The Cole Memo

In this episode, I watch JB Pritzker’s State of the State address live, as it aired. 

• Watch the episode on Patreon here
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• Stream the episode on Soundcloud here
• Stream the episode on Spotify here
• Stream the episode on Apple Podcast here
• Stream the episode on X here

Links mentioned during show

• Governor Pritzker’s post on X (formerly Twitter), mentions cannabis
• You can view the Illinois cannabis history episodes that were mentioned in this episode here 
• This is the Chicago Tribune Story that I shared
• You can view the episode with Chicago Tribune reporter, Jeremy Gorner, here.

The auto-generated transcript is available below.

in this episode of the Cole memo we will be watching the governor’s stateof the state address that’s Governor JB pritzer the elected governor of Illinois this is the 2024 State of the State today is February 21st 2024 you’re tuned in to the Cole memo I’m your host Cole Preston every episode is released in audio video and transcript formats to find the transcript audio or video version of any episode please refer to the description of the episode that you’re listening to now within that description you can find a link that will take you to our website which will display the transcript for this episode and the platforms where you can find this episode in audio or video formats if you’re unable to locate the episode description on whichever platform you’re listening from Simply note the episode number and visit the coal memo.com from there you can use the search functionality to find the corresponding episode and then you’ll be able to access the audio video and transcript version of the episode you might also find any links that we reference during the episode so that you you may able may be able to do your own research once again I just launched new search functionality on the coal memo so if you search up stateof the state at the memo.com for example this will likely pop up because the search works very well if you’re not listening to this episode of the co memo on patreon then you are listening to this episode later than our patrons to become a patron go to the co memo.com patreon sounds like we’re starting so I guess I’m going to shut up yeah there’s still 10 minutes left I’m going to turn this down a little bit and uh just you know oh looks like they just disabled the mic anyways uh folks if you know you don’t want to become a patron for some reason you can make a one-time monthly or yearly contribution of your choice um again you could just donate a dollar a one-time donation of a dollar or you could do a monthly donation of a dollar so that’s $12 a year um if you’re able to support us financially just go to the memo.com support and you can make a contribution of your choice and uh that would be greatly appreciated but of course one of the best ways to support our show is absolutely free you can subscribe to or follow our show leave us a positive review from wherever you’re listening to us from favorite this episode give it a thumbs up leave a comment or post a review it’s the first time that I’m realizing that I say post a revieww twice in my intro I will be sure to modify that but if that doesn’t show you reviews are very helpful please if you’re able to post a positive review I would appreciate that the mic’s hot again I don’t know if they’re about to talk or if they’re just doing tests um so yeah one of the best ways to support our show is free just support us tell your friends about us rate US your engagement and support is appreciated once again today’s February 21st 2024 enjoy this episode of the co memo while we wait I going to go grab some weed um to roll up so I’ll pause uh the recording until the speech officially starts so that you’re not just sitting here waiting see you in a moment while we wait I’ll display Governor pritzker’s uh Twitter Channel Twitter account or X account what do we call it nowadays I don’t know um I just want to give you a preview of what he’s probably going to talk about today if you’re watching the podcast you can see that five years into the governor into Governor pritzker’s Administration uh they they’ve got this graphic so they’ve apparently passed five balanced budgets they’ve raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour or it will be raised by 2025 they’ve enshrined the right to choose they put Illinois on the path to 100% clean energy we funded historic levels of prek k12 and higher ed we earned nine credit will be order members will be in their chairs check it out sounds like we’re starting we shall be led in prayer today by Reverend Chon c d Brown Reverend Brown is the pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Maywood Illinois he is also National director of thousand churches connected for the rainbow push Coalition Reverend Brown is a guest of mine today members and guests are asked to refrain from starting their laptops turn off all cell phones and please rise for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance Pastor Brown dear heavenly father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for our opportunity to lead this great state of Illinois lord it’s my prayer that you will guide our legislators that you will keep them that you will cover them that you will lead them in every decision that Lord you will lead them to serve the oppressed and the overlooked Lord that you will guide our minds you will guide our thoughts you will guide our practice and Lord remind us of why we first became who we are today Lord I pray a special prayer for our governor our lieutenant governor our speaker and all of those who make the future of Illinois greater Lord protect us build a hedge of protection around us each and every person under the sound of my voice we pray that your will be done nothing more nothing less and nothing else in Jesus name we do pray amen amen amen we will be led in the Pledge of Allegiance today by The Honorable leader representative Gordon Booth States stand indivisible andice roll call for attendance that’s Lesean Ford right there I think looks a lot like him leader Gable is recognized to report any excused absences on the Democratic side of the aisle speaker let the record show that Representatives alol Tarver Vel and yednock are EXC excus today the record will show leader ker is recognized to report any excused absences on the Republican side of the Alis thank you Mr Speaker please let the record reflect that all Republican representatives are here to conduct the people’s business