The veto power in Illinois exists in the state government as well as many municipal and some county governments. The gubernatorial veto power is established in the Illinois Constitution, and is one of the most comprehensive vetoes in the United States. It began as a suspensive veto exercised jointly with the Supreme Court but has grown stronger in each of the state's four constitutions. The gubernatorial veto power consists of two vetoes that apply to all bills passed by the General Assembly (the full veto and the amendatory veto) and two vetoes that apply only to appropriations measures (the line-item veto and the reduction veto).
Other veto powers have been created by statute. The General Assembly has reserved a veto power over administrative regulations through the Joint Committee on Administrative Regulations, the constitutionality of which has sometimes been disputed.
Veto powers also exist in county and municipal governments. The veto power of the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners was established by state law in 1887, and in 1970 an executive veto system was made available to counties statewide, although only two counties have adopted it. The mayoral veto in municipalities likewise dates to the 19th century and has been gradually strengthened over time.
Gubernatorial veto
The governor of Illinois has four veto powers: a full veto, an amendatory veto, and for appropriations bills a line-item veto and a reduction veto. Together, these powers make the Illinois gubernatorial veto one of the strongest in the country. The Illinois General Assembly can override all of these vetoes by a three-fifths majority of both chambers.
In the case of a full veto, the governor rejects the bill as a whole. The legislature can override the veto, causing the bill to become law, by a three-fifths vote of the voting members of each legislative chamber.
In the case of an amendatory veto, the governor returns the vetoed bill with specific suggestions for change. The legislature can either accept the governor's suggestions by a simple majority vote of both chambers, or reject them by overriding the veto. If the legislature takes no action, the bill dies. If the legislature approves an amended law in response to the governor's changes, the bill becomes law once the governor certifies that the suggested changes have been made. The governor can use an amendatory veto to make substantive changes to a bill, but cannot replace the whole text of the bill. The amendatory veto gives the governor "remarkable power" in the legislative process, but typically becomes a source of controversy only when the governor uses it as a public relations tool.
A line-item veto rejects one or more items in an appropriations bill. The legislature can override a line-item veto by a three-fifths vote of both chambers, as in the case of a full veto.
Like a line-item veto, a reduction veto applies to one or more items in an appropriations bill, but instead of eliminating them entirely, the governor reduces their amount. The reduced appropriation takes effect and becomes available as soon as the governor issues the reduction veto. The legislature can override a reduction veto by an absolute majority vote of both chambers.
A veto can affect the date of passage of legislation, which in turn affects the law's effective date. If the General Assembly overrides a veto, the law's date of passage is considered to be the same as if it had not been vetoed (namely the date of final passage before the bill was sent to the governor the first time). In the case of an amendatory veto, if the governor's changes are accepted, the law's date of passage is the date on which the General Assembly accepted the changes.
The amendatory and reduction vetoes, which were both adopted for the first time in the 1970 constitution, have been described as "fine-tuning" vetoes, in contrast to the blunt all-or-nothing nature of the full and line-item vetoes.
One type of veto the governor does not have is a pocket veto: if the governor does not sign or veto a bill within 60 days of passage, it becomes law automatically.
History
Under territorial government, which was governed by the Northwest Ordinance, the appointed governor had an absolute veto over legislation passed by the territorial legislature. The legislature sent several petitions to Congress seeking repeal of the governor's veto power. The ability of an appointed official to completely prevent action by the elected legislature helped spur the movement for Illinois statehood, which was accomplished in 1818.
A particularly notable use of this veto power occurred on New Year's Day 1818, when governor Ninian Edwards vetoed legislation that would have repealed the Illinois Territory's indenture laws. Although the veto was absolute in any case, the governor subsequently prorogued the territorial legislature to prevent any further discussion of the topic. The effect of the veto was to make the issues of slavery and the veto power foremost during the 1818 delegate elections and the ensuing First Illinois Constitutional Convention.
Early statehood
Under the 1818 Illinois Constitution, Illinois adopted New York's "council of revision" system. The Illinois Council of Revision consisted of the governor and the justices of the Illinois Supreme Court. The Council of Revision had 10 days to veto legislation before it would become law. It could veto legislation by majority vote, but this was only a suspensive veto, because the legislature could override it by a majority vote of both houses. A veto had to include reasons and suggested revisions to the vetoed bill. While the Council of Revision language in the constitution was largely copied verbatim from New York's, Illinois differed in adopting a suspensive veto rather than the two-thirds supermajority required to override the New York council's vetoes.
Under the 1818 system, the Council of Revision vetoed about 3.3% of bills (104 out of 3158 enactments). About 10% (11 out of 104) of these vetoes were overridden. About two-thirds of vetoed legislation was amended along the lines suggested by the Council of Revision.
