Bill Text: IL HB5130 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Rivers, Lakes, and Streams Act. Provides that when considering whether to issue a permit for construction or maintenance or repair of a levee or flood wall under a provision in the Act, the Department of Natural Resources shall consider the flood discharge that would just overtop a levee or flood wall when conducting a worst-case scenario analysis. Defines "worst-case scenario analysis". Effective immediately.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HB5130 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-HB5130-Introduced.html

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100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2017 and 2018 HB5130 Introduced , by Rep. Jay Hoffman SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
615 ILCS 5/29a from Ch. 19, par. 78
Amends the Rivers, Lakes, and Streams Act. Provides that when considering whether to issue a permit for construction or maintenance or repair of a levee or flood wall under a provision in the Act, the Department of Natural Resources shall consider the flood discharge that would just overtop a levee or flood wall when conducting a worst-case scenario analysis. Defines "worst-case scenario analysis". Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning transportation.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Rivers, Lakes, and Streams Act is amended by
changing Section 29a as follows:
(615 ILCS 5/29a) (from Ch. 19, par. 78)
Sec. 29a. Construction permits; maintenance and repairs;
clear cutting.
(a) After July 1, 1985, no person, State agency, or unit of
local government shall undertake construction in a public body
of water or in a stream without a permit from the Department of
Natural Resources. No permit shall be required in a stream
which is not a public body of water, draining less than one
square mile in an urban area or less than ten square miles in a
rural area. No permits shall be required for field tile
systems, tile outlet structures, terraces, water and sediment
control basins, grade stabilization structures, or grassed
waterways which do not obstruct flood flows. Any artificially
improved stream channel, drainage ditch, levee, or pumping
station existing in serviceable condition on July 1, 1985 may
be maintained and repaired to preserve design capacity and
function without a permit. Maintenance and repair of improved
channels, ditches or levees shall follow accepted practices to

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reduce, as practical, scour, erosion, sedimentation, escape of
loose material and debris, disturbance of adjacent trees and
vegetation, and obstruction of flood flows.
(b) No person, State agency, or unit of local government,
except (i) a unit of local government with a population greater
than 500,000 and (ii) a commercial or industrial facility, the
operation of which falls under the regulatory jurisdiction of
the United States Army Corps of Engineers or the United States
Coast Guard under Section 10 of the Federal Rivers and Harbors
Act, may clear cut trees within 15 yards of waters listed by
the Department under Section 5 as navigable, except as follows:
(1) for the purpose of improving, maintaining,
repairing, constructing, or reconstructing any highway,
road, bridge, culvert, drainage structure, drainage
facility, or grade separation under the jurisdiction of the
Illinois Department of Transportation or any municipality,
public water facility, road district, highway
commissioner, or drainage district;
(2) for maintenance and improvement of drainage of or
on agricultural land; and
(3) for the purpose of improving, maintaining,
repairing, constructing, or reconstructing any facility
for the distribution, transmission, or generation of
electricity.
For the purpose of this subsection, "clear cutting" means
the complete removal of mature or established trees covering an

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area of 400 square yards or more of which leaves less than 50%
of the existing forest cover. "Clear cutting" does not include
any of the following:
(1) The removal of brush or woody debris.
(2) The selective cutting of diseased, dying, or dead
trees.
(3) The selective cutting of individual trees for the
purpose of home construction.
(4) The selective cutting of individual trees that pose
a threat to private property.
(5) The clearing of trees for restoration purposes to
include:
(i) removal of non-native tree species and the
subsequent reestablishment of native tree species;
(ii) thinning of trees for the purposes of
encouraging the growth of preferential tree species;
(iii) restoration of wetlands, prairies, or other
natural areas that will not cause or contribute to
streambank destabilization.
(6) The removal of trees or woody vegetation pursuant
to any State or Federal conservation plan contracts, or
when approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the
Department.
The Department of Natural Resources may adopt rules for the
administration of this subsection and shall adopt rules
permitting a municipality with a population of 500,000 or less

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to petition the Department of Natural Resources to permit clear
cutting to accommodate necessary socioeconomic development
projects.
(c) When considering whether to issue a permit for
construction or maintenance or repair of a levee or flood wall
under this Section, the Department of Natural Resources shall
consider the flood discharge that would just overtop a levee or
flood wall when conducting a worst-case scenario analysis.
For purposes of this subsection, "worst-case scenario
analysis" means the calculation of the maximum increases in
flood heights, velocities, and damages a project would cause
due to conveyance and storage losses, considering both the
project alone and the combined effects of other existing
construction and reasonably anticipated obstructive
construction on similarly situated properties in the locality.
(Source: P.A. 91-907, eff. 1-1-01.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.