Legal/Legislative Scene Governor Approves Major Park District Legislation
by Peter M. Murphy, IAPD General Counsel On May 24, 1996, Governor Jim Edgar signed into law House Bill 3057 which makes a number of significant changes to the Park District Code, and substantially enhances the ability of park districts to lease property. This new authority will go a long way toward assisting park districts in serving their residents through cooperative arrangements with the not-for-profit as well as for-profit sectors of their communities. The Governor also approved Senate Bill 1490 on June 13, 1996 (P.A. 89-470) which protects employers from legal damages when they discuss their workers' job performance with other employers. This legislation was sought due to the chilling effect case law has had on the ability of employers to discuss job performance of prior employees even though the employee has had a history of disruptive or unsafe work habits. This new law will also help insulate employers from negligent hiring claims. To collect damages under this bill a worker must prove the employer knew the information that it was spreading was false. Senate Bill 1511, which extends the tax cap to downstate counties, was approved by the Governor on July 11, 1996, and can be referenced as Public Act 89-510. Under the legislation, county boards have until September 3, 1996, to put the issue on the ballot this year. (Contact IAPD for information on a tax cap roundtable scheduled near your park district or forest preserve.) This year the Illinois General Assembly was in session for 113 days and adjourned on May 25, 1996, the earliest adjournment date since 1908. In addition, the leadership in both the Senate and House lived up to their pledge that only a limited number of bills would pass the General Assembly this year.
In the House only 146 bills were sent to the Governor and the Senate sent only 119 bills. This is the lowest total of bills passed in many years. Other bills of note passing this session include:
HOUSE House Bill 270 (Petka - O'Malley) Amends the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. Includes in the definition of "hazardous recreational activity" off-trail bicycling, sledding, and tobogganing. Last Action: 6-28-96—Governor approves P.A. 89-502 effective immediately House Bill 885 (Balthis) Authorizes intergovernmental risk management entities to adopt investment policies and specifies the requirements of those policies as well as the types of investments that may be made. Last Action: 6-7-96—Sent to Governor House Bill 2529 (Saltsman) Amends Counties Code; provides that the corporate authorities of a county may adopt an ordinance that exempts pleasure driveways or park districts, with populations over 100,000, from the county's power to regulate and restrict the location of the driveways or park districts. Last Action: 6-21-96—Sent to Governor House Bill 2618 (Winters) Amends the Property Tax Code and Clerks of Courts Act; allows tax objections to be filed as class actions; allows filing 10 • Illinois Parks & Recreation • July/August 1996 Legal/Legislative Scene fees stated for tax objections to apply regardless of the number of parcels involved or the number of taxpayers joining the complaint. (NOTE: 93 pages). Last Action: 6-5-96—Sent to Governor House Bill 2695 (Hughes) Creates the Bond Issue Notification Act. Before adopting an ordinance selling non-referendum general obligation bonds or limited bonds, the governing body of the governmental unit proposing to sell the bonds shall hold at least one public hearing concerning the governing body's intent to sell the bonds. This hearing may be part of a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body. The clerk or secretary of the governmental unit shall publish notice of the hearing at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the governmental unit not less than 7 or more than 21 days before the date of the hearing. The notice shall not be placed in the legal notice or classified advertisement sections of the newspaper. The notice shall be in substantially the following form:
The [governmental entity] will hold a public hearing on [date] at [time]. The hearing will be held at [location]. The purpose of the hearing will be to receive public comments on the proposal to sell bonds in the amount of [$ amount] for the purpose of [state purpose]. Any notice that excludes the above information shall be deemed invalid. At the hearing, the governing body shall explain the reasons for the proposed bond issue and permit persons desiring to be heard an opportunity to present written or oral testimony within reasonable time limits. The governing body shall not adopt the ordinance selling the non-referendum general obligations bonds or limited bonds for a period of 7 days after the final adjournment of the public hearing held under this Act. Governmental units that are issuing either (i) refunding general obligation bonds or (ii) refunding limited bonds are not required to comply with the provisions of this Act. Governmental units that are issuing non-referendum general obligation bonds or limited bonds for the purpose of making improvements or restorations, the necessity for which is caused by any casualty, accident, or emergency, are not required to comply with the provisions of this Act. Last Action: 6-21-96—Sent to Governor House Bill 2818 (Moore, A.) Amends the Local Land Resource Management Planning Act; changes short title to the Intergovernmental Planning