The 1848 Illinois constitution was dominated by a spirit of Jacksonian Democracy, which favored a strong executive. The Democratic Party platform for the Second Illinois Constitutional Convention included an effective gubernatorial veto, with a two-thirds requirement for override. The Democrats obtained a 91-71 majority over the Whigs in the convention, and under the resulting constitution, the Council of Revision was abolished and the governor exercised the veto power directly. Illinois became the last state in the country to eliminate the council of revision system, which New York had abandoned in 1821. However, as a result of a coalition between the Whigs and some Democrats, the veto override threshold was whittled down, first from two-thirds to three-fifths, and then from three-fifths to a simple majority.
In 1862, the Third Illinois Constitutional Convention proposed a constitution that included a two-thirds override threshold. However, the proposed constitution was defeated amid accusations of partisanship and disloyalty by the members of the Democratic-majority convention.
Under the 1848 system, only 28 vetoes were issued from 1848 to 1868, and only two of these were overridden. However, in 1869 governor John M. Palmer vetoed 72 bills, and the legislature overrode 17 of these vetoes. This resulted in a total of 1.3% of legislation passed under the 1848 system being vetoed, and 19% of vetoes being overridden. Among the bills that Palmer vetoed was antimonopoly legislation that would have set maximum rates for railroads; the discussion of that issue then shifted to the 1869 constitutional convention, where it became a major point of controversy.
1870 constitution
After the Civil War, the quantity of private legislation passed by the Illinois legislature rose sharply, which led to calls for a strengthened gubernatorial veto power. The nine-member committee on the executive article in the Fourth Illinois Constitutional Convention unanimously recommended a veto power with an override threshold of two-thirds of the membership of both chambers. Presenting the executive article to the convention at large, committee chair Elliott Anthony opined that the proposed veto provision would have saved the state from "untold miseries". The 1870 Illinois constitution followed a national trend toward strengthening executive power. The trend was strengthened in Illinois by the high esteem in which the members of the convention held Governor Palmer, even asking for his veto messages to be reprinted so they could be mined for items of constitutional significance. The resulting constitution raised the override threshold to two-thirds of the total membership of each house. The ten-day deadline was retained.
Over the century under which Illinois was governed by the 1870 constitution, it was very rare for any override attempt to muster the required two-thirds vote in both chambers. This was a general trend among states, particularly among the 22 states that adopted the same high threshold as Illinois, but it was particularly severe in Illinois because of how representatives were elected. Three representatives under the 1870 constitution were elected at-large within each senate district and only two could be from the same party, so a party could gain a two-thirds majority only by winning every district in the state, and in practice party majorities were much smaller. As a result the governor's veto became nearly absolute in practice. In the mid-20th century, the proportion of legislation vetoed varied between 1/6 and 1/8. Only three vetoes were overridden from 1870 to 1968, and none after 1936.
Over this period, the proportion of legislation vetoed fell at first, from 4.6% in 1868–1872 to 2.6% in 1872–1900. It then rose to 12% for 1900-1916 and continued above 10% through 1936. At the same time, the proportion of vetoes arising from policy disputes (rather than technical or constitutional deficiencies) rose sharply.
The veto provision affected the timing of the legislative session. 1870 constitution provided that legislation generally took effect on the July 1 following passage. As a result there was great pressure to pass legislation, and consider any vetoes, by June 30. Until the 1930s the legislature typically adjourned early enough that it could reconvene to consider any veto messages before June 30. This practice later fell out of favor, but in 1967, by mutual agreement of the houses, a fall veto session was held (during which the legislature attempted to override twelve vetoes without success).
Among the earliest amendments to the 1870 constitution was the adoption of the line-item veto. In 1883, governor Shelby Moore Cullom asked the legislature for a line-item veto, noting that Illinois mayors had been given this power in 1875. A constitutional amendment to this effect was introduced in the state senate by William Beatty Archer, an advocate of strong vetoes who had served in two previous constitutional conventions, and was approved by overwhelming majorities in both chambers. In 1884, the voters approved the constitutional amendment by a 63% majority. This allowed the governor to strike entire items from an appropriations bill, but not to amend or reduce them, as the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in 1915. No governor actually used the item veto until 1899, 15 years after its adoption, and it was not used again until 1903.
1970 constitution In adopting the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention made a number of changes to the gubernatorial veto power. The governor's deadline for veto was extended to 60 days, and the threshold for override was reduced to three-fifths of members voting in each chamber. In addition, the governor was supplied with amendatory and reduction vetoes.