Public Act 93-0227
HB3488 Enrolled LRB093 08181 BDD 08388 b
AN ACT concerning sports facilities.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Downstate Illinois Sports Facilities Authority Act.
Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:
"Assistance Agreement" means one or more legally binding
contracts, with respect to a facility for which the Authority
is to provide financial assistance as provided in this Act,
to which the Authority and a governmental owner of a facility
or its tenant, or both, and any other appropriate persons are
parties, which may be in the form of an intergovernmental
agreement.
"Authority" means the Downstate Illinois Sports
Facilities Authority.
"Facility" means any of the following:
(1) Stadiums, arenas, or other structures for the
holding of athletic contests or events, including
baseball, football, hockey, and automobile racing;
musical, dramatic, and other artistic or social events,
or public meetings and other public events.
(2) Practice fields, or other areas where
professional, amateur, or semi-professional sports teams
may practice or perform.
"Facility" also means the following types of property if
that property is directly related to an item listed in
paragraphs (1) or (2) of this definition:
(i) Offices, parking lots and garages,
landscaping and open spaces, access roads,
transportation facilities, restaurants, and stores.
(ii) Other recreation areas.
(iii) Other property or structures, including
all fixtures, furnishings, and appurtenances
normally associated with such facilities.
"Financial Assistance" means the use by the Authority,
pursuant to an assistance agreement, of its powers under the
Act, including, without limitation, the power to borrow
money, to issue bonds and notes, to assist a governmental
owner or its tenants, or both, with one or more of the
following: designing, developing, establishing, constructing,
erecting, acquiring, repairing, reconstructing, renovating,
remodeling, adding to, extending, improving, equipping,
operating, and maintaining a facility owned or be owned by
the governmental owner.
"Governmental Owner" means a body politic, public
corporation, political subdivision, unit of local government,
or municipality formed under the laws of the State of
Illinois that owns or is to own a facility located within the
corporate limits of the Authority described in Section 50 of
this Act and to which the Authority provides financial
assistance.
"Loan agreement" means a legally binding contract between
the Authority and an owner of a facility, pursuant to which
the Authority agrees to make loans to the owner for the
purpose of (i) constructing, acquiring, operating, repairing,
rehabilitating, or managing a facility and the site on which
a facility is or is to be located, which facility or site
must be located in the State of Illinois, excluding the City
of Chicago, and (ii) infrastructure improvements related to
the facility.
"Management Agreement" means a legally binding contract
between the Authority and a tenant of a facility owned by the
Authority, which contains at least the following provisions:
(A) a provision requiring the tenant to conduct its
complete regular home season schedule and any home
playoff events in the facility;
(B) a provision requiring the tenant to provide
routine maintenance of and to operate the facility with
its personnel or contractors;
(C) a provision requiring the tenant to advertise
and promote events it conducts at the facility;
(D) a provision requiring the tenant to operate or
contract for concessions for the patrons of the facility;
and
(E) a provision permitting the Authority or its
designee to hold other events in any such facility owned
by the Authority at such times as shall not unreasonably
interfere with the use of that facility by the tenant.
"Tenant" means any person with which a governmental owner
or the Authority has entered into an agreement for the use by
a sports team of any facility. Such an agreement may be a
management agreement or an assistance agreement or may be a
lease of or a license, permit or similar agreement with
respect to the use of a facility by such team for such period
as shall be agreed upon by the person and the governmental
owner or the Authority, as the case may be.
Section 10. Legislative finding and declaration. The
General Assembly finds that as a result of deteriorating
infrastructure and sports facilities there is a shortage of
sports facilities suitable for use by professional, amateur,
or semi-professional sports teams and other musical,
theatrical, and other social organizations.
It is further found that as a result of the costs to
repair or replace the infrastructure and facilities, and as a
result of current financing costs, the private sector,
without the assistance contemplated in this Act, is unable to
construct feasibly adequate sports facilities.
It is further found that the creation of modern sports
facilities and the other results contemplated by this Act
would stimulate economic activity in the State of Illinois,
including the creation and maintenance of jobs, the creation
of new and lasting infrastructure and other improvements, and
the retention of sports and entertainment events that
generate economic activity.
It is further found that sports facilities can be magnets
for substantial interstate tourism resulting in increased
retail sales, hotel and restaurant sales, and entertainment
industry sales, all of which increase jobs and economic
growth.
