Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB1571

LRB104 06063 RTM 16096 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB1571

Introduced 1/28/2025, by Rep. Maurice A. West, II

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Land Bank Authority Act. Authorizes the corporate authorities of a municipality or county, or 2 or more municipalities or counties, to create a land bank by ordinance (for the corporate authorities of a home rule municipality or county), by entering into an intergovernmental cooperation agreement (for the corporate authorities of 2 or more municipalities and counties), or by authority already provided to a county, municipality, or other taxing district prior to the effective date of the Act. Includes provisions relating to legislative findings and purpose, definitions, and interpretation of the Act. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Land Bank Authority Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act, "land bank" means a public governmental entity created by one or more counties or municipalities in the manner set forth in this Act.

Section 10. Findings; purpose. Vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties negatively impact the health, safety, and property values of Illinois residents in communities across Illinois and require significant taxpayer expenditures to address these harmful impacts. The purpose of this Act is to allow Illinois municipalities, counties, and other taxing districts to create a land bank to facilitate the return of vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties to productive use, thereby combating community decline, stimulating economic growth, stabilizing neighborhoods, and having a positive impact on residents and the local tax base. A land bank created in accordance with this Act serves a public purpose required under Section 1 of Article VIII of the Illinois Constitution.

Section 15. Interpretation.

(a) This Act shall be construed liberally, and all powers granted in this Act shall be broadly interpreted to carry out the Act's intended purposes and not as a limitation of powers.

(b) Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted to restrict or otherwise impose any additional limitations on the powers and authority already granted to municipalities and counties to create, establish, contract with, or operate an entity or agency to conduct land banking activities or other related activities, or to delegate certain governmental powers to a land bank as permitted by law.

(c) A land bank created by a municipality or county prior to the enactment of this Act in the manner described in paragraph (3) of Section 20 shall be considered a land bank created under this Act on the effective date of this Act.

Section 20. Creation of a land bank. The corporate authorities of a municipality or county, or 2 or more municipalities or counties, may create a land bank in one or more of the following ways:

(1) The corporate authorities of any home rule municipality or county can create a land bank by passing an ordinance.

(2) The corporate authorities of 2 or more municipalities and counties may create a land bank by entering into an intergovernmental cooperation agreement pursuant to the authority granted to such municipalities or counties in Section 10 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution and the Illinois Intergovernmental Cooperation Act if the land bank is created by one of the following combinations of counties and municipalities:

(A) One or more counties and one or more municipalities, at least one of which is a home rule municipality; or

(B) At least 3 or more municipalities, including at least one home rule municipality.

(3) The land bank is a public agency formed prior to the effective date of this Act, pursuant to the authority granted to municipalities, counties, or other taxing districts in Section 10 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution and the Illinois Intergovernmental Cooperation Act.

Notwithstanding the manner in which the land bank was created, a land bank created under this Act shall itself be a public agency, as that term is defined in Section 2 of the Illinois Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, and governmental body politic and corporate.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.