Choose Life Legislation Testimony 2004

(planned for delivery by Jill Stanek at the March 3, 2004 meeting of the Illinois House State Government Administration Committee  --  the committee never allowed this testimony to occur)

Here we are again.

Last year, legislation to create the Choose Life specialty license plate was assigned to this committee.  And like so much else in Springfield, the same games go on and on, year after year.

We said we would be back with more signatures and more support for this legislation, designed to support, through voluntary means, those on the front lines of providing adoption services and so we are.

Last year, we had petitions of support signed by 20,000 Illinoisans.   Today, that number is over 26,000 from 90 counties and 543 different cities.

Last year, there were 6 other states in the nation that had adopted this legislation—pun intended.  Today, 12 states have created these plates for purchase by their citizens and another 18 states are considering this legislation.

Last year, we had a few co-sponsors to what was then Rep. Hultgren’s legislation.  Today, we have nearly two-dozen co-sponsors to Rep. Cultra’s legislation and the list is growing.   We also have candidates for the very offices you hold calling our organization to sign on and voice their support.

Last year, this legislation was referred to this committee where it was intentionally buried in a subcommittee so it would not see the light of day.  I hope this year, this legislation will receive the consideration—and the vote on the House floor—that it deserves.

The arguments against this legislation are so flimsy they cannot stand on their own.  They have to be held up by disingenuous politicians.

Let’s run through a few:

(1)   It’s political speech

That horse is already out of the barn.  The state has more than 60 different specialty plates on the road (well not all are on the road b/c many have found no one interested in purchasing them).  The state has created the license plate as a public forum for advocacy of any number of issues—pro-environment, anti-violence, Masons, Knights of Columbus, etc.  How is a pro-adoption message any different?  To dismiss this legislation on that basis is to censor free speech in a forum the government created.

(2)   What about the cost?  Tight budget, the state cannot afford to take the risk to create plates that people might not buy.

Yes, the state should have thought of that with respect to many of the plates it created that are sitting in warehouses.  But the state won’t have that problem here.  Choose Life Illinois has already committed to put up a $50,000 bond against the expense of creating the plates so that there is no financial risk to the state.  Further, a large percentage of the 26,000 Illinoisans who have signed petitions of support have also indicated that they would purchase the plates.

The reality is the Choose Life license plate would, within three years, be the best selling plate in Illinois.  Perhaps this is the true worry of those who oppose this legislation?

(3)   This gets the state into the abortion issue

This is about adoption, pure and simple.  The proceeds from the sales of the plate do not fund pro-life political groups; they go to adoption service providers who help young women, often in crisis, with financial and emotional support.  This is about helping women in need and helping ensure children are placed in loving homes, nothing more.

40% of Americans are touched by adoption, either through a family member of friend that was adopted or has adopted.  It would be difficult to imagine a more worthy cause for the state to support, particularly when there is no financial risk to the state and the funding is all based on the voluntary choices of Illinois residents who choose to pay an extra $25 to purchase this specialty plate.

I will close by reminding you of a statement made by Scott and Janet Willis, the parents of six children who were tragically killed in their family van in 1994 in an accident that led to the unearthing of the licenses-for-bribes scandal, and who testified before this committee last year on behalf of this legislation.

In a letter to Gov. Blagojevich and legislative leaders, the Willises wrote, “The sale of licenses and license plates have been used in this state in a corrupt manner over the past decade.  We are convinced that the sale of license plates to promote life is a fitting answer for the abuse of the system in the past.”

We are here again this year giving this committee and the General Assembly another chance to do the right thing on this legislation.  On behalf of Choose Life Illinois, I urge you to take it.

Thank you.