We continue to unpack boxes and make the district office welcoming for you. Unfortunately, the phone company did not activate our voice mail system correctly the first week of February. We apologize if we did not return your phone call, however, we lost a full week’s worth of phone messages. Please call our office again. We are so sorry we missed you. Our phone number is 847-433-9100.

My office is accepting applications for 2007-2008 General Assembly Scholarships. I am able to award eight one-year scholarships for full tuition to qualified students attending an Illinois state university in the fall. High school seniors and current college and graduate school students may apply.

The application form must be completed and returned to my office no later than 4 pm on Friday, April 6. Applications may be accessed at my website or by calling my office at 847-433-9100. The website link is http://www.repkarenmay.org/scholarships.html

Thank you for responding to my survey. We received a great response and your input is invaluable to me as I review this year’s proposed legislation. Our district overwhelmingly believes the state must do more for education, health care and the environment, with health care and education both ranked top priorities by greater than 70% of survey respondents.

To improve education, constituents believe increasing teacher funding and accountability are priorities. To address health care, respondents ranked health coverage for all children and health coverage for all people as top priorities. Respondents overwhelmingly believe that Illinois should do more in the area of preventative care. To improve the environment, survey respondents ranked protecting Lake Michigan and focusing on renewable energy as the two highest priorities.

Given the financial implications of improving education, health care, and the environment, how should the state pay for these programs? Over half of the survey respondents recommended a higher state income tax and a third proposed increased gaming. I know from previous surveys that our constituents do not support gaming in Lake County.

In order to reform school funding, there is a proposal to shift the funding of schools by swapping local property taxes with an increase in state income taxes. This swap would increase the state’s control over school funding and even out funding disparity. Respondents were about evenly divided on this tax swap idea.

There are currently legislative recommendations regarding teen driving. All proposals presented were supported by survey respondents. Eighty-six percent of constituents support extending the learning permit phase from three to nine months and requiring a minimum of six hours driving with a certified instructor. Sixty-five percent support changing the weekday driving curfew from 11 pm to 10 pm and extending the length of time, from six to 12 months, teens not related to the driver can be a passenger.

Thank you again for taking the time to take the survey. I will periodically offer specific survey questions as the session progresses so that I can gather your opinions to help me best represent my district.

I was elected Co-Chair of the Conference of Women Legislators at the group’s February 1, annual legislative meeting in Chicago. I will lead the bipartisan group throughout the 95th General Assembly along with state Senator Pam Althoff.

The Conference of Women Legislators encourages legislators from both sides of the aisle to work in a bipartisan fashion to advance the interests of all women, children and families, through state, local and federal initiatives. As a non-profit organization, the conference provides an avenue for women legislators to share information on important matters and provide scholarships to women returning to the academic arena after leaving school to raise a family. Recently, the group established leadership workshops for college women.

I serve as Chair of the General Assembly Environmental Caucus and Chair of the House Environmental Health Committee. My other committee assignments for the 95th General Assembly include: Health Care Availability and Access, Vice-Chairperson; Environment and Energy; Telecommunications; Pension Funds Management; and Electric Utility Oversight.

email: karenmay58@aol.com

phone: (847) 433-9100

web: http://www.repkarenmay.org