Section 15. Authority and Board created.
(a) The Downstate Illinois Sports Facilities Authority
is created as a political subdivision, unit of local
government, body politic, and municipal corporation.
(b) The governing and administrative powers of the
Authority shall be vested in a body known as the Downstate
Illinois Sports Facilities Authority Board. The Board shall
consist of 8 members: a Chair and 7 additional members, all
of whom are appointed by the Governor.
All gubernatorial appointments, including the Chair,
shall be subject to the advice and consent of the Senate,
except in the case of temporary appointments as provided in
Section 20. No member shall be employed by the State or any
political subdivision of the State or by any department or
agency of the State or any political subdivision of the
State.
Section 20. Terms of appointments.
(a) On the effective date of this Act:
(1) The Governor shall appoint the Chair and 3
other members of the Board for initial terms expiring
June 30 of 2007.
(2) The Governor shall appoint 2 members of the
Board for initial terms expiring June 30 of 2006.
(3) The Governor shall appoint 2 members of the
Board for initial terms expiring June 30 of 2005.
(b) At the expiration of the term of any member
appointed by the Governor, the Governor shall appoint the
member's successor in the same manner as appointments for the
initial terms. All successors shall hold office for a term
of 3 years from the first day of July of the year in which
they are appointed, except in the case of an appointment to
fill a vacancy. Each member, including the Chair, shall hold
office until the expiration of the member's term and until
the member's successor is appointed and qualified. Nothing
shall preclude a member or a Chair from serving consecutive
terms.
(c) Vacancies for members and for the Chair shall be
filled in the same manner as original appointments for the
balance of the unexpired term.
Section 25. Actions of the Authority.
(a) Six members of the Authority constitute a quorum for
the purpose of conducting business. Actions of the Authority
must receive the affirmative vote of at least 6 members. The
Authority shall determine the times and places of its
meetings. The members of the Authority shall serve without
compensation for service as a member but are entitled to
reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred in the
performance of their official duties.
(b) The Authority shall annually elect a secretary and a
treasurer.
(c) An executive committee appointed by the Governor
made up of 4 members, including the Chair, have the authority
to operate the Authority on a day-to-day basis, with the
powers and duties determined by the bylaws of the Authority.
Section 30. Executive Director. The Authority shall
appoint an Executive Director, who is the chief executive
officer of the Authority. In addition to any other duties
set forth in this Act, the Executive Director shall do the
following:
(1) Direct and supervise the administrative affairs
and activities of the Authority, in accordance with its
rules, regulations, and policies.
(2) Attend meetings of the Authority.
(3) Keep minutes of all proceedings of the
Authority.
(4) Approve all accounts for salaries, per diem
payments, and allowable expenses of the Authority and its
employees and consultants and approve all expenses
incidental to the operation of the Authority.
(5) Report and make recommendations to the
Authority on the merits and status of any proposed
facility.
(6) Perform any other duty that the Authority
requires for carrying out the provisions of this Act.
Section 35. Powers.
(a) In addition to the powers set forth elsewhere in
this Act, the Authority may do the following:
(1) Adopt and alter an official seal.
(2) Sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, all in
its own name, and agree to binding arbitration of any
dispute to which it is a party.
(3) Adopt bylaws, rules, and regulations to carry
out the provisions of this Act.
(4) Maintain an office or offices at the place the
Authority may designate.
(5) Employ, either as regular employees or
independent contractors, consultants, engineers,
architects, accountants, attorneys, financial experts,
construction experts and personnel, superintendents,
managers and other professional personnel, and such other
personnel as may be necessary in the judgment of the
Authority, and fix their compensation.
(6) Acquire, hold, lease as lessor or as lessee,
use, encumber, transfer, or dispose of real and personal
property, including the alteration of or demolition of
improvements to real estate.
(7) Enter into contracts of any kind.
(8) Enter into one or more loan agreements with an
owner of a facility that conform to the requirements of
this Act and that may contain provisions as the Authority
shall determine, including, without limit: (i) provisions
granting the owner the right and option to extend the
term of the loan agreement; (ii) provisions creating an
assignment and pledge by the Authority of certain of the
Authority's revenues and receipts to be received under
this Act for the benefit of the owner of the facility as
further security for performance by the Authority of its
obligations under the loan agreement; and (iii)
provisions requiring the establishment of reserves by the
Authority or by the owner, or both, as further security
for the performance of their respective obligations under
the loan agreement.
