August 26, 2011
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois Senate,
97th General Assembly:
I hereby return Senate Bill 1631 with specific recommendations for change.
I commend the sponsors for their work to on this bill. This legislation will correct a technical problem with the Probation and Probation Officers Act, and provide additional resources for the probation departments.
The county probation departments confront numerous challenges in performing their mandated duties to protect the public, assist the crime victim, and guide the offender to a life of better choices. This bill is a step towards helping these departments accomplish these responsibilities.
After this bill was transmitted to me, the sponsors and advocates of this legislation recognized that this bill inadvertently assesses the additional fee to civil cases. I am informed that assessing the fee in this manner was not the intent of the sponsors. Accordingly, I am pleased to honor their request for an amendatory veto to address this concern. My recommendations for change honor the intent of the sponsors and remove the applicability of this fee from civil cases.
Therefore, pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 1631 entitled “AN ACT concerning criminal law.”, with the following specific recommendation for change:
on page 2, by adding immediately below line 16 the following:
“This additional fee shall be paid by the defendant in any felony, traffic, misdemeanor, local ordinance, or conservation case upon a judgment of guilty or grant of supervision.”; and
on page 2, to be inserted immediately before the period in line 21:
“, and such monies shall be disbursed from the fund only at the direction of the chief judge of the circuit or another judge designated by the Chief Circuit Judge in accordance with the policies and guidelines approved by the Supreme Court”.
With these changes, Senate Bill 1631 will have my approval. I respectfully request your concurrence.
Sincerely,
PAT QUINN
Governor