Working for Illinois Caucus

Full Name: Lance Yednock

What office are you seeking? Illinois House of Representatives, 76th District

What offices, if any, have you previously held? Illinois House, 76th District, 2019-present.

City: Ottawa

Occupation: Heavy Equipment Operator/Business Representative Local 150

Education: Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, Northern Illinois University.

Campaign Website: Lance Yednock for State Representative at FB

What are the top issues facing your district and what would you like to do to address those issues?

We have shortages of Teachers, Police officers, and manufacturing industry workers. I hope to convince the State Legislature to invest in programs and education for all these positions. We did take steps in this General Assembly to try and solve this situation.

We could use more small business supports, especially after the pandemic. I am pushing the General Assembly to focus funds to our rural, small business areas.

We have a great park system, and we need more resources to attract tourist and new residents.

If we can convince more students to stay in our state and our region, that calls for more tuition support..

If COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths rise again, what mitigations, if any, should the state pursue?

I think at this point we will have to consider what is possible. That may mean letting small businesses decide what they want in our communities. I do not think we can shut down the economy again, but we can encourage people to use masks and get vaccines as mitigations. We will have to keep our hospitals from being overrun, and that could require alternate treatment areas.

In light of Michael Madigan’s indictment, what steps should the legislature take to address corruption and ethics concerns in the state?

The legislature can continue to look at what loopholes exist and close them to strengthen our laws to stop those practices. Ultimately, we have laws that lead to convictions, so we can continue to update those laws.

If there was one bill that you could get through the legislature next year, what would it be?

Larger amounts of funds to local school district, including higher education, so we could see lower property taxes and more affordability for students to continue their education in Illinois.

If there was one recently passed law you could repeal, what would it be?

I think we need to go back to the drawing board on the SAFE-T Act. There are some reasonable changes in the Act, but some of the more objectionable positions are spoiling the bunch.

Do you support term limits? If yes, why and what would they look like? And if no, why not?

I am not against term limits of 10 or 12 years. I think elections are the ultimate term limits.

Inflation across the country has greatly impacted the price of gasoline, food and other supplies. What should the legislature do to address these issues?

When we talk about national and global inflation I am cautious to do something that won’t have a real effect, but lead to longer term consequences for the State. I think the best strategy is incentivizing business to locate in Illinois and have our workforce trained to take high wage work. We are trying policies to mitigate inflation costs this budget cycle to alleviate the pain, after a period, we can reassess to see if they were significant changes.

Taxes are a top concern of Illinois voters. What do you think the underlying issues are and how would you propose addressing them?

Property taxes are the most pressing, and until we fund schools differently we will be fighting this problem. We have to be honest about what the true cost of government is, and what our expectations are.

If we can cover or basic needs and have a surplus through better management, then citizens would likely be willing to support programs they pay taxes for.

What are three things the state legislature could do to promote better fiscal responsibility within state government?

I would be open to zero based budgeting or budgeting for results. I think we should look at every program to assess it has met it’s goals and decide to fund it or not. I support more funds to localities since that is where people live, and they may know best how to spend funds. We should always balance the budget and assess whether we need to spend more or less in any particular program or area. I think we have to get away from the position that more money solves issues, rather then changing the underlying system itself.

How would you propose addressing the problems with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services?

There are good people working there, and they need our help. We may need to go back to the core and decide whether intact services are always the most appropriate, or whether we need more community living situations to handle the children that cannot stay in their homes because of tragic circumstances. They could use more people, but we need to see if the policy is correct first.

What can be done at a state level to address crime?

That is too complex of an issue for this space, but we have to get community policing, take real criminals off the streets and try and rehabilitate, and continue to train our police officers in the best and safest strategies. We cannot afford less community involvement, and how we achieve that will be a key factor in keeping communities safe.

Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election?

Yes

What is your position on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol?

It was an attempted insurrection and cannot be tolerated nor celebrated.

Illinois has seen significant revenue growth from marijuana sales and enhanced gambling. Are there other industries the state should consider to grow revenue?

Hospitality and tourism are great places to invest more- which leads to small business growth. I also think smart manufacturing and energy policy is a growth opportunity. We can encourage our state to be the new place for micro-chip manufacturing. Using our expertise in agriculture and conservation may present us with new opportunities.

State Rep. Suzanne Ness will host a town hall event at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Foundation for McHenry County, 33 E. Woodstock St.

The event will focus on issues such as budget, education development, taxes and constituent resources. Ness will also hear questions and concerns from attendees.

The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are not required, but seating will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For accessibility assistance, contact Ness’ office directly at 224-484-8620 or info@repsnessil66.com.

The town hall event can be viewed at facebook.com/repsnessil66.

Republicans said last week, another $1.8 billion should go into the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund. The Democratic-controlled legislature put $2.7 million into it and decided the rest should go to other obligations. The money came from federal American Relief Plan Act money for COVID-19 relief.

Ottawa Democratic St. Rep. Lance Yednock maybe more will be put into unemployment–maybe with a new funding formula or maybe with money from another source. Another formula for funding unemployment insurance could mean higher unemployment insurance taxes on employers or lower payments to the unemployed.

Yednock says the state has a lot of obligations to consider when paying things off. Some legislative Republicans said last week, the General Assembly also should have borrowed money at lower interest rates a year ago while using COVID relief funds to pay other debts down. Yednock says the state is paying debts down under Gov. Pritzker and improvements in the state government’s bond rating show how well Illinois is doing.

On police reform, Yednock doesn’t think the entire SAFE-T Act should be repealed. Some people in law enforcement have spoken out against eliminating bail for most crimes, limiting police interactions with parolees, and making it easy to file anonymous complaints. Yednock says law enforcement personnel he’s spoken with like at least some of the act, including the training standards and body cameras requirements.

WCMY spoke to Yednock Saturday at the LaSalle County Democratic Party annual dinner while there was still a week to go in the General Assembly’s session.