Will County Legislative and Policy Committee met Jan. 8.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
Chair Jacqueline Traynere called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Chair | Present |
| Beth Rice | Vice Chair | Present |
| Julie Berkowicz | Member | Present |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Member | Present |
| Mimi Cowan | Member | Present |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Present |
| Meta Mueller | Member | Present |
| Judy Ogalla | Member | Present |
| Laurie Summers | Member | Present |
Present from the State's Attorney's Office: Mrs. Tatroe
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Rice Led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Legislative & Policy Committee - Regular Meeting - Nov 13, 2018 9:00 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member
SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, Member
AYES: Traynere, Rice, Berkowicz, Brooks Jr., Cowan, Marcum, Mueller, Ogalla, Summers
IV. MISCELLANEOUS LEGISLATIVE REPORTS
V. OLD BUSINESS
VI. NEW BUSINESS
1. Supporting the Regulation of Air Ambulances under the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA)
(Don Moran)
RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS] Next: 1/17/2019 9:30 AM
TO: Will County Board
MOVER: Laurie Summers, Member
SECONDER: Meta Mueller, Member
AYES: Traynere, Rice, Berkowicz, Brooks Jr., Cowan, Marcum, Mueller, Ogalla, Summers
2. Disc Re: State Legislation FY19 Agenda
(Information)
Ms. Traynere said we have had some conversation with Mr. Palmer and our state lobbyist Brent Hassert. We talked about how they might relate to ISACo our new state wide organization. We talked about items that may be passed or items we may want to keep or remove from the agenda. Mr. Palmer would you like to give us the County Executives position?
Mr. Palmer said we can strengthen our infrastructure section of the Agenda. Because with this session of the General Assembly there could be a Capital Bill. I think this is why we solicited Board Members for ideas for projects in their District. There have been some new Legislators that have been elected in Will County so we want to tell them here are our priorities. Even if there is not a County Highway maybe there is a State Highway or other Municipal Road that needs improvement. We like to look at it as both a transportation safety standpoint, but also investments that may lead to economic development and other quality of life issues. The other point from the Executive's Office we think we could be more specific on the financial side of things. In recent years the counties and municipalities have been hit with different reductions in dedicated funding from the State. The local distributed fund; there is an administrative fee put on some of our taxes that are collected. We understand that the State has some financial problems but we don’t want them pushed back to us. We have made the tough choices in Will County to balance our budgets, to build up our cash reserves and have an AA+ Bond Rating. We don’t want that to be impacted. From the Executive’s Office in working with this committee we want to as always work together and find issues that we all can get on board and advocate for. Sometimes that could be a defensive thing like saying no to bills that are bad for us, but sometimes it’s taking proactive actions like pushing legislation that is good for Will County.
Ms. Traynere added much of what Mr. Palmer has said is summarized on page 5. It talks about our opposing unfunded mandates; legislation that reduces our existing authority. You get a good summery of where the Board’s position has been in previous years. What I am looking for in all of you are ideas for things that you may want to take up. I have one I want to take up. Warehouses are a big issue in Will County. The pay of workers has been an issue in Will County, it has calmed down a bit over the last couple of years. I know there were constituent and activist groups that were protesting wage theft in 2013 to 2015. An issue that has been brought up is use of temporary employees and the abuse there of. Wage theft and deception on account of the employer. For instance if I am a temporary employee of yours and have been working for 5 to 6 years, am I really a temporary employee? These are the issues that we are hearing from workers in these warehouses. I would like to bring someone in next month to speak about a study that was done interviewing a variety of temporary workers in various industries all over the state. I would like them to educate us on what they have found. If you have never worked in those industries, you may not have a clue what it is like to walk in their shoes.
Ms. Summers added I know some of the ways they were getting around that was they were sharing employees; having them work so many hours here and there. I’m not sure how that really works but employees were getting injured and not being taken care of.