the record will reflect have all recorded themselves who wish have all recorded themselves who wish have all recorded themselves who wish Mr clerk please take the record there being 100 12 members present and answering the roll call a quorum is present the regular session will stand in recess the doorkeeper is recognized for an announcement can you go up for Jeff Mr Speaker The Honorable president Harmon and the members of the Senate are at the door and seek admission to the chamber Madame doorkeeper please admit The Honorable senators let the record reflect that a prayer was said the Pledge of Allegiance was said and a joint was rolled for this State of the State got it rolled up right here I wasn’t expecting this many people to be coming in I I just expected a few individuals this is there’s is that Don Haron with the glasses I don’t no there he is there there’s a few people with glasses so that was not a very descriptive uh there not a great description on my behalf many people wear glasses including Don Harmon fun fact about Don Harmon in uh episode in the our cannabis history series which started with episode 232 of the chillino podcast you can check out the entire series at the memo.com hisory uh from what we can tell Mr Harmon has uh accepted more money than any other elected representative that we could find uh from cannabis companies specifically and in the episode that you can find at Co memo.com FL history we show you those numbers and and how to trace those campaign dollars which of course is helpful in in this context right so you can see what money people have accepted but it’s also helpful in in other contexts right if you’re pushing for an issue you might be wondering uh who is paying your state legislature to feel the way that they are um and this skill that we teach you in at the memo.com hisis could be uh applicable like I say to more issues than just cannabis would the members of the house and our guests from the Senate please take their seats with the members of the house and our guests from the Senate please take their seats you very as designated in house joint resolution number 52 please take your seats he just shushed them never it’s interesting take your seats people let’s get this show on the road it’s 12 o’clock it’s 12:00 December 21st 20 designated in house joint resolution number 52 the hour of noon having arrived The Joint session of the 103rd General Assembly will now come to order Mr Clerk is a quorum of the house present a quorum of the house is present president Harmon is a quorum of the Senate present in the chamber thank you Mr Speaker a quorum of the Senate is present there being a quorum of the house and a quorum of the Senate and attendance this joint session is now convened I’d like to take an opportunity before our governor arrives to acknowledge a few dignitaries that are in the house I want to start with our auditor general former colleague of ours here in the House of Representatives honorable Frank Martino our state treasurer Still Standing Tall for Illinois State Treasurer The Honorable Michael frerick our comp troller The Honorable Susanna Mendoza our secretary of state The Honorable Alexi janulus our attorney general The Honorable quame Rahul our chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court Mary Jane Ty honorable Justice from the Supreme Supreme Court Justice P Scott nille Jr honorable Justice from the Supreme Court Justice David K Over Street honorable Justice from the Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lisa holder white honorable jus from the Illinois Supreme Court Justice Joy V Cunningham and Justice from the Illinois Supreme Court The Honorable Justice Mary K O’Brien the chair recognizes the House Majority Leader representative Gable Mr Speaker I move for the adoption of joint session resolution number two Mr clerk read the resolution joint session resolution number two be resolve that a committee of 10 be appointed five from the house by the speaker of the house and five from the Senate by the president of the Senate to wait upon Governor JB preser and invite him to address the joint assembly representative Gable has moved for the adoption of the resolution all those in favor signify by saying I all those opposed say nay in the opinion of chair the eyes have it and the resolution is adopted pursuant to the resolution the following are appointed as a committee to escort the governor the appointments from the house are representative Lily representative musman representative Ortiz representative laa and representative swier president Harman thank you Mr Speaker the appointments from the Senate are Senator leford Senator Castro Senator Holmes Senator Stoler and Senator Bennett will the committee of escorts please convene at the rear of the chamber and await the governor the doorkeeper is recognized for an announcement Mr Speaker the governor of of the state of Illinois JB pritsker and his party wish to be admitted to this chamber Madam dorer please admit the governor and his guests here we [Applause] go [Applause] [Applause] every that’s Don Haron that he just handed the uh folder to so if you hung on that long if you hung on that long there’s my clarification members and guests The Honorable governor of this great state The Honorable JB pritzer guess that’s the Clapping sign interesting thank you very much thank you all very much speaker Welch president Harmon lieutenant governor St and my fellow constitutional officers members of the 103rd General Assembly chief justice Ty and of course all the members of the Supreme Court honored guests the first lady of Illinois my soulmate MK and all the people of the great state of Illinois I am so grateful to be here today to deliver my sixth State of the State and budget address I love my job I love living in Illinois and spending every day working to improve the lives of our residents in a world seemingly filled with chaos it’s a privilege to be tasked with bringing stability and progress we live in a state that’s filled with people who exude decency and kindness and if you take the time to listen Illinois will tell you rich and rewarding stories about how we came to be who we are here in Springfield one of the most interesting guys I know is Ian hunt the head of Acquisitions at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and if you ask Ian he will tell you one of my favorite stories Illinois owns an original version of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address it’s known as the Everett copy one of only five to have been handwritten by