Executive Report

Tax acceleration works
Tax collection acceleration and the deferment of some state education payments proved effective as cash flow management actions by the General Assembly, according to the November 30 report of Comptroller George W. Lindberg. The tax acceleration legislation is giving a one-time boost to the state's cash flow which Lindberg says was apparent in October with an increase of about $30 million in tax revenues. Beginning in October, income taxes withheld from individuals by large employers are to be remitted four times monthly.

At the same time, the deferment of about 1120 million in payments for special education and pupil transportation reimbursements to local districts greatly reduced the draw of funds from the state's treasury during the July-October period.

"In the July-to-October period last year (fiscal 1976) the balance in the state's general funds declined by over a quarter of a billion dollars, touching off a cash shortage which lasted nearly the entire year," reported Lindberg. "A repeat of last year's drawdown would not have been possible in fiscal 1977 because the state began fiscal 1977 with only $126 million in general funds," said Lindberg. The treasury balance at the end of October 1976 of $52 million is evidence that the gain of approximately $ 150 million from the two cash management actions was absolutely essential, according to Lindberg.

Interstate 72 opens
Decatur finally has an interstate. Interstate 72, connecting Champaign, Decatur, Springfield and Jacksonville, was opened November 15. The 89 miles of new interstate connects at Champaign with two other interstates, I-74 and I-57, and at Springfield it connects with I-55.

Decatur also hopes the state will proceed with plans for a north-south interstate from Rockford down the middle of the state to Salem in southern Illinois, in order to have a modern alternative to the old two-lane U.S. 51.

Peoria School of Medicine
The state's second new medical school facility to open in 1976 was dedicated in downtown Peoria November 22 by the governor. The $8.9 million Peoria School of Medicine is one of five medical schools with the University of Illinois School of Medicine. One of the other schools, Rockford School of Medicine, opened a $5 million addition in October. A third University of Illinois school, the Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine in Chicago, has a $8.8 million renovation project scheduled for completion in September 1977.

Medical students in the University of Illinois system take their first year of instruction at one of two basic science medical schools, one located in Urbana and the other in Chicago, then move to one of the three clinical instruction schools for their final three years.

New regulations
A third set of final amendments to Illinois' first coordinated social service plan was announced November 15 by the governor. Required under Title XX of the federal Social Security Act, the state's Comprehensive Annual Services Plan was first published October 1, 1975. The new amendments include a final fee schedule for outpatient drug abuse services and residential treatment services provided by the Dangerous Drugs Commission. Other amendments clarify the situations in which room and board costs may be provided as an integral but subordinate part of foster care under Title XX, and, to satisfy federal guidelines, raise the median income for families in order to qualify as eligible. Amendments are available from the Illinois Department of Public Aid and its county and district offices./ C. S. G. ž

Free press applies to advertising

ADVERTISING IN GENERAL is protected by the free press guarantees of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and an Illinois law which prohibits advertising the price of furnishing and fitting eyeglasses and contact lenses is unconstitutional. This is the gist of an opinion by Attorney General William J. Scott to David DeDoncker, state's attorney of Rock Island County (File S-1167, Oct. 25). Scott cited a recent opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court which invalidated a Virginia statute restricting pharmacists from advertising prescription drug prices.

"The decision that 'commercial speech' is protected by the First Amendment does not, as the Court pointed out. . . mean that it can never be regulated in any way, however," Scott said. "The State still has the power to regulate false and misleading ads and restrictions as to the time, place and manner of commercial ads may also be valid in some instances."

Legislator as subcontractor
The Illinois Purchasing Act forbids a legislator to have "any direct pecuniary interest" in a contract to be satisfied by appropriated funds, but this does not prevent a legislator from being a subcontractor to a general contractor where the latter is paid out of appropriated funds (File S-1165, Oct. 25).

The Corrupt Practices Act prohibits a public official from being "directly or indirectly interested" in a contract on which the official may be called upon to vote or act, but this does not apply to the situation where a legislator is a subcontractor, because the General Assembly appropriated funds to an agency and that was done before the agency entered into contracts expending the appropriation. "Of course, the result would be different if the legislature is for some reason required to appropriate money for an existing contractor," the attorney general advised.

U.S. citizenship not required
Provisions in the Coal Mining Act that require individuals who wish to become mine managers, mine examiners and hoisting engineers to be United States citizens are unconstitutional in view of two recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court (File NP-1168, Oct. 25). Provisions of this kind involve a denial of a resident alien's right to equal protection of the laws under both the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution and Article I, Section 2 of the Illinois Constitution, the attorney general held.

Opinions in brief

Fire protection district trustees, S-1170: Multicounty fire protection districts have a board of three appointed trustees, and representation on such a board is to be as near proportionate as practical to the population distribution, by county, within the district. It is not necessary to have a trustee from each county in the district.

Railroad maintenance work, S-1164: The state Department of Transportation is authorized by two Illinois acts to contract for maintenance work on the Penn Central lines even though the state may not have title to the property on which these lines run. An older law, which forbids expendi- tures of public funds on public works or improve- ments without first obtaining title to the lands, has been superseded in this case by the two recent acts.

Banking holding company, S-1166: Companies that supply banks with a variety of technical services but do not appear to seek an active role in the decision-making process of their client banks are not bank holding companies in violation of a 1957 act. ž

January 1977 / Illinois Issues / 27