August 16, 2005

To the Honorable Members of the

Illinois Senate

94^th General Assembly

            Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I herby return Senate Bill 1509, entitled “AN ACT concerning criminal law”, with the following specific recommendations for change:

            On page 1, line 18, after “jail”, by inserting “solely”; and   

            On page 1, line 19, after “release”, by inserting “and is not incarcerated in conjunction with new or pending criminal charges”; and

On page 1, line 20, after “shall”, by inserting “, subject to the notice provision below and subject to appropriation for this purpose,”; and

On page 1, by replacing line 22 with “calculated by the Department”; and

One page 1, after line 26, by inserting the following:

            “The Illinois Department of Corrections shall be responsible for payment of one-half of the costs of incarceration to the county in which the jail is located only if the Department fails to retrieve the person within 72 hours of receiving notice by the county that the person is being held.  In the event the Department fails to retrieve the person within 72 hours of receiving notice, the Department shall be responsible for payment of one-half of the costs of incarceration from the time the county originally began to hold the person.".

            With these changes, Senate Bill 1509 will have my approval.  I respectfully request your concurrence.

Sincerely,

ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH

Governor