Name: Caroline McCree

What office are you seeking: IL House - 75th District

What is your political party? Democrat

What is your current age? 45

Occupation and employer: Health Information Management Chart Correction Specialist, Mass General Brigham

What offices, if any, have you previously held? None

City: Yorkille

Campaign website: votemccree.com

Education: Associates in Health Information Technology and holds an RHIT credential through AHIMA.

Community involvement: I run a local women’s Facebook group and am active with the Kendall County chapter of Indivisible. We have been active the last year with organizing local protests and food drives.

Marital status/Immediate family: Divorced with 2 teens

What are your top three priorities for this district in Springfield?

Regulation for data centers to protect residents, expanding services available through the county health departments or other local organizations to fill in healthcare gaps and to help with the homeless or homeless prevention, reduction of the cost of living (such as property taxes)

How will you support economic growth and development in your district?

I would really love to help expand programs at the high school level to promote working in the trades and other skilled careers that have unions. More workers in these careers will not only improve the lives of the workers, but will also improve the quality of work and products produced in the communities where they work. This would also go hand in hand with trying to attract businesses to the community that will improve our lives instead of impeding on them. Responsible economic growth is the key to this.

Do you support term limits for state representatives, and if so, what limits?

I don’t think any one elected official should be able to serve in one seat more than 10 years total. Therefore, a state rep would be limited to 5 two-year terms maximum.

How will you address the state’s long-term pension obligations?

I know the financial burden is great, but we have so many state employees who have put in their time over the years and we have an obligation to ensure they will have the retirement that they were promised. Reducing pension obligations will do nothing but deter quality workers from joining the state workforce. We may have to get creative with revenue, such as shifting where revenue is spent, but I believe it is possible to do so without constantly having to raise taxes in every area of our lives.

How will you address property taxes and school funding reform?

Again, there is likely some wiggle room with reallocating tax revenue that we already have coming in instead of increasing property taxes. People are getting nickeled and dimed to the point where they are getting priced out of their homes that they have lived in for decades. Especially if someone has already paid off their home, they shouldn’t be taxed so much that they still can’t afford to live there. However, our schools definitely also still need the funding. We might be able to make a plan with local schools to do separate fundraising that might be able to fill in gaps that would otherwise normally be paid with tax revenue. I know fundraising will likely have a minimal effect but anything to keep taxes from increasing is a welcome relief to the community.

What is your stance on the SAFE-T Act? What changes, if any, would you support?

The idea of the Act has good intentions, but I feel that judges should still have more control over the criteria that would qualify them to set bail, such as with repeat offenders. I don’t necessarily think it’s reasonable to keep someone in jail for months and months over a minor infraction just because they are unable to pay bail, but repeat offenders who repeat the same crimes over and over and absolutely the people who are accused of violent crimes should have more stipulations to get out of jail pretrial. It might also be a good idea to have electronic monitoring for some of these people even after they are released from jail, with or without bail.

What legislation would you propose to address crime and public safety in your district?

Overall, I feel like we have a pretty safe district. However, I definitely feel like people who keep committing the same types of crimes, especially when they are done in close succession, should face additional consequences such as electronic monitoring or cash bail. If the person has underlying mental health issues that are contributing to them committing these repeat crimes, they should be required to get treatment for their mental health condition or at least evaluated and cleared by mental health professional before they are able to be fully off of court supervision.

What is your stance on reproductive rights in Illinois?

I am pro-choice when it comes to all reproductive choices for women and men. This includes elective sterilization in addition to abortion rights. I also don’t think that medical professionals should be able to dictate how someone gives birth as long as it is safe for mother and baby. I personally had to jump through many hoops when having my second child just because I didn’t want to be forced into a repeat c-section. It shouldn’t be so hard for someone to avoid surgery if they don’t want to go through it again if it is safe to attempt to avoid. I also believe that if someone chooses (at an appropriate age) to go through gender affirming care, they should not be limited on doing so. We need to give people control of their own bodies, especially when their choices are not affecting others in the community.

What is your opinion of the TRUST Act (sanctuary state protections)?

Our country was set up not only to give the states their own rights but also to have state and federal government be separate. I don’t see how that is any different when it comes to sanctuary protections. It also financially doesn’t make sense for local law enforcement to get involved with federal law enforcement by assisting them. Local law enforcement is not paid with the same funds that federal law enforcement is, so why should they be expected to put in the extra expense to assist? There are only limited situations when federal law enforcement gets involved with local law enforcement so it should be the same with local assisting federal.

Should the state expand Medicaid funding?

