in Central Illinois
from Indiana Missouri. It's a huge area. Literally goes from
Havana to Hupston, Okay, everything from Bloomington to Schampan or Bana,
you know again, all the way to the Mississippi River.
So a million people. There's nothing more important than protecting
(19:42):
our water supply. Unfortunately, last year, Governor Pritzker put that
in jeopardy by signing a bill to store carbon dioxide
in the water. If it leaks gets into the water,
it converts the carbonic acid. This is not anything anyone
wants in their water. Okay, trust me on that. And
in fact, despite all of us in this in ri
Ilinois and a bipartisan basi is saying do not do
this in Central Illinois, he signed that bill without the
(20:06):
ban on the Muhammad aquifer. The only sole source sockifer
That's a key point here, Jack. There's no there's no
second supply. You can't just flip a switch and turn
on a tap from somewhere else. This is our only
source of water for a million people. He signed that
bill anyway, He didn't know at the time, but we
all know now. He went to Decatur to sign it
on top of a sequestration center storage center. He was
(20:28):
already leaking when he signed the bill. Okay, this is
not safe technology. And nobody, including Governor Parkritzker, can say
it's safe because it was actually leaking when he signed
the bill.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Got about a half of mine. We need a ban
it about a half a minute left. This is only
for the Muhammad aquifer. Does it apply statewide?
Speaker 4 (20:44):
It applies to sole source socifers, which under the US
Federal EPA, there's only one of those, which is the
Muhammed against soul source, meaning we have no other place
to go. If you screw this up, you don't have water.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Republican State Senator Chapin Rose of Muhammad, thank.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
You very much, sir, thank you for share your time.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Mass transit reform is a key issue here at the
Illinois State Capitol, as lawmakers from both parties work to
get their heads around how best to serve the needs
of millions of writers who depend on mass transit in
Chicago and the suburbs. And herefore the latest on the
issue is Democratic Assistant House Majority Leader Eva Dina del
Gatto of Chicago. You're one of the lawmakers leading this effort,
(21:33):
and you've been working on this issue for a long
time now.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
That's correct. I mean, if we get down to it,
I've probably been working on this issue for about twenty years.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So it's exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It seems like every ten years or so, and I've
been coming here since the early nineties, we seem to
be back in the same boat. Why is this such
a complicated issue to solve?
Speaker 5 (21:54):
So the reality is, if you look at the history
of transit dating back to the forties and thirties, it's
never been funded at an appropriate level. So that's the
baseline issues that there's never been enough money infused into
the system to make it really sustainable. We saw a
big change in the forties, we saw a big change
(22:14):
in the eighties, saw a big change in the early
two thousands, two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight,
and we're back again dealing and grappling with the same
issue around funding.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
And now we're at the situation where the deficit may
be upwards of a billion dollars. And then in another
few months, it's reported that you and your colleagues are
coming to some consensus behind the scenes on how to
deal with the issue. What progress have you made?
Speaker 5 (22:39):
So it's interesting that you ask that question, because I
just walked out of a negotiating session to come and
meet with you here today. We have made a huge
amount of progress related to reforming the overall system. So
looking at what is the best way to deliver transit
to the region in northeasternline to make sure that we're
(23:01):
serving areas that currently don't feel like they're getting great
transit service today.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
One idea that I've heard of is combining the governing
boards of all the transit agencies and trying to give
the Regional Transportation Authority kind of an overarching authority to
become something called the Metropolitan Mobility Authority.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
Yes, so that was the bill that I introduced last
year and again this year, talking about doing a complete
consolidation across all of the agencies. I think as we
continue talking through what kind of reforms we need. There
certainly has to be local input, there has to be
local engagement, but there has to be a regional perspective.
So rather than the suburbs and the cities fighting each
(23:45):
other for limited resources, what we need to do is
look at the system overall. People have changed their travel patterns.
Folks are not always going from the suburbs into the city.
That's not the way they move anymore. So we have
to have an agency that can adapt to that.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So how would something like the MMA actually work in practice?
