Effect of Governor's arrest on SB 934 (Illinois autism insurance bill)

[Guest guest]

As you may have heard, Governor Blagojevich was arrested today on various

(and unbelievably horrendous) charges. Several parents have already called

to ask how this will affect the pending autism insurance bill, SB 934, which

passed both houses on November 20. This arrest should NOT significantly

affect the autism insurance bill:

The Illinois Constitution (Article IV, Section 9b) says that, after a bill

is sent to the Governor, he has to veto or sign it within 60 days and, " Any

bill not so returned by the Governor within 60 calendar days after it is

presented to him shall become law. " So, even though Blagojevich remains

Governor until he resigns or is impeached (and he could still sign the bill

while he remains in office, regardless of pending criminal charges), it will

become law after 60 days whether or not he signs it (it's unimaginable that

he would veto it, but I guess a lot of things once seemed unimaginable, so

you never say never, but he had stated publicly that he'd sign it . . . ).

The bill was sent to the Governor on November 25, 2008, so the bill should

become law by January 26, 2009, at the latest. This would be the case

regardless of impeachment proceedings, which seem likely to start in the

very near future.

I'm planning to put together some other FAQ's about the autism insurance

bill when I get a chance, including which policies are affected, when it

will take effect, what is covered, etc., which I will post at

www.autismpac.org soon.

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M. Kennedy

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Kennedy Pierson & Strachan LLP

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