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91_HB3838gms
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
207 STATE CAPITOL, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS 62706
June 30, 2000
GEORGE H. RYAN
GOVERNOR
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois House of Representatives
91st General Assembly
Pursuant to the authority vested in the Governor by
Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of
1970, and re-affirmed by the People of the State of Illinois
by popular referendum in 1974, and conforming to the standard
articulated by the Illinois Supreme Court in People ex rel.
Klinger v. Howlett, 50 Ill.2d 242 (1972), Continental
Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. v. Zagel, 78 Ill. 2d 387
(1979), People ex rel. City of Canton v. Crouch, 79 Ill.2d
356 (1980) and County of Kane v. Carlson, 116 Ill. 2d186
(1987), that gubernatorial action be consistent with the
fundamental purposes and the intent of the bill, I hereby
return House Bill 3838, entitled "AN ACT concerning financial
institutions," with specific recommendations for change.
House Bill 3838 makes a variety of useful changes,
particularly in the area of preventing the financial abuse of
elderly citizens. Included in House bill 3838 is a change
that seems to have been added to address a specific problem
at one credit union, involving a single member of that credit
union. This change lowers the standards that all credit
unions need to meet in order to remove any member who they
consider to be verbally or physically abusive to the staff of
the credit union.
No customer of any establishment (including a credit
union) should be verbally or physically abusive toward
employees. There are currently laws and remedies available
to all businesses, when one of their customers engages in
criminal behavior. I would prefer that any changes made in
this regard, if indeed they need to be made, apply more
widely that just to credit unions.
Current law already provides a means for credit unions to
remove individual members when this decision is voted on by
2/3 of the members. House bill 3838 would lower this
standard to a simple majority of a quorum of the board of
directors, a significant reduction in the rights of credit
union members.
I am also concerned that the lack of specificity in this
language would potentially allow credit unions to take action
against individual members who may simply be trying to settle
more basic disagreements over their accounts at the credit
union. I recognize that this is not the intent of this
portion of House Bill 3838 but I am concerned that this could
be the result if this change becomes law. Therefore, I
believe that maintaining the current higher threshold for
removal from a credit union is the appropriate course of
action.
For these reasons, I hereby return House Bill 3838 with
the following recommendations for change:
On page 23, by replacing lines 29 through 31 with the following:
"or who has failed to maintain one or more shares"; and
On page 24, by replacing lines 28 through 30 with the following:
"may be denied any or all credit union services in".
With these changes, House Bill 3838 will have my
approval. I respectfully request your concurrence.
Sincerely,
s/GEORGE H. RYAN
Governor