PETER M. MURPHY IAPD General Counsel

STATEHOUSE INSIDER
ISSUES & INSIGHTS FROM THE LEGAL/LEGISLATIVE SCENE

Gubernatorial Action, New Public Acts and Local Records Retention

At press time, a number of bills were pending the governor's approval. As you know, the governor has a ninety-day window in which to act on all pieces of legislation passing the Illinois General Assembly.

Typically, a bill is enrolled within thirty days, and then sent on to the governor's office for review and final action. The exception to this rule occurs on budgetary matters and other issues that require expedited action.

Bill Watch

A number of the bills that we have been working on this year now await approval. A couple of those that have been signed are discussed below.

Beginning July 1, 2006, the payment authorized under subsection (d) to museums and aquariums located in park districts of over 500,000 population shall be paid to museums, aquariums and zoos in amounts determined by Museums in the Park, an association of museums, aquariums and zoos located on Chicago Park District property.

State Budget

The Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Implementation Act and accompanying legislation to establish the state's budget were signed into law during the first week of June. Nearly 400 memorandums of understanding, which detail funding for specific projects, were released June 20. These can be reviewed at www.housedem.state.il.us.

The state budget for fiscal year 2007 begins July 1,2006.

NATIONAL ISSUES Saving LWCF

In June, the House and Senate voted by overwhelming margins to pass the Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 2361) that includes $30 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) state assistance program. The bill, which also includes $115 million for the federal side of LWCF, will be sent to President Bush on July 29.

The $30 million for LWCF is a major victory for park and recreation advocates. The Department of the Interior's 2006 budget proposed to terminate LWCF state assistance after an Office of Management and Budget audit concluded the program had not demonstrated results. This, despite the fact that the LWCF state assistance program has completed 40,000 projects in its 40-year history in virtually every county in the nation. The president's budget contained the recommendation to terminate the program. In May 2005, the House voted to provide zero funding for LWCF state assistance.

Advocates from across the country worked hard to inform their legislators how important this program was to small towns, communities and states. After the Senate voted to approve a recommendation for $30 million for LWCF, the House followed suit.

However, the $30 million for LWCF state assistance is a 66 percent decrease from the fiscal year 2005 funding level. Nonetheless, according to the National Park Service, the program will still be likely to provide approximately 400 state and local grants to communities.

Is your file room bursting at the seams? If so, now would be a good time to check on your records retention policy. The Local Records Act requires having such a policy, and help is available to your agency free of charge.

Before the Local Records Act, records management among local units of government had no uniformity. Each unit of local government simply decided how long to keep its records, and many disposed of them piecemeal. Because the officials of each unit of government are elected and change fairly frequently, many did not even know what records they possessed or where those records were. The problems of such a system are obvious, especially in terms of legal considerations, public access and historical concerns.

The secretary of state, who is also the state archivist, provides an answer to this problem. Under the Local Records Act, the secretary of state is authorized to hire

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archivists to assist local governments with meeting the requirements of the Local Records Act. The office will inventory the records of any unit of local government; will prepare an Application for Authority to Dispose of Local Records, which, when approved, will become the agency's ongoing records retentions schedule; and will instruct the local government on how to complete the required Records Disposal Certificates.

Under the Local Records Act, there are two basic requirements: (1) an Application for Authority to Dispose of Local Records must be filed with the Local Records Commission; and (2) Sixty days prior to the intended destruction of any records (including electronic records), the agency must submit a Records Disposal Certificate listing the records they wish to dispose of. In Illinois, the only way a local unit of government can legally dispose of records is to file an application with the Local Records Commission and the commission will assist in doing that at no charge.

The Records Disposal Certificate is a fairly simple form, as it does not detail the file names of the records to be disposed of, but does include the record series tide of each record series (for example it would list accident reports, applications for employment, bid records, asbestos abatement files, chlorine logs, etc.) to be disposed of, the date span of each record series and the quantity in cubic feet.

If your agency wishes to schedule an appointment for one of the commission's field representatives to inventory your records or go over the procedures in person, you should call the scheduling desk at 217-782-1080. If your agency does not know if it has an application on file, you can call 217-782-1080, 217-782-7075 or 217-782-7076 and the Local Records Commission will check its records to see if an application is on file with the office. If so, the secretary of state's office will mail a copy along with any previously approved disposal certificates. •

Congressional Research Service Reports Listen up all you policy wonks out there. The Congressional Research Service, the people who help advise Congress, have posted many of their reports online through a new free resource at www.opencrs.com. While the site can't provide access to all reports, it does have thousands. Check it out next time you want to know what information members of Congress are receiving on issues you care about.

Follow the Action on the Web

To find out whether the governor signs or vetoes bills, check the IAPD's Web site at www.IL.parks.org

Click the "Public Policy" option in the column on the right of the home page. On the Public Policy page, you will have the option of choosing "Priority Bills," which is lAPD's listing of bills that have the potential of having a direct impact on your agency, or you may choose "Complete Bill Review," which will take you to a page giving you step-by-step instructions on how to view all bills IAPD is tracking. On this list, you will find a one-line synopsis of each bill and its last action. You can modify this report by clicking on "Report Options" at the top left-hand column full text of any bill and review all action taken on a bill.

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