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Schimpf talks SB 1, highway plan

In a two-hour town hall meeting on Saturday at Red Bud City Hall, State Sen. Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) covered the gambit from education funding to the proposed four-lane highway from Pinckneyville to Waterloo.

During the meeting, Schimpf stated his position on Senate Bill 1 and that he expects legislators to be called back to Springfield on Aug. 13 to take up Gov. Bruce Rauner's amendatory veto of the measure.

"I will be a 'no' vote on any motion to override the governor's veto on SB 1," Schimpf said. "I think it's unfair to the school funding formula, it's unfair in SB 1 that Chicago, which has 19 percent of the school students in Illinois would get 34 percent of the funding under SB 1, including 70 percent of all new funding that's being allocated."

Schimpf was asked if Aug. 13 was cutting it a little close, as the Senate has a 15-day time limit to act on the bill otherwise it dies. If the Senate does act, the issue would move to the House with another 15-day deadline.

Rauner issued his amendatory veto of SB 1 on Aug. 1, starting the countdown clock.

"The Senate has 15 days after the bill is read into the record," Schimpf said. "I'm frustrated that we're not in up in Springfield right now.

"The lack of urgency about getting this stuff resolved is probably the best argument I've heard yet for term limits. It's very frustrating that we're not up there voting on this stuff right now."

To read the rest of the details from the meeting pick up a copy of the Herald Tribune's Aug. 9 print edition.