Rep. John E. Bradley

Filed: 4/11/2013

 

 


 

 


 
09800HB2496ham002LRB098 10739 HLH 44391 a

1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2496

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2496, AS AMENDED,
3immediately above the enacting clause, by inserting the
4following:
 
5    "WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has a strategic interest in
6the operations of the Illinois International Port District and
7its Board, whose function is to develop the District's port and
8harbor facilities, issue construction permits, regulate the
9District's facilities and waterways, establish and operate
10foreign trade zones, and govern and administer all the District
11area within Chicago's corporate limits; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The Illinois International Port District is a very
13significant driver of freight movement and economic activity
14throughout the State of Illinois, including the downstate
15waterways and especially the Mississippi River and the Illinois
16River; and
 

 

 

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

 

 

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1and
 
2    WHEREAS, The Capital Development Board annually certifies
3to the Illinois International Port District that it owes no
4payment for the year to the Capital Development Board; and
 
5    WHEREAS, It is virtually impossible that the Illinois
6International Port District will ever reach the level of
7revenues and profits that would require it to make a payment to
8the Capital Development Board; and
 
9    WHEREAS, In its financial statements for each year since at
10least 2005, the Capital Development Board has "reserved" the
11entire amount lent to the Illinois International Port District,
12indicating that it does not expect any payments under the loan,
13and that non-payment of the loan would not require any future
14or present cash outlay by the Capital Development Board or the
15State; and
 
16    WHEREAS, For the reasons discussed above, the existence of
17this debt is of no value whatsoever to the State and serves
18only to limit the investment in the Port of Chicago and the
19amount of economic activity throughout Illinois water and rail
20lines; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Official forgiveness of the obligation from the

 

 

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1Illinois International Port District to the Capital
2Development Board would benefit the entire State of Illinois by
3allowing greater investment in the State's waterways and
4freight facilities; therefore"; and
 
5by inserting Section 7 in its proper numeric sequence as
6following:
 
7    "Section 7. The Capital Development Board Act is amended by
8changing Section 13 as follows:
 
9    (20 ILCS 3105/13)  (from Ch. 127, par. 783)
10    Sec. 13. The Board may provide cargo handling facilities
11and facilities designed for the movement of cargo to or from
12cargo handling facilities for the use of regional port
13districts. Pursuant to appropriations setting forth specific
14projects and regional port districts, the Board shall contract
15with the regional port district named in the Act making the
16appropriation for cargo handling facilities. Such contract
17shall provide that the regional port district shall remit to
18the State of Illinois an amount equal to not more than 20% of
19the gross receipts attributable to those facilities, and not
20less than 20% of the profit attributable to those facilities,
21whether collected by the regional port district or through an
22operator or other intermediary, until the full amount
23appropriated and expended by the State of Illinois has been

 

 

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1remitted to the State. The exact amount of, the manner of, the
2method of and the time for such remittances shall be agreed
3upon by the particular port district and the Board acting
4through its Executive Director, and such agreement may, from
5time to time, be amended by the parties so as to alter or
6modify the amount of, manner of, method of and time for the
7remittance, including, but not limited to, the temporary
8forgiveness, suspension or delay of the remittances not to
9exceed 24 months for any single suspension or delay. The
10payback is subordinate solely to any outstanding public bond
11agreements existing at the time of the contract and solely for
12the period of time of the running of those bond agreements. For
13any contract entered into under this Section, if, for a period
14of 25 years, a regional port district has not been required to
15remit any amount because the regional port district has failed
16to achieve the required level of profit, then the regional port
17district shall not be required to remit any amount under the
18contract.
19    This Section shall apply to all regional port district
20facilities to be constructed by the Board, including projects
21for which appropriations or reappropriations have been made
22prior to June 30, 1976, and to all contracts existing prior to
23the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985 as well as
24contracts entered into on or after such date.
25(Source: P.A. 84-781.)".