Capital Plan

        This year, the General Assembly passed the first major capital improvement plan in Illinois in over a decade. The comprehensive capital plan will fix crumbling roads, bridges, and schools, and put people back to work. 
        The General Assembly actually passed two capital bills, with the first designed to take advantage of federal stimulus money and put people to work quickly, and the second aimed at our more significant long-term infrastructure needs.  Together, this effort will represent over $38 billion in capital improvement projects. 
        With the first capital bill, the General Assembly put the State in position to promptly secure $6.7 billion in much needed federal stimulus dollars.  Due to quick action by Senator Harmon and his colleagues, work started in May 2009 and addressed the most critical projects across Illinois and throughout the 39^th District.  Communities in our district received almost $30 million from this legislation. 
        Working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle and from across Illinois,  the General Assembly was able to pass a second capital bill will invest roughly $30 billion in state and local infrastructure and jobs.  The bill also allows the State to capture even more federal stimulus money.  Projects include repairs to schools, universities, libraries, community and civic facilities as well as road improvements throughout Illinois.  Public transit will receive much needed funding to improve and expand service, updating aging bus and rail fleets, and fixing transit stations and railways.

Ethics Reform

        This year, the General Assembly passed sweeping government reform measures aimed at restoring trust in Illinois government.  Through careful examination, discussion, and debate, several measures were passed that will fundamentally change how state contracts are awarded, how citizens access public information held by government, and how campaigns are financed.  Below are a few examples of the measures passed this year:

• Senator Harmon was honored to be the lead Senate sponsor of House Bill 7 which, for the first time ever, capped campaign contributions to Illinois politicians. Before we passed this legislation, Illinois was one of only a few states with virtually no limit on campaign contributions. 
• House Bill 35 created the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal (ITAP), a publicly available and accessible internet database where you will be able to find information about state employees and consultants, state expenditures, tax credits and their recipients, revocations and suspensions of professional licenses, and all current State contracts.
• Senator Harmon was pleased to join his colleagues in supporting the passage of Senate Bill 189, a far-reaching overhaul of the Freedom of Information Act.  Thanks to this new law, a position of Public Access Counselor was created within the office of the Attorney General to ensure that governments comply and provide requested documents to the public in a timely fashion.

Cutting Legislators' Pay

        As families across Illinois are suffering in this awful economy and many more people have lost their jobs and are making due with less, Senator Harmon worked to help cut lawmakers paychecks by taking 12 unpaid furlough days - the same sacrifice asked of thousands of state workers.

Park National Bank

        In October of 2009 our communities were all shocked when the FDIC seized Park National Bank. Community banks throughout Illinois have been shut down while large banks were saved by taxpayer-funded bailouts, and many in our community were concerned about losing the local values and philanthropy Park National Bank provided.  When the grassroots Coalition to Save Community Banking organized, Senator Harmon asked his chief of staff to accompany our neighbors on a trip to Washington DC to let our federal representatives know our concerns. Senator Harmon also introduced a joint resolution urging Congress to continue investigating the matter. The resolution passed both houses of the General Assembly, and will continue to draw attention in Washington to our concerns about the impact on community banking in Oak Park, Austin, and the near western suburbs.

The Budget and Pension Reform

        As our national economy slowly recovers, we're righting Illinois' fiscal ship.  This session, the Senate tackled pension reform to cut costs, stabilize our public retirement systems, protect benefits for current retirees and employees, and boost our state's economic viability. These reforms will save Illinois taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 30 years.
        We are recovering from the deepest economic decline in most of our lifetimes. This has forced upon us the opportunity and the necessity to dramatically reform our state's fiscal practices and re-set our budgetary priorities. It will take more than one legislative session and more than one budget cycle to fulfill our responsibilities, and we still have much work to do.
         When it came to the 2011 budget, Senate Democrats held the line on school funding while cutting 5% of operational spending. Senator Harmon and his colleagues have faced up to the reality that the best available way to put Illinois on solid fiscal footing is to cut whatever spending we can cut, increase revenue in the most fair way possible, and to borrow needed funds on a short-term basis.  This is not an ideal situation, but it is our reality.

Transportation and Infrastructure

         Creating jobs for Illinois residents is Senator Harmon's top priority.  Thanks to the major capital improvement budget we passed last year, we've put people back to work and we're repairing our crumbling infrastructure. Communities in my district will benefit from almost $30 million in projects. The Eisenhower Expressway and North Avenue are two highly visible projects funded by the capital bill. As I travel around the area, I see roads, bridges, schools, universities, libraries, airports and transit services being repaired, improved and expanded.
        This session, we also sought to help transit agencies maintain service without fare increases and route cuts.  We restructured the "free rides for seniors" program to ensure those who need the rides will get them and those who can pay their fair share do so. That restructuring saved the RTA $35 million.

Measures for the Environment

        Senator Harmon continued his efforts to protect our environment.  He passed legislation to accelerate investment in solar energy and to protect and expand our investment in wind energy.  Additionally, Senator Harmon defended our renewable energy standards by leading the effort to defeat legislation that sought to characterize tire burning as environmentally friendly renewable energy.

Moves to Boost Job Creation

        Senator Harmon was proud to sponsor the Employee Credit Privacy Act, which protects existing and prospective employees from job discrimination due to blemishes on their credit when credit history has no direct bearing on the job.  Those who have lost a job and experienced difficulty with credit and debt during this difficult economic time deserve every opportunity to get a new job and rebuild their credit. This bill balances the needs of employers to screen potential employees and employees' right to privacy.

Preserving early childhood education

        As the parent of three young children, Senator Harmon knows firsthand the challenges parents face providing quality early-education opportunities for their children.  It's why he worked hard to preserve and expand early learning programs in Illinois.  In January, the Governor signed a bill implementing the Gateway to Opportunities Professional Development System, which provides training and development for early childhood educators. This program provides early-childhood educators access to scholarships and wage supplements to continue their education and professional development.

Telecom Act Overhaul

        A strong bipartisan effort has sent a bill to the Governor that will overhaul the 25-year-old Telecommunications Act to modernize the law and promote competition among telephone carriers, spurring job creation and economic growth throughout the state. This demonstrates to telephone service providers that we're worthy of investment in new technologies and our existing infrastructure, which will create good jobs.

Commission to End Hunger

        Over the past few years, Senator Harmon had the opportunity to work with the many food pantries in his district.  Clearly, hunger is a growing problem in Illinois, with more and more families in need of help. In partnership with the Illinois Hunger Coalition he passed legislation establishing Illinois Hunger Commission.  This effort will improve access to food and nutrition through education, coordinate services and access to programs, and pursue funding sources available to end hunger.