August 19, 2016
To the Honorable
Members of
The Illinois House of
Representatives,
99th General Assembly:
Today
I veto House Bill 4326, which would require the Department of Corrections to
reopen the Hardin County Work Camp, but provide no resources to fund repairs or
operations.
Hardin
County Work Camp closed in January 2016 as a result of high maintenance and
repair costs from a fire at the Camp. Due to the burdens of the State’s
procurement process, the Department was initially unable to undertake such
repairs and the costs continued to rise. The Department followed proper
facility closure procedures and all the persons housed at the Camp were
relocated to other similar facilities. Employees were offered other employment
opportunities at nearby facilities.
While I appreciate the impact of this facility
closure on the local economy, forcing the Department of Corrections to reopen
the Camp is an unnecessary spend of taxpayer dollars. The funds required to
complete the repairs are not within the Department’s budget nor were they
appropriated in any budget proposed by the General Assembly. As such, this
legislation would require the Department to reallocate resources from other
vital services in order to comply.
I
am committed to reducing our prison population and believe that work camp
facilities play an important role in rehabilitating offenders. However,
requiring the opening of a dilapidated facility hamstrings the Department’s
discretion in using its limited resources.
Therefore,
pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I
hereby return House Bill 4326, entitled “AN ACT concerning criminal law”, with
the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.
Sincerely,
Bruce Rauner
GOVERNOR