98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
HB5343

 

Introduced , by Rep. JoAnn D. Osmond

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
745 ILCS 10/9-107  from Ch. 85, par. 9-107

    Amends the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. Provides that funds from certain taxes authorized under the Act may be used for the funding of sprinklers, health or medical insurance premiums or health savings plans, and pension funds.


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A BILL FOR

 

HB5343LRB098 19104 HEP 54255 b

1    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Local Governmental and Governmental
5Employees Tort Immunity Act is amended by changing Section
69-107 as follows:
 
7    (745 ILCS 10/9-107)  (from Ch. 85, par. 9-107)
8    Sec. 9-107. Policy; tax levy.
9    (a) The General Assembly finds that the purpose of this
10Section is to provide an extraordinary tax for funding expenses
11relating to (i) tort liability, (ii) liability relating to
12actions brought under the federal Comprehensive Environmental
13Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 or the
14Environmental Protection Act, but only until December 31, 2010,
15(iii) insurance, and (iv) risk management programs. Thus, the
16tax has been excluded from various limitations otherwise
17applicable to tax levies. Notwithstanding the extraordinary
18nature of the tax authorized by this Section, however, it has
19become apparent that some units of local government are using
20the tax revenue to fund expenses more properly paid from
21general operating funds. These uses of the revenue are
22inconsistent with the limited purpose of the tax authorization.
23    Therefore, the General Assembly declares, as a matter of

 

 

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1policy, that (i) the use of the tax revenue authorized by this
2Section for purposes not expressly authorized under this Act is
3improper and (ii) the provisions of this Section shall be
4strictly construed consistent with this declaration and the
5Act's express purposes.
6    (b) A local public entity may annually levy or have levied
7on its behalf taxes upon all taxable property within its
8territory at a rate that will produce a sum that will be
9sufficient to: (i) pay the cost of insurance, individual or
10joint self-insurance (including reserves thereon), including
11all operating and administrative costs and expenses directly
12associated therewith, claims services and risk management
13directly attributable to loss prevention and loss reduction,
14legal services directly attributable to the insurance,
15self-insurance, or joint self-insurance program, and
16educational, inspectional, and supervisory services directly
17relating to loss prevention and loss reduction, participation
18in a reciprocal insurer as provided in Sections 72, 76, and 81
19of the Illinois Insurance Code, or participation in a
20reciprocal insurer, all as provided in settlements or judgments
21under Section 9-102, including all costs and reserves directly
22attributable to being a member of an insurance pool, under
23Section 9-103; (ii) pay the costs of and principal and interest
24on bonds issued under Section 9-105; (iii) pay judgments and
25settlements under Section 9-104 of this Act; (iv) discharge
26obligations under Section 34-18.1 of the School Code; (v) pay

 

 

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1judgments and settlements under the federal Comprehensive
2Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
31980 and the Environmental Protection Act, but only until
4December 31, 2010; (vi) pay the costs authorized by the
5Metro-East Sanitary District Act of 1974 as provided in
6subsection (a) of Section 5-1 of that Act (70 ILCS 2905/5-1);
7and (vii) pay the cost of risk management programs. Provided it
8complies with any other applicable statutory requirements, the
9local public entity may self-insure and establish reserves for
10expected losses for any property damage or for any liability or
11loss for which the local public entity is authorized to levy or
12have levied on its behalf taxes for the purchase of insurance
13or the payment of judgments or settlements under this Section.
14The decision of the board to establish a reserve shall be based
15on reasonable actuarial or insurance underwriting evidence and
16subject to the limits and reporting provisions in Section
179-103.
18    If a school district was a member of a
19joint-self-health-insurance cooperative that had more
20liability in outstanding claims than revenue to pay those
21claims, the school board of that district may by resolution
22make a one-time transfer from any fund in which tort immunity
23moneys are maintained to the fund or funds from which payments
24to a joint-self-health-insurance cooperative can be or have
25been made of an amount not to exceed the amount of the
26liability claim that the school district owes to the

 

 

