Public Act 094-0578
 
SB0599 Enrolled LRB094 04344 JAM 34373 b

    AN ACT concerning elections.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing
Sections 28-2 and 28-5 as follows:
 
    (10 ILCS 5/28-2)  (from Ch. 46, par. 28-2)
    Sec. 28-2. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this
Section, petitions for the submission of public questions to
referendum must be filed with the appropriate officer or board
not less than 78 days prior to a regular election to be
eligible for submission on the ballot at such election; and
petitions for the submission of a question under Section 18-120
of the Property Tax Code must be filed with the appropriate
officer or board not more than 10 months nor less than 6 months
prior to the election at which such question is to be submitted
to the voters.
    (b) However, petitions for the submission of a public
question to referendum which proposes the creation or formation
of a political subdivision must be filed with the appropriate
officer or board not less than 108 days prior to a regular
election to be eligible for submission on the ballot at such
election.
    (c) Resolutions or ordinances of governing boards of
political subdivisions which initiate the submission of public
questions pursuant to law must be adopted not less than 65 days
before a regularly scheduled election to be eligible for
submission on the ballot at such election.
    (d) A petition, resolution or ordinance initiating the
submission of a public question may specify a regular election
at which the question is to be submitted, and must so specify
if the statute authorizing the public question requires
submission at a particular election. However, no petition,
resolution or ordinance initiating the submission of a public
question, other than a legislative resolution initiating an
amendment to the Constitution, may specify such submission at
an election more than one year, or 15 months in the case of a
back door referendum as defined in subsection (f), after the
date on which it is filed or adopted, as the case may be. A
petition, resolution or ordinance initiating a public question
which specifies a particular election at which the question is
to be submitted shall be so limited, and shall not be valid as
to any other election, other than an emergency referendum
ordered pursuant to Section 2A-1.4.
    (e) If a petition initiating a public question does not
specify a regularly scheduled election, the public question
shall be submitted to referendum at the next regular election
occurring not less than 78 days after the filing of the
petition, or not less than 108 days after the filing of a
petition for referendum to create a political subdivision. If a
resolution or ordinance initiating a public question does not
specify a regularly scheduled election, the public question
shall be submitted to referendum at the next regular election
occurring not less than 65 days after the adoption of the
resolution or ordinance.
    (f) In the case of back door referenda, any limitations in
another statute authorizing such a referendum which restrict
the time in which the initiating petition may be validly filed
shall apply to such petition, in addition to the filing
deadlines specified in this Section for submission at a
particular election. In the case of any back door referendum,
the publication of the ordinance or resolution of the political
subdivision shall include a notice of (1) the specific number
of voters required to sign a petition requesting that a public
question be submitted to the voters of the subdivision; (2) the
time within which the petition must be filed; and (3) the date
of the prospective referendum. The secretary or clerk of the
political subdivision shall provide a petition form to any
individual requesting one. As used herein, a "back door
referendum" is the submission of a public question to the
voters of a political subdivision, initiated by a petition of
voters or residents of such political subdivision, to determine
whether an action by the governing body of such subdivision
shall be adopted or rejected.
    (g) A petition for the incorporation or formation of a new
political subdivision whose officers are to be elected rather
than appointed must have attached to it an affidavit attesting
that at least 108 days and no more than 138 days prior to such
election notice of intention to file such petition was
published in a newspaper published within the proposed
political subdivision, or if none, in a newspaper of general
circulation within the territory of the proposed political
subdivision in substantially the following form:
NOTICE OF PETITION TO FORM A NEW........
    Residents of the territory described below are notified
that a petition will or has been filed in the Office
of............requesting a referendum to establish a
new........, to be called the............
    *The officers of the new...........will be elected on the
same day as the referendum. Candidates for the governing board
of the new......may file nominating petitions with the officer
named above until...........
    The territory proposed to comprise the new........is
described as follows:
        (description of territory included in petition)
        (signature)....................................
        Name and address of person or persons proposing
        the new political subdivision.
    * Where applicable.
    Failure to file such affidavit, or failure to publish the
required notice with the correct information contained therein
shall render the petition, and any referendum held pursuant to
such petition, null and void.
    Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this
subsection (g) or any other provisions of this Code, the
publication of notice and affidavit requirements of this
subsection (g) shall not apply to any petition filed under
Article 7, 7A, 11A, 11B, or 11D of the School Code nor to any
referendum held pursuant to any such petition, and neither any
petition filed under any of those Articles nor any referendum
held pursuant to any such petition shall be rendered null and
void because of the failure to file an affidavit or publish a
notice with respect to the petition or referendum as required
under this subsection (g) for petitions that are not filed
under any of those Articles of the School Code.
(Source: P.A. 90-459, eff. 8-17-97.)
 
