August 15, 2011
To the Honorable
Members of the
Illinois House of
Representatives,
97th
General Assembly:
I hereby return House
Bill 1659 with specific recommendations for change.
I
am committed to long-term care rebalancing to assure people of all ages are
offered adequate choices of community and institutional options, to achieve a
balance between the proportion of total Medicaid long-term support expenditures
used for institutional services and those used for community-based supports. I
commend the sponsors for their support in this effort and continued work on
improving the quality of care for individuals with developmental
disabilities.
House
Bill 1659 requires the transfer of funds from any state operated developmental
disability facility realizing a reduction in residents of at least ten percent
to line items providing appropriation authority for the new venues caring for
the residents who are no longer receiving care at the facility. However, in
order to assure adequate care to individuals in state facilities and in order
to fully realize the benefits of long-term care rebalancing, it is important to
maintain appropriate budgetary flexibility. For that reason, I am recommending
these changes.
Therefore, pursuant
to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby
return House Bill 1659, entitled “AN ACT concerning health.”, with the
following specific recommendations for change:
on page 2, by replacing line 5
with:
“the General Assembly within
30 days of when a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Human Services
is made”; and
on page 2, by replacing line 10
with:
“Notwithstanding any
provision of law to the contrary, including, but not limited to, Section 13.2
of the State Finance Act, based on information contained in the report required”;
and
on page 2, by replacing line 11
with:
“under this Section, the
Department, at the direction of the Governor, shall transfer funds from”;
and
on page 2, by replacing line 14
with:
“authority for the new venues
of care, as necessary to carry out the objectives of the Governor’s long-term
care rebalancing efforts or to otherwise facilitate the transition of services
to the new venues of care, provided that the new”.
With these changes, House Bill 1659 will have my approval.
I respectfully request your concurrence.
Sincerely,
PAT QUINN
Governor