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Full Name: Steven Reick
Office sought: Representative of the 63rd Legislative District
Political party? Republican
Age: 71
Occupation and Employer: Full-time legislator
What elected offices, if any, have you previously held? None
Town where you live: Woodstock
Campaign Website: ilikereick.com/
Education: Bachelor of Science, Accountancy, University of Illinois (1975)
Juris Doctor, University of Georgia (1980)
Master of Accountancy (Tax), University of Georgia (1980)
Community Involvement: Woodstock Rotary Club Member
Volunteer and supporter of multiple worthy causes
Marital Status/Immediate Family: Married
Why are you running for office?
Being a state representative gives me the opportunity to give back to the community that has given so much to me and my family.
During my time in the House, I’ve focused on fixing our broken tax and budgeting system, led the discussion on how to address our unsustainable pension debt and have worked to make DCFS focus on its core mission, which is protecting abused and neglected children and not things like background checks and daycare licensing. My work on these issues isn’t done, and I’m running to see that these priorities continue to get the attention they demand.
Will you honor the results of the November election, including the presidential race?
Of course. I have full confidence in our County Clerk and his office’s ability to follow the law and accurately tabulate election results.
How would you assess the SAFE-T Act? Are there any changes/adjustments that you would like to see made?
A major takeaway from the Act is the burden that it is placing on our court system in terms of additional time for hearings and the cost that’s being incurred as a result. Another problem which was mentioned in [a recent] Chicago Tribune is the fact that many defendants are not showing up for hearings. Finally, I have yet to see good statistics as to whether or not crime has not risen since passage of the Act as is claimed by its proponents or whether people are just not reporting crimes, especially property crimes, because they don’t have any confidence that such crimes will be prosecuted. I stated at the time of the bill’s passage that I might have supported it had it just applied to Cook County because of the massive overcrowding of the Cook County jail, but I’m still skeptical of its effectiveness in McHenry County.
What programs are you in favor of that could make home-buying more affordable for first-time homebuyers?
Home ownership has always been the first and best step toward creating wealth as well as encouraging people to establish roots in the community. Illinois currently has a first-time homeowners assistance grant which provides $10,000 grants toward the down payment on a first residence. The Illinois Housing Development Authority administers the program and relies almost exclusively on Federal funding for the grants. So long as that remains the case, I’m willing to continue the program. I would also be inclined to support S.B. 3497, the “Illinois Home Buyer Savings Accounts Act”, which provides that a first-time and second-chance home buyer may open an account in which the funds may be used only to pay a first-time and second-chance home buyer’s eligible costs for the purchase of a single-family residence in Illinois.
The last census showed that Illinois is losing population, and that rural areas were hit harder than urban areas. Is that cause for concern and, if so, what can you do from Springfield to ensure rural communities don’t disappear?
I’ll focus on one issue that’s having a huge effect on rural Illinois. In 2021 the state was given $1.5 billion for installation of high-speed internet under a $42.5 billion federal modernization program, but not a single home or business has been connected to new broadband networks nearly three years after it was signed into law, and no project will break ground until sometime next year, if then.
The slow rollout is due in large part to burdensome requirements for obtaining the funds, including climate change mandates, preferences for hiring union workers and the requirement that eligible companies prioritize the employment of “justice-impacted” people with criminal records to install broadband equipment. Without reliable internet services upon which we more than ever now depend, people are moving to areas where they can obtain reliable service. This is a Federal failure, but underscores the sclerotic nature of government in general.
Should Illinois impose a state parks fee that is earmarked for maintenance of those facilities? If so, how should it be implemented?
The reason we have a budget process is to establish spending priorities. While the process is terribly flawed (as I discussed in my latest newsletter), it’s a process by which we determine priorities for spending our limited resources. This is something that should be left to the budgeting process and as a result I would not support such a fee.
With hospitals closing and/or downsizing in northern Illinois, what can be done to ensure rural residents have access to quality health care?
Anyone who remembers the 2017 closing of Centegra Hospital in Woodstock knows that this closure left a huge hole in the healthcare landscape of McHenry County. To justify its closure, the hospital blamed the costs of opening its new 128-bed facility in Huntley, write-offs for unpaid patient bills, and rising Medicare and Medicaid patient volumes for financial losses. Nonetheless, the closure left the entire western half of McHenry County without reasonable access to critical-care surgical services or a Level 1 trauma center. The certificate of need process by which hospitals can be established or closed needs to be re-examined to give more weight to these critical issues.
Do you support Karina’s Bill, which aims to strengthen enforcement of the removal of firearms from those with orders of protection against them? More broadly, are Illinois laws too strict – or not strict enough – when it comes to gun rights and gun control and what changes would you advocate for?
As a primary draftsman and Chief Co-sponsor of Illinois’ “Red-Flag” law in 2019, I’ve long advocated for measures which will keep individuals from harming themselves or others. However these measures must come with strict protections of civil liberties. Karina’s bill has not made it out of the Senate, but if it comes to the House, I will give it due consideration but will not support it if orders of protection are used as a blanket justification for the seizure of firearms.
Should Metra, Pace and the CTA be combined into one agency? What should be done to address the fiscal cliff facing the public transit agencies?
If approved in its present form, collar county board chairs will lose two of their three appointments to the current transit boards, putting the collar counties in a minority voting position on the proposed single board. This would diminish McHenry County’s voice in the governance of regional transportation.
CTA has $6.9 billion in debt, whereas Metra’s debt is $312 million and Pace’s debt is $138 million. Under the proposed legislation McHenry County could see its tax dollars diverted to cover CTA’s multibillion-dollar debt, its pension debt with its 54.2% funding ratio, operating costs and infrastructure cash flow needs.
I will not vote to consolidate the transit boards because to do so would be to vote against the interest of my constituents and all the people of McHenry County.
In your capacity as a private citizen, have you or any business entity in which you have an ownership stake received a federal PPP loan? If so, what was the amount and is it repaid, forgiven or still outstanding? No.
Have you ever been convicted of or charged with a crime? I pled guilty to driving under the influence in 2019.