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92_HB0549gms
STATE OF ILLINOIS
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
SPRINGFIELD, 62706
GEORGE H. RYAN
GOVERNOR
August 10, 2001
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly
Pursuant to the authority vested in the Governor by
Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of
1970, and re-affirmed by the People of the State of Illinois
by popular referendum in 1974, and conforming to the standard
articulated by the Illinois Supreme Court in People ex Rel.
Klinger v. Howlett, 50 Ill. 2d 242 (1972), Continental
Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. v. Zagel, 78 Ill. 2d 387
(1979), People ex Rel. City of Canton v. Crouch, 79 Ill. 2d
356 (1980), and County of Kane v. Carlson, 116 Ill. 2d 186
(1987), that gubernatorial action be consistent with the
fundamental purposes and the intent of the bill, I hereby
return House Bill 549, entitled "AN ACT concerning public
defenders," with my specific recommendation for change.
First of all, I wish to applaud the General Assembly for
recognizing the importance of funding the Public Defender in
each of our State's counties in much the same way that the
State already funds our State's Attorneys. The passage of
this legislation represents another victory for criminal
justice reform and is a vital step towards a more fair, just
and accurate criminal justice system.
A number of things in the past several years have
contributed to the furtherance of fairness and justice in
Illinois beginning, perhaps, with the General Assembly's
commissioning of the Task Force on Professional Practice in
the Illinois Justice Systems. This task force, chaired by the
Honorable J. William Roberts, recommended many important and
critical steps necessary to secure and restore justice to the
Illinois justice system in their report to the General
Assembly in May of 2000.
I am proud to say that, in partnership with the General
Assembly, we are working toward implementing yet another
recommendation from this report by taking an important step
toward State funding of public defenders. This will follow a
series of meaningful protections that have been a part of the
justice system reforms that I have fought to put in place
including, among others: the creation of the Capital
Litigation Trust Fund, which to date has dedicated over $21
million to the defense and prosecution of capital cases so
that these cases are investigated thoroughly from the
beginning and defendants have access to resources once
routinely denied them; the death penalty moratorium, which
insures that no innocent man or woman will face death at the
hands of the State while our capital punishment system
undergoes a thorough and comprehensive review; and more
recently, the inclusion in our budget of State funds to
alleviate the backlog of criminal appeals in Cook County that
was delaying, if not effectively denying, individuals their
constitutional right to appellate review.
But our work in this area is not through and even House
Bill 549 leaves some things unsaid and undone. The funding of
this initiative is not included in this year's budget and I
ask the General Assembly to finish what they have started by
appropriating the necessary funds next year to put this
important criminal justice reform into effect. I also
strongly encourage counties to take advantage of the time
from now until the beginning of the next fiscal year, when
the State intends to begin funding this initiative, to plan
how to best utilize these funds to improve public defender
offices and their services. While not explicitly stated in
this legislation, the State funding that this bill will make
possible is meant to supplement county budgets for their
public defenders, not replace it. The State funding
contemplated by this legislation will free up county funds
which should then be used to leverage other criminal justice
improvements by funding programs and services that will
further enhance the quality of defender services in each
county. To simply work a budget reallocation of State funds
for already allocated and expended county funds, would be
acting contrary to the intent and will of the Illinois
General Assembly and the Governor of this State. I believe
that allowing time for counties to plan for the appropriate
changes and improvements in their public defenders offices
will help make this initiative more successful. Moreover, I
believe that we can insure greater accountability from
Illinois counties by adjusting the effective date to
correspond with the anticipated date that the State will make
the promised funds available.
For these reasons, I return House Bill 549 with the
following recommendation for change:
On page 2, after line 2 insert the following:
"Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect
July 1, 2002".
With this specific recommendation for change, House Bill
549 will have my approval. I respectfully request your
concurrence.
Sincerely,
s/GEORGE H. RYAN
Governor