92nd General Assembly
Summary of SB2067
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Senate Sponsors:
PARKER.

House Sponsors:
SCHOENBERG-GARRETT-CROTTY-MAY-COULSON

Short description: 
TOLL HIGHWAY-COUNTERFEIT FINES                                             

Synopsis of Bill as introduced:
        Amends the Toll  Highway  Act.   Increases  the  fine  for  using      
   spurious  or  counterfeit  tickets or tokens from not less than $5 and      
   not more than $100 for each offense to not less than $20 nor more than      
   $250.  Effective immediately.                                               
        HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 1.                                                 
          Adds reference to:                                                   
          605 ILCS 10/8.1 new                                                  
          605 ILCS 10/10                  from Ch. 121, par. 100-10            
          605 ILCS 10/11                  from Ch. 121, par. 100-11            
          605 ILCS 10/14.1                from Ch. 121, par. 100-14.1          
          605 ILCS 10/16.2 new                                                 
          605 ILCS 10/18                  from Ch. 121, par. 100-18            
          605 ILCS 10/20.2 new                                                 
          605 ILCS 10/23                  from Ch. 121, par. 100-23            
          605 ILCS 10/23.5 new                                                 
          605 ILCS 10/24                  from Ch. 121, par. 100-24            
        Further amends the Toll Highway Act.  Requires  the  Governor  to      
   appoint an Inspector General to investigate waste, fraud, or financial      
   mismanagement in Authority operations involving Authority employees or      
   contractors. Provides that after the effective date of this amendatory      
   Act  and  through  June  30,  2003,  the  Illinois  State Toll Highway      
   Authority may not charge or collect tolls at a rate  higher  than  the      
   tolls  in  effect  on  March 21, 2002. Provides that with respect to a      
   proposed increase in toll rates, the Authority may not hold more  than      
   one hearing on the same day, and imposes other requirements concerning      
   such   hearings.   Requires   the   Authority   to  submit  a  20-year      
   comprehensive strategic financial plan  to  the  General  Assembly  by      
   December   31,  2002.  Requires  the  Auditor  General  to  conduct  a      
   management  audit  of  the  State's  toll   highway   operations   and      
   management.  Provides  that  the  Act  constitutes  an irrevocable and      
   continuing  appropriation  from  the  Illinois  State   Toll   Highway      
   Authority  Fund for amounts to pay principal, interest, and other bond      
   expenses and obligations (instead of the Fund being considered  always      
   appropriated  for  the purposes of repayment of debt service and other      
   bond  obligations).   Provides  that  all  other  expenses,  including      
   ordinary and contingent expenses, are subject to annual appropriation.      
   Provides that, before bonds may be issued for or construction  may  be      
   commenced  on  any  new segment of toll highway, the issuance of bonds      
   for or the commencement of construction  of  that  particular  segment      
   must be approved by law (rather than authorized by joint resolution of      
   the  General  Assembly).     Prohibits directors of the Illinois State      
   Toll Highway Authority, their employees,  and  agents  from  receiving      
   financial benefit from the letting of Authority contracts during their      
   terms of service and for a period of one year following termination of      
   their  positions  or  employment with the Authority. Provides that any      
   general increase in toll rates must have the  prior  approval  of  the      
   General  Assembly  by a three-fifths majority vote.  Provides that the      
   State guarantees payment of bonds issued before the effective date  of      
   the  amendatory  Act,  and  requires  the Authority to maintain a debt      
   service  fund  with  respect  to  revenue  bonds  outstanding  on  the      
   effective date of this amendatory Act.  Makes other changes.                
        HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 2.                                                 
        Deletes the amendatory provision that for all  outstanding  bonds      
   issued by the Toll Highway Authority before the effective date of this      
   amendatory  Act,  the  State  guarantees  the  timely  payment  of any      
   principal or interest that is not paid by the Authority when due.           
          FISCAL NOTE (Auditor General)                                        
          SB 2067 as arrived in the House does not require the expendi-        
          ture of any State funds by the Auditor General.                      
          FISCAL NOTE, H-AM 1 (Auditor General)                                
          While the bill requires the Toll Highway Authority to pay for        
          the audit, the Auditor General Office would need to first incur      
          the audit expenses. Consequently, the Auditor General Office         
          will need additional appropriation authority to allow it to          
          incur the audit expenses, even though they will be subsequently      
          reimbursed by the Authority. The non-recurring cost of conduc-       
          ting the audit could be as high as $750,000, depending on            
          whether the audit can be completed entirely using in-house           
          staff, or using a combination of in-house staff and contrac-         
          tual assistance.                                                     
          STATE DEBT IMPACT NOTE                                               
          (Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission)                            
          SB 2067, as engrossed, would not affect the bonding authoriza-       
          tion of the State, and, therefore, has no direct impact on the       
          level of State indebtedness.                                         
          STATE DEBT IMPACT NOTE, H-AM 1                                       
          (Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission)                            