(9) Borrow money from any source for any lawful
purpose, including working capital for its operations,
reserve funds, or interest, and to mortgage, pledge or
otherwise encumber the property or funds of the Authority
and to contract with or engage the services of any person
in connection with any financing, including financial
institutions, issuers of letters of credit, or insurers
and enter into reimbursement agreements with this person
which may be secured as if money were borrowed from the
person.
(10) Receive and accept from any private or public
source, contributions, gifts, or grants of money or
property.
(11) Make loans from proceeds or funds otherwise
available to the extent necessary or appropriate to
accomplish the purposes of the Authority.
(12) Provide for the insurance of any property,
operations, officers, agents, or employees of the
Authority against any risk or hazard and provide for the
indemnification of its members, employees, contractors,
or agents against any and all risks.
(13) Provide relocation assistance and compensation
for landowners and their lessees displaced by any land
acquisition of the Authority, including the acquisition
of land and construction of replacement housing thereon
as the Authority shall determine.
(14) Exercise all the corporate powers granted
Illinois corporations under the Business Corporation Act
of 1983, except to the extent that powers are
inconsistent with those of a body politic and corporate
of the State.
(15) Determine the locations of, develop, design,
establish, construct, erect, acquire, own, repair,
reconstruct, renovate, remodel, add to, extend, improve,
equip, operate, regulate and maintain facilities and
provide financial assistance to governmental owners or
their tenants or both, pursuant to an assistance
agreement to do the foregoing, in each case to the extent
necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Authority.
(16) Regulate the use and operation of facilities
that are developed under the provisions of this Act.
(17) Enter into one or more management agreements
which conform to the requirements of this Act and which
may contain such provisions as the Authority shall
determine, including, without limitation (i) provisions
allocating receipts from rents, rates, fees, and charges
for use of the facility or for services rendered in
connection with the facility between the Authority and
the tenant of the facility; (ii) provisions providing for
or limiting payments to the Authority for use of the
facility based on levels of attendance or receipts, or
both attendance and receipts, of the tenant from
admission charges, parking concessions, advertising,
radio and television, and other sources; (iii) provisions
obligating the Authority to make payments to the tenant
with respect to expenses of routine maintenance and
operation of any facility and operating expenses of the
tenant with respect to use of the facility; (iv)
provisions requiring the Authority to pay liquidated
damages to the tenant for failure of timely completion of
construction of any new facility; (v) provisions
permitting the Authority to grant rent-free occupancy of
an existing facility pending completion of construction
of any new facility and requiring the Authority to pay
certain incremental costs of maintenance, repair,
replacement, and operation of an existing facility in the
event of failure of timely completion of construction of
any new facility; (vi) provisions requiring the Authority
to reimburse the tenant for certain State and local taxes
and provisions permitting reductions of payments due the
Authority by the tenant or reimbursement of the tenant by
the Authority in the event of imposition of certain new
State and local taxes, or the increase above specified
levels of certain existing State and local taxes, or
both; (vii) provisions obligating the Authority to
purchase tickets to events conducted by the tenant based
upon specified attendance levels; (viii) provisions
granting the tenant the right and option to extend the
term of the management agreement; and (ix) provisions
requiring the establishment of reserves by the Authority
or by the tenant, or both, as further security for the
performance of their respective obligations under the
management agreement.
(18) Enter into one or more assistance agreements
that conform to the requirements of this Act and that may
contain such provisions as the Authority shall determine
establishing the rights and obligations of the Authority
and the governmental owner or a tenant, or both, with
respect to the facility for which the Authority is to
provide financial assistance.
(19) Issue bonds or notes under Section 100 of this
Act.
(20) Sell, convey, lease, or grant a permit or
license with respect to, or by agreement authorize another
person on its behalf to sell, convey, lease or grant a permit
or license with respect to (i) the right to use or the right
to purchase tickets to use, or any other interest in, any
seat or area within a facility; (ii) the right to name or
place advertising in all or any part of a facility; or (iii)
any intangible personal property rights, including
intellectual property rights, appurtenant to any facility,
the proceeds of which are used for the purpose of carrying
out the powers granted by the Act.