Because there are so many stakeholders in this issue, from
the city on out and of the suburbs.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
So the idea would be that rather than thinking about
the borders right so the border of Cook County into
the Coller Counties, there would be continuous travel moving across
there being able to move people from suburb to suburb.
I think oftentimes that's forgotten because of the way our
system has been constructed. So thinking about where population centers
(24:34):
lie and then where job opportunities lie and making sure
we're connecting those things.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
In talking with lawmakers over the past couple of months
here at the Capitol, one thing comes clear. No blank
checks without some kind of reform and this reform has
to be writer based in nature. What does that mean
to you?
Speaker 5 (24:52):
So the thing that I center in all these conversations
is how are we helping the writer. I want the
writer's experience to be seamless. I want my dream is
someday in the future that people choose transit first instead
of getting in their car. But the only way you
do that is by making it easy to use, making
it accessible to use, making those experiences easy so that
(25:16):
people don't have to think too hard about how do
I get from pointing.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
At a point B, how do you solve the problem.
I've heard some reports that the state might consider something
like taxing deliveries or raising toll ways toll fees. What's
under discussion at the moment.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Everything everything's on the table right now. I'll put it
that way. I mean, we're talking, so we have to
first talk about reform. I think many of my colleagues
want to make sure that whatever it is that we're
investing in, it's something that's ultimately going to work for
their constituents, for the people in the state of Illinois,
for the people in northeastern Illinois in particular. So we
got to get reform right first, and then we have
(25:52):
to talk about what is the most sensible way of funding.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
That does this. Is it likely that this will be
accomplished by May thirty first, wells.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
May thirty first has always been my deadline, and I
just want to remind you I've been working on this
for almost twenty years. We've been talking about this as
an issue for at least four years now, so we've
been very methodical about how we approach it.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Good luck to you in the next few weeks. I
really appreciate it. Assistant House Majority Leader Eva Dina Delgado
of Chicago, Thank you so much. Thank you, appreciate you,
Illinois lawmakers continues. I'm Jack Chitchener along with Jerry Nowiki
of Capital News Illinois. Jerry, next week is the last
schedule week of the spring session. What do you think
is going to dominate next week's headlines? Fiada Crystal Ball.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Well, it'll be the budget and just whether or not
they're able to come to an agreement, whether you see
the same type of issues that we saw last year
where they barely had enough Democrats in the House to
prove the revenue bill.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
At I think it was.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Four or five am, just working straight through the night.
So that's the type of thing you watch for every year,
just how much disagreement that there is and how easy
it is for them to get it across the finish line.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Have there been any rumblings in the House Democratic Caucus
about Speaker Welch's decision last week to expel Representative Fred
Crespo from the caucus meetings over his budgeting ideas.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Not publicly, but you know, I don't think. I also
haven't heard anyone saying, you know, we really needed Speaker
Welch to do that. It was a great decision, you know,
so that I mean rumbling, sure, but no one's really
speaking out publicly about it.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And there's another issue that we're waiting to see what
happens with that, and that is higher education funding reform.
Anything new on that front that we expect to break
in the next few days.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I really haven't heard too much about it. But that's
also one of those type of things that comes together
last minute and they kind of rush it through committee,
rush it to the floor. So we'll see if it happens.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
How do prospects look for some community colleges teaching four
year baccalaureate programs.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's seeming like it might be still a struggle despite
universities taking no position on it. Some of the universities,
but it might still have an uphill battle, just judging
by some of the comments from members of the Black Caucus,
an important committee chair in the House.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Thank you very much, Jerry Nowiki of Capitol News Illinois.
That is it for this week's edition of Illinois Lawmakers
So Long from Springfield.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Capital News Illinois is a nonprofit, non partisan news service
covering Illinois government.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Major funding is provided by the Illinois Press Foundation and
the Robert R.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
McCormick Foundation.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Additional support comes from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and the
Southern Illinois Editorial Association
Welcome back to our weekly edition of Illinois Lawmakers. I'm
Jack Titchener along with Jerry Nowicki, editor in chief for
Capital News Illinois. Jerry, good to have you back on
the show.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good to be back.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We're less than a week and a half away from
the General Assembly scheduled of German on May thirty. First.
