Public Act 096-1458
 
HB5732 EnrolledLRB096 19055 HLH 34446 b

    AN ACT concerning finance.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Downstate Public Transportation Act is
amended by changing Section 2-5.1 as follows:
 
    (30 ILCS 740/2-5.1)
    Sec. 2-5.1. Additional requirements.
    (a) Any unit of local government that becomes a participant
on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
94th General Assembly shall, in addition to any other
requirements under this Article, meet all of the following
requirements when applying for grants under this Article:
        (1) The grant application must demonstrate the
    participant's plan to provide general public
    transportation with an emphasis on elderly, disabled, and
    economically disadvantaged populations.
        (2) The grant application must demonstrate the
    participant's plan for interagency coordination that, at a
    minimum, allows the participation of all State-funded and
    federally-funded agencies and programs with transportation
    needs in the proposed service area in the development of
    the applicant's public transportation program.
        (3) Any participant serving a nonurbanized area that is
    not receiving Federal Section 5311 funding must meet the
    operating and safety compliance requirements as set forth
    in that federal program.
        (4) The participant is required to hold public hearings
    to allow comment on the proposed service plan in all
    municipalities with populations of 1,500 inhabitants or
    more within the proposed service area.
    (b) Service extensions by any participant after July 1,
2005 by either annexation or intergovernmental agreement must
meet the 4 requirements of subsection (a).
    (c) In order to receive funding, the Department shall
certify that the participant has met the requirements of this
Section. Funding priority shall be given to service extension,
multi-county, and multi-jurisdictional projects.
    (d) The Department shall develop an annual application
process for existing or potential participants to request an
initial appropriation or an appropriation exceeding the
formula amount found in subsection (b-10) of Section 2-7 for
funding service in new areas in the next fiscal year. The
application shall include, but not be limited to, a description
of the new service area, proposed service in the new area, and
a budget for providing existing and new service. The Department
shall review the application for reasonableness and compliance
with the requirements of this Section, and, if it approves the
application, shall recommend to the Governor an appropriation
for the next fiscal year in an amount sufficient to provide 65%
of projected eligible operating expenses associated with a new
participant's service area or the portion of an existing
participant's service area that has been expanded by annexation
or intergovernmental agreement. The recommended appropriation
for the next fiscal year may exceed the formula amount found in
subsection (b-10) of Section 2-7.
(Source: P.A. 94-70, eff. 6-22-05.)