HB1797 EngrossedLRB100 08177 HLH 18273 b

1    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has a strategic interest in
3the operations of the Illinois International Port District and
4its Board, whose function is to develop the District's port and
5harbor facilities, issue construction permits, regulate the
6District's facilities and waterways, establish and operate
7foreign trade zones, and govern and administer all the District
8area within Chicago's corporate limits; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The Illinois International Port District is a very
10significant driver of freight movement and economic activity
11throughout the State of Illinois, including the downstate
12waterways and especially the Mississippi River and the Illinois
13River; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In 2010, cargo shipments at the Port of Chicago
15directly or indirectly supported 6,930 jobs and generated
16$425,000,000 in revenue for Illinois firms, according to the
17Washington D.C.-based American Great Lakes Ports Association;
18and
 
19    WHEREAS, The Port of Chicago links rail and trucking lines
20with barges and ships supplying the Great Lakes and nearby
21rivers and handles an estimated 26,000,000 cargo tons annually
22throughout its 1,500 acre complex on the far south side,
23according to a recent estimate by a consortium of Great Lakes

 

 

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1shipping interests; and
 
2    WHEREAS, In 1978, the Capital Development Board provided
3funds to the Illinois International Port District as authorized
4by Section 13 of the Capital Development Board Act, which
5provides for repayment by the Illinois International Port
6District using a flexible formula based on specified levels of
7revenues and profits; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In the over 30 years since that payment from the
9Capital Development Board, the Illinois International Port
10District has never been required to make a single payment to
11the Capital Development Board because it has never reached the
12levels of revenues and profits that would require such payment;
13and
 
14    WHEREAS, The Capital Development Board annually certifies
15to the Illinois International Port District that it owes no
16payment for the year to the Capital Development Board; and
 
17    WHEREAS, It is virtually impossible that the Illinois
18International Port District will ever reach the level of
19revenues and profits that would require it to make a payment to
20the Capital Development Board; and
 
21    WHEREAS, In its financial statements for each year since at

 

 

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1least 2005, the Capital Development Board has "reserved" the
2entire amount lent to the Illinois International Port District,
3indicating that it does not expect any payments under the loan,
4and that non-payment of the loan would not require any future
5or present cash outlay by the Capital Development Board or the
6State; and
 
7    WHEREAS, For the reasons discussed above, the existence of
8this debt is of no value whatsoever to the State and serves
9only to limit the investment in the Port of Chicago and the
10amount of economic activity throughout Illinois water and rail
11lines; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Official forgiveness of the obligation from the
13Illinois International Port District to the Capital
14Development Board would benefit the entire State of Illinois by
15allowing greater investment in the State's waterways and
16freight facilities; therefore
 
17    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
18represented in the General Assembly:
 
19    Section 5. The Capital Development Board Act is amended by
20changing Section 13 as follows:
 
21    (20 ILCS 3105/13)  (from Ch. 127, par. 783)

 

 

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1    Sec. 13. The Board may provide cargo handling facilities
2and facilities designed for the movement of cargo to or from
3cargo handling facilities for the use of regional port
4districts. Pursuant to appropriations setting forth specific
5projects and regional port districts, the Board shall contract
6with the regional port district named in the Act making the
7appropriation for cargo handling facilities. Such contract
8shall provide that the regional port district shall remit to
9the State of Illinois an amount equal to not more than 20% of
10the gross receipts attributable to those facilities, and not
11less than 20% of the profit attributable to those facilities,
12whether collected by the regional port district or through an
13operator or other intermediary, until the full amount
14appropriated and expended by the State of Illinois has been
15remitted to the State. The exact amount of, the manner of, the
16method of and the time for such remittances shall be agreed
17upon by the particular port district and the Board acting
18through its Executive Director, and such agreement may, from
19time to time, be amended by the parties so as to alter or
20modify the amount of, manner of, method of and time for the
21remittance, including, but not limited to, the temporary
22forgiveness, suspension or delay of the remittances not to
23exceed 24 months for any single suspension or delay. The
24payback is subordinate solely to any outstanding public bond
25agreements existing at the time of the contract and solely for
26the period of time of the running of those bond agreements. For

 

 

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1any contract entered into under this Section, if, for a period
2of 25 years, a regional port district has not been required to
3remit any amount because the regional port district has failed
4to achieve the required level of profit, then the regional port
5district shall not be required to remit any amount under the
6contract.
7    This Section shall apply to all regional port district
8facilities to be constructed by the Board, including projects
9for which appropriations or reappropriations have been made
10prior to June 30, 1976, and to all contracts existing prior to
11the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985 as well as
12contracts entered into on or after such date.
13(Source: P.A. 84-781.)
 
14    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
15becoming law.