Lots to be decided at this point. The budget, of course,
is the biggest item that remains to be settled. And
what are you hearing from your sources about where things
stand behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, you know, as we sit here, it's sort of
just watching what the federal government is doing, watching the
prospects of President Trump's budget bill and just the what
they're calling the Big Beautiful bill, and just sort of
taking in the level of cuts that will happen to
Medicaid and as a state reacting to that, and just
(01:11):
kind of acting with the information that's available right now.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
As things stand now. Of course, some of these issues
we may not know the answers to them for weeks,
if not months to come. So is it likely lawmakers
are going to basically sit down with the revenues that
they know that they have in hand, and it looks
like that somewhere between fifty four and fifty five billion
dollars and basically pass a budget and then take a
(01:40):
look and wait and see what happens.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, I think there's always the possibility that they come
back to sort of tweak the baseline budget numbers. I
think you can get a pretty good sense of the
general revenue in terms of what's going to be available
for certain things. But it's Medicaid that's really going to
have a wrench thrown into it should this congressional bill
become law.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, the latest figures I've seen from the Congressional Budget
Office say somewhere around a half a million Illinois might
lose Medicaid coverage. And there's no way that the state
can actually this state or any other state can actually
make up that kind of money because of the kinds
of taxes you'd.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Have to raise, right, And I mean that type of
thing makes hospital care more expensive. The costs are just
sort of shifted into people with insurance and whatever else.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Mass transfer reform also remains to be done. We've heard
a bit in the interviews that have been leading up
to our conversation this morning. Is your what is your
biggest takeaway. They say they're getting very close to consensus,
but there are so many moving parts to this issue.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Sure, there's somewhere between seven hundred and fifty to eight
hundred million dollars fiscal cliff that the transit agencies have
been talking about for some time. So I think it
sounds like they're close. On governance reform. There might be
just a bit of specifics to iron out, but you know,
that type of money, it's hard for lawmakers at any
(03:08):
time to talk about raising taxes. But who knows what
type of you know, tax proposals will crop up to
sort of cover that gap, if at all.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Is this is this the bill? This kind of bill
going to have to be carried over the finish line
with the Democratic super majorities. Will Republicans actually have a
dog in this fight?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
It's a good question, you know, Usually these things end
up passing with Democrats support only, especially if there's going
to be new taxes involved to pay for it. I
think what you'll hear is a lot of Republicans calling it,
quote unquote a Chicago bailout, you know, And we'll just
have to wait and see. You know, the language of
the actual bill is it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Likely to get done by me thirty first or is
it going to drag out sometime.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
That's a great question, you know, I don't think I
have a great answer to it at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You've been covering some other issues, of course, that have
been passing here in the last few days. There was
a bill that passed on forever chemicals. It's a ban.
Tell us more.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
About that, Yeah, just phasing it out from firefighter equipment.
