Gov. Bruce Rauner this afternoon signed a law to help bring President Barack Obama's presidential library to Illinois. The General Assembly rushed to pass the measure just over a week ago.
At a private bill-signing in his office at the capitol, Rauner said he looks forward to having the President's library "come here, to the great state of Illinois."
"It'll be a wonderful institution for the people of our great state and to help drive economic development and tourism, and visitors from all over the United States," he said.
Obama has reportedly chosen Chicago, over Hawaii and New York as the site for his presidential center. Rauner, a Republican, says the new law will help facilitate the land acquisition.
It also helps avoid a legal tangle that threatens to prevent Star Wars creator George Lucas from building his Museum of Narrative Art on Chicago's lakefront. Critics don't want it on park land, but Gov. Rauner called it a "wonderful economic driver."
