Public Act 100-0546
 
HB1797 EnrolledLRB100 08177 HLH 18273 b

    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
    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
 
    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
 
    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
 
    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
shipping interests; and
 
    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
 
    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
 
    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
 
    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
 
    WHEREAS, In its financial statements for each year since at
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
 
    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
 
    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
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Capital Development Board Act is amended by
changing Section 13 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 3105/13)  (from Ch. 127, par. 783)
    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
with the regional port district named in the Act making the
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
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
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.
    This Section shall apply to all regional port district
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.
(Source: P.A. 84-781.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.