August 26, 2011

To the Honorable Members of the

Illinois House of Representatives,

97^th General Assembly:

I hereby return House Bill 1079 with a specific recommendation for change.

Increasing the transparency and information provided to the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the General Assembly from public universities in this state is an important step.  This bill requires that a report be submitted annually by each public university listing all programs of instruction, research and public service that have been terminated, dissolved, reduced or consolidated by the university as well as any programs exhibiting trends of low performance in enrollment, degree completion or high expenses per degree. These provisions provide much needed scrutiny and I applaud the sponsors for their efforts. 

Other provisions of this bill, however, do not promote transparency and oversight.  This bill also makes a change to the State Property Control Act to allow the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) to require universities to report only those items owned by the university that are valued in excess of $1,000.  All other entitles under the State Property Control Act operate under a lower threshold. Differentiating disclosure requirements between the public universities and other governmental entities will impose confusion in the application of our State’s surplus property laws. I encourage the sponsors to consider a measure that provides for uniform application of the State Property Control Act.

Therefore, pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return House Bill 1079, entitled “AN ACT concerning education.”, with the following specific recommendation for change: 

on page 1, by deleting lines 4 through 16. 

With this change, House Bill 1079 will have my approval.  I respectfully request your concurrence.

Sincerely,

PAT QUINN

Governor