SPECIAL REPORT: Illinois 40th District State Senator Patrick Joyce Discusses Legislation, Energy, and the Chicago Bears

In this WVLI News Update Special Report, host Rob West sits down with Illinois 40th District State Senator Patrick Joyce to review key outcomes from the spring legislative session and analyze pressing statewide issues. Senator Joyce, who provides a practical agricultural perspective as a working farmer, details the passage of Senate Bill 3208 updating grain wagon weight limits, traffic safety and intersection improvements in Will and Kankakee counties, updates to firearm deer hunting regulations, mental health resource access for county coroners, and municipal business district flexibility.

The episode also covers critical ongoing debates, including the financial burden of the Illinois estate tax on family farms, grid stability and energy policy challenges alongside rising data center demand, ethics reform, proposed amendments to the SAFE-T Act, and discussions surrounding state involvement in Chicago Bears stadium infrastructure.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to this W VLI News Update special report with Rob West and Illinois 40th District State Senator Patrick Joyce on the W VLI Podcast Network.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Chatting with 40th District State Senator Patrick Joyce. How are you doing, Senator? I'm doing all right. I want to start off with the really important stuff. How's harvest looking for you? How's the uh season going?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

You know, uh, on the west side of the county, we've got some areas that need rain. You know, a farmer, that's what we've got to do is complain about the weather. It's too wet, too dry. But yeah, we could use the rain out in the west end of Kinkey County. But the crops look great. They really do.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

I know there's parts of the county where it's been too wet, others where it's been too dry.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

But uh part of being a farmer, yeah. We're always we're always looking for uh you know the perfect weather.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Now I know the last I knew you were the only farmer that was in the state legislature. No, state senate. In the state senate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

And and you know, there's a few people that uh have their families in the farming industry, like uh Senator Sally Turner, her family farms, and and so we we've got enough of us that we can keep ag on the radar.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Yeah. Well, which is important because ag one of the biggest incomes in the state of Illinois. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Well, it's the number one industry in the state of Illinois. And and you know, with the makeup of the state and the state legislature, there there are some of us from downstate that got to remind folks that ag is our number one industry and we need to support our farmers. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

There are those who don't see it because they are here and then they're there, and all they see is what they drive through sometimes. So let's talk a little bit about the uh spring legislative session just wrapped up, some laws being signed into place. What what were some of the uh accomplishments, some of the hits uh from this legislative session?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Well, I had I had quite a few. We had a busy session. So we we passed uh uh quite a few bills. Uh one of mine that we put put a lot more hard work in than I thought. I thought it would be easier is uh you know, farmers grain wagons. You know, Senate Bill 3208 passed uh bolt chambers. We're waiting for the governor's signature. Um we're requesting for a uh signing at the state fair. I don't know if we'll get that or not, but uh it makes farm wagons hadn't been updated since the late 70s, the weights of them. And if you look at farm machinery, it's all bigger. And I don't think most farmers realize that uh some of those Brent 757s that they're pulling down the road, when they pulled out of the field anywhere in the state of Illinois, they were illegal. And I had a farmer up in the Manhattan area that got uh overweight ticket that was uh higher than what the grain was worth. So you know that got him a little fired up and thus uh got me fired up. So uh you we were able to get that get that through, and that one was pretty important. Uh we we also had a lot of accidents up in the Manhattan area, the southeast Will County corridor. There's so much traffic, so much truck traffic. We've we got something through, and we negotiated with IDOT on on studying um 10 of the worst intersections in that southeast part of Will County. It's it was just horrific. We had a couple of young people get killed, and um, so we were able to get that across the line to where uh Will County will look at those intersections. We had one, you know, a couple of them over here in in town, um, that you know, just east of town on Route 1, we had stop signs put in. Route 50, we had a stop sign put in. Um, you know, slow people down so you you don't have uh family members getting killed. Right. Deer hunting. I mean, I I passed a bill that allows certain rifles to deer hunt about two or three years ago, and it was a single round. Uh we just got that expanded to three rounds, which a lot of our neighboring states have, and it gives us uh it's a humane way to hunt. I mean, if you uh let's say wing a deer and it's wounded and you don't have a second shot, um, so that was not as hard. Uh people say, you know, you passing any kind of gun bill through the legislature in Springfield is somewhat of a challenge, but uh you know, when you explain it right and tell people what we're doing and why we're doing it, we were able to get that that done.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Well, the three shots has always been legal in a slug. Correct. Uh correct. Shotgun.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah. So I it wasn't a heavy lift. Uh, you know, Department of Natural Resources knew at some point I was going to be coming and expanding that from one to three rounds, and and they said, Yes, and or we were just waiting when you were going to do this. So I'm glad we got that done. That was uh uh we had one that uh you know I just had breakfast at the Ag Breakfast at the fair um with our our county coroner. We got uh coroners and deputy coroners uh um eligible for uh mental health uh benefits. You know, you think about all the things our coroners are seeing. I mean, uh when the coroner is called out to a a traffic accident, it's usually not uh a very pretty site. Gives them the capability of of using um mental health services where they need it. And I, you know, I just don't know why that wasn't on the books already. And so that was not a heavy lift either. Um so uh Village of Burmine had brought me an issue. They have what are called business districts. It's similar to a TIFF, but a lot uh different in structure on on how it affects people's property taxes. And all it simply does is allows municipalities with multiple business districts to transfer money within those districts where it's needed most. Um we had a lot of conversation about that in committee. Um we got that through both chambers, and the governor had already signed it. He signed it last week, I believe. So those are some of the things we're working on. We we've got a few more, but but you know, we'll we'll move on.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

