Springfield, Ill. - The annual fall “veto session” is scheduled to begin in the Senate on November 12, though lawmakers may have few veto measures to consider.

Faced with a dearth of issues, the House cancelled one week of the two-week session, but the Senate has not followed suit

The legislature has met intermittently throughout the summer and fall, and has taken action on most of the vetoed legislation that would ordinarily be dealt with in November. In fact, there are only two Senate Bills (SB 2636 and SB 2718) that could possibly be voted on during the veto session.

Both measures received amendatory vetoes from the Governor. Senate Bill 2636, is a measure co-sponsored by Senator Matt Murphy, that regulates companies that charge fees to locate abandoned property that has been turned over to the state treasurer. Senate Bill 2718 is a measure dealing with exemptions to hearsay evidence in criminal trials. The Governor changed the measure to make it go into effect immediately.

The Governor used his amendatory veto powers to increase the reporting requirements and require the state treasurer to publish on the internet information summarizing the fees that have been charged by companies for helping to locate and recover the abandoned property.

Although the legislature approved a supplemental spending bill to keep state parks and historic sites open, and to restore funding for substance abuse and other programs, the Governor has not signed the measure and may not do so before the fall session ends. Under the state constitution, the Governor has until December 5th to approve or veto the bill. That will be after the legislature’s scheduled end of the veto session.