Firefighter unions and groups, advocacy groups are big on supporting
it because they say this equipment, equipment that's designed to
protect is actually endangering people. It's elevated cancer risk for
exposure to it. But it's also used sort of flame
(04:33):
reduction and stuff like that. So it'd be interesting to
see how that works out.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
There's been other action on fronts, like the passage of
a Prisoner Review Board reform bill that would give victims
more rights when it comes to the release of their offenders,
and then more on tougher background checks for police officers
because of the Sonya Massy case here in Springfield. Anything
you expect in the next few days that come to fruition,
(05:00):
we've been about twenty seconds left.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, We've just been watching bills like those two ban
solely community college courses solely taught by AI, so that
type of stuff is interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Jerry Newiki, thanks so much for your time on Illinois Lawmakers.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Leading off this edition of Illinois Lawmakers, a Newsmaker interview
with Democratic Senate President Don Harmon about Park Welcome back
to the program.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's great to see you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Well, let's starting general. When you went into this session,
what were your priorities for the spring session and how
are they playing out now as the session is well
basically about a week and a half away from completion
on May thirty first.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, at the beginning of a legislative session, for me,
in my role as Senate President, my only personal priority
is making sure we pass another responsible balance budget. Beyond that,
it's trying to make sure all the members of the
Senate have a chance to represent their districts in the
past legislation important to them. So we're doing fairly well
on both counts.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Well, with respect to the budget, we now know that
we have about a half a billion dollars less than
what the governor originally proposed for Fay twenty six, so
the budget looks like it's going to come in somewhere
between fifty four and fifty five billion dollars. Is that
about right, man, the neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
You're in the right neighborhood. Yes, we're wrestling with all
those fine details right now.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You said that this is going to be an incredibly
difficult your budget wise, and conditioned your members to this.
The Speaker was here last week and he said, we're
going to spend what we bring in and nothing more.
What did you tell Senate Democrats about what their expectations
should be.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Well, we have finite resources and infinite demands, as we
always do. This is a tougher year than we've seen
in recent years, certainly the toughest since I've been Centate president.
We have some newer members who've never had to put
together a budget like this one, so we tried to
make sure people tempered their expectations. They focus on the
things that were a priority for the broad districts that
(06:59):
they represent, and not to expect much new spending on
new programs.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You've also said that whatever baseline budget passes by the
end of the month, it could be upended by a
tweet from President Trump. The President's big, beautiful budget bill
just passed. What are the potential implications for Illinois.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
The potential implications could be devastating if things go the
way some of the folks in Washington want them to go.
It's not unique to Illinois. There's no state in the
Union that could survive the sorts of cuts they're proposing
to healthcare for working families. That said, you can't predict
the unpredictable. We're going to pass a responsible balance budget
with the information we have today, and we'll deal with
(07:41):
the future in the future.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Speaking of the healthcare issues, the Congressional Budget Office is
saying that the budget Reconciliation plan could cost Illinois something
like twenty four point four billion dollars a year over
a nine year period, and the CBO numbers mean nearly
a half a million and a half if a million
Illinois could lose Medicaid coverage. Is that your chief concern.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
More than anything else. The fact that our friends in
Washington are throwing working families off the healthcare roles in
order to finance tax cuts for billionaires is unconscionable. And
there's no state in the country that can backfill those
sorts of cuts. It's going to be catastrophic for working families.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Back to what we know for the moment, how are
the budgeteers in each caucus trying to make up the
difference in that half a billion dollars that apparently won't
be there. Where will the necessary cuts be made, Where
will the where will the priorities.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Be We're going through that exercise right now. The Governor's
office has worked in partnership with the House and the
Senate trying to economize on some of the administrative expenditures
that the executive branch would make. Our members are trying
to focus on the things that really drive us. The
unifying factors are continued investment in education from early childhood
(08:58):
through high school and into higher education, healthcare, trying to
make sure we do what we can with the resources
we have. Housing, the sorts of investments that make sure
people have a good place to live.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
So the governor said that there won't be any new taxes,
no general taxes, no income tax increases in this so
that eliminates that limits lawmakers. You don't have a lot
of budget wiggle room in there, because a lot of
the spending in healthcare, education and the like is already
mandated either by law or by court decisions.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Again, nothing about this is easy. As you know what
the governor and has introduced budget proposed some fairly modest
revenue enhancements that don't impact working families. We're going through
the list of things like that, trying to make sure
we maximize the revenue that's currently coming in without putting
an additional burden on families across Illinois.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
The other big issue, among many issues, of course, is
mass transit reform. The Chicago Transit already, Metropace and the
Regional Transportation Authority collectively face something like a three quarter
of a billion dollar deficit later in fiscal year twenty
twenty six. The federal pandemic money is running out. If
(10:14):
there is no new money, our TA officials say their
services might be cut as much as forty percent. What
are your goals for transit reform as we wind up
the session.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
My goals are simple. We need to make sure that
there are reforms to the system that are rider focused.