There are so many people in the state that need help affording their health care costs, including insurance. There are way too many working poor in our country. There even more people who fall in between where they make too much money to get public assistance but when having to pay for things such as their health insurance and medical expenses fully on their own, they end up struggling with other living costs. When I was transitioning from being a stay-at-home married mom to being a divorce working mom, experienced this firsthand. If people are working and trying to support their families, they shouldn’t have to worry about also going through bankruptcy if someone gets sick or injured. Medicaid should definitely be available to more people so that they can have affordable health insurance.

Should local governments have more authority over solar farm development in their communities?

I think that just like with other laws, there should be a minimum set of regulations at the state level and the local municipalities can make more restrictive regulations if they wish. However, I have seen at least with the data center proposals in Yorkville that if there aren’t minimum regulations at the state level to protect their residents, the local municipalities don’t always make decisions that include protection over profit (i.e., potential tax revenue).

Should Illinois expand use of nuclear energy, including facilities like the Byron plant? What’s your vision for the state’s energy mix?

I think existing nuclear power plants should be upgraded and expanded as long as they remain safe to the community. Nuclear energy clearly is safer in the respect of pollution but comes with its own set of safety concerns if expanding closer to residential areas. I don’t think creating new nuclear power plants would go over with the communities very well, but expanding where they already are and making sure that the aging plants are upgraded to remain safe seems like a good idea at this point. With the state trying to transition away from fossil fuels for energy production, something else has to fill in the gaps. Nuclear energy clearly would be able to do that much easier than other green options such as wind and solar. However, I think any green source of energy is helpful to us right now, especially with rising energy costs.

What role should the state play in housing affordability?

The state should absolutely offer incentives to builders to add additional affordable housing and communities where there are shortages, such as in many of the communities in this district. Adding additional housing will not only allow people to not spend most of their income on their rental costs, but it will also allow more people to have homeownership. It is out of reach currently for so many people not only because of the current housing prices but also the fact that the supply is extremely low. People shouldn’t have to move out of their communities so that they can afford a roof over their heads, but unfortunately that is the reality for a lot of people. Homeownership helps strengthen communities, so if the state took more of an active role to attract these builders, they would not only be improving the state but also helping the local economy and sense of community.

How should the state address rising energy costs from data centers? How do you balance water rights between communities and industry regarding data center development?

The state should absolutely have strict regulations to protect local water supplies and to prevent contributing to rising energy costs. It’s not fair to have a company come in and hog resources that we all need to survive. Water in this district is depleting in multiple cities, causing them to need to take steps to hooking the water supply up to Lake Michigan. It doesn’t make logical sense to allow a company who may use millions of gallons of water a day to squander the existing supply before the switch occurs or to come in right after the community has already had to pay increased costs in order for the Lake Michigan connection to be covered. Restrictions on how they are cooled should be in place to prevent excess water usage or possible pollution of the existing waterways or water supplies. With the energy costs, there is no perfect solution to keep them down considering the way that our power grid is connected to 12 other states with whom we share our energy costs. However, I believe that they should be restricted to a certain amount of energy used from the grid per day and not be allowed to supplement with sources that will be damaging to the community, such as gas or diesel powered generators. Even if they don’t necessarily need more energy than what they are restricted to, they should also be required to contribute to green energy production to try to keep costs down for everyone. I see no harm in them throwing some solar panels on their roofs and maybe having several wind turbines around their property. If they are going to come into communities and the residents are unable to stop their approval, they should at least be contributing to reduction of harm.

To what level should the state fund a new stadium for the Chicago Bears?

Aside from the usual tax cuts that maybe given to any company, I don’t feel that it is appropriate for taxpayers money to be given in excess to any business to either keep the business in the state or attract it to a new area. Especially a nationally renowned sports team should have the funds to be able to pay for a new stadium without taxpayer assistance. If taxpayer assistance is granted, there should be a future promise of tax rebates given to those in the community who helped pay for the stadium, kind of like the casino credits given on utility bills in Joliet when I lived there.

Should the state regulate the use of AI in the classroom? To what extent?

I definitely believe AI is going to become a part of everyone’s lives in the very near future but it should be regulated to prevent harm from occurring with the students. This could be in the form of personal data protection and also to prevent nefarious use of AI. I also believe that the more that AI is used in education and everyday life, the more reliant people will become on it instead of thinking for themselves like we have always done.

Who are your top donors? How often do you speak with them?

My top donors at this point are friends and family. I have not yet received any contributions from any companies or larger amounts from people that I don’t personally know.