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Briel, Bishop talk healthcare, data centers at Ottawa forum · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Briel, Bishop Talk Healthcare, Data center at Ottawa Forum. Written by Matthias
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  Werner. This article is being read by an automated voice brought to
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  you by Everlett. Affordability, healthcare, and data centers took center stage
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  during a debate Tuesday evening between The
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  two candidates for Illinois seventy sixth House District. The race features a
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  rematch between incumbent Amy Murray Briel D'Ottawa and Liz Bishop Ar LaSalle
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  who lost to Briel in 2024. The pair appeared at a public
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  candidate forum Tuesday night to make their pitches to voters ahead of
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  the November 3rd election. The forum, held at Central Intermediate School in
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  Ottawa, was organized and produced by the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce
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  and Industry Public Policy Committee and moderated by Jay Lesseur, a member
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  of the committee and of WCMY Radio. Briel argued that her record
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  in her first term as representative should give voters the confidence to
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  reelect her. Take with me to Springfield what your opinions are. I
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  take with me your voice, and that is that I use as
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  my guiding compass. I I’ll fight vote with you because the seventy
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  sixth is a pretty amazing place, and I love it with all
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  of my heart and soul, Bryal said. I run on my record,
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  I run on the fact that I fight for you in Springfield,
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  and that I'll continue to do so, and I hope we can
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  do this together for another two years. Bishop said that the district
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  would benefit from a more business oriented perspective. I'm running to represent
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  your values and your economic interests in Springfield. Good government requires balance.
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  It requires different perspectives sit at the table, but Illinois doesn't have
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  that, Bishop said. We've had a supermajority in control for over twenty
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  years. And when power is uh that one sided, people stop listening.
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  That's how decisions get made that don't reflect your life, your business,
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  or your family. The seventy-sixth district includes parts of Bureau, DeCalb and
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  La Salle counties, affordability, Breel, the General Assembly has as much control
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  as they can over the costs of everything that we experience. We
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  have done multiple things in ways that we can and we're continuing
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  to do those things, but when you're facing pressures that are out
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  of your control, such as a global market and economy, it makes
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  it much more difficult to do things, but we will keep trying.
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  Bishop, I think one of the most obvious places to start is
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  to try and lower property taxes. Everybody likes to talk about how
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  it's not really the state that levies them, it's really the county.
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  And that's true, but the state has a lot of control over
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  that. There are all kinds of unfunded mandates that get pushed down
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  to the county. So while the state says we must do A,
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  B, C, and D, the the county is faced with figuring out
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  how to pay for it. So I would start looking at those
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  unfunded mandates and figure out if there are ones that are outdated,
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  redundant, or unnecessary. And we could save money that way to generally
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  make living much more affordable. Healthcare Briel, I hear at the doors
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  constantly about a lack of care and that is unacceptable, but we
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  have to look at it from a functional level. We have to
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  work on increasing the amount of competition. We have monopolist healthcare systems
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  That’s are vertically integrated. They control every aspect of our health care
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  and that needs to be broken up. Bishop, I think one of
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  the things really we really need to focus on is education in
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  the healthcare industry. We need to partner with our junior colleges and
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  universities. We need to be making education accessible and affordable so we
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  have people to work these jobs. That's part of a problem right
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  now. We just don't have enough people to staff. Data centers. Briel.
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  I think that the state has a very prominent role in regulating
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  media centers. The state should set a minimum standard of what is
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  acceptable. The two biggest things I would include is a reclamation plan
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  so that when they sign the contract, they have to not only
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  reclaim all the concrete, all the steel, but restore the land to
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  what it was. The second thing is that they should have to
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  have a commitment in community investment. Bishop, local control is so important.
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  If we just have sort of a one size fits all mandate
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  from Springfield, I think a lot of us shrug our shoulders and
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  say, This is what we're stuck with. So we need local engagement
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  and like anything else you need to have good guardrails.