Rod
Blagojevich
Governor
August 22,
2003
To the
Honorable Members of the
Illinois Senate
93rd
General Assembly
While this
legislation pursues honorable ends, I cannot sign into law measures that might
have a chilling effect on the filing of legitimate complaints of abuse and
neglect. Future legislation should be developed to better address the issue of
the filing of false or malicious complaints. Pursuant to Article IV, Section
9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 319
entitled “AN ACT concerning abuse and neglect,” with the following specific
recommendations for change:
by
deleting line 33 on page 2 through line 4 on page 3; and
on page 4,
lines 3 and 4, by deleting “Nothing in this Section requires an
investigation to include an on-site visit.”; and
by replacing
line 23 on page 4 through line 4 on page 5 with the following:
“Act has
been or is being violated. The Department shall investigate all complaints
alleging abuse or neglect within 7 days after the receipt of the complaint
except that complaints of abuse or neglect which indicate that a resident’s
life or safety is in imminent danger shall be investigated within 24 hours
after receipt of the complaint. All other”; and
on page 7,
line 2, by replacing “2, 4,” with “2”; and
by
deleting line 6 on page 11 through line 19 on page 13, and
by
deleting all of pages 14 through 17.
With these
changes, Senate Bill 319 will have my approval. I respectfully request your
concurrence.
Sincerely,
Rod R.
Blagojevich
Governor