Rep. John E. Bradley

Filed: 5/22/2012

 

 


 

 


 
09700HB4204ham002LRB097 15182 PJG 69715 a

1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4204

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4204, AS AMENDED, as
3follows:
 
4immediately above the enacting clause, by inserting the
5following:
 
6    "WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has a strategic interest in
7the operations of the Illinois International Port District and
8its Board, whose function is to develop the District's port and
9harbor facilities, issue construction permits, regulate the
10District's facilities and waterways, establish and operate
11foreign trade zones, and govern and administer all the District
12area within Chicago's corporate limits; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The Illinois International Port District is a very
14significant driver of freight movement and economic activity
15throughout the State of Illinois, including the downstate

 

 

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1waterways and especially the Mississippi River and the Illinois
2River; and
 
3    WHEREAS, In 2010, cargo shipments at the Port of Chicago
4directly or indirectly supported 6,930 jobs and generated
5$425,000,000 in revenue for Illinois firms, according to the
6Washington D.C.-based American Great Lakes Ports Association;
7and
 
8    WHEREAS, The Port of Chicago links rail and trucking lines
9with barges and ships supplying the Great Lakes and nearby
10rivers and handles an estimated 26,000,000 cargo tons annually
11throughout its 1,500 acre complex on the far south side,
12according to a recent estimate by a consortium of Great Lakes
13shipping interests; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In 1978, the Capital Development Board provided
15funds to the Illinois International Port District as authorized
16by Section 13 of the Capital Development Board Act, which
17provides for repayment by the Illinois International Port
18District using a flexible formula based on specified levels of
19revenues and profits; and
 
20    WHEREAS, In the over 30 years since that payment from the
21Capital Development Board, the Illinois International Port
22District has never been required to make a single payment to

 

 

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1the Capital Development Board because it has never reached the
2levels of revenues and profits that would require such payment;
3and
 
4    WHEREAS, The Capital Development Board annually certifies
5to the Illinois International Port District that it owes no
6payment for the year to the Capital Development Board; and
 
7    WHEREAS, It is virtually impossible that the Illinois
8International Port District will ever reach the level of
9revenues and profits that would require it to make a payment to
10the Capital Development Board; and
 
11    WHEREAS, In its financial statements for each year since at
12least 2005, the Capital Development Board has "reserved" the
13entire amount lent to the Illinois International Port District,
14indicating that it does not expect any payments under the loan,
15and that non-payment of the loan would not require any future
16or present cash outlay by the Capital Development Board or the
17State; and
 
18    WHEREAS, For the reasons discussed above, the existence of
19this debt is of no value whatsoever to the State and serves
20only to limit the investment in the Port of Chicago and the
21amount of economic activity throughout Illinois water and rail
22lines; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Official forgiveness of the obligation from the
2Illinois International Port District to the Capital
3Development Board would benefit the entire State of Illinois by
4allowing greater investment in the State's waterways and
5freight facilities; therefore"; and
 
6by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the
7following:
 
8    "Section 5. The Capital Development Board Act is amended by
9changing Section 13 as follows:
 
10    (20 ILCS 3105/13)  (from Ch. 127, par. 783)
11    Sec. 13. The Board may provide cargo handling facilities
12and facilities designed for the movement of cargo to or from
13cargo handling facilities for the use of regional port
14districts. Pursuant to appropriations setting forth specific
15projects and regional port districts, the Board shall contract
16with the regional port district named in the Act making the
17appropriation for cargo handling facilities. Such contract
18shall provide that the regional port district shall remit to
19the State of Illinois an amount equal to not more than 20% of
20the gross receipts attributable to those facilities, and not
21less than 20% of the profit attributable to those facilities,
22whether collected by the regional port district or through an

 

 

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1operator or other intermediary, until the full amount
2appropriated and expended by the State of Illinois has been
3remitted to the State. The exact amount of, the manner of, the
4method of and the time for such remittances shall be agreed
5upon by the particular port district and the Board acting
6through its Executive Director, and such agreement may, from
7time to time, be amended by the parties so as to alter or
8modify the amount of, manner of, method of and time for the
9remittance, including, but not limited to, the temporary
10forgiveness, suspension or delay of the remittances not to
11exceed 24 months for any single suspension or delay. The
12payback is subordinate solely to any outstanding public bond
13agreements existing at the time of the contract and solely for
14the period of time of the running of those bond agreements. For
15any contract entered into under this Section, if, for a period
16of 25 years, a regional port district has not been required to
17remit any amount because the regional port district has failed
18to achieve the required level of profit, then the regional port
19district shall not be required to remit any amount under the
20contract.
21    This Section shall apply to all regional port district
22facilities to be constructed by the Board, including projects
23for which appropriations or reappropriations have been made
24prior to June 30, 1976, and to all contracts existing prior to
25the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985 as well as
26contracts entered into on or after such date.

 

 

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1(Source: P.A. 84-781.)
 
2    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
3becoming law.".