Executive Report
Attorney General's Opinions
Effective dates of laws
S-890 to Sen. William C. Harris, minority leader, 4/10/75
A bill is "passed" by the General Assembly when the body has taken final substantive action on it, not when the procedural action of voting to override a veto is completed. Passage of a bill and its effective date as a law, however, are two totally separate legal concepts.
The effective date of a bill passed before July 1, containing no effective date and vetoed by the governor, is based on the date of completion of a veto override procedure. If the bill is vetoed and the veto overridden before October 1, then October I is the effective date: but if the veto is not overridden until after October 1, it is effective on the date of the override.
Rules determining passage dates and the effective dates for laws involving the override of an item veto or the restoration of a reduction veto are the same as for overrides of general and amendatory vetoes.
However, when the General Assembly accepts a governor's recommendations in an amendatory veto, the revised measure becomes law when the governor certifies that his recommendations have been accepted by the legislature. "Such a bill will be deemed to have passed for purposes of determining the effective date when the General Assembly accepts the Governor's recommendations." Amendatory bills are exceptional in that they do not take final form until after vetoes have been acted upon.
The decision is based upon provisions of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, as well as precedents set out in the 1870 Constitution as defined and applied in Board of Education v. Morgan, 316 III. 143, and upheld in People ex rel. Klinger v. Hewlett, supra.
Violates Purchasing Act
S-878 to Rep. James R. Washburn, minorily leader, 4/9/75
If a legislator chooses to let his professional office double as a home legislative district office, and then hires a legislative assistant whose salary is paid by his corporate firm, he may not voucher the stale for services performed by that assistant.
Such a procedure would violate the Illinois Purchasing Act, since the legislator is a member of the corporation which has a direct pecuniary interest in the contract for personal services. If the legislator is entitled to receive more than 71/2 per cent of the total distributable income of that corporation, he is then prohibited from paying an assistant through the corporation and requesting that the state reimburse the corporation for such payment.
Although the procedure followed by the professional corporation in paying the assistant may be fair to all parties, the prohibitions of the act (///. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 127, par. 132.11-1) are absolute and no exceptions are recognized by the attorney general.
Open meeting not required
S-875 to Rep. Adeline J. Geo-Karis, chairman, Illinois Energy Resources Commission, 3/6/75
The Illinois Energy Resources Commission is a commission of the General Assembly, and it is not subject to the open meetings act. It may, therefore, conduct closed meetings on any subject it wishes.
State's attorney fee
S-881 to John J. Bowman, state's attorney, DuPage County
A state's attorney is entitled to a fee for each day he is employed in the trial of a case, whether the trial takes up a full day or not. Courts do not ordinarily recognize fractions of days as divisible units from days.
Animal control warden
NP-882 to Richard S. Simpson, state's attorney, Lawrence County, 4/9/75
An animal control warden or administrator may not file complaints or issue citations for violation of the Animal Control Act. The administrator must, instead, request the sheriff, a deputy sheriff or municipal peace officer to issue citations.
The "complete police power" which the administrator is given in section 5 of the act only relates to control of rabies, and does not grant the authority of a peace officer.
Hospital district, county
S-885 to Henry D. Sintzenich, state's at
torney. McDonough County, 4/9/75
A hospital district may enter into a "formal intergovernmental cooperation agreement" with a county, in which the hospital district transfers real estate to the county in exchange for $1 and a promise to operate, construct and maintain a nursing home. The land may revert if the county ceases to use it for a nursing home.
Referendum needs 3/5 vote
S-886 to James R. Burgess, Jr., state's attorney, Champaign County, 4/9/75
A county referendum to decide the question of whether or not to discontinue a tax levied for the treatment of tuberculosis does not fall into the category of referendum "required" by Article VII of the 1970 Constitution. Therefore, it requires a three-fifths majority to adopt, as stipulated in "an act relating to the care and treatment by counties of persons afflicted with tuberculosis."
Males qualified at 18
S-879 to Dale A. Allison, Jr., state's attorney, Wabash County, 4/9/75
A male of 18 years of age or older is qualified to serve as a deputy court clerk. Two prior attorney's genera] opinions in 1961 and 1963 said that a male under the age of 21 was not qualified to serve in such a capacity. However, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution effectively lowered the voting age in Illinois to age 18. The legislature has since set the same age as the age of majority for both males and females.
County board of review
NP-884 to Jack Hoogasian, state's attorney, Lake County, 4/9/75
In counties with a population of 150,000 or more as determined by the last federal census, no board of review is to be elected unless the question has first been put to the voters and approved by them. The election of a county board of review is not mandatory.
Clerk cannot wait to tax
NP-888 to Martin Rudman, state's attorney, Will County, 4/9/75
It is the duty of the county clerk to extend all tax levies that have been properly filed, and such extensions must be delivered to collectors annually. The clerk should not wait a year before extending a tax levy for a forest preserve district. He should collect all levies filed by the forest preserve district on October 30, 1974 with the general collection of 1975 taxes.
Incompatible local offices
S-877 to Jack Hoogasian, state's attorney, Lake County, 3/17/75
The cumulative effect of recent developments in local governmental law and the adoption of the new Constitution with expansion of powers and functions of townships as separate from counties, "leads to the unavoidable conclusion that the offices of township supervisor and county
July 1975 /Illinois Issues/219
Individuals who have taken up the duties of both the offices of township supervisor and county board member prior to September 5. 1974, may retain both offices until the present terms expire. However, any township supervisor who has assumed the office of county board member, or any county board member who has assumed the office of township supervisor, by election or appointment, after September 5, 1974, has ipso facto resigned and vacated the prior held office.
With respect to the positions of member and president of the forest preserve commission, county board members may serve in these positions since they are not elected or appointed by county hoard action. Specific statutory language allows the county board to appoint county board members to the board of review.
Covered in pay raise bill
NP-876 to Comptroller George W. Lindberg. 3/13/75
Employees of the Illinois Insurance Laws Study Commission are entitled to the pay increase provided by Public Act 78-1254 and the increase should he funded from the appropriation provided the comptroller in section 3.1 of P.A. 78-1090. But, the question of the pay increase being retroactive is still in litigation (AFSCME v. Walker being appealed from the 7th Judicial Circuit, Sangamon County, to the Illinois 4th Appellate Court).
Board of Ethics
Policy Statement on Executive Order No. 4 of 1973. 4/14/75
Executive Order No. 4 of 1973 required that economic interest statements be filed between April 15 and April 30 each year by appointees of the governor, those in agencies responsible to the governor who earn $20,000 or more per year from the state or whose positions are subject to undue influence, and gubernatorial appointees to some other agencies.
Personal financial information filed with the Board of Ethics is protected by strict security measures. Copies of all income tax returns filed with the board remain confidential, and only the board and its staff have access to them.
Financial disclosure statements filed by publicly-appointed commission and board members are also confidential, though such statements filed by all other persons are available for the public to inspect.
Those wishing to inspect ethics statements must execute a request formally under oath containing the name, address, occupation and organization represented by the inspector. Also, the request must contain a statement that the information will not be used for commercial purposes unrelated to the public function of the person who filed the disclosure statement.
220/Illinois Issues/July 1975