August 16,
2005
To the
Honorable Members of the
Illinois Senate
94th
General Assembly
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the
Illinois Constitution of 1970, I herby return Senate Bill 1654, entitled “AN
ACT concerning finance”, with the following specific recommendations for
change:
On page 1, replace line 18
through 20 with the following, “interest penalty shall be payable at a rate equal,
for any day, to the rate per annum (rounded upwards, if necessary, to the
nearest 1/100 of 1%) as determined in the sole discretion (which determination
shall be conclusive and binding, absent manifest error) of the Governor’s
Office of Management and Budget to be equal to the weighted average of the
rates on overnight Federal funds transactions with member banks of the Federal
Reserve System arranged by Federal funds brokers on such day, as published by
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the business day next succeeding such
day; provided that if such day is not a business day, the Federal Funds Rate
for such day shall be such rate on such transactions on the next preceding
business day as so published on the next succeeding business day. All payments
of interest shall be calculated on the basis of actual number of days
(including the first day but excluding the last day) elapsed after the end of
this 60 day period until final payment is made but computed as if each calendar
year consisted of 360 days.”; and
On page 1,
line 30, before "delaying" insert the word "unnecessarily";
and
On page 1,
line 31, after "identified." insert the following:
“(A) An agency
shall not be considered to be delaying the review of a bill or its submission
to the Comptroller if the agency is undertaking appropriate procedures:
(i)
to
ensure that the bill is a proper bill;
(ii)
to
determine whether the funding source is federal or state funds;
(iii)
to
determine whether sufficient appropriation authority exists; or
(iv)
to
determine if sufficient funds exist within the funding source to pay the bill
at that time or if revenues are anticipated soon.
(B) An agency shall
not be considered to be delaying the review of a bill or its submission to the
Comptroller if the agency is undertaking any other steps a prudent financial
manager would take before approving a bill for payment."
With these changes, Senate Bill 1654 will have
my approval. I respectfully request your concurrence.
Sincerely,
ROD R.
BLAGOJEVICH
Governor