Abraham Lincoln himself it’s named after Edward Everett a famed orator and a former Massachusetts senator and Governor at Gettysburg on November 19 1863 Everett was the other guy who spoke he gave a 2hour speech that almost no one remembers whenever it was finished Abraham Lincoln got up and he delivered a twom minute speech that has never been forgotten A Life Lesson for every politician the Everett copy of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address remained in private hands for almost 80 years and then in 1943 with a World War raging across the globe word came to Illinois governor Dwight green the owner of the Everett copy had passed away and the document was likely to be auctioned off Governor green desperately wanted Illinois to own this Priceless piece of history that is so intimately connected to our most famous son so his administration came to an agreement with the seller to purchase it for $60,000 the problem was Illinois didn’t have $60,000 to spend on the Gettysburg address in 1943 and Governor green knew this so he did something unusual he Enlisted the school children of Illinois to collect pennies and nickels to raise the money there must have been great skepticism that kids were going to come up with enough money to buy the Gettysburg Address for the state especially in the middle of a cold war of a World War and at the heels of the Great Depression but no one should ever doubt the children of Illinois a few years ago a newspaper interviewed a Springfield man named Jean Ruble who noted that as a young boy in 1943 he sacrificed his Saturday afternoon movie for a few months so that he could give his weekly allowance to the donation drive it took the children of Illinois only 6 months to raise $40,000 Marshall field III the grandson of the famous department store magnate helped with the rest in March of 1944 almost exactly 80 years ago four school children presented the handwritten Gettysburg address to the Illinois State Historical Library and it has been our most valuable State artifact ever since I love this story it has everything imagination Ingenuity sacrifice patriotism it includes elected officials who didn’t stop at no and children with a vision beyond their years doing something important for our future it’s a story about how Penny by Penny illinoisans once saved something important it’s a story about our past but it’s also a story about who we are today because Penny by Penny we are still working together saving important things for our state five years ago when people said we couldn’t do it many of us went to work eliminating our bill backlog and balancing five State budgets in a row we created a$2 billion rainy day fund we achieved nine credit upgrades and in the face of a pandemic and high inflation we delivered historic tax relief providing Ed record levels of rental and mortgage assistance and reduced interest costs by paying more than 11 billion in debt off we’ve also grown Illinois’s economy to over1 trillion that’s more than most nations in 2023 alone we attracted billions of dollarss in new business Investments and created tens of thousands of new jobs in fact in fact on average a new business moved to Illinois or expanded here every single day last year thanks to our bipartisan tax credit legislation Illinois is now the world’s fourth largest Data Center Market and we broke an all-time record for film and TV production Revenue tourism is booming last year Illinois’s Hotel industry set a record at $5.5 billion in the midwest we are now the number one state for Workforce Development Across all 50 states we are number two for infrastructure number two for educ ation number three for power grid reliability we have the number one and number two best business schools in the country and since 2018 we’ve moved up a whopping 13 spots in cnbc’s best states for business these are the things that matter to businesses looking for a home where they work force can live work and play affordably and with worldclass health care and education now we have a lot of work left to do but we together have met this moment that we are in do not let the Doom grifters steal your optimism about what’s ahead for Illinois our future is bright and opportunity lies ahead last year we launched a groundbreaking multi-year Plan called Smart Start to make Illinois the best state in the nation for preschool child care early intervention and home visiting it’s already making a huge difference for young families across Illinois we thought we would be able to add 5,000 preschool seats by the end of year one we exceeded that goal by 15% we created created 5,823 new preschool spots all of which are options that parents didn’t have before as a result right now we have over 82,000 publicly funded preschool classroom seats the highest number in our state’s history and staying on the Smart Start plan we will achieve Universal preschool by 2027 Smart Start also expanded access to early intervention and evidence-based home visiting Services for Families with babies and young children by adding 26 more programs serving nearly 3,000 more kids and we established the nation leading Early Childhood Workforce grant program thanks to our initial investment of $130 million stabilizing and raising wages for a Workforce that is primarily women and people of color that helps providers maintain and grow Staffing while still delivering the quality care that Illinois children deserve Smart Start is having the desired benefit for working parents and their children childcare utilization rates are higher than ever before with 166,000 children receiving Services there was a real fear that our entire Child Care System might crumble in the wake of the pandemic mic instead it’s growing Heather Andrade is a Rochester parent and when I recently visited with her she told me that Smart Start has changed her child’s life in 2019 after a tremendously difficult pregnancy Heather brought little Natalia into this world a healthy happy little baby but as Natalya grew Heather noticed that she was experiencing some delays in her development and in Her speech Heather knew that she needed help thanks to Smart Start Rochester Elementary was able to open a full day program offering early childhood education and child care including early intervention services like speech therapy since Natalia’s first day in that program her progress has been nothing short of remarkable she can spell her name she can write her name once nonverbal Natalya Now talks so much that they’re even considering pulling her out of speech therapy Natalya