I'm agnostic on governance. People can fight over who's on
what board. I'm focused on the rider. If we're going
to put more money into the system, we should be
building the transit system for twenty fifty, not trying to
rebuild the one from nineteen seventy five. People should be
able to walk out their front door and get to
(10:46):
where they're going, whether it's work or the school or
the doctor's office, without knowing whether they were on a
CTA bus, a pace bus, a CTL a metro train.
It should be seamless to the rider.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
So you say, as far as governance goes, you're agnostic
about that. Whatever wallmakers come up with in the next
few weeks will be fine by you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It needs to be responsible, obviously, but it needs to
be focused on driving that rider focused reform. How do
you make sure you have one fare card? How do
you make sure the schedules line up? How do you
make sure that I don't have to worry whether I'm
getting on a CTA bus or a pace bus.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How do you pay for it? Though, in the end,
there's some different ideas going around as far as delivery taxes,
all kinds of things like that, maybe toll increases. Do
you have any thoughts on them, How the money should
be made up.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
There's a whole menu being talked about right now. My
idea would be, and I think It's consistent with others
is focus on the transit system. Who's using the roads
instead of taking the public transportation system? How do we
make sure the users finance it.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Another big issue, of course to the session has to
do with changes to Illinois pension law, trying to bring
ill pension systems back to compliance with Social Security by
improving benefits for employees who were hired for the state
since twenty eleven in what's called Tier two. How much
(12:13):
progress has been made in that respect, mister President.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
We've had some excellent conversations. I think a lot of
progress has been made. There's broad based recognition that the
Tier two pension has some legal infirmities that will need
to be addressed, and some practical challenges. We want to
make sure people are attracted to and retain public employment positions.
All of the solutions, however, require more money, and this
(12:37):
is a year when we just don't have much more money.
So I expect some of those conversations to continue into
the summer.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So you're saying this will probably go past May thirty first,
as far as.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
That goes, that's my expectation today.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Another issue, of course, has to do with higher education funding. Reform.
You're looking. Leader Leitford is proposing a bill that would
we completely overhaul the way to the state funds public universities,
kind of along the lines of what you did back
what twenty seventeen with K through twelve education? How would
(13:11):
this work?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Well? I really applaud Leader Lightford's work on this. She's
shined a bright light on the deterioration of funding for
our public universities over the last decades. She is, I think,
appropriately using the model we developed for grade schools and
high schools to drive funding where the evidence says it's needed.
Incredibly grateful for that work. Again, it's a solution that
(13:34):
requires more money. Even if we are to pass that
framework this year, I don't see the requisite amount of
money being driven into higher education funding formulas to achieve
the outcome this year.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So we're going to have to wait and see you
on that. I wanted to ask you another question about
something that was a legislative priority for your own agenda.
Both houses have now approved Senate bill in nineteen reform
the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. What are some of the
key components of that reform.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
This is a long overdue modernization of the Prisoner Review Board.
If you think back sixty years when most every prisoner
in Illinois prisons was eligible for parole, it's just a
different model. This is a model that focuses on crime victims,
victims of domestic violence. We're improving the professionalism of the
Prisoner Review Board members so that they're well trained to
(14:28):
tackle issues that they weren't asked to tackle sixty years ago.
So grateful for the partnership with the House and the
Governor's Office on making that happen.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
One of the aspects of this it gives victims the
ability to file victim impact statements ahead of hearings. How
would that help?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I think it's important for the Prisoner Review Board members
to understand how their decision would impact someone who's in
the community and would be directly impacted by someone leaving
jail and returning to the community.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
There's also the creation of an office of Director of
Victim and Witness Services. What would that what would the
components of that be?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Again, we're thinking about this differently than we did sixty
years ago. If you imagine your standard issue prison movie,
when the prisoner comes before the parole board, they weren't
asking what the impact on victims was they weren't asking
what's going to happen to the family members when people
are released. We're trying to think of this holistically and
give the PRB members the training they need to make
(15:24):
smart decisions in the twenty first century.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
There's also a change in the qualifications for Review Board members.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Indeed, we wanted to make sure we're taking the best
of the cross section. It's not just retired law enforcement officers.