So, what were some of the misses then from the uh from the spring legislative session? Some of them that either you had that didn't get through, or maybe some of them that got passed that you're like, ah, I'm not real sure about this.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Well, the the uh the one of the ones that I was pushing a lot, and we've been pushing it for the last couple of years, is the uh farm uh estate tax, the death tax. Um the way that that is currently structured, you know, the federal government uh has a uh $14 million um exemption for uh if someone dies, the estate can move forward. In Illinois is $4 million. And in the farm industry, and we were we were gearing this mainly towards our our farmers, uh, you know, the a small farm, which 350 acres is a typical farm in Illinois. That's the average. If you have 350 acres of land, a combine, a couple tractors, some semis, you're well beyond that four million dollar threshold. Right. So you're you're now taxing someone who hasn't you know, you there is ways to plan your state and but you know, a lot of farms just don't have that done. Um now you're taxing a small farm, but this happened to you know my family in the 70s when my grandfather died. And you end up paying a state tax on some something your family has owned for generations. And I'm trying to get that over the line. Um it just because of the makeup of the legislature, not as many farmers, just to gear it towards that is a heavier lift than people would think.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Aaron Powell And it's tough for, as you said, like the family farm when you've got these mega farms that are coming in and trying to push people out anyway, and now you're putting a hard burden on the family farmer when it comes to passing that land down to another family member or no fault of their own. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And they don't want to. And a lot of the uh the younger kids grow up on a farm, they don't want to come back and farm. So if you've got one that does, you know, you kind of want to move that along with the right.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

That's absolutely right.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yeah. Anything else that kind of went through the legislature that you're saying maybe this wasn't such a big such a good deal?

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Well, I mean uh you know, some of the things that we're doing as a state on energy policies is is giving me concern. It's challenging when you see the the different things coming at us like data centers and things that are using more power, and we have restrict restrictions on especially natural gas and coal's going offline. And I I don't think there's a big push to to keep coal online, but even when we did CIGA three years ago, we have a lot of power in the state that's generated by natural gas and coal, and we're taking those offline when demand is increasing. And and you you'll see folks out there that are looking at their power bill and scratching their head a little bit. Um I've been advocating for an all of the above strategy. Um, you can put a you can call it whatever you want, a tax, a fee, a uh uh on those that are doing something that maybe is more uh of a polluting type energy and help them pay for some of the cleaner energy um solutions, but get more power on the grid. I mean, we have to address the demand, and we gave the ICC some power to um do an energy study. Um we got one last December, we're getting one again this fall. That we see a peaker plant that was natural gas up in University Park, for example, that's going offline starting um in two years. That when the summer air conditioners are flying, those things fire up and they bring the load. Right. That thing is being dismantled and they're getting moved to Texas. Tell me that's a great policy. I don't think so. So I've been advocating for um uh delaying or uh um amending how how that all looks at natural gas, especially.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Well, and Illinois had been an energy exporter for a lot of years.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

