Illinois 94th House Representative Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) is supporting a proposal to repeal two laws that constrain law enforcement departments from assisting agents from the Department of Homeland Security.
The TRUST Act and Way Forward Act limit local police from aiding ICE agents unless they have a signed judicial warrant. The Republican from Macomb says she has heard from law enforcement in her district that the laws are preventing them from doing their jobs.
“And I will dare say Illinois does not want to be a Minnesota. That's not what we hope to be,” Rep. Hammond said in an interview with WVIK. “But I think that if we have law enforcement working together that they can do a better job of focusing in on the folks that they really are seeking and not get in the way of the law-abiding citizens that are living here in our state.”
Two citizens have been killed during ICE’s operations in Minnesota, and documented immigrants and citizens have claimed agents are detaining them without charge or for allegedly impeding their operations.
Priorities and proposed legislation
With the Illinois General Assembly back in session this week, Rep. Hammond said as the chief budgetary officer for the Republican House Caucus, she will be listening closely to what Governor J.B. Pritzker is proposing.
“Typically, this is a framework of the vision that this governor or any governor would have for the state of Illinois moving forward. It is not anything that is set in stone. That, of course, is done through the legislative process and through the appropriation committees and the budget committees,” Rep. Hammond said. “ I will be listening intently to hear what the plan is that the governor would like to see put in place and then go from there and act accordingly. How we, as the General Assembly, move forward to craft a budget.”
Rep. Hammond said the slew of proposed legislation comes from her constituents, including one that would amend the state’s Use Tax Act to remove taxes on hearing aids.
“[A] number of constituents that were feeling the pain of not just the high price of hearing aids, but then to have them be taxed on top of that,” Rep. Hammond said. “And so I introduced this bill, and I'm hopeful that we can get it passed this year and put that in place because it is not a huge population, but is certainly a population where oftentimes they are on fixed incomes, and it could be very helpful to them.”
She said a priority with her constituents is rising property taxes and utility costs.
“[T]he cost of electricity because of actions that Illinois has taken in over the last few years. By putting in a lot of the green energy initiatives,” Rep. Hammond said. “But when we did that, by closing coal plants and shutting down some of the other natural gas entities, that we didn't have an integrated energy policy like other states. So we didn't have a plan. If we do this, we will put this in place, but we really didn't have a plan.”
The 73-year-old representative said the state has a lot of incentives for wind and solar, but mentioned that when there’s no wind or sun, they are no longer viable. “And we don't have the capacity, quite frankly, in Illinois if we move forward with a lot of these initiatives.”
Another piece of legislation Rep. Hammond has proposed focuses on the rural population in her district, which includes 12 counties, in whole or in part: Fulton, Henderson, Hancock, Mercer, Rock Island, Adams, McDonough, Warren, Mason, Knox, Henry, and Tazewell. Rep. Hammond said HB1462 is a bill she previously introduced.
“I have a lot of education to do with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that are not familiar, perhaps even with hunting and how it's done, why it's done,” Rep. Hammond said. “In the district that I represent, many of these folks, they hunt in order to provide the protein to feed their family all year.”
She said it’s also an animal welfare bill because hunters often wound an animal and the animal gets away with the injury.
“And they know that that animal has been wounded, and they want to track that animal so that it does not suffer. So this would allow the use of a drone without any. You are not allowed to have any weaponry on you at all when you're tracking this animal. It is strictly for retrieval mode, and it's been very successful in other states,” Rep Hammond said.
Rep. Hammond says she is having issues contacting the Illinois Department of Natural Resources regarding the proposed bill.
“But it's not my intention that this is a bill that would open up an industry for those that are involved in the drone business. Many of these folks that are hunters either have their own private drone or they have a neighbor that has one that could help them in retrieving these animals,” Rep. Hammond said.
Rep. Hammond is also proposing legislation that would transfer $370 million from the state’s Future fund, which covers infrastructure for schools and nonprofits, to the General Revenue fund.
“I meet with teachers and principals and superintendents and administrators throughout the year, and they talk about the challenges that they're facing getting enough funding,” Rep. Hammond said. “And this $370 million would just be another shot in the arm for these entities to have just that. Oftentimes, they need a little boost. They need to be able to hire one more teacher, or they need to do upgrades in their classrooms. And so freeing up this money and putting it in those funds rather than in a fund that is at the whim of the administration, I think, would be a better bang for the taxpayers.”
She is also reintroducing legislation that would raise the estate tax exemption for farm families. It’s currently set at $4 million, and Rep. Hammond’s bill would raise it to the federal exemption of $12 million.
“Many of the folks that are actively involved in farming and agriculture, when they want to pass their farm on to their families, the cost of that, as far as the estate tax, is so exorbitant that they end up having to sell parts of it often, and the families can't continue the farm. So this would just be one initiative to try and help in that entity as well,” Rep. Hammond said.
Rep. Hammond has been in office since 2010, and she is running for re-election. The Illinois primaries are next month, and she is facing two Republican challengers, Joshua Higgens and Bailey Templeton.
“[W]e need someone that understands the issues and is able to also know who the players, if you will, are on those various issues,” Rep. Hammond said. “And we have rising property taxes, we have rising utility costs. We have challenges for our senior population and our disabled. And I think it's very important that we have someone on the ground that knows who they can go talk to, who they can advocate for on behalf of these populations.”
The primary is on Tuesday, March 17th.
WVIK’s full interview with Representative Norine Hammond can be found below.
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