Weaver shares thoughts, future goals

PRINCETON — State Sen. Chuck Weaver was in Princeton Thursday, Feb. 4, to share some of the items on his spring
agenda.

Weaver is the newest state senator, having replaced former Illinois State Sen. Darin LaHood in October. Weaver described the transition in a positive light and said he has picked up the bills LaHood had on ethics reform.

“The key now is I’m getting out and listening to people,” he said.

“I’m very cautious in Springfield because the last thing anybody wants is the new guy to show up and say he has an answer for everything. I’m trying to ask more questions than provide answers, but I think if you ask the right questions you get to the right solutions,” he continued.

As Weaver gets out and learns more about the 37th Senate District, a major topic he knows is on a lot of peoples’ mind is the budget impasse.

On Thursday, he said there was effort made by Gov. Bruce Rauner who recently reached out to Senate President John Cullerton, a Democrat from Chicago, with a solution to try and move past the impasse.

Weaver said two things Rauner discussed was education reform, and also agreed to support Cullerton’s bill on pension reform.

“Now is the time to be pushing for this thing to get behind us,” Weaver said, adding the key is not to just pass the budget, but do so with reform.

“In the end, it’s going to come down to the rest of us trying to encourage the governor and (House) Speaker Madigan to get together. Those two guys are the only ones who know when we can get this thing resolved,” Weaver said.

Until that issue is settled, however, it continues to create hardships among many social services. Weaver said what he is taking from the suffering is if problems are not solved with reform it will only continue to kick the can further down the road.

One of many issues being held up by the budget impasse is the capital budget.

“Streets, roads and bridges are probably one of the biggest things I hear about,” Weaver said.

One thing that will help improve the capital budget is job growth, which is another issue under Weaver’s radar.

With his business background, Weaver feels he has a good understanding of what makes businesses grow and what gets in their way.

“It’s going to come down to how we look at regulations and how the private sector is trying to be aggressive in what they are doing,” he said. “We have to be really smart in how we regulate, because it all sounds easy when you’re sitting in Springfield in a warm room, but when you’ve got a guy out on the road on the front line trying to implement this stuff we think makes sense — it doesn’t always make sense.”

Other projects Weaver plans to focus on this year include a youth advisory for students in the 37th Senate District, which helps introduce kids to legislation and the bills they would like to see be passed at the state level. Also, Weaver is working on setting up a veterans committee and Farm Bureau committee.

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