Governor Releases Fourth Accomplishments Report

Governor George H. Ryan marked the beginning of state government's new fiscal year today with the release of the fourth edition of For The Record: Administrative and Legislative Accomplishments, an annual review of initiatives, programs and actions undertaken by the Ryan Administration.

"A lot has changed in Illinois since I issued our last accomplishments report. Fiscal Year 2002 turned into a very difficult year financially for the state. The General Assembly and I were forced to make hard decisions that scaled back many programs, laid off workers and closed facilities as a way to restore order to the budget," Ryan said.

"Nonetheless, state government was still able to accomplish a lot for the people of Illinois in the areas of education, economic development, public safety, homeland security, human services, environmental protection and government management. Those successes are detailed in this report," the governor added.

"I am very proud of what we have been able to do in a year that was marked with uncertainty due to the budget. I am very proud of the thousands of state employees who are dedicated to serving the people of our great state."

Because of printing deadline requirements, please note the following corrections that should be made in the section "Fiscal Practices for a Sound Tomorrow," which begins on page 11 of the report. A corrected version of the report is available at www.state.il.us.

• On page 11 and page 14, under "The Final Fiscal Year 2003 State Budget," all references to the total "all funds" budget for FY 2003 should be "approximately $53 billion to $54 billion." The exact total will not be known until all of the books from FY 2002 are officially closed.
• On page 14, in the second paragraph, the governor vetoed a total of $560.5 million from the FY 2003 budget. The General Assembly agreed to all but $55.1 million of those vetoes.