August 19, 2004

            To the Honorable Members of the

            Illinois House of Representatives

            93^rd 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