STATEHOUSE INSIDER
ISSUES & INSIGHTS FROM THE LEGAL/LEGISLATIVE SCENE

On May 1, 2007, park, forest preserve, conservation and recreation agencies throughout the state showcased the services they provide to residents throughout Illinois. As part of Parks Day at the Capitol, more than fifty agencies exhibited on the first floor and rotunda of the State Capitol. The visual impact of this annual event is very impressive, and I have heard from a number of legislators and lobbyists about how impressed they were.

Congratulations to all who participated. Your commitment to legislative advocacy and getting the message out about the benefits of parks and recreation is greatly appreciated.

Bill Watch
The Illinois General Assembly is moving quickly towards adjournment, however, as of press time, issues of how to finance the state budget and the new programs proposed by the governor are still outstanding. There is great debate over the gross receipts tax versus an income tax increase, and this will play out over the next several weeks.

Legislation impacting park districts, forest preserves, recreation and conservation agencies has proceeded through the Illinois General Assembly.

Open Meetings Act
House Bill 1718 addresses a concern that many local officials have had with the Open Meetings Act.

As you know, prior to the introduction of this bill, a meeting was defined as any gathering of a majority of a quorum. That definition has created difficulties for five-member public bodies because two individuals could not speak about the agency and its business without that conversation being declared an open meeting under the act.

The new legislation pending in the Illinois Senate at this time provides that, for a five-member public body, a gathering of a quorum of the members of the public body will be defined as a meeting under the act Further, for a five-member public body, three members of the body constituting the quorum would be required to vote in the affirmative to adopt any motion, resolution or ordinance unless a greater number is required. If the Illinois Senate passes this bill and the governor signs it into law, it will mean that, for the first time, two individuals on a five-member board will be able to discuss the business of the agency without being in fear of violating the act.

The IAPD supports this initiative.

Recreational Liability
Pending in the Illinois House is Senate Bill 333, which is designed to restore the liability protection for outdoor recreation.

For more than 40 years, landowners in Illinois who allowed recreational users on their property received liability protection under the Recreational Use of Land and Water Areas Act. The act encouraged individual landowners, land trust corporations and public agencies to open their lands to the general public for hiking, biking, fishing, bird watching and all other forms of outdoor recreation. In 2005, a new law amended the act to provide additional protection to property owners who make their land available to individuals for hunting and recreational shooting. But, in doing so, the new law eliminated the protections to landowners who opened their property to the public for all other recreational activities. The result is that landowners across the state may severely restrict or eliminate access to their property for public outdoor recreational activities.

This issue has been pending since the amendment was passed in 2005, and the IAPD with a coalition of other organizations, including Open Lands, The Nature Conservancy and others, are pushing for the restoration of the protections for these private landowners. IMRF Pending in the Illinois Senate is Senate Bill 1252, which would create an exemption from the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) for Illinois Municipal Retirement Funds (IMRF) pension costs.

This legislation is important to units of local government because pension costs are something that they have little to no control over. For example, in 2003, IMRF employer rates rose over 2002 by an average of 19 percent, while the CPI (Consumer Price Index), which is the limiting factor in PTELL, rose by 1.6 percent. In 2004, IMRF employer rates rose over 2003 by an average of 44.9 percent, while the CPI rose by 2.4 percent. In 2005, IMRF employer rates rose over 2004 by an average of 13.6 percent, while the CPI rose by 1.9 percent.

What does this mean in real dollars? In 2002, Illinois park districts as employers contributed more than $12 million to IMRF. In 2005, those same park districts contributed more than $23 million. This is an increase of 95 percent over three years. During the same three-year period, the limiting factor in PTELL rose by a combined 9.6 percent. That means

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that for every dollar's worth of IMRF increase a park district faced, 90(2 had to be found in the park district budget because of the limiting rate on the tax levy for IMRF costs.

This legislation reflects the difficulties that the tax cap imposes on many units of local government, and the IAPD supports the passage of Senate Bill 1252.

Bid Limits
House Bill 553 provides that no park district shall be required to accept a bid for a contract involving an expenditure in excess of $20,00C if that bid does not meet the district's established specifications, terms of delivery, quality and serviceability requirements. At press time, the bill was pending in the Illinois Senate.

Museum Tax
House Bill 117 amends the Park District Aquarium and Museum Act and provides authority to park districts to levy in excess of 7(2, setting the new levy limit at 150. If passed, this legislation will allow park districts in tax cap counties to pass a referendum increasing the rate limit for museums and aquariums. For park districts located outside of tax cap counties, the only requirement is the passage of a resolution and notification through publication in the newspaper that a back door referendum is possible if sufficient signatures are submitted by petition.

