August 19, 2004
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois House of Representatives
93rd General Assembly
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(b) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby veto House Bill 956, entitled “AN ACT concerning freedom of information.” A person who makes an information request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) has legal recourse if the request is denied. House Bill 956 would place a 60-day time limit on a legal challenge to such a denial. The legal affect of this bill would be to make state government less transparent, which is in contradiction with last year’s ethics reform.
For this reason, I hereby veto and return House Bill 956.
Sincerely,
ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH
Governor