We still are, but uh the the the writing is on the wall.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

I think in two or three years we will not be.

unknown 9:34

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

And as as as I remember, uh it's harder and harder for nuclear plants to come online as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Trevor Burrus Well, we we passed uh a couple different things when it comes to nuclear. Three years ago we passed a uh there was a moratorium put on nuclear power back in the 80s, and that's when uh actually the moratorium was passed by my father. So things change, right? Um The reason that moratorium was put on is at that time we were importing nuclear waste to the state of Illinois. Um there was a federal program that was going to try to take spent nuclear food fuel rods and turn them into new energy. Right. It's very expensive. It was more expensive back then than it is now. Technologies are catching up, right? There's there's different ways to look at things. So I've been fighting for three years to remove that moratorium. Last year we passed that, last fall. So we can build a nuclear power plant. We don't have a ban on them anymore. And then the modular nukes, the small nukes, um, that technology is still probably eight to nine years away. Um, but there is that technology. It's it's similar to the power of a nuclear sub. Okay, and this these small modular nukes can be five to ten megawatts. They're small, and they could power a data center. So uh you see data center legislation that was proposed last year called the Power Act that looks out for water infrastructure. You have to bring your own power. Um, that would be a good fit. You know, so as we move forward and we look at people bringing their own power with them if they have a data center, which I think is essential, those kind of technologies are there, and we are not in the way anymore as a legislature. We've removed those bands.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Yeah. And data centers that they're kind of a big thing now. I know a lot of people up in arms about them over in Indiana, uh, down around Indianapolis. A couple have gone in and people are are up in arms about it. Um I know there was some talk in uh Bourbon A recently about uh possibility of those what's what are things looking like in the legislature when it comes to data centers?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Well, and uh like I said, they they have the Power Act, which was proposed, it's been filed. There's more negotiations to be had on that. I've been involved in those negotiations, um, and you're looking at it from a community perspective, water issues, power issues, um, noise issues. That bill has a lot good in it. It's got some challenges in it that I think need to be addressed on what type of power you can bring in. If they brought in natural gas for uh a data center and put in their own turbine and brought their own power, um the environmental communities are against that. I said, well, can't we find a way to either tear a fee, fine, whatever you want to call it? Um and and if they want to bring that, they have to pay this much extra. But you know, communities are up in arms about water usage, which um the technologies are catching up. Uh the data center from eight, ten years ago is not the data center now. They've got closed loop systems, they're not going to use the water that infrastructure that they would. But people are concerned about that, and they should be. Um, you get into a small community where you have a proposal of a data center, they you don't want all your water to disappear. Right. And you don't want your power bill to go up. Some of the things you have to educate people on is that we are part of PJM, which is a 13-state power grid. So if it goes in Indiana or Iowa or Ohio, it's still affecting our power bills. And that's what people need to understand is that if it goes in right next door to you, it's using the same amount of power that it would if it was in Indiana or Ohio. Right. So uh those kind of conversations need to be had, though, and I think they do need to bring their own power with them. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

And a couple of other things. Now, there have been some issues down in Springfield with ethical things when it comes to some of the senators and representatives. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

It's been it's been interesting.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Let's talk ethics reform. Sure. What do you uh think about?

