Full Text of HR0096 98th General Assembly
HR0096 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives recognize the hardships Illinois property | 4 | | owners face in the economic climate of today; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The National and State economies are in a | 6 | | recession which began, in part, by the collapse of the housing | 7 | | market; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, This collapse has resulted in the fall of many | 9 | | Illinois property owners' property values, which has triggered | 10 | | property tax rates to increase to keep Illinois local | 11 | | governments' revenues stable; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Illinois local governments rely heavily on | 13 | | property taxes as revenue; in 2007, property taxes accounted | 14 | | for 68% of local governments' general own-source revenue; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The condition of property values decreasing and | 16 | | property taxes increasing is causing financial problems for | 17 | | many Illinois property owners, and is resulting in many | 18 | | homeowners losing or being at risk of losing their homes; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, The 96th General Assembly passed and Governor | 20 | | signed into law Public Act 96-1418 in response to the concerns |
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| 1 | | of Illinois property owners; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The goals of Public Act 96-1418 included expanding | 3 | | the Returning Veterans Homestead Exemption to reduce the | 4 | | property tax liability of a returning veteran in the year after | 5 | | the veteran has returned home; lowering the service-connected | 6 | | disability requirement for the Disabled Veterans Standard | 7 | | Homestead Exemption to 70% from 75% to increase the number of | 8 | | veterans who are eligible for the exemption; and extending the | 9 | | Alternative General Homestead Exemption for 3 more years; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, In addition, Public Act 96-1418 requires: (i) | 11 | | county boards of review to make their rules and procedures | 12 | | available to the public; (ii) county assessors to make a | 13 | | plain-English explanation of equalization factors available to | 14 | | the public; and (iii) county assessors to make an additional | 15 | | set of disclosures with a change in assessment notice; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Public Act 96-1418 also created 7 Taxpayer Action | 17 | | Boards; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Taxpayer Action Boards have the following goals: | 19 | | (i) to oversee the implementation of P.A. 96-122 with an | 20 | | emphasis on the transparency and disclosure provisions of that | 21 | | Public Act; (ii) to make recommendations about other useful | 22 | | disclosures in addition to those required by P.A. 96-122; and |
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| 1 | | (iii) to make recommendations concerning the implementation of | 2 | | the transparency reform provisions of P.A. 96-122 in their | 3 | | respective counties; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Each Taxpayer Action Board is required to conduct | 5 | | a study that critically evaluates the manner in which its | 6 | | county assesses residential property and examines the accuracy | 7 | | of computer-assisted mass appraisal; as part of its study, each | 8 | | Board shall conduct at least 2 public hearings; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Each Taxpayer Action Board must report to the | 10 | | Governor and the General Assembly summarizing its findings, | 11 | | must maintain and administer a website cataloguing taxpayer | 12 | | assistance information linked to the Department of Revenue's | 13 | | website, must propose to its county government changes to | 14 | | property tax policies and procedures, if appropriate, and must | 15 | | propose to the Department of Revenue changes to property tax | 16 | | policies and procedures, if appropriate; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, A Taxpayer Action Board was to be established in | 18 | | each of the following counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, | 19 | | Lake, McHenry, and Will; each Board was to be composed of 7 | 20 | | members; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, The 7 members of each board are to be named by the | 22 | | Governor and serve 2-years terms; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, As of January 7, 2013, there have been no | 2 | | appointments made by Governor Quinn to any of the 7 boards; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, No studies, reports, or findings have been | 4 | | published; therefore, be it
| 5 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 6 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 7 | | we call on Governor Quinn to immediately appoint members to the | 8 | | Taxpayer Action Boards to research the property tax system in | 9 | | each of their respective counties to help identify ways to make | 10 | | the systems more transparent; and be it further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 12 | | presented to the Governor.
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