Act; local governments may plan for, protect, and manage land, air. water, natural resources, transportation, and environment of the State through adoption of resource plans, and related plans; sets procedures; term of such plan shall not exceed 20 years; local governments may establish office of hearing officer to resolve disputes; other provisions. Last Action: 2-1-96—House Rules Committee House Bill 3047 (Leitch et al) New Act; authorizes Secretary of Transportation to convey certain property to the Peoria Park District in exchange for a certain monetary payment. Last Action: 5-30-96—Sent to Governor House Bill 3057 (Balthis) Amends the Park District Code. Last Action: 5-24-96—Governor approved Public Act 89-458 effective immediately House Bill 3064 (Balthis) Amends the Public Funds Statement Publication Act; requires a public officer to report all of certain disbursements exceeding $2,500 (now $1,000). Last Action: 2-7-96—House Rules Committee House Bill 3141 (Cowlishaw) Provides that, if the boundaries of a forest preserve district are co-extensive with the boundaries of a county having a population of more than 600,000 but less than 3,000, commissioners of the district shall be elected from the same district as members of the county board beginning with the general election held in 2002. States that compensation for the commissioners shall be the same as that of county board members. Requires the commissioners to be divided into 3 groups at the first meeting after their election and following each subsequent decennial reapportionment of the county with the first terms of 4,2, and 4 years, and the third group serving terms of 4, 4, and 2 years. Provides that the board of commissioners of the forest preserve district shall set the compensation for the president Requires a majority vote for actions by the board. Last Action: 6-5-96—Sent to Governor House Bill 3193 (Parke) Amends Toxic Substances Disclosure to Employees Act; repeals language requiring the Labor Director to establish a list of toxic substances; changes definition of "toxic substance" by defining it as a substance, mixture, or compound containing a substance that is determined to be hazardous under a specified federal regulation; a copy of a Material Safety Date Sheet shall be made available only on request of the Labor Dept; other provisions. Last Action: 6-13-96—Sent to Governor
SENATE Senate Bill 1402 (DeAngelis) Amends Park District Code; provides, whenever any property located within a park district also lies within a municipality that has established a recreation board, and the property is being taxed by both entities, 10% or more of the legal voters in the territory may petition to be disconnected from the park district. Amendment limits application to counties over 3,000,000 and municipalities between 20,000-25,000. Provides for an automatic repealer. Provides for annexation ordinances to be filed only in the county where the annexation takes place. Last Action: 5-23-96—Sent to Governor Illinois Parks & Recreation • July/August 1996 • 11 Legal/Legislative Scene Senate Bill 1490 (Winkel-Parke-Erwin-Cross-Clayton) Creates the Employment Record Disclosure Act. Effective immediately. Last Action: 6-13-96—Public Act 89-470 Senate Bill 1511 (Winters-Wait-Klingler-Stephens-Winkel) Amends the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law in the Property Tax Code. Allows the county board of a county not subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law to submit to the voters of the county the question of whether to make all non-home rule taxing districts that have all or a portion of their equalized assessed valuation situated in the county subject to the Law. Provides that if a taxing district has all of its equalized assessed valuation in one county, this Law becomes applicable to the taxing district beginning on January 1 following the referendum in which a majority of the votes were cast in favor of the question. Provides that with respect to a taxing district that does not have all of its EAV in one county, if each county in which any of the EAV of a taxing district is located has held a referendum on this question at any election, except a consolidated primary election, held in any year and if a majority of the EAV of the taxing district is located in one or more counties that have approved the question, the taxing district shall become subject to the Law on January 1 of the year following the year in which the last referendum in a county in which the taxing district has EAV was held. Provides that the county clerk shall notify all taxing districts having all or a portion of their EAV in the county, the clerk of every other county in which any of the EAV of the taxing district is located, and the Department of Revenue upon each referendum. Provides that upon the last referendum, the Department of Revenue shall determine whether the taxing districts shall become subject to this Law and, if so, shall notify the affected county clerks and taxing districts that, beginning the following January 1, the taxing districts are subject to this Law. Provides that "debt service extension base" for a taxing district subject to this Law in accordance with a referendum means an amount equal to that portion of extension for a taxing district for the levy year in which referenda making this Law applicable to the taxing district is held, constituting an extension for payment of principal and interest on bonds issued by the taxing district without