It's not an overstatement to say that the economic success of our state, and of our citizens, hinges on our progress toward a healthy state public education system. Our next generation of business leaders is entering kindergarten today. The schools they attend must prepare them with the skills they need to complete the postsecondary degrees and credentials that employers demand.

I saw this need firsthand at CDW, even though nearly two-thirds of our co-workers had a four-year college degree. As a result, we invested in specialized training for thousands of employees, simply because they did not have the background in math and technology needed to sell, maintain and configure hardware and software. Read the rest of the opinion piece by John Edwardson in Crain's.

State of the State Address
Governor Rauner optimistic about the State of the State. In his third annual State of the State Address, Governor Bruce Rauner indicated that he is optimistic about the future of Illinois and used the opportunity to talk about Illinois’ accomplishments, as well as the work that still lies ahead.

The Governor recognizes the state’s challenges, but with great challenges comes great opportunity. He is optimistic these challenges can be solved by working together to improve the future of Illinois. He discussed the administration’s accomplishments including ethics reform, record education funding, job creation and making government more efficient. While much work lies ahead, we build on the bipartisan agreement that change to the system needs to occur with passing a truly balanced budget.

At 7:30 PM on Thursday night, Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit to stop state worker pay by the end of February. House Republicans were disappointed by her action and question the timing since a bipartisan solution is currently being negotiated.

Rep. Avery Bourne
“The recent court filing from Attorney General Lisa Madigan can only be described as putting politics over people. This politically-motivated action is the same kind of Chicago-style politics that the Madigans too often employ. At a meeting I attended just this morning, a comment was made that, ‘as soon as deals in Illinois are close to done, someone always tries to blow it up.’ While the Senate has been negotiating and making progress towards a bipartisan budget deal, Madigan chose to instead disrupt state employee pay in an attempt to force a shutdown of state government, crippling vital government services and endangering families who rely on them. Attorney General Lisa Madigan should immediately denounce these hardball political tactics and stand with state employees and those who rely on state services.”

On Wednesday, Governor Rauner delivered his third state of the state address.

You can watch the video of the address or read the speech.

Below is the reaction from several members of the Illinois House Republican Caucus after listening to the Governor's address.

Voters in the 90th House District in general, and the Sauk Valley in particular, have been aware of the leadership talents and aspirations of youthful state Rep. Tom Demmer for a while now.

Demmer, 30, a Dixon Republican, first won election to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2012 at the age of 26, and he took the oath for his third term this month.

Before that, he served on the Lee County Board and held other positions of leadership in the Dixon community, where he works as director of strategic planning at KSB Hospital. He studied communications and politics while in college and served as a White House intern in 2006. Read the rest of the Sauk Valley editorial.

At a recent meeting, one of my colleagues took the chance to apologize to the rest of the House Republican Caucus by saying: "I am sorry. Most of you have no idea what it is like to truly be a state representative, because every two years more of your rights and responsibilities are stripped away by the speaker's House Rules."

We are supposed to be a representative democracy, where all Illinois residents from every House district are represented equally. Unfortunately, that is not the case in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Every two years, the people of Illinois elect representatives from 118 districts across the state to serve as their voice in Springfield. Once sworn in, these representatives have the opportunity to take two important votes.

The first is to elect a speaker of the House, which typically goes to the leader of the majority party.

The second important vote, which occurs two or three weeks later, is to adopt a set of procedural rules to govern the House for the subsequent two years.

For 32 of the last 34 years, those rules have been drafted in a manner that consolidates control with one individual - Speaker Michael Madigan - allowing him to circumvent our representative democracy and make the House subject to the power of one. Read Rep. Andersson's opinion-piece in its entirety in SJ-R.

General Assembly – House Republican Leadership
New House Republican Leadership team takes on the serious challenges facing Illinois. Formation of a new House Republican Caucus leadership team was made necessary by the retirement of many members of the 99th General Assembly. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin worked with his colleagues to name members from both the Chicago metropolitan area and Downstate Illinois. The new leaders of the House Republican Leadership team, announced on Wednesday, January 17, are:

• Deputy Leader Patti Bellock;
• Deputy Leader Dan Brady;
• Assistant Leader Norine Hammond;
• Assistant Leader Chad Hays;
• Assistant Leader Michael McAuliffe;
• Assistant Leader Bill Mitchell;
• Assistant Leader David Reis;
• Assistant Leader Mike Unes; and 
• Caucus Chair Tom Demmer.