I. AUTHORIZATION. The Illinois Legislative Printing Unit will provide printing services to the General Assembly, its members, legislative committees, commissions, and other legislative agencies; and emergency services to other state agencies, in accordance with these rules. (Il. Rev. State., ch 63 sec. 34.01.) The purpose of such printing is to serve the needs of the legislative agencies and to inform the public about the conduct of the governmental business.

A. POLICY OF THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. It is the policy of the General Assembly that the privilege of printing newsletters, brochures, questionnaires and other printed materials shall be established under this section in order to assist and expedite the conduct of the official business, activities, and duties of the General Assembly of the state of Illinois.

B. INTENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. It is the intent of the General Assembly that such official business, activities, and duties cover all matters which directly or indirectly pertain to the legislative process or to any State Representative or State Senator functions generally, or to the functioning, working or operating of the General Assembly and the performance of official duties in connection therewith, and shall include, but not be limited to, the conveying of information to the public, or the views and information of other authority of government, as a guide or a means of assistance in the performance of those functions.

II. PRINTING FOR MEMBERS OF THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

A. The Legislative Printing Unit will provide members of the General Assembly with the printing services which are related to legislation or to the official role of a member of the State Senate or House of Representatives. This section authorizes the printing of materials regarding programs, decisions, and other related matters of public concern or public service, relating to actions of a past or current General Assembly.

B. The Legislative Printing Unit will furnish a maximum of 5,000 letterhead of a standard 8 1/2” X 11” size and 5,000 printed envelopes of a standard #10 size each year to each member requesting them, without charge for paper. The paper provided will be 50% recycled content. The ink used will be soybean ink.

C. The Legislative Printing Unit will furnish without charge 500 sheets of standard letterhead and 500 standard envelopes to each newly elected legislator who is not an incumbent in office. The paper provided will be 50% recycled content. The ink used will be soybean ink.

D. Newsletters will be printed under the following conditions. A newsletter or other materials intended for distribution to constituents may deal with such matters as reports on public and official actions taken by the General Assembly and the legislators requesting the newsletters; discussions of proposed or pending legislation or governmental actions; and the position of the members of the General Assembly on, and the arguments for or against, such matters. Newsletters may contain fair comment on the positions taken by the constitutional officer, legislative leader or legislative caucus. A newsletter may refer by name and/or title to the constitutional officers and the minority leaders of each house. A newsletter may also refer to each caucus as a group, whether as “majority” or by party name. No ad hominem or personal criticisms are permitted. Individual names of any other legislators, or any language that can be used to specifically identify a legislator (for example, the representative or senator from X district or X county), except as listed as a co-sponsor of a bill with the member requesting the newsletter, will not be used unless written permission has been obtained from the other legislators before printing. The voting record of other individual members of the General Assembly may be included only with the prior written consent of the other member(s) placed on file in the Legislative Printing Unit’s staff office. A newsletter shall not contain appeals, direct or indirect, for campaign contributions or other funds, and shall not be used to announce or advertise campaign activities.

E. All photographs in a newsletter must relate to a member(s) governmental activities. Newsletters or other materials intended for distribution to constituents are limited to only two colors of soybean inks.

F. Other types of printed materials may be ordered if they relate specifically to legislation or topics related to the official role of a member of the State Senate or House of Representatives and neither are, nor resemble, campaign literature.

G. Items such as references to past or future campaigns, autobiographical or family news items unrelated to a member(s) role are not intended to be included in newsletters or in other printed materials, or printed separately.

H. Copy, format, and photographs for newsletters and other printed materials intended for mass distribution must be delivered to the Legislative Printing Unit at least 75 days before the date of a primary or general election at which members of the General Assembly are to be nominated or elected. The completed newsletter or other printed material will be delivered to the legislator at least 45 days before the primary or general election. A policy of “first come, first serve” will be followed when accepting and producing printing orders, subject to efficient scheduling of equipment and personnel. The Legislative Printing Unit may set a deadline earlier than 75 days before an election if anticipated printing order volume will exceed the capacity of the Legislative Printing Unit to meet the 45 day deadline. Members will be notified at their Springfield offices of any deadline dates.

III. PRINTING FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY OPERATIONS, COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS AND LEGISLATIVE AGENCIES.

The Legislative Printing Unit will provide both houses of the General Assembly and all legislative agencies with printing services which are related to the operation and official duties of each.
Emergency printing for nonlegislative state agencies may be performed only at the request of the Department of Central Management Services with the consent of a majority of the members of the Legislative Printing Unit Board.

IV. All books, pamphlets, documents, and reports printed by the Legislative Printing Unit must have printed on them “Printed by the authority of the State of Illinois, Illinois Legislative Printing Unit.” The date of publication, the number of copies printed, and the printing order number. This does not apply to stationery, news release forms, form letters, or other material not intended for mass distribution.

V. STAFF DUTIES. Authority is delegated to the Legislative Printing Unit Director to advise members and agencies that request printing orders of specific items or words which are not appropriate for a state legislative print shop to process under these rules. If agreement on suggested changes in orders cannot be reached, the Co-chairs of the Legislative Printing Unit will be requested to intervene and resolve the issue. If either Co-chair is not available, the issue shall be resolved by the Legislative Printing Unit Board. The approval of the Co-chairs or the Legislative Printing Unit Board must be placed on file in the staff office before questioned items will be printed. A decision of the Co-chairs or the Legislative Printing Unit Board may be appealed to the Joint Committee on Legislative Support Services.

VI. PRINTING OPERATIONS. Priority will be given during times when the General Assembly or either of its houses is in session to orders needed to maintain the ability of the Senate and House to carry on their day to day business. Other printing orders will be handled by the Legislative Printing Unit by using its scheduling system to meet the needs of its customers as well as possible while preserving and maintaining an efficient and cost-conscious printing operation.

VII. DEFINITIONS. A legislative agency is any committee, commission, board, council, bureau or other agency whose membership includes legislators appointed by legislative authorities.

“Material intended for mass distribution” means newsletters or other material of more than 500 pieces with identical content. It does not include material for distribution to colleagues in the General Assembly, distributions in direct response to communications from the persons to whom the distribution is directed, or distributions of news released to the communications media.

A year means the period from the second Wednesday in January through the Tuesday before the second Wednesday in January of the following year.

VIII. EFFECTIVE DATE OF RULES. These rules and any subsequent change in them will be effective when adopted by the Legislative Printing Unit Board, unless another effective date is specified. A copy of any changes in these rules will be delivered promptly to each member of the General Assembly at the member’s office in Springfield.

Authorization to print business cards for members of the General Assembly, their staff, and legislative agencies was granted by the Co-chairs of the Legislative Printing Unit on July 25, 1988.

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