is on track to thrive when she enters kindergarten and her path ahead couldn’t be brighter Heather’s success story as a mom stands as a testimonial it reminds us of all the parents out there who need just a little extra help to give their kids that smart start Heather is here today and I ask you to give her a big round of applause it’s with Heather and Natalia in mind that I propose we stay on plan and increase Smart Start funding by 15 $50 million in year 2 to create 5,000 more preschool seats continue growing child care and reach thousands more families with critical Early Childhood Services and I also ask that in this budget We Begin the first phase of consolidating State government’s Early Childhood programs into one agency called the department of early childhood with a $13 million investment parents and providers will have a One-Stop shop for resources and programs from finding child care and preschool to accessing Early Childhood block grants and daycare licensing nearly every study shows that investing in early childhood isn’t just about your child’s first five years it’s also about Paving the way for success in their K12 education and Beyond every single year have been Governor we have increased our investments in education because equality education is the foundation of a good life and the Cornerstone of a strong Society it’s why education has been a central tenant of all six budgets I have proposed there have been some standout Champions among you like majority leader lightford and Senator logran kappal along with Representatives Davis and Stewart who have spent their entire careers fighting for our Public Schools all while weighing the tough choices to keep our budget in balance and the results are plain to see in 2023 US News ranked Illinois high school students number two in the nation in college readiness and CNBC ranked Illinois number two overall for Education we notched our highest gradu a rate in 13 years and teacher retention was the highest ever on record the rate of ninth graders on track to graduate now exceeds pre-pandemic levels chronic absenteeism is turning around and Proficiency in both English language arts and math increased dramatically we can draw a direct line from these results to last year’s budget our $45 million teacher pipeline grant program brought $ 5,384 new teachers into the field reaching more than 730,000 students in 170 districts with the highest need teachers are the single most important investment we can make in our schools so I propose that we invest another $45 million in the teacher pipeline program bringing thousands more Educators into the field the evidence-based funding model is working so my budget proposal follows the ebf Law’s recommendation Inc increasing It Again by $350 million and we will fully F fund special education and continue increasing funds for school transportation by $30 million higher education continues its tremendous upward trajectory for the second year in a row the Illinois Community College system celebrated historic headcounts marking the second largest increase in enrollment numbers in the last 30 years and far higher than the rest of of the United States more Illinois students are now taking advantage of our great colleges and universities with well-funded map Grant and aim high scholarship programs so the net tuition cost for most Illinois students attending Illinois schools continues to decline our higher education institutions are on the rise and it’s important that year in and year year out even in lean budget years we demonstrate a commitment to these institutions which is why my budget proposal includes a more than $30 million increase in direct operating support for public higher education institutions and that’s on top of the continuing record Capital Investments that we’re making through rebuild Illinois improving educational attainment and retention is assisting private industry to overcome the Illinois Workforce shortage and it’s also having a similar effect on state government we’re finally moving closer to achieving the Staffing levels that we need to support our work the departments on Aging Human Services Healthcare and Family Services every Social Service Agency has improved its hiring to fill out its budgeted headcount DCFS for example has achieved its highest stat Staffing in more than 15 years through a combination of funding Ingenuity and sheer hard work DCFS is more focused than ever on how to best protect Illinois children today nearly every call to the abuse and neglect hotline is answered immediately that’s up from only 50% back in 2019 of the more than 94525 investigations conducted last year by DCFS 99.7% were indicated and initiated within 24 hours and within 7 Days 96% of children have been seen by an investigator with the additional million in funding in fy2 DCFS will reach a headcount of 4,000 staff for the first time in more than two decades as always there is more to do and DCFS is committed to doing it I want to thank outgoing DCFS director Mark Smith for his five years of service in the state’s most difficult job and I also want to welcome incoming director Heidi Mueller who served two gubernatorial administrations as the pioneering head of the Department of Juvenile Justice I’ve visited many DJJ facilities over my time in office and it’s impossible possible to ignore the trust and admiration the state’s most vulnerable children have for her we are lucky to have her in this new role the people who work at DCFS are witnessed to trauma and heartbreak every single day they’re rarely lauded for their successes and most often used as a convenient punching bag for larger societ societal issues they work long hours and on occasion these heroic workers have been the subject of threats and violence I want them to know that I see them and that I see their work and that I am incredibly grateful for their service and I ask each of you in this chamber to offer them your gratitude to their dedication is worthy of recognition restoring the safety net has been a goal of mine from the very beginning but to do so we’ve had to work on Transforming Our Healthcare ecosystem after so many years of neglect we’ve begun to turn things around by reducing the price of prescription drugs implementing Hospital transformation and enacting a lower cost state-based health insurance Marketplace I want to particularly thank Senators Linda Holmes an Gillespie and Laura fine as well as leader Robin Gable for their groundbreaking work on healthare reform over the last few years and now it’s time that we take