Legislative Action                                                          

Gov. Jim Edgar was anything but heavy-handed with his veto pen this year. He signed outright the budget bills and most major legislation that made it to his desk. Left unsettled from the spring session was the fate of any further financing of Chicago's public schools, and that issue wound up in a special session called in September (see "The state of the State," page 00).

The October session of the Illinois General Assembly is likely to be a busy one, considering that riverboat gambling proposals for Chicago are all but certain to be considered. Other riverboat-related proposals are bound to surface — including one being pushed by Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-27, Inverness) and Rep. Jeffrey M. Schoenberg (D-56, Skokie). They propose that renewal of licenses for river-boat casinos be put out for bid and awarded according to how much money owners would be willing to offer the state. Whoever offers the most, Fitzgerald said, would be granted the license — an idea that is certain to meet loud opposition from current license holders.

The session also could be ground for various flood relief-related measures, including tunneling federal relief money that comes down the pipeline to appropriate state agencies.

And at the same time, some measures the legislature failed to pass during the spring session are certain to be resurrected. For one, Mary A. Gade, director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, pledged to try once again to push a proposal to raise money to clean up hazardous waste sites. Senate Bill 534, which passed the Senate unanimously and was never called for a vote in the House, would have put in place a permanent funding source to clean up 120 hazardous waste sites throughout Illinois — a task that would cost an estimated $143 million. The state is responsible for cleaning these sites because they either have been abandoned or their owner is bankrupt.

One part of the funding source that SB 534 would establish is an increase in hazardous waste disposal fees, to 15 cents per gallon in 1997 from the current nine cents. Solid waste disposal fees (called tipping fees), which now vary across the state, would be leveled statewide by SB 534 at 60 cents per cubic yard, then raised to 70 cents per cubic yard next year. The bill would have continually allocated $8 million yearly to clean-up costs — $4 million from hazardous waste disposal fees and $4 million from solid waste tipping fees.

Two Freedom-of-Information measures, both of which cleared the House but stalled in the Senate and were supported by the Illinois Press Association, also may be pushed in October. One would require verbatim transcripts of all closed-door municipal government meetings. (Tape recordings would be sufficient.) The other would require public bodies to post agendas 24 hours in advance of meetings and keep detailed minutes of the proceedings.

The death of James Jordan, father of Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, may provide a compelling reason to add $2 to the fees charged by county clerks for death certificates. Proposed in SB 493, which passed the Senate this spring but is pending in the House, the fee increase is supported by the Illinois Coroners Association to raise money to fund five or six morgues downstate. Jordan's death brought to light the problems that can result from lack of adequate morgue facilities. His body was cremated because the coroner in Marlboro County, S.C., lacked adequate storage facilities.

Among the vetoed measures that will be considered:

• SB 460, which would have allowed a law enforcement officer investigating an alleged incident of abuse by a family or household member to intervene one step further.

The vetoed bill called for allowing an officer in such cases to file a petition for an emergency order of protection on behalf of the person alleging the abuse.

In his veto message, Edgar said: "While the intention of the bill is to assist victims of domestic violence, this bill may have the opposite effect. The victim, not a law enforcement officer, is in the best position to determine whether it is safe and necessary to seek an order of protection." Edgar said the bill also raises liability concerns for law enforcement officers, who may be subjected to civil suits if they fail to seek an order of protection on behalf of an abused person.

• SB 775 — an especially timely measure in light of custody battles springing up all over the country between adoptive and biological parents. It would expand the statute of limitations to allow an alleged father to seek to establish paternity for 20 years after the birth of a child rather than the current two-year period allowed.

Edgar amendatorily vetoed SB 775, expanding the period to 36 months unless the father had been prevented from contacting and attempting to provide some sort of support for the child or unless he had no knowledge of the child's birth. The governor said in his veto message that expanding the statute of limitations to 20 years potentially could allow an alleged biological father to disrupt or devastate a family.

Edgar also vetoed several bills that would have placed unfunded mandates on units of local government — a topic trumpeted by likely Democratic gubernatorial contender Richard Phelan, president of the Cook County Board. (See July 1993 Illinois Issues, p. 14.) Atty. Gen. Roland Burris and Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch had announced their candidacies the Democratic gubernatorial nomination by mid-September.

Although Edgar has been lauded for consistent opposition to the state placing unfunded mandates on local governments, he likely is taking extra care to shield himself from any possible attacks with the election approaching. *

October 1993/Illinois Issues/27