SB1995eng 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1995 Engrossed LRB096 11419 RCE 21887 b

AN ACT concerning finance.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Local Government Debt Reform Act is amended by changing Section 10 as follows:

(30 ILCS 350/10) (from Ch. 17, par. 6910)

Sec. 10. General provisions. Bonds authorized by applicable law may be issued in one or more series, bear such date or dates, become due at such time or times within 40 years, except as expressly limited by applicable law, provided that notwithstanding any such express limitation bonds issued by school districts for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, or improving real property may become due within 30 years, bear interest payable at such intervals and at such rate or rates as authorized under applicable law, which rates may be fixed or variable, be in such denominations, be in such form, either coupon, registered or book-entry, carry such conversion, registration, and exchange privileges, be subject to defeasance upon such terms, have such rank or priority, be executed in such manner, be payable in such medium of payment at such place or places within or without the State of Illinois, make provision for a corporate trustee within or without the State with respect to such bonds, prescribe the rights, powers and duties thereof to be exercised for the benefit of the governmental unit and the protection of the bondholders, provide for the holding in trust, investment and use of moneys, funds and accounts held under an ordinance, provide for assignment of and direct payment of the moneys to pay such bonds or to be deposited into such funds or accounts directly to such trustee, be subject to such terms of redemption with or without premium, and be sold in such manner at private or public sale and at such price, all as the governing body shall determine. Whenever such bonds are sold at price less than par, they shall be sold at such price and bear interest at such rate or rates such that either the true interest cost (yield) or the net interest rate, as may be selected by the governing body, received upon the sale of such bonds does not exceed the maximum rate otherwise authorized by applicable law. Except for an ordinance required to be published by applicable law in connection with a backdoor referendum, any bond ordinance adopted by a governing body under applicable law shall, in all instances, become effective immediately without publication or posting or any further act or requirement.

(Source: P.A. 90-306, eff. 8-1-97.)

Section 10. The School Code is amended by changing Section 19-3 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/19-3) (from Ch. 122, par. 19-3)

Sec. 19-3. Boards of education. Any school district governed by a board of education and having a population of not more than 500,000 inhabitants, and not governed by a special Act may borrow money for the purpose of building, equipping, altering or repairing school buildings or purchasing or improving school sites, or acquiring and equipping playgrounds, recreation grounds, athletic fields, and other buildings or land used or useful for school purposes or for the purpose of purchasing a site, with or without a building or buildings thereon, or for the building of a house or houses on such site, or for the building of a house or houses on the school site of the school district, for residential purposes of the superintendent, principal, or teachers of the school district, and issue its negotiable coupon bonds therefor signed by the president and secretary of the board, in denominations of not less than $100 nor more than $5,000, payable at such place and at such time or times, not exceeding 30 20 years from date of issuance, as the board of education may prescribe, and bearing interest at a rate not to exceed the maximum rate authorized by the Bond Authorization Act, as amended at the time of the making of the contract, payable annually, semiannually or quarterly, but no such bonds shall be issued unless the proposition to issue them is submitted to the voters of the district at a referendum held at a regularly scheduled election after the board has certified the proposition to the proper election authorities in accordance with the general election law, a majority of all the votes cast on the proposition is in favor of the proposition, and notice of such bond referendum has been given either (i) in accordance with the second paragraph of Section 12-1 of the Election Code irrespective of whether such notice included any reference to the public question as it appeared on the ballot, or (ii) for an election held on or after November 1, 1998, in accordance with Section 12-5 of the Election Code, or (iii) by publication of a true and legible copy of the specimen ballot label containing the proposition in the form in which it appeared or will appear on the official ballot label on the day of the election at least 5 days before the day of the election in at least one newspaper published in and having a general circulation in the district, irrespective of any other requirements of Article 12 or Section 24A-18 of the Election Code, nor shall any residential site be acquired unless such proposition to acquire a site is submitted to the voters of the district at a referendum held at a regularly scheduled election after the board has certified the proposition to the proper election authorities in accordance with the general election law and a majority of all the votes cast on the proposition is in favor of the proposition. Nothing in this Act or in any other law shall be construed to require the notice of the bond referendum to be published over the name or title of the election authority or the listing of maturity dates of any bonds either in the notice of bond election or ballot used in the bond election. The provisions of this Section concerning notice of the bond referendum apply only to (i) consolidated primary elections held prior to January 1, 2002 and the consolidated election held on April 17, 2007 at which not less than 60% of the voters voting on the bond proposition voted in favor of the bond proposition, and (ii) other elections held before July 1, 1999; otherwise, notices required in connection with the submission of public questions shall be as set forth in Section 12-5 of the Election Code. Such proposition may be initiated by resolution of the school board.

With respect to instruments for the payment of money issued under this Section either before, on, or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1989, it is and always has been the intention of the General Assembly (i) that the Omnibus Bond Acts are and always have been supplementary grants of power to issue instruments in accordance with the Omnibus Bond Acts, regardless of any provision of this Act that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts, (ii) that the provisions of this Section are not a limitation on the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts, and (iii) that instruments issued under this Section within the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts are not invalid because of any provision of this Act that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts.

The proceeds of any bonds issued under authority of this Section shall be deposited and accounted for separately within the Site and Construction/Capital Improvements Fund.

(Source: P.A. 95-30, eff. 8-7-07.)