HR0151 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0151 LRB101 11335 MST 56787 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The original Toll Highway Authority was established in 1941, and after construction of the first toll highways in Illinois was delayed by World War II, the Illinois State Toll Highway Commission was established in 1953; and

WHEREAS, The first three toll highways in the Chicago area were all planned, constructed, and finally opened in 1958 under the authority of this Commission; and

WHEREAS, The first segment to open was the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway between Devon Avenue and Elgin on August 20, 1958; and

WHEREAS, The Toll Highway Act, in its present form, dates from 1967 but has been amended since; and

WHEREAS, Under this Toll Highway Act which was promulgated April 1, 1968, the Illinois Toll Highway Authority assumed the assets and obligations of the Illinois State Toll Highway Commission; and

WHEREAS, When the Illinois Tollway was originally created in 1953, lawmakers used the revenue to pay for the original bonding needed to build highways; and

WHEREAS, The original Tollway projections were actually incorrect, as money poured into the Tollway and the original bonds were paid off in full by the early 1980s, years earlier than anticipated; and

WHEREAS, Despite the revenues exceeding expectations and the original bonds being paid off, the tolls still remain on Illinois roadways, serving as a constant reminder of the broken promise made to the people of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Gov. JB Pritzker's administration issued a plan to address Illinois' chronically underfunded public pensions that called for injecting more cash from a proposed graduated income tax, spreading payments out over a longer period, adding $2 billion in debt and selling State assets that could include the Illinois Tollway; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Tollway is not an asset to be sold and should become a freeway due the retirement of to the original bonds that built the system; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we oppose any plan to sell the Illinois Tollway; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois Toll Highway Authority be dissolved and operations of the highway be conveyed to the Illinois Department of Transportation to be operated as a freeway; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to Governor Pritzker, the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation, and the Chairperson of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority.