Judicial Rulings Executive Report

THE PEOPLE ex ret. FRANK A. KIRK, Petitioner, v. GEORGE W. LINDBERG, Comptroller, Respondent. Decided September 1974; rehearing requested.

STATE Comptroller George W. Lindberg was ordered by a writ of mandamus from the Illinois Supreme Court to honor the voucher he had refused from the Department of Local Government Affairs.

The basic question was whether section 7 of P.A. 78-1024, "An Act to provide for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the Department of Local Government Affairs," violated section 8 (d) of article IV of the Illinois Constitution which provides that: "Appropriation bills shall be limited to the subject of appropriations."

Part of the challenged section 7 provided: "... that grants in-aid for non-state agencies may be expended without additional appropriation by the General Assembly," and the Court apparently agreed that this does not relate to the subject of appropriation. But Justice Schaefer writes for the Court, "It is impossible for the court to say that the . General Assembly would have adopted section 7 without the proviso relating to the expenditure of funds by non-State agencies without appropriations."

Without striking down the section, the Court did explain that "if subjects other than the immediate subject of appropriations in the sense of authorizations of expenditures are permitted to be included in an appropriations bill, then the veto power of the Governor is effectively nullified [since] appropriations bills are characteristically passed late in the legislative session and they must become effective in order to prevent government operations from being brought to a complete stop."

The Comptroller also argued that the General Assembly had not made an appropriation for the expenditure of the funds drawn upon by the voucher according to section 2 (b) of article VIII of the Illinois Constitution which provides that: "The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State."

The Court stated that numerous decisions under the comparable section of the 1870 Constitution have sustained the validity of expenditures from the State treasury without current appropriations.

Attorney General's Opinion
File No. S-835 Oct. 31, 1974 WHEN the General Assembly refused to fund four of the Governor's agencies, he transferred the employees to other agencies whose appropriations are now expected to pay their salaries.

The Attorney General has given his opinion that, in general terms, these employees' salaries may not properly be paid from the appropriations to the Department of Mental Health, to which some were assigned by the Governor.

The Attorney General told Rep. Robert S. Juckelt, chairman of the Mental Health Fund Advisory Committee, "Assuming that the individuals to which you refer are not performing services which are within the objects and purposes of the appropriation to the Department of Mental Health, they cannot be paid from that appropriation." However, he adds, "A determination of whether a particular individual's activities have incurred an obligation against the appropriation to the Department of Mental Health must be left to the specific factual consideration involved."

Attorney General's Opinion
File No. NP-S28 Oct. 31, 1974 It is legal to set a graduated salary for elected and appointed officers of counties prior to their term of office without relating the salaries to population change, according to the Attorney General in his response to William J. Cowlin, state's attorney for McHenry County.

Attorney General's Opinion
File No.NP-831 Oct. 31, 1974 The Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission is required to issue a formal written report to both the Governor and the General Assembly at the beginning of each General Assembly biennial term, according to the Attorney General's opinion addressed to Eleanor P. Petersen, chairperson of the Commission. But there is no legislative intent that the "report be published lor distribution to the general public," according to the opinion.

Names

Appointments
James M. Furman as executive director, Board of Higher Education, to succeed Cameron West, who resigned. Furman was director of the Council on Higher Education, Washington state.

John C. McGuire and Stephen J. Teichner as members of Gov. Dan Walker's staff. McGuire was senior research associate. Urban Institute, Washington, D.C. Teichner was on the staff of the governor of Massachusetts.

Warren W. Brandt as president of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He was president of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.

Cordell J. Overgaard and Ronald C. Smith, both of Chicago, to the Governor's Board of Ethics, succeeding Abner J. Mikva and George Burditt. both of whom resigned to run for office.

Jack L. Giannini, Belleville, and William Schooley, Granite City, to fill vacancies on the St. Louis Metropolitan Airport Authority.

H. William Hey, Springfield, as director of research, Illinois Legislative Council. He had previously been associate director.

Nancy Wingard as southern Illinois representative of the Department of Registration and Education, at a newly opened Marion office. She has served 10 years with the Department.

Resignations

Loren M. Bobbitt from his position as executive secretary, Legislative Reference Bureau. He has taken a position as director of legal and public affairs department, Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives, Springfield.

Dick E. Viar from his position as executive director, Legislative Audit Commission.

Andrew M. Kramer from his position as head of the Slate's Office of Collective Bargaining, created by executive order in 1973. He returns to his Chicago law practice.

Illinois Issues/January 1975/27