We want judges and social workers and people with expertise
and domestic violence to be opining on the best course
of action.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Center President Don Harmon, We covered a lot of ground.
Thanks very much for your time, sir.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Thanks Jack, great to see you you too.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Up next on Illinois lawmakers, Republican Senator chap And Rose
of Mouhammet. Senator Rose is the Senate Republican's chief budget
negotiator in Springfield, or what we can call a budget
to You're good to have you back on. Thanks you,
I appreciate it. Senate Republicans call for no new taxes
and more transparency in the budgets.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
When the governor.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Rolled out his budget planned back in February, So what
have you seen so far?
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Well, we still have more questions and answers. I can
tell you that much.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
One of the biggest problems out here is what is
your revenue estimate going to be? And you remember Jack
the governor said the weekend before the election November, we
had a three billion dollar budget hole. And then suddenly
the day, the day before his budget address, it was
only a billion, right, So what's the real question, you know,
what's the real number out there? So thankfully we have
other sources in the governor's office to give us some guidance, so,
(16:40):
you know, but whatever it is, it's not good and
you're you're looking at at least a billion. We're also hearing,
you know, anecdotal evidence of other unpaid bills that aren't
included in his spending package, you know, so you're getting
north of you know, two billion or so, depending on
where you're at and what ultimately passes. As You'll remember,
(17:01):
he actually said he's going to cut some of the
immigrant health care funding. Well, there are other coxes here
that I don't believe we'll ever let that happen, right,
So that'll throw another four hundred million dollars three hundred
and fifty million dollars hole into the budget. You know,
so less than ten days out. It's exactly where you
expect to be. More questions than answers have.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Senate Republicans had a seat at the table in the
budget negotiations this spring.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yeah, you know, we've been talking with our Senate Democratic counterparts,
which is fairly normal. The Senate, frankly, is far more
democratic small d than the houses. We have conversations all
the time, and so you know, we've got things we're backing,
and I know that they are aware of those those things,
and you know, but I'll also I'll give you an example.
(17:46):
We think we need to do far better for development
disabled in this state than Governort Pritzkraz under his leadership,
he's gone for one hundred and fifty percent of minimum
wage for frontline workers who bathe, toilet feed our most
vulnerable population, development to saber friends and neighbors. And you know,
he's down under one hundred and fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
That's horrible.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
It's absolutely horrible.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Democrats are sounding the alarm bill about the President Trump's
big beautiful bill that just passed. They're worried about the
impact on Medicaid. Do you share their concerns.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Well, a couple of things. First of all, we've been
very clear and asked every agency director and the director
of GABI how many cuts have we actually had in
next year. The answer is not many. There's a lot
of smoke, but so far, nothing has been passed in
the law okay that actually is going to make it
to a cut in the state. And even for example,
some of the cuts that you just reference on a
bill that passed one chamber has not become law yet
(18:36):
still has to go through a reconciliation process. You're talking
about things that would be in the out years, not
this current fiscal year. But let me say this too.
Remember under President Bill Clinton, who I will remind everyone
was a Democrat, the last time they did workfair right,
expenses actually went down because as people found gainful employment,
gainful employment came with health benefits and then suddenly they're
(18:58):
not on Medicaid. So you know, there's a lot of
opportunity there too to help the state budget.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
In the last couple of minutes we have, I want
to ask you about a bill that's been very important
to you in the East, Central and Central Illinois area,
and that has to be that has to do with
a bill to ban carbon sequestration in the Muhammad aquafer.
It's already passed the General Assembly. You've been working on
that for the last couple of years.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
It's more than that, buddy, We've been working on Muhammad
officer protection for a long time. Look, it's not just Muhammad.