    (10 ILCS 5/28-5)  (from Ch. 46, par. 28-5)
    Sec. 28-5. Not less than 61 days before a regularly
scheduled election, each local election official shall certify
the public questions to be submitted to the voters of or within
his political subdivision at that election which have been
initiated by petitions filed in his office or by action of the
governing board of his political subdivision.
    Not less than 61 days before a regularly scheduled
election, each circuit court clerk shall certify the public
questions to be submitted to the voters of a political
subdivision at that election which have been ordered to be so
submitted by the circuit court pursuant to law. Not less than
30 days before the date set by the circuit court for the
conduct of an emergency referendum pursuant to Section 2A-1.4,
the circuit court clerk shall certify the public question as
herein required.
    Local election officials and circuit court clerks shall
make their certifications, as required by this Section, to each
election authority having jurisdiction over any of the
territory of the respective political subdivision in which the
public question is to be submitted to referendum.
    Not less than 61 days before the next regular election, the
county clerk shall certify the public questions to be submitted
to the voters of the entire county at that election, which have
been initiated by petitions filed in his office or by action of
the county board, to the board of election commissioners, if
any, in his county.
    Not less than 67 days before the general election, the
State Board of Elections shall certify any questions proposing
an amendment to Article IV of the Constitution pursuant to
Section 3, Article XIV of the Constitution and any advisory
public questions to be submitted to the voters of the entire
State, which have been initiated by petitions received or filed
at its office, to the respective county clerks. Not less than
61 days before the general election, the county clerk shall
certify such questions to the board of election commissioners,
if any, in his county.
    The certifications shall include the form of the public
question to be placed on the ballot, the date on which the
public question was initiated by either the filing of a
petition or the adoption of a resolution or ordinance by a
governing body, as the case may be, and a certified copy of any
court order or political subdivision resolution or ordinance
requiring the submission of the public question.
Certifications of propositions for annexation to,
disconnection from, or formation of political subdivisions or
for other purposes shall include a description of the territory
in which the proposition is required to be submitted, whenever
such territory is not coterminous with an existing political
subdivision.
    The certification of a public question described in
subsection (b) of Section 28-6 shall include the precincts
included in the territory concerning which the public question
is to be submitted, as well as a common description of such
territory, in plain and nonlegal language, and specify the
election at which the question is to be submitted. The
description of the territory shall be prepared by the local
election official as set forth in the resolution or ordinance
initiating the public question.
    Whenever a local election official, an election authority,
or the State Board of Elections is in receipt of an initiating
petition, or a certification for the submission of a public
question at an election at which the public question may not be
placed on the ballot or submitted because of the limitations of
Section 28-1, such officer or board shall give notice of such
prohibition, by registered mail, as follows:
    (a) in the case of a petition, to any person designated on
a certificate attached thereto as the proponent or as the
proponents' attorney for purposes of notice of objections;
    (b) in the case of a certificate from a local election
authority, to such local election authority, who shall
thereupon give notice as provided in subparagraph (a), or
notify the governing board which adopted the initiating
resolution or ordinance;
    (c) in the case of a certification from a circuit court
clerk of a court order, to such court, which shall thereupon
give notice as provided in subparagraph (a) and shall modify
its order in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
    If the petition, resolution or ordinance initiating such
prohibited public question did not specify a particular
election for its submission, the officer or board responsible
for certifying the question to the election authorities shall
certify or recertify the question, in the manner required
herein, for submission on the ballot at the next regular
election no more than one year, or 15 months in the case of a
back door referendum as defined in subsection (f) of Section
28-2, subsequent to the filing of the initiating petition or
the adoption of the initiating resolution or ordinance and at
which the public question may be submitted, and the appropriate
election authorities shall submit the question at such
election, unless the public question is ordered submitted as an
emergency referendum pursuant to Section 2A-1.4 or is withdrawn
as may be provided by law.
(Source: P.A. 86-875.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.