Illinois State House District 89 issued the following announcement on June 20
Without a doubt, and without question, this Spring’s legislative Session in the Illinois General Assembly was a challenging one for members of the Super-Minority.
Proud to honor commitments I had made prior to serving, I voted against tax increases, onerous regulations and government overreach. I am confident I represented the values of a majority of Northwest Illinois citizens in the Illinois House. While there were many disappointments for Republicans that does not mean that we stood idly by and just watched things happen.
I was pleased to pass several bills and was involved with the passage of many others that will likely be signed into law. In this column, I will begin to highlight some of those successes that accompanied such widespread disappointments from which we are all still reeling.
Sponsoring a package of legislation which addressed some important conservation transparency issues was a priority of mine to ensure that we do not push our Sportsmen and the Conservation economy out of Illinois. Included in the package was my first bill to pass, House Bill 2777, which increased the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ (IDNR) transparency in management of the Chronic Waste Disease program for infected Illinois deer in Northwest IL. This was an issue brought to me by many local Sportsmen to better the cause of conservation and accountability in wildlife management. The bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously and awaits Governor Pritzker’s signature.
A major initiative of the Illinois Farm Bureau was a bill that would eliminate unnecessary permit requirements for landowners who have an agreement with the federal government. This would provide habitat and protect species that may become endangered in the future. It was my distinct honor this Spring to file a bill and pass House Bill 2425 that was praised by the Illinois Farm Bureau as encouraging “proactive programs to protect species.” Unfortunately, legislative maneuvering by Chicago-area legislators has held this legislation in the House, despite majority passage and bipartisan co-sponsorships.
An overwhelming majority of House members also joined me in supporting legislation I sponsored (House Bill 2783) to permit rifle hunting for deer in Illinois. With some caliber restrictions, we were able to remove long-standing opposition from Supermajority Democrats, and the bill passed with 100 of the 118 member House, supporting the measure. The bill will need more action in the Senate.
Not being afraid to cross the aisle to support a good idea when I see one, I was proud to join Rep. Monica Bristow (D-Alton) in co-sponsoring her legislation to allow school districts to offer hunting safety courses, as is done in Eastern Iowa as well as in other states like South Carolina and Alaska. The Illinois House voted unanimously and all but one member of the Illinois Senate supported this legislation, and now awaits action by Governor Pritzker.
While I fully recognize there are many fiscal and government reform issues that certainly take precedence over Conservation issues to correct the direction Illinois is headed, I also understand that the leadership of the Illinois General Assembly was duly elected and sets the priorities addressed within this Chamber. I would have loved to have seen us put all non-emergency issues on the back-burner for a year to address critical reforms to put Illinois’ economy on a better track. However, when it became clear that prioritization of fiscal concerns was not a priority for the legislative supermajority or Governor, I believed we could still make some headway on some other issues important to the citizens Northwest Illinois. This pragmatism yielded passage of some important legislation to provide additional support of Conservation programs and transparency over the government’s involvement with our natural resources.
While many Republicans had some wins to be proud of in that regard, the real heavy lifting on fiscal reforms continues to be ignored by our Chicago counterparts and that is unfortunate.
Original source can be found here.
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