Rod Blagojevich

Governor

August 22, 2003

To the Honorable Members of the

Illinois Senate

93^rd General Assembly

While this legislation pursues honorable ends, I cannot sign into law measures that might have a chilling effect on the filing of legitimate complaints of abuse and neglect.  Future legislation should be developed to better address the issue of the filing of false or malicious complaints.  Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 319 entitled “AN ACT concerning abuse and neglect,” with the following specific recommendations for change:

by deleting line 33 on page 2 through line 4 on page 3; and

on page 4, lines 3 and 4, by deleting “Nothing in this Section requires an investigation to include an on-site visit.”; and

by replacing line 23 on page 4 through line 4 on page 5 with the following:

“Act has been or is being violated.  The Department shall investigate all complaints alleging abuse or neglect within 7 days after the receipt of the complaint except that complaints of abuse or neglect which indicate that a resident’s life or safety is in imminent danger shall be investigated within 24 hours after receipt of the complaint.  All other”; and

on page 7, line 2, by replacing “2, 4,” with “2”; and

by deleting line 6 on page 11 through line 19 on page 13, and

by deleting all of pages 14 through 17.

With these changes, Senate Bill 319 will have my approval.  I respectfully request your concurrence.

Sincerely,

Rod R. Blagojevich

Governor