State Fiscal Crisis Demands More Assertive Action
Dec 1, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysMy first year office as a State Representative has reinforced my belief that the urgency with which significant issues are addressed is not commensurate with the magnitude of our State’s fiscal crisis. This is due in part to the glacial pace that business moves in Springfield legislatively. Inordinate amounts of time and effort are spent ...
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College Illinois! Update
Oct 17, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysI recently traveled to Springfield to hear testimony from parents and others concerned about the future of the College Illinois! college investment program. As we have discussed here before, About 55,000 families across the State have invested their children’s college money in College Illinois!, but questionable investment practices and management decisions as well as sky ...
Continue ReadingContinued Success in the Battle against Meth
Oct 15, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysThere’s no question that tracking and limiting large purchases of pseudoephedrine (PSE), a main ingredient in making of illegal methamphetamine, has helped reduce the number of homemade meth labs in our local communities. A key component of that success is a pilot program that currently allows all Illinois pharmacies to electronically track PSE purchases and ...
Continue ReadingPersonal Care/Christie Clinic News
Oct 12, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysPersonal Care/Christie Clinic Clients Take Note: Special Enrollment Begins This Week A new Special Enrollment Period (SEP) began on Monday for those who receive their health insurance coverage through the state. Special Enrollment offers an opportunity to review your insurance carrier options and make a change if you wish. This may be particularly helpful now to ...
Continue ReadingVeto Session Deal on Gaming Bill?
Oct 10, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysWe’re a couple weeks away from the start of the General Assembly’s fall veto session and Senate President John Cullerton still has not released to the Governor the gaming bill we approved in the spring that includes a new riverboat facility for Danville. The latest news is that the Senate President and the Governor are discussing ...
Continue ReadingMaking Jobs Priority #1
Oct 8, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysWe received two pieces of news in recent days that really highlight why we desperately need to focus on improving our jobs climate: first, our unemployment rate in Illinois rose nearly half a percentage point to 9.9%. Then a new survey of 322 company executives ranked Illinois as the third worst state in the country ...
Continue ReadingHealth Insurance Contract Extension Finalized
Sep 5, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysEmergency Contracts Extended Its official...A nine month extension of emergency state health insurance contracts authorized several weeks ago was finalized this week. Now, the temporary, emergency contracts with Health Alliance, HealthLink and Personal Care initially set to expire in late September will remain in effect through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2012. This ...
Continue ReadingIt’s Time to End the General Assembly Scholarship Program
Sep 4, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysThis week I participated in a press conference with Representatives Chapin Rose and Jason Barickman to urge an end to the troubled General Assembly Scholarship Program. The program has been in place for decades. It allows each member of the General Assembly to award the equivalent of eight one-year tuition waivers each year for students to ...
Continue ReadingHappy Labor Day!
Sep 3, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysHello Friends, I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend planned. As our summer winds to a close, I’m getting ready to begin my fall traveling office hours in local communities throughout the district. Please check the schedule below to see when I’ll be in your community and stop by to share your concerns, or just ...
Continue ReadingA Victory for Illinois Farmers
Sep 1, 2011 No Comments ›› HaysThere’s also good news this week for local farmers. In our last newsletter I wrote about working with the local and state Farm Bureaus in efforts to roll back recent changes in interpretation of federal rules regarding farm vehicles that would hurt Illinois farmers. I’m very pleased to report that our efforts were successful...there will be ...
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