(21) Do all things necessary or convenient to carry
out the powers granted by this Act.
(b) The Authority may not construct or enter into a
contract to construct more than one new stadium facility and
may not enter into assistance agreements providing for the
reconstruction, renovation, remodeling, extension, or
improvement of all or substantially all of more than one
existing facility unless authorized by law.
(c) The Authority may adopt such rules as are necessary
to carry out those powers conferred and perform those duties
required by this Act.
Section 40. Duties.
(a) In addition to the powers set forth elsewhere in
this Act, subject to the terms of any agreements with the
holders of the Authority's evidences of indebtedness, the
Authority shall do the following:
(1) Comply with all zoning, building, and land use
controls of the municipality within which is located any
stadium facility owned by the Authority or for which the
Authority provides financial assistance.
(2) Enter into a loan agreement with an owner of a
facility to finance the acquisition, construction,
maintenance, or rehabilitation of the facility. The
agreement shall contain appropriate and reasonable
provisions with respect to termination, default, and
legal remedies. The loan may be at below-market interest
rates.
(3) Create and maintain a financial reserve for
repair and replacement of capital assets.
(b) In a loan agreement for the construction of a new
facility, in connection with prequalification of general
contractors for construction of the facility, the Authority
shall require that the owner of the facility require
submission of a commitment detailing how the general
contractor will expend 25% or more of the dollar value of the
general contract with one or more minority business
enterprises and 5% or more of the dollar value with one or
more female business enterprises. This commitment may be met
by contractor's status as a minority business enterprise or
female business enterprise, by a joint venture, or by
subcontracting a portion of the work with or by purchasing
materials for the work from one or more such enterprises, or
by any combination thereof. Any contract with the general
contractor for construction of the new facility shall require
the general contractor to meet the foregoing obligations and
shall require monthly reporting to the Authority with respect
to the status of the implementation of the contractor's
affirmative action plan and compliance with that plan. This
report shall be filed with the General Assembly. The
Authority shall require that the facility owner establish and
maintain an affirmative action program designed to promote
equal employment opportunity and that specifies the goals and
methods for increasing participation by minorities and women
in a representative mix of job classifications required to
perform the respective contracts. The Authority shall file a
report before March 1 of each year with the General Assembly
detailing its implementation of this subsection. The terms
"minority business enterprise" and "female business
enterprise" have the meanings provided in the Business
Enterprise for Minorities, Females, and Persons with
Disabilities Act.
(c) With respect to a facility owned or to be owned by
the Authority, enter or have entered into a management
agreement with a tenant of the Authority to operate the
facility that requires the tenant to operate the facility for
a period at least as long as the term of any bonds issued to
finance the development, establishment, construction,
erection, acquisition, repair, reconstruction, remodeling,
adding to, extension, improvement, equipping, operation, and
maintenance of the facility. Such agreement shall contain
appropriate and reasonable provisions with respect to
termination, default, and legal remedies.
Section 45. Reporting. Promptly following entering into a
management agreement, an assistance agreement, or a loan
agreement involving a new facility or facility site, the
Authority shall submit a detailed written report and findings
of the Authority with respect to the proposed management
agreement, assistance agreement, or loan agreement to the
General Assembly.
The report and findings of the Authority shall include
the following:
(A) A detailed plan of the method of funding the
management agreement, assistance agreement, or loan
agreement;
(B) An evaluation of the economic consequences of
the proposed management agreement, assistance agreement,
or loan agreement; and
(C) If applicable, an analysis of the reasons for
acquiring a site for constructing a new facility.
Section 50. Territory. The territory of the Authority is
coterminous with the boundaries of the State of Illinois,
excluding the City of Chicago.
Section 55. Acquisition of property. The Authority may
acquire in its own name, by gift or purchase, any real or
personal property, or interests in real or personal property,
necessary or convenient to carry out its corporate purposes.
The Authority may not acquire property by eminent domain.
Section 60. Tax exemption.
(a) Neither the Authority nor any governmental owner of
a facility or that governmental owner's tenant shall be
required to pay property taxes on any facility, nor shall the
interest of a tenant in any facility either owned by the
Authority or owned by any governmental owner to which the
Authority has provided financial assistance be subject to
property taxes.