IDNR Legislation
This year the Illinois Department of Natural Resources introduced twc pieces of legislation. The first is House Bill 1779, which amends the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Act to provide that local governments defined as "distressed" by the department shall be eligible for up to 90 percent funding assistance, provided that no more than 10 percent of the amount appropriated for the OSLAD fund in any fiscal year is made available for distressed communities. This year, the governor's budget includes $24 million for the OSLAD fund for fiscal year 2008, which begins on July 1 of this year.

The second initiative, House Bill 1780, changes the name of the Conservation 2000 Fund to the Partners for Conservation Fund. It authorizes the use of funds for planning, preservation and water protection in order to partner with private landowners, government and not-for-profit organizations, and it authorizes the use of funds for paying for personnel costs.

Capital Funding
In addition to the proposed increase in the Real Estate Transfer Tax (see page 11 of the March/April issue), which lost some of its traction when the governor introduced his large tax increase proposal, is a program called iSPACE, which stands for Illinois Special Places Acquisition Conservation and Enhancement program.

iSPACE calls for funding to protect natural areas and open space for future generations and would provide $100 million annually as part of a bonded multi-year capital program to allow the IDNR to: a) establish new parks and conservation holdings, b) provide matching funds to local open space agencies to help them stretch locally raised dollars to protect more acres, c) offer more recreational opportunities, and d) expand hunting opportunities through the Hunting Heritage Protection Act.

The need for this funding is clear. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' own study, there is a current need of $3 billion to protect places important for future generations. With only 1 percent of open space land held by the state of Illinois, the state ranks last in Midwestern states in the number of acres protected per capita.

The last time the Illinois General Assembly approved a capital funding program for land acquisition was in 1999. At that time, $200 million was set aside over a four-year period for the Open Lands Trust. The last of these funds were spent in fiscal year 2003.

The iSPACE program, through House Joint Resolution 55, calls on the governor to include within his capital budget $100 million annually for open space protection. The Illinois Association of Park Districts and its partners are supporting this proposal.

Disclosure of Out-of-Court Settlements and Apportioning Liability in Civil Cases

IAPD opposes two initiatives of the Illinois Trial Lawyers. The first is House Bill 511, which has passed the House and changes the Freedom of Information Act to make the financial portion of settlement agreements entered into on behalf of public bodies for the prosecution, defense or settlement of any litigation a matter of public record. Making settlement agreements public will prove costly to taxpayers. Out-of-court settlements will be much less likely to occur if payments to plaintiffs are always made public. Many times, a difficult case will be settled in order to save the cost of attorneys' fees needed to defend a case through trial and, on a few occasions, both the local government and the plaintiff will choose to have settlement agreements withheld from public view. If that option no longer exists and settlement figures are made public, they will tend to become a floor for future settlements across Illinois. If the bill passes and becomes law, taxpayers will pay the additional costs that will inevitably occur for public bodies.

The second measure IAPD opposes is Senate Bill 1296, which seeks to jeopardize liability protections. The goal of the current law is to provide fairness by allowing a jury to determine which people are really at fault for causing an accident and to require minimally responsible parties to pay only their proportionate share of the damages. Senate Bill 1296 will enable the plaintiff to manipulate the defendant's liability by preventing the jury from considering the fault of parties with whom the plaintiff chooses to settle or dismiss. By manipulating the calculation of fault, the plaintiff will be able to pursue the deep pocket defendants (local government) and require them to pay more than their fair share of liability. In addition, this bill will cause pressure on minimally responsible defendants to settle (likely at higher amounts) in order to remove themselves from the litigation and not be the last defendant standing, who would be required to pay all the remaining damages under the theory of joint and several liability.

Open Space Referenda
Congratulations to those forest preserves and conservation districts that passed referenda this past April to support the purchase and acquisition of open space before it is lost forever. McHenry County Conservation District sought and got taxpayer approval to sell $73 million in bonds with 57 percent support in order to save 4,500 acres of high quality land from development. Kane County Forest Preserve District received similar approval from its taxpayers with 64 percent support for an $85 million bond issue. Kendall County Forest Preserve District received taxpayer support to sell $45 million in bonds with a huge 68 percent approval on the initiative so that it can double the amount of land it currently owns. These initiatives were well thought out and reflect the priority that Illinois residents give to protecting open space for future generations.

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