Ms. Traynere said very much so. In fact there is a rule that says if you’re a temporary employee and you are sent to an employer and you show up for work. The employer may tell them that they are not need for that day, they are supposed to be paid for 4 hours. I have heard that very rarely happens. Given that Will County is the largest Intermodal in the world, with warehouses in our area. We would like to bring that forward. We are looking for new ideas for the new State Agenda things we would take up on a state level. Please let us know.
Mr. Marcum said in Judicial a few months ago we talked about how the State passed a bill for how they fund Specialty Courts. We are going to keep our eye on that and bring it forward as well.
Mr. Palmer added we have talked about Specialty Courts but also items like River Valley and the Health Department, these are all things that are financial in nature. If they don’t fund them then either we fund them ourselves or cut the services. That is also something we should look at.
Ms. Dunn said Mr. Palmer and I want the Committee to know we have taken a look at what we have presented last year in our book. We have committed to Ms. Traynere that we are going to step up our game. The way we present to our Legislators is going to allow them to have the information quickly for them to see where our priorities are.
Mrs. Ogalla added in the past the Agenda was like a wish list. I learned going in with a concrete list of items and also letting them know whether we opposed or support an item. It was better when we would shrink it down and become more focused, and put it into an issue.
Ms. Traynere said I want talk about the polling places. I can’t speak for the whole County but in my area all of the Schools do close on Election Day. I am in favor of moving to the Federal Agenda the idea of a National Holiday for voting, we could clearly recognize Columbus on Election Day and call it Voting Day. Are we having any issues with the schools throughout the County?
Mr. Pelkie stated right now our staff is going through the process of securing those polling places. They have raised concerns about safety and also their concerns about cost. In some districts they view this as a hardship. We also have problems maintaining polling places that aren’t in School Districts. We find that there are issues like parking and space issues.
Ms. Berkowicz added in our district everyone is very comfortable with the arrangements, one thing I would want to do is avoid creating another day off for these children. Have we gotten any feedback on the cost of early voting? It seems that early voting is here to stay and we should be concerned about the cost.
Ms. Traynere said we had almost one-third of the voters in DuPage Township vote early. That doesn’t even include the people that vote by mail. Clearly that is the appetite of voters, to have the flexibility in the ability to vote. So if we don’t have a Federal Holiday there are other alternatives. Many of the States vote by mail. The rules for voting vary by State. Each State has control over that. I’m not in favor of eliminating early voting, I am in favor of vote by mail, eliminating the need for polling places and Election Judges. It would probably create the need for something else. I assuming that there would be verification processes that would have to be followed up on.
Ms. Mueller said I live in District #5 in the Oswego School District and we closed our schools. Then we proceeded not to use them at all, and had three Precincts into one Church. But closing the school, I struggle with that because I think children should see the process. I do understand the safety of that, and also would like to see a National Holiday for voting.
Ms. Traynere said next I would like the Sheriff’s Office to come up and talk about the proposed Legislation to change the language on the Unlawful Use of a Weapon Statute.
Undersheriff Conser said that David Adams had presented that to us last year. I have him here today to give you more information about the proposed legislation.
Mr. Adams said this is to get the Illinois State Law in conformance with the Federal Law. In 2004 there was the Law Enforcement Office Safety Act passed. The purpose of the Act was to exempt qualified Law Enforcement Officers from any State Laws that prohibited them form carrying a concealed weapon 24 hours day. It also affected the Interstate Passage, some State Laws allow it and some do not. This is so qualified Law Enforcement Officers could carry a weapon off duty. For instance if an Officer were in Indiana and drove to Ohio he would be breaking the law, due to crossing the border. What the Federal Law does is to make it Nationwide. Illinois Law does not provide for this.
Ms. Traynere said people would be surprised to know that a Correctional Officer in a prison does not carry a weapon. That same Correctional Officer might be in the local Jewel on the South Side of Chicago next weekend, and run into the inmate that he was in charge of last month. Yet they are not allowed to carry a weapon. We lobbied quite hard, so that Federal Correctional Officers could carry a concealed weapon. This happen at a Federal level, so how does this language for Unlawful Use Statute work? Are you saying our language prohibits it, wouldn’t the Feds trump the State?