(b) Bonds issued by the Authority, their transfer, the
interest payable on them, and any income derived from them
shall be exempt from income taxes or from taxation by any
political subdivisions, municipal corporations, or public
agencies of any kind of this State. For purposes of Section
250 of the Illinois Income Tax Act, the exemption of the
income from bonds issued by the Authority shall terminate
after all of the bonds have been paid. The amount of such
income that shall be added and then subtracted on the
Illinois income tax return of a taxpayer, pursuant to Section
203 of the Illinois Income Tax Act, from federal adjusted
gross income or federal taxable income in computing Illinois
base income shall be the interest net of any bond premium
amortization.
Section 65. Conflicts of interest; generally.
(a) No members or employees of the Authority shall be
employed by, be an officer or director of, or have any
ownership interest in any corporation or entity that is a
party to a loan agreement with the Authority under this Act.
(b) No moneys of the Authority shall be deposited in any
financial institution in which any officer, director, or
holder of a substantial proprietary interest is also a member
or employee of the Authority.
(c) No real estate to which a member or employee of the
Authority holds legal title or in which such a person has any
beneficial interest, including any interest in a land trust,
shall be purchased by the Authority, nor shall any such
property be purchased by a corporation or entity for a
facility to be financed under this Act. Every member and
employee of the Authority shall file annually with the
Authority a record of all real estate in this State to which
the person holds legal title or in which the person has any
beneficial interest, including any interest in a land trust.
In the event it is later disclosed that the Authority or
other entity has purchased real estate in which a member or
employee had an interest, the purchase shall be voidable by
the Authority and the member or employee involved shall be
disqualified from membership in or employment by the
Authority.
Section 70. Conflicts of interest; contracts.
(a) No member of the Authority or officer, agent, or
employee of the Authority shall, in his or her own name or in
the name of a nominee, be an officer or director of or hold
an ownership interest of more than 7.5% in any person,
association, trust, corporation, partnership, or other entity
that is, in its own name or in the name of a nominee, a party
to a contract or agreement upon which the member or officer,
agent, or employee may be called upon to act or vote.
(b) With respect to any direct or any indirect interest,
other than an interest prohibited in subsection (a), in a
contract or agreement upon which the member or officer,
agent, or employee may be called upon to act or vote, a
member of the Authority or officer, agent, or employee of the
Authority shall disclose the same to the secretary of the
Authority before the taking of final action by the Authority
concerning the contract or agreement and shall so disclose
the nature and extent of such interest and his or her
acquisition thereof, which disclosures shall be publicly
acknowledged by the Authority and entered upon the minutes of
the Authority. If a member of the Authority or officer,
agent, or employee of the Authority holds such an interest,
then he or she shall refrain from any further official
involvement in regard to the contract or agreement, from
voting on any matter pertaining to the contract or agreement,
and from communicating with other members of the Authority or
its officers, agents, and employees concerning the contract
or agreement. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any
contract or agreement entered into in conformity with this
subsection (b) shall not be void or invalid by reason of the
interest described in this subsection, nor shall any person
so disclosing the interest and refraining from further
official involvement as provided in this subsection be guilty
of an offense, be removed from office, or be subject to any
other penalty on account of such interest.
(c) Any contract or agreement made in violation of
subsection (a) or (b) of this Section shall be null and void
and give rise to no action against the Authority.
Section 75. Records and reports of the Authority. The
secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings of the
Authority. The treasurer of the Authority shall be custodian
of all Authority funds and shall be bonded in the amount the
other members of the Authority may designate. The accounts
and books of the Authority shall be set up and maintained in
a manner approved by the Auditor General, and the Authority
shall file with the Auditor General a certified annual report
within 120 days after the close of its fiscal year. The
Authority shall also file with the Governor, the Secretary of
the Senate, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and
the Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission, by March 1 of
each year, a written report covering its activities for the
previous fiscal year. So filed, the report shall be a public
record and open for inspection at the offices of the
Authority during normal business hours.
Section 85. No impairment of loan agreement. The State
of Illinois pledges to and agrees with any facility owner
under any loan agreement entered into by the Authority with
respect to a facility that the State will not limit or alter
the rights and powers vested in the Authority by this Act so
as to impair the terms of the loan agreement or in any way
impair the rights and remedies of the owner so long as the
owner is not in default under the loan agreement. In
addition, the State pledges to and agrees with the owner that
the State will not limit the basis on which State funds are
to be allocated, deposited, and paid to the Authority, or the
use of those funds, so as to impair the terms of any such
loan agreement. The Authority is authorized to include this
pledge and agreement of the State in the loan agreement.
