Weekly Newsletter January 27, 2017

Dear Friend,

 

Welcome to the first edition of my weekly newsletter.  The purpose of our newsletter is to keep you informed about what I am up to both in Springfield and the District. This newsletter will have everything from legislation working its way through Springfield, to events around the 117^th District that I attended or plan on attending. You can stay on top of these newsletters by signing up for our email list; which can be found on my official website www.repseverin.com. I also plan on having a weekly video to go along with this newsletter, which can be found at the bottom of this page.

On Tuesday, the House voted on the rules under which it will be operating for the next two years. The House decided that a continuation of the rules, held by the previous General Assembly, was in the best interest of our body. I, along with 52 of my colleagues, opposed this resolution because it has proven to prevent us from operating as a representative democracy should. While this resolution makes each representative’s job just that much more difficult, it is merely a speed bump in the road to getting this state turned around

 

A highlight this week was getting a chance to watch the Governor give his State of the State address on Wednesday. The Governor had a positive and upbeat tone to his speech, highlighting some of the success we’ve seen in education funding and ethics reform. At the same time he was up front and honest about the many challenges we have, most notably being state budget.

 

 

Attorney General Wants to Suspend State Workers’ Pay

On Thursday night, Attorney General Madigan submitted a motion to prevent state workers from being paid until the legislature and governor pass a budget. This is a political stunt by the Attorney General, attempting to create a crisis. It is not fair that those state employees, who perform vital services to keep this state running, should be punished because the legislature has failed to do its job.

 

 

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