Full Text of HB1459 98th General Assembly
HB1459eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning State government.
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has a strategic interest in | 3 | | the operations of the Illinois International Port District and | 4 | | its Board, whose function is to develop the District's port and | 5 | | harbor facilities, issue construction permits, regulate the | 6 | | District's facilities and waterways, establish and operate | 7 | | foreign trade zones, and govern and administer all the District | 8 | | area within Chicago's corporate limits; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois International Port District is a very | 10 | | significant driver of freight movement and economic activity | 11 | | throughout the State of Illinois, including the downstate | 12 | | waterways and especially the Mississippi River and the Illinois | 13 | | River; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, In 2010, cargo shipments at the Port of Chicago | 15 | | directly or indirectly supported 6,930 jobs and generated | 16 | | $425,000,000 in revenue for Illinois firms, according to the | 17 | | Washington D.C.-based American Great Lakes Ports Association; | 18 | | and | 19 | | WHEREAS, The Port of Chicago links rail and trucking lines | 20 | | with barges and ships supplying the Great Lakes and nearby | 21 | | rivers and handles an estimated 26,000,000 cargo tons annually | 22 | | throughout its 1,500 acre complex on the far south side, |
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| 1 | | according to a recent estimate by a consortium of Great Lakes | 2 | | shipping interests; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, In 1978, the Capital Development Board provided | 4 | | funds to the Illinois International Port District as authorized | 5 | | by Section 13 of the Capital Development Board Act, which | 6 | | provides for repayment by the Illinois International Port | 7 | | District using a flexible formula based on specified levels of | 8 | | revenues and profits; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, In the over 30 years since that payment from the | 10 | | Capital Development Board, the Illinois International Port | 11 | | District has never been required to make a single payment to | 12 | | the Capital Development Board because it has never reached the | 13 | | levels of revenues and profits that would require such payment; | 14 | | and | 15 | | WHEREAS, The Capital Development Board annually certifies | 16 | | to the Illinois International Port District that it owes no | 17 | | payment for the year to the Capital Development Board; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, It is virtually impossible that the Illinois | 19 | | International Port District will ever reach the level of | 20 | | revenues and profits that would require it to make a payment to | 21 | | the Capital Development Board; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, In its financial statements for each year since at | 2 | | least 2005, the Capital Development Board has "reserved" the | 3 | | entire amount lent to the Illinois International Port District, | 4 | | indicating that it does not expect any payments under the loan, | 5 | | and that non-payment of the loan would not require any future | 6 | | or present cash outlay by the Capital Development Board or the | 7 | | State; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, For the reasons discussed above, the existence of | 9 | | this debt is of no value whatsoever to the State and serves | 10 | | only to limit the investment in the Port of Chicago and the | 11 | | amount of economic activity throughout Illinois water and rail | 12 | | lines; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Official forgiveness of the obligation from the | 14 | | Illinois International Port District to the Capital | 15 | | Development Board would benefit the entire State of Illinois by | 16 | | allowing greater investment in the State's waterways and | 17 | | freight facilities; therefore | 18 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 19 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 20 | | Section 5. The Capital Development Board Act is amended by | 21 | | changing Section 13 as follows:
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| 1 | | (20 ILCS 3105/13) (from Ch. 127, par. 783)
| 2 | | Sec. 13.
The Board may provide cargo handling facilities | 3 | | and facilities
designed for the movement of cargo to or from | 4 | | cargo handling facilities for
the use of regional port | 5 | | districts. Pursuant to appropriations setting forth
specific | 6 | | projects and regional port districts, the Board shall contract
| 7 | | with the regional port district named in the Act making the
| 8 | | appropriation for cargo handling facilities. Such contract | 9 | | shall provide
that the regional port district shall remit to | 10 | | the State of Illinois an
amount equal to not more than 20%
of | 11 | | the gross receipts attributable to those facilities, and not | 12 | | less than
20% of the profit attributable to those facilities, | 13 | | whether
collected by the regional port district or through an | 14 | | operator or other
intermediary, until the full amount | 15 | | appropriated and expended by the
State of Illinois has been | 16 | | remitted to the State. The exact amount of,
the manner of, the | 17 | | method of and the time for such remittances shall be
agreed | 18 | | upon by the particular port district and the Board
acting | 19 | | through its Executive Director, and such agreement may, from | 20 | | time to
time, be amended by the parties so as to alter or | 21 | | modify the amount of,
manner of, method of and time for the | 22 | | remittance, including, but not
limited to, the temporary | 23 | | forgiveness, suspension or delay of the
remittances not to | 24 | | exceed 24 months for any single suspension or delay. The
| 25 | | payback is subordinate solely to any outstanding public bond | 26 | | agreements
existing at the time of the contract and solely for |
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| 1 | | the period of time of
the running of those bond agreements. For | 2 | | any contract entered into under this Section, if, for a period | 3 | | of 25 years, a regional port district has not been required to | 4 | | remit any amount because the regional port district has failed | 5 | | to achieve the required level of profit, then the regional port | 6 | | district shall not be required to remit any amount under the | 7 | | contract.
| 8 | | This Section shall apply to all regional port district
| 9 | | facilities to be constructed by the Board, including projects | 10 | | for which
appropriations or reappropriations have been made | 11 | | prior to June 30,
1976, and to all contracts existing prior to | 12 | | the effective date of this
amendatory Act of 1985 as well as | 13 | | contracts entered into on or after such date.
| 14 | | (Source: P.A. 84-781.)
| 15 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 16 | | becoming law.
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