The Mahama Office serves a million people in Central Illinois
from Indiana Missouri. It's a huge area. Literally goes from
Havana to Hupston, Okay, everything from Bloomington to Schampan or Bana,
you know again, all the way to the Mississippi River.
So a million people. There's nothing more important than protecting
(19:42):
our water supply. Unfortunately, last year, Governor Pritzker put that
in jeopardy by signing a bill to store carbon dioxide
in the water. If it leaks gets into the water,
it converts the carbonic acid. This is not anything anyone
wants in their water. Okay, trust me on that. And
in fact, despite all of us in this in ri
Ilinois and a bipartisan basi is saying do not do
this in Central Illinois, he signed that bill without the
(20:06):
ban on the Muhammad aquifer. The only sole source sockifer
That's a key point here, Jack. There's no there's no
second supply. You can't just flip a switch and turn
on a tap from somewhere else. This is our only
source of water for a million people. He signed that
bill anyway, He didn't know at the time, but we
all know now. He went to Decatur to sign it
on top of a sequestration center storage center. He was
(20:28):
already leaking when he signed the bill. Okay, this is
not safe technology. And nobody, including Governor Parkritzker, can say
it's safe because it was actually leaking when he signed
the bill.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Got about a half of mine. We need a ban
it about a half a minute left. This is only
for the Muhammad aquifer. Does it apply statewide?
Speaker 4 (20:44):
It applies to sole source socifers, which under the US
Federal EPA, there's only one of those, which is the
Muhammed against soul source, meaning we have no other place
to go. If you screw this up, you don't have water.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Republican State Senator Chapin Rose of Muhammad, thank.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
You very much, sir, thank you for share your time.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Mass transit reform is a key issue here at the
Illinois State Capitol, as lawmakers from both parties work to
get their heads around how best to serve the needs
of millions of writers who depend on mass transit in
Chicago and the suburbs. And herefore the latest on the
issue is Democratic Assistant House Majority Leader Eva Dina del
Gatto of Chicago. You're one of the lawmakers leading this effort,
(21:33):
and you've been working on this issue for a long
time now.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
That's correct. I mean, if we get down to it,
I've probably been working on this issue for about twenty years.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So it's exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It seems like every ten years or so, and I've
been coming here since the early nineties, we seem to
be back in the same boat. Why is this such
a complicated issue to solve?
Speaker 5 (21:54):
So the reality is, if you look at the history
of transit dating back to the forties and thirties, it's
never been funded at an appropriate level. So that's the
baseline issues that there's never been enough money infused into
the system to make it really sustainable. We saw a
big change in the forties, we saw a big change
(22:14):
in the eighties, saw a big change in the early
two thousands, two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight,
and we're back again dealing and grappling with the same
issue around funding.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
And now we're at the situation where the deficit may
be upwards of a billion dollars. And then in another
few months, it's reported that you and your colleagues are
coming to some consensus behind the scenes on how to
deal with the issue. What progress have you made?
Speaker 5 (22:39):
So it's interesting that you ask that question, because I
just walked out of a negotiating session to come and
meet with you here today. We have made a huge
amount of progress related to reforming the overall system. So
looking at what is the best way to deliver transit
to the region in northeasternline to make sure that we're
(23:01):
serving areas that currently don't feel like they're getting great
transit service today.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
One idea that I've heard of is combining the governing
boards of all the transit agencies and trying to give
the Regional Transportation Authority kind of an overarching authority to
become something called the Metropolitan Mobility Authority.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
Yes, so that was the bill that I introduced last
year and again this year, talking about doing a complete
consolidation across all of the agencies. I think as we
continue talking through what kind of reforms we need. There
certainly has to be local input, there has to be
local engagement, but there has to be a regional perspective.
So rather than the suburbs and the cities fighting each
(23:45):
other for limited resources, what we need to do is
look at the system overall. People have changed their travel patterns.
Folks are not always going from the suburbs into the city.