referendum. Amends the Election Code to exempt a referendum held on this question from the three-question limit. Exempts from reimbursement under the State Mandates Act. Provides that the provisions of this amendatory Act are severable. Some parts effective immediately, and others effective June 1, 1996. Last Action: 6-20-96—Sent to Governor Senate Bill 1594 (Parker) Amends Environmental Barriers Act; redefines various terms; sets extent to which various construction and alteration projects must comply with Capital Development Board's accessibility standards or other standards, other provisions. Last Action: 5-23-96—Sent to Governor Senate Bill 1645 (Dillard) Amends Downstate Forest Preserve District Act; allows districts in counties less than 3 million to construct, equip, acquire, extend, improve, etc., historic buildings and cultural education centers and all related facilities. Last Action: 6-21 -96—Governor approved PA. 89-492 effective immediately Senate Bill 1674 (Lauzen) Amends Child Labor Law; provides that law does not apply to the work of a 14- or 15-year-old in a program organized and supervised by a park district with a population of less than 500,000; other provisions. Last Action: 2-8-96—Senate Rules Committee HJR 20 (Fitzgerald) Claims state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and demands that the federal government cease imposing mandates beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers. Last Action: 4-25-96—Adopted both Houses
LOOKING AHEAD The General Election which will be held on November 5, 1996, will once again be a hard fought one with considerable money being spent to determine political control of the Illinois House and Senate. Your participation in this election and that of your fellow board members and staff is encouraged. It is only through our commitment to elect or re-elect those legislators who support us that we can indeed be effective. At this time there are 39 seats up for election in the Illinois Senate of which 15 are contested. In the Illinois House every member is up for re-election (118 seats). Currently there are 30 uncontested Republican seats and 26 uncontested Democratic seats. Specific information on individual races is available from the IAPD. JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE This summer and fall the Joint Legislative Committee will be gathering ideas for potential legislative action through a survey sent to your office. Please respond to the survey and discuss issues of concern with other board members and your park district attorney. This is your opportunity to recommend positive legislative initiatives which will advance the field of park districts and forest preserves. Substantive legislation will be considered by the Illinois General Assembly in 1997. As the 1996 year demonstrates, the second year of the biennium will be limited in scope; therefore, all legislative platform items must be presented by January, 1997.
12 • Illinois Parks & Recreation • July/August 1996 Legal/Legislative Scene
DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN CONSERVATION CONGRESS 3 Each park district in the state of Illinois is encouraged to participate in Conservation Congress 3. To do this, a representative of your park district must register with the regional office of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) before September 1, 1996. In order to register, you must call the regional representative and request a Conservation Congress packet. When you register you will then have the opportunity to participate in a number of caucus meetings at a location in your region. The caucus meetings will culminate with an election of delegates during March of 1997. Election by your caucus will enable you to directly participate in the Congress, held September 12-14, 1997, in Springfield, Illinois. All delegates will vote on issues from legislator seats in the House of Representatives. This is an important opportunity to define the priorities for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources through the year 2000 and beyond. Past Conservation Congresses have initiated important programs such as the environmental license plate, which helps maintain state parks, and a division of education to coordinate IDNR environmental programs. Please do not hesitate to involve your park district in this important process today.
KEY DATES
Region I — Counties Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, Carroll, Ogle, De Kalb, Whiteside, Lee, Rock Island, Henry, Bureau, La Salle, Mercer, Knox, Stark, Marshall, Woodford, Peoria, Fulton, McDonough, Henderson, Warren, Tazewell Region II — Counties McHenry, Lake, Kane, Cook, DuPage, Kendall, Will, Grundy, Kankakee Region III — Counties Livingston, McLean, Ford, Iroquois, Vermilion, Champaign, De Witt, Macon, Piatt, Moultrie, Shelby, Cumberland, Coles, Douglas, Edgar, Clark Region IV — Counties Hancock, Adams, Pike, Schuyler, Brown, Cass, Mason, Menard, Logan, Sangamon, Christian, Morgan, Scott, Greene, Calhoun, Jersey, Macoupin, Montgomery, Madison, Bond, St. Clair, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph, Washington Region V — Counties Fayette, Effingham, Jasper, Crawford, Marion, Clay, Richland, Lawrence, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Perry, Franklin, Hamilton, White, Jackson, Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander, Pulaski, Massac Illinois Parks & Recreation • July/August 1996 • 13 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
