Illinois Hospital Association

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June 30, 2009

SB1905 Enacted into Law to Reform, Extend CON Program

Senate Bill 1905 (PA96-0031), legislation that reforms the Certificate of Need (CON) Program and extends the program for ten years, is now law. This evening, both the Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to accept Governor Quinn’s amendatory veto, which removed a provision that would have established salaries for members of the CON Board. The Senate vote was 57 to 0; the House vote was 110 to 4.

IHA worked with key officials in the Governor’s Office, the bill’s sponsors, and legislative leaders to ensure that all the necessary steps and motions were executed on an extremely fast track today so that there would not be any lapse in the CON program, which was scheduled to sunset tomorrow. It is unprecedented for the General Assembly and the Governor to focus so expeditiously on the needs of a specific group – hospitals – and take action on a complex issue in such a short time frame. In less than 12 hours, from the time the Governor issued his amendatory veto this morning, the Senate and House took action to accept the amendatory veto and the Governor certified the Legislature’s action to enact the new CON law. We are especially grateful to legislative leaders and the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) and Rep. Lisa Dugan (D-Bradley), for their tireless efforts to champion this legislation and assist us in keeping the process moving.

In his amendatory veto message to SB1905, the Governor said: "In the midst of this unprecedented [budget] crisis, we all must work together to limit state spending and eliminate waste and inefficiencies in government…This amendatory veto preserves the substantive reforms recommended by the General Assembly and the task force [on Health Planning Reform] but minimizes the fiscal impact on our State."

IHA greatly appreciates the support and efforts of member hospitals that were instrumental in helping achieve this comprehensive reform legislation, especially your response to our many advocacy alerts over the past few days and weeks. For example, members today sent more than 500 emails to their state legislators in response to the alert on the CON legislation that we issued last night.