August 21, 2015

To the Honorable Members of

The Illinois Senate,

99th General Assembly:

Today I veto Senate Bill 1421 from the 99th General Assembly to protect consumers from costs for services they do not receive.

Over the coming decades, Illinois will need to make significant investments in replacing and maintaining its water and wastewater infrastructure. Senate Bill 1421 attempts to address this need by allowing a public utility, with approval by the Illinois Commerce Commission, to recover its water service and wastewater costs from consumers, thus providing a source of consumer-funded revenue for infrastructure investment.

Whenever we permit utilities to pass on their costs to consumers, we should ensure that costs are passed to consumers who use and benefit from the particular services to the extent possible. Unfortunately, because not all consumers receive both their water and wastewater services from the same utility, Senate Bill 1421 would permit a public utility to pass on wastewater costs to consumers who do not receive wastewater services. This type of subsidy is not appropriate or necessary.

Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 1421, entitled “AN ACT concerning regulation”, with the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.

Sincerely,

Bruce Rauner

GOVERNOR