To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff
           <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "President Michael Hogan" <presmike@uillinois.edu>

Reply-To: presmike@uillinois.edu
 Subject: MASSMAIL - Procurement legislation

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I'm pleased to share with you some very good news from Springfield.

During the veto session, the General Assembly passed legislation that 
will address a substantial number of challenges we've been confronting in 
the area of procurement. Library purchases and entertainment (including 
sporting event) contracts will be exempted from the very difficult and 
costly state procurement processes we've been experiencing in the past 
couple of years. In addition, procurement requirements related to our 
research and healthcare enterprises will be afforded improved 
opportunities for waivers under the new legislation.

We're grateful to our legislators for working closely with us to obtain 
these accommodations. In particular, House Speaker Michael Madigan and I 
worked closely with our staffs to develop these important exemptions and 
accommodations. I'm enormously grateful to Speaker Madigan for his 
support of the University of Illinois and recognition of our unique 
situation. I also appreciate the support of House Majority Leader Barbara 
Flynn Currie and Representative Naomi Jakobsson, as well as Senate 
President John Cullerton and Senator Mike Frerichs, who assisted us in 
moving the legislation forward during this brief veto session. Our other 
local legislators have also offered support for our efforts, for which 
we're grateful.

In addition, I want to recognize Kappy Laing and her outstanding 
Governmental Relations staff. They worked closely with me over the last 
several months to make our case to members of the General Assembly on 
this issue and worked especially tirelessly over the last several weeks 
as we worked with our legislators to develop this much-needed legislation.

I know that this has been an issue that has troubled many of us. It has 
cost us time and threatened the effectiveness and success of our 
missions. I'm pleased that we were able to work with our legislators to 
find a fair path ahead that ensured our continued high ethical standards, 
while not impeding the many contributions we make to the State and its 
citizens.

We aren't quite out of the woods yet. Governor Pat Quinn will still need 
to approve the legislation, and I can assure you that we will work with 
the Governor and his staff to convey the value and importance of this 
bill.

Sincerely,
Mike

Michael J. Hogan
President
This mailing approved by:
The Office of the President

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