          SB 2067, as amended by H-am 1, could affect the State's bonded       
          indebtedness by an undetermined amount.                              
          STATE DEBT IMPACT NOTE, H-AMS 1 and 2                                
          (Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission)                            
          No change from State Debt Impact Note, engrossed.                    
          FISCAL NOTE, H-AMS 1 and 2                                           
          (Illinois State Toll Highway Authority)                              
          Establishing an Inspector General position would increase the        
          expenditure of toll revenue by approximately $300,000 per year.      
          Intercession by the General Assembly into the fixing of tolls,       
          either by authorizing their increase or imposing a toll mora-        
          torium would give rise to a default under the current Trust          
          Indenture and provide Tollway Authority bondholders standing to      
          exercise contractual remedies. These options inlcude declaring       
          the entire outstanding debt ($781 million) immediately due and       
          payable. The Tollway does not have this amount in reserve and        
          therefore would be in default. These changes could affect the        
          creditworthiness of the Tollway Authoirty and subject its            
          credit rating to a possible downgrade by the various rating          
          agencies. Future bond issues may require a higher interest           
          rate. Subjecting the Tollway's annual budget to an annual            
          appropriation may also affect the rights of current bondhold-        
          ers and provide standing for contractual remedies, which could       
          affect the creditworthiness of the Authority and subject its         
          credit rating to a possible downgrade. Future bond issues may        
          require a higher interest rate. At this time, no exact dollar        
          figure can be attached to these provisions. In the opinion of        
          the Authority, removing the guarantee by the State for payment       
          of Tollway bond interest and principle does not remove the           
          State from liability should the Tollway default on its bonds         
          due to the other provisions of this bill. Requiring the Auth-        
          ority to submit a Comprehensive Strategic Financial Plan to          
          the General Assembly is estimated to cost up to $100,000. The        
          Auditor General has estimated that a management audit could          
          cost up to $750,000.                                                 
        HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 3.                                                 
        Makes  a  technical  change  to  correct  page  and  line  number      
   references contained in House Amendment No. 2.                              
          HOME RULE NOTE, H-AMS 1 and 2                                        
          (Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs)              
          The legislation does not pertain to a home rule unit of local        
          government. Therefore, in the opinion of DCCA, this legisla-         
          tion does not pre-empt home rule authority.                          
          STATE DEBT NOTE, H-AM 3                                              
          (Economic and Fiscal Commission)                                     
          No change from previous State Debt Note.                             
          FISCAL NOTE, H-AM 3                                                  
          (Illinois State Toll Highway Authority)                              
          H-am 3 would impose no additional fiscal impact to those             
          detailed in the prior fiscal note on H-ams 1 and 2.                  
          JUDICIAL NOTE, H-AMS 1, 2, 3                                         
          (Administrative Office of Illinois Courts)                           
          The bill would neither increase nor decrease the number of           
          judges needed in the State.                                          
          HOME RULE NOTE, H-AM 3                                               
          (Department of Commerce and Community Affairs)                       
          Same as previous home rule note.                                     
          LAND CONVEYANCE APPRAISAL, H-AMS 1, 2                                
          (Department of Transportation)                                       
          SB 2067 includes no particular conveyance of property by the         
          State. Therefore, the filing requirement for an appraisal is         
          not applicable.                                                      
          STATE MANDATES NOTE, H-AMS 1, 2, 3                                   
          (Department of Commerce and Community Affairs)                       
          In the opinion of DCCA, SB 2067 (H-ams 1, 2 and 3) does not          
          meet the definition of a State mandate under the State Mandates      
          Act.                                                                 
          STATE DEBT IMPACT NOTE                                               
          (Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission)                            
          No change from the first State debt impact note.                     
          STATE DEBT IMPACT NOTE, H-AM 4                                       
          (Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission)                            
          No change from previous State Debt Impact Note.                      
          JUDICIAL NOTE, H-AM 4                                                
          (Administrative Office of Illinois Courts)                           
          Same as previous Judicial Note.                                      
 
Last action on Bill: SESSION SINE DIE

   Last action date: JAN-07-2003

           Location: Senate

 Amendments to Bill: AMENDMENTS ADOPTED: HOUSE -   3     SENATE -   0


   END OF INQUIRY 
                                                                               



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