another giant leap forward this legislative session I’m introducing a bill to curb predatory Insurance practices putting power back into the hands of patients and their doctors it’s called the healthc care consumer access and protection act and it has three parts the first part targets a practice called utilization management what is utilization management that’s Insurance speak for denying coverage utilization management allows insurance companies to boost profits by requiring that consumers get permission before they receive care it won’t surprise you to know that those requests are frequently denied one method of utilization management is referred to as prior authorization where a consumer must get permission from the insurance company to get treatment from their own doctor that their doctor has deemed medically necessary another method of utilization management is called Step therapy where a patient is forced to try a less effective treatment and then have that fail before getting the actual quality care that their doctors said they needed in the first place any doctor will tell you how much they Lo loathe these practices and how often they are used to deny patients the medications and treatments that they desperately need almost everyone has a horror story about prior authorizations and step therapy lest you think that I’m exaggerating let me share one such Story one of our state employees was diagnosed by his cardiologist with serious heart disease and scheduled open heart surgery 3 days before the procedure which took a month to schedule the health insurer denied the prior authorization request the insurance company made the decision without consulting this person’s doctor that heart surgery was unnecessary leaving the employee to cover the cost out of pocket or not get treated it was only after my office got involved at the request of this individual’s family who was afraid he could die that the prior authorization was granted that is simply unacceptable doctors and their patients should be making decisions about patient care there should never there should never be an instance where an insurance company employee can deny my coverage for something as serious as open heart surgery we should never ever ever ever seed these decisions to the whims of insurance Executives whose focus is always on the bottom line when it comes to Patient Care the only bottom line that really matters is what needs to be done to keep people healthy the legislation I’m proposing would totally ban step therapy in Illinois and force insurance companies to use the same definitions of medical necessity that doctors use among the other features of this bill Illinois will become the first state in the nation to ban prior authorizations for inpatient Adult and Children’s Mental Health Care that means patients suffering a mental health crisis can get the care they need without jumping through hoops designed to deny coverage and we’re going to make sure that insurance plans publicly post all treatments that require prior authorization so consumers can compare plans when they’re shopping for coverage we’re also going to prohibit insurance companies from selling short-term limited duration plans also known as junk Insurance these are plans these are plans that seem enticing because they offer lower premiums to bridge gaps in insurance coverage but in reality these plans fail to meet even the minimum standards of the Affordable Care Act they don’t cover pre-existing conditions they don’t cover maternal healthare they don’t cover mental health and substance use treatment or prescription drugs like 12 other states in this nation it’s time for Illinois to ban junk insurance plans the second part of this legislation covers Network adequacy that’s the standard insurance companies must meet to Ure that there are enough in network doctors to treat consumers when and where they need Healthcare in recent years we’ve seen the rise of ghost networks that’s where an in network directory shows doctors and Specialists who in reality either aren’t accepting new patients aren’t in network or don’t exist at all health insurance companies should be helping consumers get quality Care not tricking them so we’re going to require insurance companies to update their in network directories of doctors to reflect the actual availability of health here and we’re going to punish them if they don’t the third piece of the healthcare consumer access and protection act prevents insurance companies from unfairly increasing rates on consumers last year my Administration was proud to work with members of the Senate the house and other stakeholders to end unchecked rate increases uh for small group insurance those folks are the ones who cover small businesses and individuals this year we’re going to require that large group insurance carriers do the same now I’m haunted by the reality that there are illinoisans who are suffering and in some cases have died because they lost a battle with an insurance company I have talked to people who have just given up because of the mountains of paperwork or the endless search for an in network doctor or the dozens of hours on the phone arguing with an unsympathetic insurance company getting the health care you need shouldn’t be this hard now I know how hard the insurance industry will fight me on this but let me be perfectly clear I am willing to spend serious political capital and put my shoulder to the wheel to get this done it will save lives and lower health care costs for millions of illinoisans it’s also time to help those who have suffered Financial harm often through their no no fault of their own from past failures of a broken health insurance and Healthcare billing system treating a health emergency is not an optional expense but too many illinoisans have had their credit ruined or have been pushed into bankruptcy when they had one unexpected accident or one prolonged illness so today I propose that over the next four years we eliminate $4 billion of medical debt for over 1 million illinoisans working with a national nonprofit called Rip medical debt it costs on average one penny to buy back and eliminate every dollar of medical debt and we can start this year with a $10 million appropriation to relieve nearly $1 billion in medical debt for the first cohort of 340,000 illinoisans County Board president Tony preckwinkle has already done this for residents of Cook County let’s make this a reality for all of Illinois in Illinois a serious effort to reduce maternal mortality rates is long overdue and black women