The Commission Has Spoken: Group Votes to Keep the Doors of Local Mental Health Center Open

A state commission voted against Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to close the Thursday morning.

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability ruled in Springfield during a scheduled veto session. State Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, and one of a dozen on the commission, was absent. Two of the remaining General Assembly members voted to close the center and nine voted against it.

They also supported keeping open the two other facilities in question— the Jacksonville Development Center in Jacksonville and the Logan Correction Center in Lincoln. The bipartisan commission has therefore rejected the closure of all seven Illinois facilities that Quinn proposed in September as a cost-savings measure. He hoped shuttering the doors to the centers would help narrow a $313 million budget gap.

Though he has no formal obligation to follow the commission's vote, the governor has done so with all eight of its recommendations since he took office, officials have said.

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