• Alternative Measures of Local Wealth and Effort, Illinois Office of Education (Spring 1977), 41pp. Under the resource equalizer formula for state aid to Illinois public schools, the local operating tax rate determines the expenditure level. The two chapters in this report study (1) the effects of four income weightings applied to assessed valuation on the distribution of Illinois state aid to education and (2) the effects of three separate income weightings applied to operating tax rates on the distribution of this aid.
• "Report on the Current Fiscal Situation of the State of Illinois," Illinois Fiscal Commission (February 23, 1977), 21pp. Established by Governor Thompson in January 1977 to "provide an independent assessment of the financial condition of the state and to make recommendations on future policies," the commission's first assignment was to determine the state's true fiscal picture. This could not be done on an interim basis, and the commission recommends revisions in the present accounting and report system. Major finding for this report: Although Illinois is a wealthy state, operating deficits were incurred in fiscal years 1975 and 1976 with another projected for 1977. To maintain its financial strength and flexibility, the state should achieve an operating surplus in fiscal 1978.
• Report, Committee on Rights of Minors, Illinois Commission on Children (November 1976), 144pp. The committee's charge was to "review the statutes and areas where there are violations of the rights of minors in order to alert and advise on specific provisions or lack of provisions in the statutes relating to minors; to propose clarification, additions, deletions or improvements as needed to provide or protect the rights of minors." This comprehensive report includes a number of findings and recommendations in such areas as the right to counsel, the right to consent to medical care, and expungement and confidentiality of records. Also includes statutory proposals developed by the committee.
• "Medicaid Costs and Controls: An Analysis," staff report, Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission (December 1976), 120pp. plus summary and appendices. Comprehensive review of factors leading to the rise of expenditures in the Illinois Medicaid program, from $202 million in fiscal year 1970 to $771 million in fiscal year 1976. The report focuses on four major medical services accounting for almost 90 per cent of these expenditures — physician services, prescription drugs, hospital care, and nursing home care.
• Report, (November 19, 1976), 217pp., and Study Guide (March 1, 1977), 128pp., Governor's Commission for Revision of the Mental Health Code of Illinois. Areas examined in the report include: procedures for admission transfer, and discharge of the mentally ill; fitness to stand trial; and confidentiality of mental health and developmental disabilities records. The study guide compares the state Mental Health Code of 1967, as amended, section by section to the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.
• Report to the Illinois House of Representatives and General Assembly, Rape Study Committee (December 1976), 65pp. plus appendices. The commission finds that despite a growing public awareness of the seriousness of the problem of criminal sexual offenses against children and adults, and despite many measures to prevent such crime and provide treatment for offenders and victims, current law and traditional policy are inadequate in this area. This report contains a number of proposals for new legislation.
•Report and Recommendations to the General Assembly, Illinois Electronic Funds Transfer Systems Study Commission (December31,1976), 218pp. This commission is mandated to study electronic funds transfer systems (EFTS) and their possible use in Illinois and to consider the public policy implications of these systems, including consistency with present state statutes. Among the recommendations: the types of information financial institutions can collect, use, and store in EFTS should be limited to information allowed by existing state and federal laws; and every EFTS should be able to provide the consumer with tangible proof of payment.
• "Financing Highway Improvements in Illinois: A 20 Year Program," recommendations to the General Assembly by the Illinois Transportation Study Commission (March 1977), 28pp. Current funding levels would carry out at most 55 per cent of the planned interstate and supplemental freeway system. The commission recommends a "minimum acceptable level of service program" costing $38.6 billion over 20 years.
• Land Pollution: Strategies for Emergency Action, Illinois Institute for Environmental Quality, document no. 76/20 (0ctober 1976), 197pp. Prepared by the Illinois State Geological Survey, this report includes case histories of 116 land and ground-water contamination incidents and the programs developed to restore quality. The case histories suggest that remedial action is usually complex, time consuming, and expensive.
• "Meeting State and Local Housing Needs: A Model for Illinois," by Leonard F. Heumann and Jane Heron, Planning and Public Policy (Bureau of Urban and Regional Planning Research, University of Illinois, Urbana), vol. 3, no. 1 (February 1977), 4pp. Delineates the Illinois Housing Needs Analysis Model, developed for the Illinois Department of Local Government Affairs to provide information on overall housing market trends as well as needs of low-income, minority, and elderly households.
• Technology and Economics of Industrial Pollution Abatement, Illinois Institute for Environmental Quality, document no. 76/22 (October 1976), 614pp. Contains chapters on 23 water pollutants regulated by the state. Each chapter identifies industrial sources and typical levels of the pollutant discussed and describes available treatment technology.
Items listed under State Documents have been received by the Documents Unit, Illinois State Library, Springfield, and are usually available from public libraries in the state through interlibrary loan. Requests for copies should be sent to the issuing agency. /S. C.
October 1977 / Illinois Issues/9