Section 90. Volume cap. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the Governor may allocate any volume cap
available to the State or any of its agencies under the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including any amounts carried
forward by the State or any of its agencies with respect to
stadiums, to the Downstate Illinois Sports Facilities
Authority, and the Authority may carry forward any amount
allocated to it by the Governor or by any home rule unit.
Section 100. Bonds and notes.
(a) (1) The Authority may at any time and from time to
time issue bonds and notes for any corporate purpose,
including the establishment of reserves and the payment of
interest and costs of issuance. In this Act the term "bonds"
includes notes of any kind, interim certificates, refunding
bonds or any other evidence of obligation for borrowed money
issued under this Section 100. Bonds may be issued in one or
more series and may be payable and secured either on a parity
with or separately from other bonds.
(2) The bonds of any issue shall be payable solely
from all or any part of the property or revenues of the
Authority, including, without limitation:
(i) Rents, rates, fees, charges, or other
revenues payable to or any receipts of the
Authority, including amounts which are deposited
pursuant to the Act with a trustee for bondholders;
(ii) Payments by financial institutions,
insurance companies, or others pursuant to letters
or lines of credit, policies of insurance, or
purchase agreements;
(iii) Investment earnings from funds or
accounts maintained pursuant to a bond resolution or
trust agreement; and
(iv) Proceeds of refunding bonds.
(3) Bonds may be authorized by a resolution of the
Authority and may be secured by a trust agreement by and
between the Authority and a corporate trustee or
trustees, which may be any trust company or bank having
the powers of a trust company within or without the
State. Bonds may:
(i) Mature at a time or times, whether as
serial bonds, as term bonds, or as both, not
exceeding 40 years from their respective dates of
issue;
(ii) Notwithstanding the provision of "An Act
to authorize public corporations to issue bonds,
other evidences of indebtedness and tax anticipation
warrants subject to interest rate limitations set
forth therein", approved May 26, 1970, as now or
hereafter amended, or any other provision of law,
bear interest at any fixed or variable rate or rates
determined by the method provided in the resolution
or trust agreement;
(iii) Be payable at a time or times, in the
denominations and form, either coupon, or
registered, or both, and carry the registration and
privileges as to exchange, transfer or conversion
and for the replacement of mutilated, lost or
destroyed bonds as the resolution or trust agreement
may provide;
(iv) Be payable in lawful money of the United
States at a designated place;
(v) Be subject to the terms of purchase,
payment, redemption, refunding, or refinancing that
the resolution or trust agreement provides;
(vi) Be executed by the manual or facsimile
signatures of the officers of the Authority
designated by the Authority which signatures shall
be valid at delivery even for one who has ceased to
hold office; and
(vii) Be sold in the manner and upon the terms
determined by the Authority.
(b) Any resolution or trust agreement may contain
provisions which shall be part of the contract with the
holders of the bonds as to:
(1) Pledging, assigning, or directing the use,
investment, or disposition of all or any part of the
revenues of the Authority or proceeds or benefits of any
contract including, without limit, any management
agreement or assistance agreement and conveying or
otherwise securing any property or property rights;
(2) The setting aside of loan funding deposits,
debt service reserves, capitalized interest accounts,
replacement or operating reserves, cost of issuance
accounts and sinking funds, and the regulation,
investment, and disposition thereof;
(3) Limitations on the purposes to which or the
investments in which the proceeds of sale of any issue of
bonds or the Authority's revenues and receipts may be
applied or made;
(4) Limitations on the issue of additional bonds,
the terms upon which additional bonds may be issued and
secured, the terms upon which additional bonds may rank
on a parity with, or be subordinate or superior to, other
bonds;
(5) The refinancing, advance refunding, or
refinancing of outstanding bonds;
(6) The procedure, if any, by which the terms of
any contract with bondholders may be altered or amended
and the amount of bonds and holders of which must consent
thereto, and the manner in which consent shall be given;
(7) Defining the acts or omissions which shall
constitute a default in the duties of the Authority to
holders of bonds and providing the rights or remedies of
such holders in the event of a default which may include
provisions restricting individual right of action by
bondholders;
(8) Providing for guarantees, pledges of property,
letters of credit, or other security, or insurance for
the benefit of bondholders; and
(9) Any other matter relating to the bonds which
the Authority determines appropriate.
