MADIGAN ON MANDATES
By MICHAEL J. MADIGAN, Speaker of the House

Since being elected Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1983, I have instituted a firm policy to implement the intent of the States Mandates Act. I believe that if the General Assembly mandates policies to local governmental units, we have a responsibility to pay the costs of those mandates.

I have introduced legislation in the 1986 Spring Session that will set a precedent in paying for these mandated policy costs. Below are three bills which address County Criminal Justice Mandates.

In order to get these bills passed in both the House and the Senate you must put pressure on your local representatives and senators to vote for these bills. After reviewing the bills, it is very important that you immediately contact your state representative and state senator and tell them to support this valuable legislation.

House Bill 3043 — Madigan/Cullerton — Amends the State Mandates Act to make due process mandates which concern the administration of justice subject to 100% State reimbursement.

This bill changes the requirements and exemptions of the State Mandates Act as it applies to a due process mandate concerning the administration of justice.

The bill also requires that the increased costs of a local government directly attributable to State legislation which contains a due process mandate concerning the administration of justice shall be 100% reimbursable by the State. This would apply to all Public Acts which became effective after the effective date of this bill.

House Bill 3349 — Madigan/Cullerton — Amends the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Act to grant the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority the power to receive State funds and to disburse such funds, apportioned on a per capita basis, to counties to reimburse those counties for the cost of various criminal justice activities. Effective July 1, 1986.

This bill sets up the mechanism for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to distribute State Funds to counties.

House Bill 3348 — Madigan/Cullerton — Makes a $20,000,000 appropriation to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, for per capita grants to counties for reimbursement for the costs of various criminal justice activities.

Although this legislation addresses the county criminal justice system, it will benefit municipalities also.

• Traffic citations by municipal police are prosecuted by the county States' Attorney's Office. If States' Attorneys have more funds, fewer cases would be dismissed for a lack of prosecutorial manpower. More convictions would mean more revenue for municipalities.

• If courts improved efficiency it would result in swifter processing of criminal and traffic cases, and better tracking of the progress of municipal cases. Court clerks would be able to transfer funds due to municipalities more quickly.

• If processing of new arrests at a county jail facility were improved, municipal police officers would return to street patrol more quickly, which would save time and money for municipalities. Additionally, less crowded court dockets will translate into less overtime expenditures. Officers would not have to sit long hours in a court room.

STATE MANDATES INITIATIVE

Since the law has been in effect, certain local government officials felt that the State has not fully implemented the intent of the State Mandates Act. In previous sessions of the General Assembly, several bills were introduced which, although requiring a financial burden on the local government, exempted the State from reimbursing the local units of government for the additional responsibilities/expenses. As a result, the intent of the Mandates Act has been circumvented.

Without a doubt, all units of local government are strongly opposed to any legislation which exempts the State from providing reimbursement to the local units for new mandated responsibilities. Consequently, I implemented this State Mandates Act initiative the past two legislative sessions. This initiative included the following activities in order to restrict this avoidance of the law:

• Highlighted all bills on the House Calendar which pertained to the State Mandates Act (all bills which placed a new mandate(s) on local units of government or any bill which exempted the State from providing reimbursement to the local units of government).

• Held all bills on the order of Second Reading until a State Mandates Act Fiscal Note was filed. (The State Mandates Act Fiscal Note is a statement issued by the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs which estimates what the cost of such legislation would be.)

• Provided a listing of all such bills to all local government associations so that they would be fully aware of such legislative proposals. •

Page 18 / Illinois Municipal Review / May 1986