Mr. Adams said I do believe you are correct; that the Federal Law specifically states the purpose of this is to exempt you from State Laws that prohibit it. The purpose of modifying the State Law removes that conflict. To be clear what we are proposing is to clear this up. A County Corrections Officers which is a sworn officer that has the powers of arrest, they are sworn individuals and have the exact same firearms class that Police Officers have.
Ms. Traynere said as an Illinois citizen you do have the right to carry a concealed weapon. But are you also talking about specifically crossing the boarders.
Mr. Adams replied we are talking within the State it makes it lawful. For example I could leave the State of Illinois and legally carry in other states; I can’t carry in this State. I’m a Master Firearms Instructor, I teach concealed carry for private citizens. What we are required in this state is for our Master Firearms Instructor. I also teach at the Police Academy, I teach Police Officers how to shoot their guns. But I have to go and pay an NRA instructor $150.00 to get certified and carry off duty. It doesn’t seem logical.
Ms. Traynere said so we are trying to change the language to remove that requirement.
Mr. Adams said we are just trying to get the Illinois State Law to coincide to what the Federal Law states. This is existing in the Federal Law, we just have a conflict in our State. This is a right and many of the officers want the freedom to exercise that right. We are looking for the County’s support.
Disc Re: FY20 Federal Agenda
(Nick Palmer)
Mr. Palmer said with our Federal Agenda we have had a Federal Lobbyist for a number of years, Smith, Dawson and Andrews. When we originally started with them they did advocacy for earmarks and we were successful in getting some larger ones. Once they were done away with we focused toward Federal Grants and Agency Advocacy. We create this Agenda every year; it is an informational document as much as an advocacy document. Our Congressional representatives have read it before we get there and have questions ready. The focus is the education of our delegation. With Agency Advocacy we have gone to places like the Department of Labor, who handles workforce issues. We have talked about things we would like to see and rewrites of those bills. We talked about the Water Resources Development Act and the DuPage River Study. We have gone to the EPA to talk about issues. When we are able to meet with the Agency Advocacy we are able to get advance notice of grants, they assist us in things we could do better in grant implications, and all of these things are helpful. The book is a joint effort between the County Board and the County Executive. It is laid out by major areas, authorizations which is when they do major bill rewrites. Federal Programs items like Community Development Block Grants or other big issues that the Feds are working on and have regular funding. Specific County projects such as the I55 Weber Road Corridor and Public Safety. In the back we always add a Will County overview, we include all the Board Members and what committees that they are on. Information about the general demographics of the County. A section on Work Force, so our Congress Members have a resource to go to. So they have a guide to know our General Employment rate and what jobs are available in Will County. We are looking to the Board Members for ideas, feel free to run them by Ms. Dunn and myself and we will investigate them. Some may be appropriate to add to the agenda, some may be investigated separately. Everything doesn’t have to be in our Federal or State Agenda for us to advocate or oppose. The agenda is intended to be a streamline marketing document, so when we go into a Congressional Office we have a short window of time. We want to open the book to the areas we want to highlight, talk about those items and leave. They will have the book as a resource, we want to educate them and we have had some success and gotten some good feedback.
Ms. Traynere asked Mr. Palmer to explain what the DuPage River Study was about and what its purpose was.
Mr. Palmer said the DuPage River constantly floods due to major storms. The southern portion of Plainfield and Wheatland are hit the hardest. It causes residential and commercial damage, they close roads at times that all has a cost. The study was looking at what could be done to mitigate so there is not as much damage. For instance flood damage, that often is personal flood insurance or even the Feds and the State and others pay for that cost. The goal is to minimize that so it is much less. The study looked at what could be done. There are things that can be done such as widening it, remove debris or the Feds have purchased properties that are in flood plains. The study has been completed and an assessment has been done. The second phase to the DuPage River Study is to go back to Congress and they have to appropriate the money to do the work. If you don’t meet the threshold it’s not done, we are above the threshold so it’s worth doing some of these projects. That is why we are going to include it, whether it happens in 2019 or 2020, it’s worth it to add to our agenda. One of the last things I would like to go over is the opioid issue, this has been a big issue for all of Will County, Chicago and the Country. We would like to say we were one of the many voices saying opioids is a bigger issue. Fast forward to the present, now it’s a National and State priority we are getting some funding already. This is still a major issue so this will be on both the Federal and State Agenda. There is always more work to be done on that issue.
