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| Public Act 100-0546
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| HB1797 Enrolled | LRB100 08177 HLH 18273 b |
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AN ACT concerning State government.
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WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has a strategic interest in |
the operations of the Illinois International Port District and |
its Board, whose function is to develop the District's port and |
harbor facilities, issue construction permits, regulate the |
District's facilities and waterways, establish and operate |
foreign trade zones, and govern and administer all the District |
area within Chicago's corporate limits; and
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WHEREAS, The Illinois International Port District is a very |
significant driver of freight movement and economic activity |
throughout the State of Illinois, including the downstate |
waterways and especially the Mississippi River and the Illinois |
River; and
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WHEREAS, In 2010, cargo shipments at the Port of Chicago |
directly or indirectly supported 6,930 jobs and generated |
$425,000,000 in revenue for Illinois firms, according to the |
Washington D.C.-based American Great Lakes Ports Association; |
and
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WHEREAS, The Port of Chicago links rail and trucking lines |
with barges and ships supplying the Great Lakes and nearby |
rivers and handles an estimated 26,000,000 cargo tons annually |
throughout its 1,500 acre complex on the far south side, |
according to a recent estimate by a consortium of Great Lakes |
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shipping interests; and
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WHEREAS, In 1978, the Capital Development Board provided |
funds to the Illinois International Port District as authorized |
by Section 13 of the Capital Development Board Act, which |
provides for repayment by the Illinois International Port |
District using a flexible formula based on specified levels of |
revenues and profits; and
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WHEREAS, In the over 30 years since that payment from the |
Capital Development Board, the Illinois International Port |
District has never been required to make a single payment to |
the Capital Development Board because it has never reached the |
levels of revenues and profits that would require such payment; |
and
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WHEREAS, The Capital Development Board annually certifies |
to the Illinois International Port District that it owes no |
payment for the year to the Capital Development Board; and
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WHEREAS, It is virtually impossible that the Illinois |
International Port District will ever reach the level of |
revenues and profits that would require it to make a payment to |
the Capital Development Board; and
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WHEREAS, In its financial statements for each year since at |
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least 2005, the Capital Development Board has "reserved" the |
entire amount lent to the Illinois International Port District, |
indicating that it does not expect any payments under the loan, |
and that non-payment of the loan would not require any future |
or present cash outlay by the Capital Development Board or the |
State; and
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WHEREAS, For the reasons discussed above, the existence of |
this debt is of no value whatsoever to the State and serves |
only to limit the investment in the Port of Chicago and the |
amount of economic activity throughout Illinois water and rail |
lines; and
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WHEREAS, Official forgiveness of the obligation from the |
Illinois International Port District to the Capital |
Development Board would benefit the entire State of Illinois by |
allowing greater investment in the State's waterways and |
freight facilities; therefore
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Capital Development Board Act is amended by |
changing Section 13 as follows:
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(20 ILCS 3105/13) (from Ch. 127, par. 783)
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Sec. 13.
The Board may provide cargo handling facilities |
and facilities
designed for the movement of cargo to or from |
cargo handling facilities for
the use of regional port |
districts. Pursuant to appropriations setting forth
specific |
projects and regional port districts, the Board shall contract
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with the regional port district named in the Act making the
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appropriation for cargo handling facilities. Such contract |
shall provide
that the regional port district shall remit to |
the State of Illinois an
amount equal to not more than 20%
of |
the gross receipts attributable to those facilities, and not |
less than
20% of the profit attributable to those facilities, |
whether
collected by the regional port district or through an |
operator or other
intermediary, until the full amount |
appropriated and expended by the
State of Illinois has been |
remitted to the State. The exact amount of,
the manner of, the |
method of and the time for such remittances shall be
agreed |
upon by the particular port district and the Board
acting |
through its Executive Director, and such agreement may, from |
time to
time, be amended by the parties so as to alter or |
modify the amount of,
manner of, method of and time for the |
remittance, including, but not
limited to, the temporary |
forgiveness, suspension or delay of the
remittances not to |
exceed 24 months for any single suspension or delay. The
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payback is subordinate solely to any outstanding public bond |
agreements
existing at the time of the contract and solely for |
the period of time of
the running of those bond agreements. For |
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any contract entered into under this Section, if, for a period |
of 25 years, a regional port district has not been required to |
remit any amount because the regional port district has failed |
to achieve the required level of profit, then the regional port |
district shall not be required to remit any amount under the |
contract.
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This Section shall apply to all regional port district
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facilities to be constructed by the Board, including projects |
for which
appropriations or reappropriations have been made |
prior to June 30,
1976, and to all contracts existing prior to |
the effective date of this
amendatory Act of 1985 as well as |
contracts entered into on or after such date.
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(Source: P.A. 84-781.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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