SPRINGFIELD… State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) was angered during a recent Small Business Empowerment committee hearing when, after forcing small business owners from around the state to wait hours to testify, the chairman of the committee quickly cut off testimony. 

 “We made those poor people wait around for us to get done with session just to quickly cut off their testimony and waste their time.  They had much better things to do than wait around for us, but they did because they thought they were going to get the opportunity to speak to their legislators about what they see as problems in our state’s business climate.  They were extremely disrespected and I was ashamed of the behavior shown by the committee chairman,” Rep. Meier said.

SPRINGFIELD… State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) was angered to learn state officials have diverted billions from the state’s Road Fund to pay for other projects. The Illinois Auditor General released a report late Tuesday which outlined years of diversions.

“One of the biggest complaints I hear from my constituents is that gas costs too much.  Now we find out that the taxes we’ve been paying on gasoline in order to maintain and repair our roads is actually going towards a lot of other things instead, and that’s unacceptable.  This needs to be corrected immediately,” Rep. Meier said.

Springfield, IL…In response to recent statements made by the Speaker of the House supporting the idea shifting the cost of teacher pensions from the state to local school districts, Illinois State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) publically opposed the idea.