That's not the way they move anymore. So we have
to have an agency that can adapt to that.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So how would something like the MMA actually work in practice?
Because there are so many stakeholders in this issue, from
the city on out and of the suburbs.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
So the idea would be that rather than thinking about
the borders right so the border of Cook County into
the Coller Counties, there would be continuous travel moving across
there being able to move people from suburb to suburb.
I think oftentimes that's forgotten because of the way our
system has been constructed. So thinking about where population centers
(24:34):
lie and then where job opportunities lie and making sure
we're connecting those things.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
In talking with lawmakers over the past couple of months
here at the Capitol, one thing comes clear. No blank
checks without some kind of reform and this reform has
to be writer based in nature. What does that mean
to you?
Speaker 5 (24:52):
So the thing that I center in all these conversations
is how are we helping the writer. I want the
writer's experience to be seamless. I want my dream is
someday in the future that people choose transit first instead
of getting in their car. But the only way you
do that is by making it easy to use, making
it accessible to use, making those experiences easy so that
(25:16):
people don't have to think too hard about how do
I get from pointing.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
At a point B, how do you solve the problem.
I've heard some reports that the state might consider something
like taxing deliveries or raising toll ways toll fees. What's
under discussion at the moment.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Everything everything's on the table right now. I'll put it
that way. I mean, we're talking, so we have to
first talk about reform. I think many of my colleagues
want to make sure that whatever it is that we're
investing in, it's something that's ultimately going to work for
their constituents, for the people in the state of Illinois,
for the people in northeastern Illinois in particular. So we
got to get reform right first, and then we have
(25:52):
to talk about what is the most sensible way of funding.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
That does this. Is it likely that this will be
accomplished by May thirty first, wells.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
May thirty first has always been my deadline, and I
just want to remind you I've been working on this
for almost twenty years. We've been talking about this as
an issue for at least four years now, so we've
been very methodical about how we approach it.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Good luck to you in the next few weeks. I
really appreciate it. Assistant House Majority Leader Eva Dina Delgado
of Chicago, Thank you so much. Thank you, appreciate you,
Illinois lawmakers continues. I'm Jack Chitchener along with Jerry Nowiki
of Capital News Illinois. Jerry, next week is the last
schedule week of the spring session. What do you think
is going to dominate next week's headlines? Fiada Crystal Ball.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Well, it'll be the budget and just whether or not
they're able to come to an agreement, whether you see
the same type of issues that we saw last year
where they barely had enough Democrats in the House to
prove the revenue bill.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
At I think it was.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Four or five am, just working straight through the night.
So that's the type of thing you watch for every year,
just how much disagreement that there is and how easy
it is for them to get it across the finish line.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Have there been any rumblings in the House Democratic Caucus
about Speaker Welch's decision last week to expel Representative Fred
Crespo from the caucus meetings over his budgeting ideas.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Not publicly, but you know, I don't think. I also
haven't heard anyone saying, you know, we really needed Speaker
Welch to do that. It was a great decision, you know,
so that I mean rumbling, sure, but no one's really
speaking out publicly about it.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And there's another issue that we're waiting to see what
happens with that, and that is higher education funding reform.
Anything new on that front that we expect to break
in the next few days.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I really haven't heard too much about it. But that's
also one of those type of things that comes together
last minute and they kind of rush it through committee,
rush it to the floor. So we'll see if it happens.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
How do prospects look for some community colleges teaching four
year baccalaureate programs.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's seeming like it might be still a struggle despite
universities taking no position on it. Some of the universities,
but it might still have an uphill battle, just judging
by some of the comments from members of the Black Caucus,
an important committee chair in the House.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Thank you very much, Jerry Nowiki of Capitol News Illinois.
That is it for this week's edition of Illinois Lawmakers
So Long from Springfield.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Capital News Illinois is a nonprofit, non partisan news service
covering Illinois government.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Major funding is provided by the Illinois Press Foundation and
the Robert R.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
McCormick Foundation.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Additional support comes from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and the
Southern Illinois Editorial Association
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