Public Act 100-0546

HB1797 Enrolled LRB100 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.