(c) No member of the Authority nor any person executing
the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds or subject
to any personal liability by reason of the issuance of the
bonds.
(d) The Authority may enter into agreements with agents,
banks, insurers, or others for the purpose of enhancing the
marketability of or security for its bonds.
(e) (1) A pledge by the Authority of revenues and
receipts as security for an issue of bonds or for the
performance of its obligations under any management agreement
or assistance agreement shall be valid and binding from the
time when the pledge is made.
(2) The revenues and receipts pledged shall
immediately be subject to the lien of the pledge without
any physical delivery or further act, and the lien of any
pledge shall be valid and binding against any person
having any claim of any kind in tort, contract or
otherwise against the Authority, irrespective of whether
the person has notice.
(3) No resolution, trust agreement, management
agreement or assistance agreement or any financing
statement, continuation statement, or other instrument
adopted or entered into by the Authority need be filed or
recorded in any public record other than the records of
the Authority in order to perfect the lien against third
persons, regardless of any contrary provision of law.
(f) The Authority may issue bonds to refund, advance
refund, or refinance any of its bonds then outstanding,
including the payment of any redemption premium and any
interest accrued or to accrue to the earliest or any
subsequent date of redemption, purchase or maturity of the
bonds. Refunding or advance refunding bonds may be issued for
the public purposes of realizing savings in the effective
costs of debt service, directly or through a debt
restructuring, for alleviating impending or actual default,
or for paying principal of, redemption premium, if any, and
interest on bonds as they mature or are subject to
redemption, and may be issued in one or more series in an
amount in excess of that of the bonds to be refunded.
(g) At no time shall the total outstanding bonds and
notes of the Authority issued under this Section 100 exceed
(i) $40,000,000 in connection with facilities owned by the
Authority; and (ii) $40,000,000 in connection with facilities
owned by a governmental owner other than the Authority. Bonds
which are being paid or retired by issuance, sale or delivery
of bonds or notes, and bonds or notes for which sufficient
funds have been deposited with the paying agent or trustee to
provide for payment of principal and interest thereon, and
any redemption premium, as provided in the authorizing
resolution, shall not be considered outstanding for the
purposes of this paragraph.
(h) The bonds and notes of the Authority shall not be
indebtedness of the State, or of any political subdivision of
the State other than the Authority. The bonds and notes of
the Authority are not general obligations of the State of
Illinois, or of any other political subdivision of the State
other than the Authority, and are not secured by a pledge of
the full faith and credit of the State of Illinois, or of any
other political subdivision of the State other than the
Authority, and the holders of bonds and notes of the
Authority may not require the levy or imposition by the
State, or any other political subdivision of the State other
than the Authority, of any taxes or, except as provided in
this Act, the application of revenues or funds of the State
of Illinois, or any other political subdivision of the State
other than the Authority, to the payment of bonds and notes
of the Authority.
(i) In order to provide for the payment of debt service
requirements (including amounts for reserve funds and to pay
the costs of credit enhancements) on bonds issued pursuant to
this Act, the Authority may provide in any trust agreement
securing such bonds for a pledge and assignment of its right
to all amounts to be received from the Illinois Sports
Facilities Fund and for a pledge and assignment (subject to
the terms of any management agreement or assistance
agreement) of all taxes and other amounts to be received
under Section 100 of this Act and may further provide written
notice to the State Treasurer and State Comptroller (which
notice shall constitute a direction to those officers) for a
direct payment of these amounts to the trustee for its
bondholders.
(j) The State of Illinois pledges to and agrees with the
holders of the bonds and notes of the Authority issued
pursuant to this Act that the State will not limit or alter
the rights and powers vested in the Authority by this Act so
as to impair the terms of any contract made by the Authority
with such holders or in any way impair the rights and
remedies of such holders until such bonds and notes, together
with interest thereon, with interest on any unpaid
installments of interest, and all costs and expenses in
connection with any action or proceedings by or on behalf of
such holders, are fully met and discharged. In addition, the
State pledges to and agrees with the holders of the bonds and
notes of the Authority issued pursuant to this Act that the
State will not limit or alter the basis on which State funds
are to be allocated, deposited and paid to the Authority as
provided in this Act, or the use of such funds, so as to
impair the terms of any such contract. The Authority is
authorized to include these pledges and agreements of the
State in any contract with the holders of bonds or notes
issued pursuant to this Section.