in our state are three times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than white women it’s imperative that we act now ensuring that as we do we also reduce and eliminate racial disparities the current system is failing our most vulnerable women and babies the solution lies as it often does at the community level Janine Valerie Logan is a certified nurse Midwife at the birth center PCC in burwin the first freestanding nonprofit birthing center to open in Illinois but in Janine’s home community on the south side of Chicago no such Center has ever existed after years of mobilizing and submitting Grant applications Janine finally is able to open the Chicago southside birth center to meet her neighborhood’s needs offering a full spectrum of reproductive care from contraceptions STI screenings and abortion to prenatal birthing and postpartum care it can be a model for how Illinois can decrease black maternal mortality because of my the work that my Administration has already done beginning this year Doula midwives and lactation Consultants can now be recognized as Medicaid Health Care Providers ensuring that they can be fairly compensated that that will make more Services more readily available to communities with the highest mortality rates and we can do even more I intend to break down bureaucratic barriers in state government by coordinating work across agencies to improve access to a full spectrum of reproductive Health Care Services our depart our Department of Public Health will provide grants to assist providers with Medicaid certification and licensing associated with with starting and sustaining a community-based practice we’ll also invest an additional $1 million in dceo capital grants relating to the cost of opening these centers and DHS will invest $1 million in a pilot program to ensure new moms and babies have clean diapers along with an additional $5 million into home visiting for our most vulnerable families to connect new moms and babies with the resources they need to be healthy and Thrive during baby’s first year my budget also proposes investing $12 million to create a child tax credit for families raising our youngest children by targeting this investment at low and middle income families with children under three we can put money back in the pockets of our newest parents who need it most and make those early years just a little bit easier all together we’re making a $23 million investment that will put us on a path to birth Equity a path and a destination that Janine and her colleagues in the field can be proud of Janine is here today and I would ask her to stand and be recognized one of my missions as Governor is to make life easier for Working Families establishing a child tax credit eliminating medical debt lowering the cost of Health Care making it easier to get a college education bringing quality Child Care closer to home so moms and dads can go to work these are not esoteric policy proposals but actually do lift the burdens up away from everyday illinoisans and even though inflation continues to cool off folks are still feeling the squeeze every week at the grocery store so there’s one more thing that we ought to do for the good of our state’s Working Families let’s permanently eliminate the grocery tax it’s one more regressive tax that we just don’t need if it reduces inflation for families from 4 to 3% even if it only puts a few hundred bucks back in family’s pockets it’s the right thing to do food access is far from the only necessity that we’re tackling in 2021 I signed an executive order that launched home Illinois a whole of government approach to prevent and end homelessness and last year we put this plan into action investing $200 million into prevention crisis response housing units and Staffing to ensure that every person has a Fighting Chance in a matter of months home Illinois sustained and created thousands of new shelter beds for longtime Illinois residents across this state we provided housing and services to young adults aging out of foster care who were at risk of becoming unhoused and we gave onetime financial support to working illinoisans who due to an acute crisis fell behind on their rent and risked losing their home or their apartment we kept thousands of Illinois illinoisans in their homes people who might otherwise have been unhoused take Jasmine for example Jasmine was living in her car with her five children while she was eight months into a high-risk pregnancy when Jasmine was finally connected to housing forward a homeless Services Agency in Oak Park they immediately took her in providing shelter and wraparound Clinical Services while at housing forwards rise Center Jasmine gave birth to a healthy little baby enrolled her kids in early childhood education registered for a GED program and now Jasmine is looking for employment today she’s on a path to permanent housing there are many hundreds of people like Jasmine all across this state in need of help and we know that black individuals and families make up 61% of the unhoused while uh making up only 14% of the overall population so this year we created a racial Equity Roundtable on black homelessness the only effort of this kind in the entire nation to advance that work I am proposing an additional 50 million doll to attack the root causes of housing insecurity for black illinoisans and all the while all the while we are going to continue to serve other at risk populations like veterans and those who are medically vulnerable with the shelter and wraparound Services they need underlying home Illinois is a belief that this state values the Dignity of human life and the universal right to a safe home not so with all states I would build a wall of Steel a wall as high as Heaven against the admission of a single one of those Southern Europeans who never thought the thoughts or spoke the language of a democracy in their lives those words were spoken a hundred years ago by Georgia Governor Clifford Walker at a Klux Clan rally but the reality is it could have been a social media post by Donald Trump last week time might March forward but our society’s worst impulses seem never to go away I’ve spoken many times about my own family’s Refugee history I will not join the chorus of people in this country or in this chamber who eagerly look to slam shut an immigration door that was once open to our ancestors over the last 18 months more than 35,000 Asylum Seekers have arrived in Illinois most of them landed here in buses sent by Governor Abbott of Texas Abbott willfully planned the arrival