Mr. Fricilone added this is a marketing piece, and I think if we were to pick a couple of issues like the drug issue or transportation. We should make seprate booklets on that; such as our Federal Transportation Agenda or out Federal Drug Initiative. This is so when we go to specific departments we have that information to give to them.
Ms. Rice asked who the technical author of both agendas. Is it taking information and combining it together?
Mr. Palmer said on the Federal Agenda that Bret Garson is kind of the account manager for Will County, Jim Smith is the Principal. Bret initially writes the Washington speak and I help to rewrite it. So it is a joint effort and this committee is a big part of that. The State Agenda has been more a product of the Committee and the lobbyist too. But items like our Infrastructure is a big issue for Will County so we want to get that right.
Mrs. Adams added the County Board staff works on the State Agenda. But a lot of the things in the State Agenda comes from individual departments. They write their own paragraph and then the lobbyist may tweak it some. But we rely on the different departments because they know their issues, and they are the experts how it effects them.
Mr. Palmer said it’s important to mention. If there’s an issue that Will County or an individual member is interested in, bring it to the committee. But sometimes you must find a sponsor to carry the bill. It may not even be a Will County sponsor. Then we reach out to them to see what it is about. Any issue can be considered, but is it relevant to what we have the authority or jurisdiction to do. It’s not practical to take an issue on every bill. It’s more what is relevant or what has a direct impact, what we have an authority over. Or what this board is passionate about, that they want to take a position in favor or opposed to.
Responsibility of the Legislative Committee
(Information)
Process for Creation of Committee Agendas
(Beth Adams)
Mrs. Adams said the Legislative Committee Agenda is put together a little bit differently than the rest of the Committees. The reason is a lot of items are time sensitive, many of the departments will work closely with the Chair on issues. We know how quickly bills move through, there is the opportunity for the Legislative Chair to work with leadership to provide a position on certain issues if falls in- between the committee schedule. For the Legislative Agendas the departments will bring their request forward to staff. We work with the Speaker and the Chair as far as what items are put on. For all of the other Agendas we send out at the end of the year to all the department heads and Elected Officials a time schedule of when our committee requests are due. So we can put them on for the first Executive Committee to be placed. Realizing, depending on how the month falls some of those are after the actual committee. Based on the rules and what each committees focus is, we place them on those certain agendas, and working with the Speaker to determine yes or no if they stay on. She might be aware of something that says we are going to hold off on that this month. Or put it on another committee. The agenda is then sent to the Chair for their final review before the agenda is actually distributed. If anybody who would have any items to go on an agenda you can email staff. We would go ahead and process that through the program.
VII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT
Ms. Ventura said one of the things that have been mentioned was pulling the Pet Bill off. There are several constituents in the Crest Hill and Joliet area that would be very upset about that. They did come before the board and give a presentation. They have lobbied the City to change it on a City level. They continue to lobby the Legislative at the State level. There is precedence to this, there are 17 cities that have passed this law; including Chicago, New York and San Francisco, and just recently the entire State of California has passed this law. It may seem frivolous to some of the areas that are not dealing with this; but to my area it is a big deal. If we don’t try to push this, we will hear about it. They were under the impression that this County Board did support this group.
IX. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT / ANNOUNCEMENTS
X. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XI. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjoun at 10:25 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tyler Marcum, Member
SECONDER: Mimi Cowan, Member
AYES: Traynere, Rice, Berkowicz, Brooks Jr., Cowan, Marcum, Mueller, Ogalla, Summers
https://willcountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=15&ID=3163&Inline=True
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