Section 105. Tax. The Authority may impose an occupation
tax upon all persons engaged in the business of renting,
leasing, or letting rooms in a hotel, as defined in the Hotel
Operators' Occupation Tax Act, at a rate not to exceed 2% of
the gross rental receipts from the renting, leasing or
letting of hotel rooms. The taxing may be imposed, however,
only if approved by ordinance of the municipality within
which the tax is to be imposed.
The tax imposed by the Authority pursuant to this Section
and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident
thereof shall be collected and enforced by the State
Department of Revenue. The certificate of registration which
is issued by the Department to a lessor under the Hotel
Operators' Occupation Tax Act shall permit such registrant to
engage in a business which is taxable under any ordinance or
resolution enacted pursuant to this Section without
registering separately with the Department under such
ordinance or resolution or under this Section. The
Department shall have full power to administer and enforce
this Section; to collect all taxes and penalties due
hereunder; to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in
the manner provided in this Section, and to determine all
rights to credit memoranda, arising on account of the
erroneous payment of tax or penalty hereunder. In the
administration of, and compliance with, this Section, the
Department and persons who are subject to this Section shall
have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities,
powers and duties, and be subject to the same conditions,
restrictions, limitations, penalties and definitions of
terms, and employ the same modes of procedure, as are
prescribed in the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act (except
where that Act is inconsistent herewith), as the same is now
or may hereafter be amended, as fully as if the provisions
contained in the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act were set
forth herein.
Whenever the Department determines that a refund should
be made under this Section to a claimant instead of issuing a
credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State
Comptroller, who shall cause the warrant to be drawn for the
amount specified, and to the person named, in such
notification from the Department. Such refund shall be paid
by the State Treasurer out of the amounts held by the State
Treasurer as trustee for the Authority.
Persons subject to any tax imposed pursuant to authority
granted by this Section may reimburse themselves for their
tax liability for such tax by separately stating such tax as
an additional charge, which charge may be stated in
combination, in a single amount, with State tax imposed under
the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act.
The Department shall forthwith pay over to the State
Treasurer, ex-officio, as trustee for the Authority, all
taxes and penalties collected hereunder for deposit in a
trust fund outside the State Treasury. On or before the 25th
day of each calendar month, the Department shall certify to
the Comptroller the amount to be paid to or on behalf of the
Authority from amounts collected hereunder by the Department,
and deposited into such trust fund during the second
preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to or on
behalf of the Authority shall be the amount (not including
credit memoranda) collected hereunder during such second
preceding calendar month by the Department, less an amount
equal to the amount of refunds authorized during such second
preceding calendar month by the Department on behalf of the
Authority, and less 4% of such balance, which sum shall be
retained by the State Treasurer to cover the costs incurred
by the Department in administering and enforcing the
provisions of this Section, as provided herein. Each such
monthly certification by the Department shall also certify to
the Comptroller the amount to be so retained by the State
Treasurer for payment into the General Revenue Fund of the
State Treasury.
Amounts collected by the Department and paid to the
Authority pursuant to this Section shall be used for the
corporate purposes of the Authority.
Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize
the Authority to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging
in any business which under the constitution of the United
States may not be made the subject of taxation by this State.
An ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing a
tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall
be effective on the first day of the second calendar month
next following the month in which the ordinance or resolution
is passed.
If the Authority levies a tax authorized by this Section
it shall transmit to the Department of Revenue not later than
5 days after the adoption of the ordinance or resolution a
certified copy of the ordinance or resolution imposing such
tax whereupon the Department of Revenue shall proceed to
administer and enforce this Section on behalf of the
Authority. Upon a change in rate of a tax levied hereunder,
or upon the discontinuance of the tax, the Authority shall
not later than 5 days after the effective date of the
ordinance or resolution discontinuing the tax or effecting a
change in rate transmit to the Department of Revenue a
certified copy of the ordinance or resolution effecting such
change or discontinuance.