of these individuals in locations and at times that would engender the maximum chaos for the city of Chicago and for the Asylum Seekers themselves children pregnant women and the elderly have been sent here in the dead of night left far from our designated welcome centers in freezing temperatures wearing flipflops and and t-shirts think about that the next time a politician from Texas wants to lecture you about being a good Christian our immigration system has been broken for a long time no doubt the current migrant crisis is a problem of the federal government’s making and I mean both political parties I am sure that when I leave the podium today there will be some who will walk outside this chamber looking for a microphone so they can start yelling about Sanctuary cities and immigrants taking our tax dollars I hope that the Press covering those statements will ask these politicians one important question did you or did you not support the federal immigration bill that the White House agreed to with Senate Republicans there was a chance two weeks ago for a breakthrough on immigration policy and the president and Congressional Democrats did what most voters say they want from leaders they sat down at the table with Republicans and negotiated a bipartisan compromise the White House announced a bill that was supported by top Republican leadership in the Senate and then within hours hours Republicans who had helped write the legislation announced that they were suddenly against the legislation including most glaringly every single Republican member of the Illinois Congressional Delegation why did this happen why did every single Republican run away from something that they claimed they desperately want because Donald Trump told them to and they’re afraid of him and why did Trump tell them to reject the bill because he wanted to use the issue of immigration against President Biden in the November elections I’m not making hyperbolic statements here Donald Trump said that out loud that bill would have helped Illinois it would have provided money and resources that we don’t normally receive as a state far from the southern border maybe some Republicans find it hard to put country over party but our obligations to the people we represent supered the letter after our names Joe Biden has been a very good president who has rescued the economy and protected freedom but states and cities states and cities in the country’s interior are not equipped alone to handle the rapid influx of new arrivals that we have seen the White House and the federal government need to step up to coordinate and manage these Asylum Seekers when they cross the border and they shouldn’t leave it to the governor of Texas who has no goal but to se chaos and destruction listen maybe some of you think that we should just say this is not our problem and that we should let the migrant families starve or freeze to death but that’s not what decent midwesterners do that’s not what leaders do we didn’t ask for this manufactured crisis but we must deal with it all the same with our partners in Cook County and the City of Chicago my Administration has worked to develop a coste effective and compreh hensive response plan over the next 12 months we used the most reliable data available and estimated what it would take to ensure that the most basic human needs are met for Asylum Seekers arriving in Chicago this plan also includes continuing our efforts to divert as many people as possible away from temporary shelter to more permanent settlement wherever that may be not because we are unwelcoming of immigrants but because Chicago’s shelter system is near capacity and it is dangerous if migrants have no shelter or support at all to date we’ve moved 9,000 individuals through the process from arrival to Temporary shelter to Independent housing and self-sufficiency thousands of others have moved on to find family or sponsors we’ve also helped thousands through the temporary protected status and employment authorization process so they can legally work Private Industry in Illinois has expressed a strong desire to hire those who are authorized to work I committed to the mayor of Chicago and the Cook County Board president that I would come to the general assembly and ask for funding for a little over 50% of the cost of this plan which comes to $11.7 million we don’t have any clear idea how long Governor Abbott intends to hold the nation hostage but his political stunt will eventually come to an end so let’s start planning for its aftermath ensuring that during the coming fiscal year some of the 30 temporary migrant shelters can and ought to be converted to other productive uses as determined by the communities themselves neighborhood clinics community centers Workforce training housing there are lots of good ideas that I’ve heard from people so we have designated 5 million in this budget for shelter conversion grants now I won’t pretend that any of this is easy but it would be irresponsible to do anything but come here lay out the scope of the challenge tell you what I think we need to do and then work with you to make it happen personally I think each of us should follow the examples set by the good people of our state evanston’s mic Moyer is fixing up bicycles to donate to migrants Chicago’s Samantha ulang is teaching English to our new neighbors on a South Loop basketball court and then there’s Oak Park’s Elaine Pierce a retiree Elaine opened her modest two-story three-bedroom home to seven new family members as she would say absorbing all of the costs on her own Mike Samantha and Elaina are among the best of us epitomizing what it means to be an illinoisan through and through let’s thank them today our fy2 budget proposal makes some hard choices I wish we had big surpluses to work with this year to take on every one of the very real challenges that we face it’s important to note that while this budget is tight this year our fiscal house is in order and we are able to keep our communities and our commitments to those communities and to the people of Illinois this year’s budget proposal is focused and disciplined and because of the responsible actions we took in the last few years paying off State debt and treating Federal pandemic relief as one-time Revenue we are not facing the budgetary challenges that other big states are this year California for example has a$ 38 billion deficit to contend with meanwhile Illinois’s budget is balanced and it builds upon all of the progress that we’ve made paying our pensions in full Investing more in our Public