February 5, 2016
To the Honorable
Members of
The Illinois Senate,
99th General Assembly:
I hereby return Senate
Bill 317 with specific recommendations for change to develop a sustainable
fiscal model for the continued operation of the Illinois State Museum.
The Illinois State
Museum preserves and showcases the proud history of Illinois. The Museum helps
educate Illinoisans of all ages on their unique heritage. As a research
institution, the Museum is a leader in the advancement of not only Illinois,
but U.S. and natural history. I support Senate Bill 317’s fundamental purpose
of opening the Museum to the public again.
However, despite the
good the Museum does, its operations are not fiscally sustainable. The State
invests more than $6 million per year, despite attendance of only 200,000
visitors per year. When the General Assembly failed to pass a balanced budget
for Fiscal Year 2016, our Administration was required by the Illinois
Constitution and our responsibility to taxpayers to take whatever steps we
could to cut non-essential costs. While the State is in the midst of a crisis
caused by decades of fiscal mismanagement, as long as this bill
fails to offer any plan to help the Museum become self-supporting, it is just an empty
and broken promise to the taxpayers of Illinois.
But there is a path to
sustainability. I propose not merely re-opening the Museum while continuing its
status quo, but re-energizing its operations and partnering it with other
public and private entities to make it truly self-supporting and to relieve the
fiscal burden to taxpayers.
In order to achieve
fiscal responsibility, the Museum should partner with public and private third
parties who are already invested in charitable fundraising and museum
operations. The Illinois State Museum Society, authorized by statute, is a
Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed precisely for the purpose of
supporting the Museum’s operations. Up until this point, the State Museum
Society has run the museum bookstore and has also led its research initiatives,
but the Society can and must do more. More than half of state museums in other
states rely heavily on their charitable sister organizations to be a
fundraising and operational partner. The Illinois State Museum Society must
focus on this outward facing role and help the State Museum.
The Museum can also
partner with public entities. Local governments have expressed their desire to
work with the State to share the operation of Museum branch sites. The State
Museum is the shared responsibility of the people of Illinois, and the State is
eager to join local governments to ensure continued operation of the Museum and
its branch sites.
Finally, the Museum
must endeavor to raise revenues. Our neighboring states – Indiana, Iowa,
Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin – all charge admissions fees to
visitors. Illinois should take this fiscally responsible step as well. Giving
the Director greater flexibility under the Act to establish and change fees
will also ensure that the Illinois State Museum makes provision for special
groups, like schoolchildren and the elderly, for whom admissions fees can be
waived or lowered.
The changes
recommended here are only the broad framework for the transformation of the
Museum. The Department of Natural Resources will work closely with the Illinois
State Museum Society, local governments and other stakeholders to carry out the
transformation.
Therefore, pursuant
to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby
return Senate Bill 317, entitled, “An ACT concerning government,” with the
following specific recommendations for change:
On page 1, line 5, by changing “Section 20-5”
to “Sections 20-5 and 20-15”; and
On page 1, lines 8 through 10, by replacing “branch sites at
Dickson Mounds, Lockport, Rend Lake, and the James R. Thompson Center” with “branch sites
determined by the Department of Natural Resources in collaboration with local
units of government and other public and private entities”; and
On page 1, by replacing line 17 with “for the
State Museum. The
Department of Natural Resources and the Board of the Illinois State Museum
shall solicit the assistance of the Illinois State Museum Society to fundraise
non-State resources for the museum and to provide operational assistance to the
museum.”; and
On page 1, immediately after line 18, by
inserting the following:
“(20 ILCS 801/20-15)
Sec. 20.15. Entrance
fees. The Department may set, by the Director, by administrative rule an entrance fee for
visitors to the Illinois State Museum. A different fee may be
charged for different classes of visitors. The fee assessed by
this Section shall be deposited into the Illinois State Museum Fund for the
Department to use to support the Illinois State Museum. The monies deposited
into the Illinois State Museum Fund under this Section shall not be subject to
administrative charges or chargebacks unless otherwise authorized by this Act.
(Source: P.A. 97-1136, eff. 1-1-13.)”
With this change, Senate Bill 317 will have my
approval. I respectfully request your concurrence.
Sincerely,
Bruce Rauner
GOVERNOR