Last week was the second and last scheduled week of Veto Session in Springfield. Over the last couple of weeks I have outlined many of my priorities for our work in Springfield, but as usual the priorities of House Republicans and the priorities of Illinoisans were mostly ignored during our time in session. Instead, very little was done. That means the work starts today to continue fighting for our priorities at the Capitol. I’ll give you an update on issues that did come up in Springfield this week, and a couple of local issues. But first, I’d like to highlight some wonderful local events I have been to recently in our area. This is the season for delicious meals and great events.
Last week, I attended the following events: the Germantown Veteran’s Breakfast, the Highland Legion Breakfast, the New Douglas Fireman’s Breakfast, the Marine UCC Sausage Supper, the Swap Meet in St. Rose, the Chicken Dinner in Bartleso, the Breese KC Chicken Dinner, St. Libory to support Ed Cockrell, the Queen of Hearts in Albers, and the Metro East Diaper Bank and Spaghetti Dinner in Albers. While I do not eat every meal (I take some back to workers on the farm), I enjoy supporting this many organizations all over the District and meeting with my constituents. If you have an event you’d like me to attend, let me know!
Veterans Memorial Road
As we honored our Veterans on Veterans Day, this year was a little more special. For many years, I have been trying to get Old US 50 that runs through Clinton County renamed to Veterans Memorial Highway. On Saturday along with the Clinton County Veterans celebration, we were able to designate Old US 50 as the Clinton County Veterans Memorial Road. I hope you were able to take some time this weekend to pause and honor our many veterans that we have in the 109th District.
New Nuclear Power Now Possible In Illinois
One issue we were able to vote on in Springfield last week was on legislation to allow new nuclear power plants to be built in Illinois. For decades Illinois has had a moratorium in place that kept new nuclear power plants from being built here. With the recent legislation that was passed by Democrats in Illinois, all of the coal plants are being forced to close and we know that there is just not enough energy generation to keep up with the demand. And, we need more power generated to keep our power bills affordable.
Passing a bill to allow for new nuclear power generators to be built is a victory for lower electricity rates for our state. Allowing Illinois to use new and safer technology to produce nuclear power will lower energy prices for customers. Electricity customers are paying higher energy bills because of the war on coal and the mirage that wind and solar will meet our energy demands. A continued mix of keeping coal-fired power plants like Prairie State in operation and expanding new small modular nuclear power plants will help Illinois meet its energy demand and provide for low-cost electricity.
We Must Keep Working to Increase Election Integrity
As we start working on legislation for the new session in January, election integrity is one of my priorities. That is why I have joined House Republicans to introduce legislation that will help us have confidence in our election systems. One bill would create a system to track all mail-in ballots so voters know where their ballot is in the process. We have also introduced legislation to require voter ID. Requiring a ID to vote is a common sense way to verify a voter’s identity before giving them a ballot and republican and democratic states across our country already require this common sense protection.
Firearm Registration/Ban Update
I have written to you before about the gun-grabbing legislation passed by the Democrats that severely limits firearms that can be purchased or owned in Illinois. Among other things, the bill bans the sale of many firearms and requires that if you owned a banned firearm before the legislation went into place, you must either get rid of the firearm or register it with the Illinois State Police. This bill is in the middle of a federal court case, but for now it has been upheld.
The Illinois State Police have still not finalized the rules for the law, making it even more confusing for law abiding gun owners. If you would like to weigh in on the rules and issue comments to the State Police, you may do so by sending comments to ISP.Legal.PublicComments@illinois.gov.
You can read more about these rules and about the issue here: https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/state-police-still-drafting-assault-weapons-registration-rules-as-deadline-nears
This Week On The Farm:
I picked up chicken dinners for the workers on the farm. We all ate good this past week.
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