Schools social service agencies and Healthcare while addressing the immediate and unique needs of the coming FIS SCH year now I expect that some of you will want to spend more and some of you will claim that you want to spend less I know this I’m always open to good ideas that members of both parties have to more efficiently and effectively fulfill our obligations my one Line in the Sand is that I will only sign a budget that is responsibly balanced and that does not diminish or derail the improving credit standing we have achieved for The Last 5 Years 80 years ago in the middle of a World War our state decided it wanted to preserve an important momento of our past Governor green knew that illinoisans in every corner of the state were watching their family and friends and neighbors die half a world away fighting fascism good leaders are practical but they also know the power of totems especially virtuous ones it’s poetic and prophetic that it was children who came to the rescue in 1943 to enable the acquisition of one of Illinois’s true Jewels somehow it’s always our kids who know how to contextualize the past while reaching for our future I’m struck by the words of Jean Ruble that Springfield boy who gave up his movie money every week to donate to the Gettysburg Address effort he noted years later it meant something to us being part of something like that and it did mean something to Jean it sparked a lifelong love of history when he retired Ruble worked as a dosent at the Abraham Lincoln Museum where on so many days he delighted in showing visitors the document that he helped buy so many years ago Jean’s story and the generosity of Illinois’s children in 1943 is a reminder of something important our citizens rightfully ask a great deal of their representatives but they are always willing to give so much of themselves in return that reciprocal investment is the essence of statesmanship and citizenship it’s what makes a society strong it is what has made Illinois great thank you God bless you God bless the great state of Illinois and God bless the United States of America all right folks that was it if you’re still with us I’m sure most maybe some of you are tuning out right now but uh you know will the committee of escorts please come forward to escort the Governor from the chamber let’s turn this down just a bit president Harmon is recognized for a motion so yeah I’ve watched some of these I’ve watched a lot of these state of the states I’ve watched state of the the unions before which if you didn’t know President Joe Biden’s is coming up within the next month or so I believe um very interesting I will say it was interesting um to hear you know calling out of you know not only Donald Trump but invoking uh Texas governor Abbott um I mean it makes sense just didn’t really expect it so uh clearly said I guess um but yeah it was interesting not one mention of cannabis you know so folks keep that in mind that whenever we’re sitting here I love this little music let’s turn this up for a [Music] second so yeah remember that when we’re bitching about cannabis stuff or whatever you know focused topic uh there was a lot mention mentioned in that speech that was not I mean frankly yeah cannabis was not mentioned once once in the speech and as I told you as I was saying before we went into that uh on Twitter get out of there it’s playing the music Still and distracting me on Twitter or X Governor pritsker shared this post I figured that um I figured there would be a mention of adult use cannabis honestly because it was in this graphic and he did mention you know a number of these other things you’ll recall he mentioned the credit upgrades his Line in the Sand for the budget is you know not compromising that or something to that effect um he talked about it has H the budget had to be balanced um you know different they he talked about the value in prek k12 and higher ed I do believe uh very interesting stuff the note I will say before I go um because I really as you can tell I don’t have a lot to add it is interesting like I say with my experience of watching some of the state of the states and state of the unions especially if you watch it on like a mass media broadcasting system uh they will like have their statements pretty well prepared to go and what you’ll notice I don’t know if you if you noticed but while I was playing the speech I uh displayed this article that was written by it looks like Jeremy gorner and Olivia olander from the Chicago Tribune it was shared by Dan Petrella uh Jeremy gorner has been on our show a few times uh in the past on the Cole memo once and on the my CH Illinoi podcast in the past which was my former podcast um he wrote this story about what the speech included and you could see almost as I was scrolling through it it was almost matching um what he was talking about at times so that’s all to say that the media I do believe like the formal media I’m not you know I’m not formal media if you will I’m kind of uh just a podcaster you know a content creator uh yeah they get like a copy of the speech I do believe like a whole a transcript because if actually if you read this article at the very top just to my point it says well it says something about how in his in the text of his uh Speech okay here it is I wish we had big surpluses to work with this year to take on every one of the very real challenges we Face priter told lawmakers according to the prepared text of his remarks so that makes me think that like you know gener people in the media like the Chicago Tribune and other outlets will are probably in contact with like a press contact from the state and they will like receive a prepared text of his remarks so that they can do coverage uh as the speech airs and obviously post coverage um but I think I I wonder if it’s if either they are provided it ahead of time or if they like get it they get it at 12 like right when the speech starts I’ve always kind of wondered about like when the media actually gets a copy of the speech um you know because in cases when I’ve watched state of the unions in the past like you’ll watch certain channels and they’ll be like the president’s going to talk about this he’s going to make statements like this like they literally know what he’s gonna say before he said it because they usually get yeah uh they get a prepared copy of the speech right so um anyways that’s all I have um on that was the state of the union so I just wanted to watch it with you all I got to get back to my day uh thank you for watching if you still are and take care