SPEAKER_01 13:38

You know what? If if if there's a law that says that you have to do the right thing just to do the right thing, uh I am a yes all day long. I mean, it's not that difficult. I mean, just uh do what you're elected to do, represent the people you're supposed to do. Don't cross ethical boundaries, so put it on the board. That's that should be one of the easiest votes a legislator has.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

I know another thing that's been looked at a lot since it passed a few years back, the Safety Act. And I know some local law enforcement have been pushing to get some changes to that. How are things looking in Springfield for the Safety Act?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

There is another senator and myself that uh have kind of been driving that issue on a um another amendment. There have been uh three amendments on it so far. There are some more that needs to be done that are common sense. Uh, should be easy. S again, should be. Um we got together with uh several groups, our our local sheriff was involved, um, our state's attorney was involved. Um so we're having discussions on it. We came up with a pretty good framework of you know about 12 or 13 bullet points. We're getting some judiciary um input. So let's make this thing work. I mean, it I don't think anyone has a problem with you know, a a mother steals something for her kids because she's broke. I mean, and she should be should not be sitting in jail. That's the basic framework of it, and I think everyone agrees with that. But boy, there's some challenges that need to be addressed. And uh I we've got a coalition of of people that are pushing it. I I've talked to some of the legislators that pushed the Safety Act back three, four years ago. Absolutely open arms. Let's let's have a conversation.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

So I know judges are saying, well, our hands are tied. This is this is what the law says we have to do. Now the governor is saying, but it's the judges, it's not the law. The governor had a little bit of a different tune when somebody was found prowling around his piece of property up in uh up in Chicago.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

That that's just it. If the e the framework could be a good thing. We just need to make sure we get all the pieces in place where if a the judges should have more latitude as to how to um detain someone or not, if they're a threat or not. Those are some real basic conversations. And we just there's there's a happy medium in here where this thing can work for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Now, kind of wrapping things up and bringing it back a little bit closer to home. How about the bears? That's an interesting one for me.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

The bears move to Hammond or if they move to Arlington Heights or if they stay in Chicago. You and I are gonna drive an hour and a half no matter where they go. Sure. Um crossing a state line. I mean, there is some infrastructure and some tourism and some things that the bears bring that are part of the conversation. The uh asks that they have on property taxes in Arlington Heights, it's a big number right now. If if we didn't change anything, the the property tax. We put uh a bill on the board in the Senate last fall that addresses that. We passed it, the House didn't take it up. The House had passed a version you know before that. So I think that the conversation of would we love to keep them in Illinois? Sure we would. I've asked a lot of folks in my district, the 40th district, uh and at about 10 different events, and it totaled probably three, four hundred people. How many of you are willing to put your tax dollars to keep the bears in Illinois? I did not see a single hand go up, Rob. Now, I'm a big Bears fan. Have been. I uh you know I've I've got a uh VHS of the Super Bowl shuffle on my shelf. Do I want the Bears to stay in Illinois? I do. How is it impacting the district I represent? Is how I'm looking at this. So could I be a yes or could I be a no on helping the Bears? I could be either way. But I'm I'm worried about the district I represent. And if there's conversations that are going on that deal with state infrastructure and that, what are we getting in the 40th district in this package? And I think that's the challenge that they have with trying to pass something in the legislature. You want the people this the people who represent the city of Chicago to vote to give money to them to move out of the city. That's a tough vote for them. I'm in the 40th district. Are we getting anything out of any of these moves? Well, uh, my job is to make sure the answer that is yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Yeah. And for the most part, it's hard to get people to say, yeah, just give them more of my tax money. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Maybe they people don't say that. And that's that's it. I mean, I mean it's a hundred to nothing right now in the conversations I've had.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Yeah. All right. Well, that pretty much wraps up everything I had. Anything you wanted to add while I got you here, Sarah?

SPEAKER_01 18:27

No, I appreciate the opportunity to get on and give a little update on what's what's going on in the state. Um we are not back into fall session until November. There are conversations going on right now with the Bears, and and people keep saying, Are you going to do a special session? I highly doubt it. Um The Bears still have seven more years of lease on Soldier Field. They have to pay a pretty steep penalty per year if they get out of that. I think there's more time than people think. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Well, and you're probably talking at least five years to build a new stadium. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

So And the site that they initially were saying, I you know, I've got a lot of intel from people on the ground, and that isn't site A.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Yeah. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

All right. Well, thank you very much. 40th District State Senator Patrick Joyce joining us uh today. I am Rob West.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

This has been the WVM News Update special report with Rob West and Illinois 40th District State Senator Patrick Joyce on the W VMLI Podcast Network. The voices you trust beyond the dump. Please follow and subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.