Rauner now says he supports opening the State Museum

 

Friday, Feb 5, 2016

* The Illinois State Museum closed last fall. The GA passed a bill to reopen it, but didn’t provide revenue. The governor rewrote the bill and announced he was all for it opening, but with private funding.

Press release…

Governor Bruce Rauner issued an amendatory veto today on SB 317 to reopen the Illinois State Museum while developing a model for funding that does not rely solely on state support.

The current bill as written is an unfunded mandate with no appropriations to support the Museum or its branch sites. The Governor’s amendatory veto instructs the Museum to partner with public and private third-parties to invest in the Museum’s mission.

In addition, the Governor’s changes to the bill authorizes the Director of Illinois Department of Natural Resources to establish entrance fees. Many of Illinois’ neighboring states charge admission at their respective museums.

* The veto message wasn’t posted online as I wrote this, but it will be here soon. An excerpt…

I hereby return Senate Bill 317 with specific recommendations for change to develop a sustainable fiscal model for the continued operation of the Illinois State Museum.

The Illinois State Museum preserves and showcases the proud history of Illinois. The Museum helps educate Illinoisans of all ages on their unique heritage. As a research institution, the Museum is a leader in the advancement of not only Illinois, but U.S. and natural history. I support Senate Bill 317’s fundamental purpose of opening the Museum to the public again.

However, despite the good the Museum does, its operations are not fiscally sustainable. The State invests more than $6 million per year, despite attendance of only 200,000 visitors per year. When the General Assembly failed to pass a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2016, our Administration was required by the Illinois Constitution and our responsibility to taxpayers to take whatever steps we could to cut non-essential costs. While the State is in the midst of a crisis caused by decades of fiscal mismanagement, as long as this bill fails to offer any plan to help the Museum become self-supporting, it is just an empty and broken promise to the taxpayers of Illinois.

But there is a path to sustainability. I propose not merely re-opening the Museum while continuing its status quo, but re-energizing its operations and partnering it with other public and private entities to make it truly self-supporting and to relieve the fiscal burden to taxpayers.

- Posted by Rich Miller

Above is from:   http://capitolfax.com/2016/02/05/rauner-now-says-he-supports-opening-the-state-museum/