* As part of the spending deal to end the federal government shutdown, Congress approved provision banning THC products. Governor Pritzker was asked about the hemp ban during an unrelated news conference…

Pritzker: What I wanted was for intoxicating hemp to be regulated the same way that cannabis is in the state, and I haven’t looked at the details of the bill that was passed, because it’s not a complete ban. There’s regulation around it. It makes it harder for the worst parts of intoxicating hemp to be just sold to anybody. So we’re going to have to look at how we might regulate it now that we see that the federal government is limiting it. But the goal here is to keep our children safe. That really is my number one goal about regulating intoxicating hemp. And when it’s available everywhere, and it’s got names like Skittlz with a Z on the end, and it looks the same as Skittles the candy. It’s just not right. I have been disappointed that the industry here has been unwilling to accept proper regulation. So now we’ll end up at the table talking about how best to move forward.

Reporter: Will you ask the General Assembly to look at regulating it?

Pritzker: Again, I have to sort of sort through what the federal bill actually allows us to do, because Supremacy Clause, we’ve learned a lot about that in the last few months. But we want to make sure that whatever it is that’s allowed in the state of Illinois, again, is just safe for children and, obviously, safe for anybody that uses it.

* Click here for some background. On Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s head tax…

Reporter: Reporter: You spoke on Veterans Day with Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez about Mayor Johnson’s proposed head tax. How would you characterize your conversation with him, and did he swing you at all on your opposition to the head tax?

Pritzker: Well, yelling isn’t a conversation, and that’s how he came at it. But I was the one who stopped to talk to him, because, look, he’s an alderman — dialogue is always a good thing. I know he disagrees with me. He thinks there ought to be a head tax. I think that taxing businesses on the number of jobs that they’re creating is a bad way to go. Do I think that we ought to have a more graduated income tax system, or one in which wealthy businesses, wealthy people are paying a higher percentage than average working people? Yes, I do. I think that’s been pretty clear. So I’m not sure exactly what he was yelling about, except that we have a disagreement about that head tax. I don’t think that’s a good idea, because telling people that, well, the fewer people you hire, the less you’re going to pay, is not a good message for businesses or for workers, for that matter. So I was happy to have a conversation. I don’t think he did it in the right way. He could have called me. He’s not ever called me. I know he said he’s reached out to members of my administration, but I’m pretty easy to find and pretty easy to get on the phone with and talk. That’s not what he wants. He just wants headlines, because I think he wants to run for Congress — although I don’t see how that’s available, except, of course, as a write-in. We’ll see how that goes.

The governor is wrong that Sigcho-Lopez would need to run a write-in campaign. He can run as an independent, but he’ll need more than 11,000 valid signatures.

* On the Homeowners’ insurance reform bill that failed in House with 56 votes…

Reporter: Can I ask you about homeowner’s insurance. There was a bill that failed on the House floor, can I get your reaction to that? What do you think is the pass moving forward?

Pritzker: Look, we’re one of the very few states that doesn’t have any limits on what a an insurance company can charge and how they can increase the homeowner’s insurance premiums. So I believe that we need to move forward looking at that bill that didn’t quite get through the House, and see how it might be adjusted, so that our Department of Insurance can review the premiums that are increases that State Farm and Allstate and other homeowners insurance companies are charging. But increases like 27 percent in a single year ought to be reviewed by a state regulator, and that’s all we’re asking.

Reporter: What kind of adjustments?

Pritzker: Again, what we want is for the insurance companies simply to show us why it’s appropriate for them to raise rates by 27 percent. They didn’t do that. They haven’t done that. All they did was say, ‘Well, we had losses, so we’re increasing by 27 percent.’ We don’t know if the homeowners are being gouged. And that’s what it feels like with 27 percent increases. By the way, that’s the average increase. There’s some that are getting 40 and 50 percent increases and some lower, but 27 percent on average is ludicrous in a single year. And so again, we just want them to justify what they’re doing to homeowners across the state. I think 27 percent sounds outrageous.