Executive Report

Sunset law
Many regulatory boards in the Department of Registration and Education will be phased out of existence under the Regulatory Agency Sunset Act(H.B. 1944, P.A. 81-999). The new law, which passed with bipartisan support despite opposition from interest groups, provides that unless the General Assembly enacts legislation to continue the licensing and regulation of professions and occupations, they will become unlicensed and unregulated on specific dates.

Harrisburg center stays open
Gov. James R. Thompson has directed the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities to keep open the A. L. Bowen Developmental Center in Harrisburg, despite last year's recommendation by the Governor's Cost Control Task Force that the center be closed. The governor said that the recommendation did not take into account the impact that closing the center would have. He said that an additional factor was $ 1 million in federal funding which the center will have received this year.

Attorney
General
Opinions

Deceptive names
S-1444: A driver training school may not do business under any name other than that under which it was incorporated (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 32, sec. 211.1; and ch. 96, sec. 7), nor may the school use the name of a department store if the only connection between the school and the store is an agreement that students may use their store credit cards to pay for driving lessons (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 32, sec. 157.9 (c); and ch. 121 1/2, sec. 311-317).

Traffic reports
S-1461: Traffic accident reports made to the Department of Transportation (DOT) are confidential and may not be released, even to other state agencies, the attorney general said. The confidentiality requirement in the Vehicle Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 95>/2, sec. 11-412) overrides the general requirement that state agencies cooperate. DOT may, however, give out the identifying number of the driver's accident report, allowing researchers to check the state police's copy of the report, because the number is an administrative addition and is not considered confidential. The attorney general also said that DOT may send out the records to a contracted company to be microfilmed, but must take precautions to insure their confidentiality.

Land use rights
S-1455: When real estate which is the subject of a nonconforming or special use or variance (allowing it to be used for purposes other than those for which the area was zoned) is sold, leased or rented, the subsequent owner, lessor or renter does not have to apply for another nonconforming use. It has been established in Illinois that use runs with the land and does not apply only to the individual applicant.

Holdovers in office
S-1451: An officer whose term of office has expired may continue to perform the duties of his office until a successor is named. While there is no provision in the Election Code for holdovers, it is well established that, when there is no legal authority for an officer to hold over until a successor is appointed, he may exercise the powers of his office until a successor is named.

Capital stock assessments
S-I457: State's attorneys may not compromise Department of Local Government Affairs (DLGA) assessments of capital stock. [The DLGA property tax administration became part of the Department of Revenue effective October 1.] Citizens who feel that assessments are excessive must seek relief by means of judicial review under the Administrative Review Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 120, sec. 619).

State Stix

The comptroller's monthly report showed the general funds average daily available balance in October to be $569 million; the general funds end-of-month balance was $550 million, and the combined funds end-of-month balance was $719 million .... The interest ceiling on home loans has been removed for 26 months (P.A. 81-1097) .... The final statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September was 5.7 percent. Final unemployment rates for August and preliminary unemployment rates for September in the state's major cities were: Bloomington-Normal, final August rate, 2.7 percent, preliminary September rate, 2.9 percent; Champaign-Urbana, 3.7 percent, 4.2 percent; Chicago, 4.4 percent, 5.5 percent; Davenport, Rock Island, Moline (Illinois section), 3.5 percent, 4.0 percent; Decatur, 5.7 percent, 6.9 percent; Kankakee, 7.3 percent, 8.9 percent; Peoria, 3.8 percent, 4.8 percent; Rockford, 4.5 percent, 5.7 percent; Springfield, 4.5 percent, 5.9 percent; St. Louis (Illinois section), 6.5 percent, 7.5 percent.

30/ December 1979/ Illinois Issues