093_HB3104

 
                                     LRB093 09885 BDD 10134 b

 1        AN ACT concerning counties.

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

 4        Section 5.  The Counties  Code  is  amended  by  changing
 5    Section 2-3002 and by adding Section 3-3002.3 as follows:

 6        (55 ILCS 5/2-3002) (from Ch. 34, par. 2-3002)
 7        Sec.  2-3002.  Counties  with  population  of  less  than
 8    3,000,000  and  with  township form of government. By July 1,
 9    1971, and each 10 years thereafter, the county board of  each
10    county having a population of less than 3,000,000 inhabitants
11    and  the  township  form  of government shall reapportion its
12    county so that each member of the county board represents the
13    same number of inhabitants. In reapportioning its county, the
14    county board shall first determine the  size  of  the  county
15    board to be elected, which may consist of not less than 5 nor
16    more  than  29  members  and  may  not exceed the size of the
17    county board  in  that  county  on  October  2,  1969.  If  a
18    referendum  is passed under Section 2-3002.3, then the county
19    board shall use the number of county board members set  forth
20    in  that  referendum  as  the  size  of the county board. The
21    county board shall also determine whether board members shall
22    be elected at large  from  the  county  or  by  county  board
23    districts.
24        If  the  chairman of the county board is to be elected by
25    the voters in a county of less  than  450,000  population  as
26    provided  in  Section  2-3007,  such  chairman  shall  not be
27    counted as a member of the county board for  the  purpose  of
28    the  limitations  on  the  size of a county board provided in
29    this Section.
30    (Source: P.A. 86-962.)
 
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 1        (55 ILCS 5/2-3002.3 new)
 2        Sec. 2-3002.3.  Size of board; referendum.
 3        (a)  Upon filing of a petition  with  the  clerk  of  the
 4    circuit  court  of the county within the time provided in the
 5    general election law signed by electors of the  county  equal
 6    in  number  to at least 8% of the number of votes cast in the
 7    county for Governor at the preceding  gubernatorial  election
 8    requesting that the size of the county board be reduced to an
 9    amount  of not less than 17 members, the clerk of the circuit
10    court shall transmit the petition to the chief judge  of  the
11    circuit  court  who  shall  determine  the sufficiency of the
12    petition or shall assign the determination of the sufficiency
13    to a circuit judge, who shall make the determination.  If the
14    judge determines that the petition is sufficient, he  or  she
15    shall certify the sufficiency of the petition and shall issue
16    an  order  directing the county clerk and the county board to
17    provide for the submission of the proposition to the electors
18    of the county at the next general election.
19        The referendum shall be conducted in accordance with  the
20    general election law.
21        The  proposition  shall be in substantially the following
22    form:
23             Shall the  County  Board  of  (name  of  county)  be
24        reduced from (current number of board members) members to
25        (reduced  number  of  board  members  not  less  than 17)
26        members?
27    The election authority must record  the  votes  as  "Yes"  or
28    "No".
29        (b)  If   a  majority  of  the  electors  voting  on  the
30    proposition in subsection (a) vote in favor of it,  then  the
31    county  board  must  use  the  reduced number of county board
32    members as the size of the county board  to  be  elected  the
33    next  time  that  it  reapportions  the  county under Section
34    2-3002.
 
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 1        (c)  This  Section   applies   only   if   the   Illinois
 2    Constitution  is  amended to allow the number of county board
 3    members to be fixed by county-wide referendum.