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1joint-self-health-insurance cooperative or that the school
2district paid within the 2 years immediately preceding the
3effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General
4Assembly.
5    Funds raised pursuant to this Section shall only be used
6for the purposes specified in this Act, including protection
7against and reduction of any liability or loss described
8hereinabove and under Federal or State common or statutory law,
9the Workers' Compensation Act, the Workers' Occupational
10Diseases Act, and the Unemployment Insurance Act or the funding
11of sprinklers, health or medical insurance premiums or health
12savings plans, and pension funds. Funds raised pursuant to this
13Section may be invested in any manner in which other funds of
14local public entities may be invested under Section 2 of the
15Public Funds Investment Act. Interest on such funds shall be
16used only for purposes for which the funds can be used or, if
17surplus, must be used for abatement of property taxes levied by
18the local taxing entity.
19    A local public entity may enter into intergovernmental
20contracts with a term of not to exceed 12 years for the
21provision of joint self-insurance which contracts may include
22an obligation to pay a proportional share of a general
23obligation or revenue bond or other debt instrument issued by a
24local public entity which is a party to the intergovernmental
25contract and is authorized by the terms of the contract to
26issue the bond or other debt instrument. Funds due under such

 

 

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1contracts shall not be considered debt under any constitutional
2or statutory limitation and the local public entity may levy or
3have levied on its behalf taxes to pay for its proportional
4share under the contract. Funds raised pursuant to
5intergovernmental contracts for the provision of joint
6self-insurance may only be used for the payment of any cost,
7liability or loss against which a local public entity may
8protect itself or self-insure pursuant to Section 9-103 or for
9the payment of which such entity may levy a tax pursuant to
10this Section, including tort judgments or settlements, costs
11associated with the issuance, retirement or refinancing of the
12bonds or other debt instruments, the repayment of the principal
13or interest of the bonds or other debt instruments, the costs
14of the administration of the joint self-insurance fund,
15consultant, and risk care management programs or the costs of
16insurance. Any surplus returned to the local public entity
17under the terms of the intergovernmental contract shall be used
18only for purposes set forth in subsection (a) of Section 9-103
19and Section 9-107 or for abatement of property taxes levied by
20the local taxing entity.
21    Any tax levied under this Section shall be levied and
22collected in like manner with the general taxes of the entity
23and shall be exclusive of and in addition to the amount of tax
24that entity is now or may hereafter be authorized to levy for
25general purposes under any statute which may limit the amount
26of tax which that entity may levy for general purposes. The

 

 

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1county clerk of the county in which any part of the territory
2of the local taxing entity is located, in reducing tax levies
3under the provisions of any Act concerning the levy and
4extension of taxes, shall not consider any tax provided for by
5this Section as a part of the general tax levy for the purposes
6of the entity nor include such tax within any limitation of the
7percent of the assessed valuation upon which taxes are required
8to be extended for such entity.
9    With respect to taxes levied under this Section, either
10before, on, or after the effective date of this amendatory Act
11of 1994:
12        (1) Those taxes are excepted from and shall not be
13    included within the rate limitation imposed by law on taxes
14    levied for general corporate purposes by the local public
15    entity authorized to levy a tax under this Section.
16        (2) Those taxes that a local public entity has levied
17    in reliance on this Section and that are excepted under
18    paragraph (1) from the rate limitation imposed by law on
19    taxes levied for general corporate purposes by the local
20    public entity are not invalid because of any provision of
21    the law authorizing the local public entity's tax levy for
22    general corporate purposes that may be construed or may
23    have been construed to restrict or limit those taxes
24    levied, and those taxes are hereby validated. This
25    validation of taxes levied applies to all cases pending on
26    or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1994.

 

 

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1        (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) do not apply to a hospital
2    organized under Article 170 or 175 of the Township Code,
3    under the Town Hospital Act, or under the Township
4    Non-Sectarian Hospital Act and do not give any authority to
5    levy taxes on behalf of such a hospital in excess of the
6    rate limitation imposed by law on taxes levied for general
7    corporate purposes. A hospital organized under Article 170
8    or 175 of the Township Code, under the Town Hospital Act,
9    or under the Township Non-Sectarian Hospital Act is not
10    prohibited from levying taxes in support of tort liability
11    bonds if the taxes do not cause the hospital's aggregate
12    tax rate from exceeding the rate limitation imposed by law
13    on taxes levied for general corporate purposes.
14    Revenues derived from such tax shall be paid to the
15treasurer of the local taxing entity as collected and used for
16the purposes of this Section and of Section 9-102, 9-103, 9-104
17or 9-105, as the case may be. If payments on account of such
18taxes are insufficient during any year to meet such purposes,
19the entity may issue tax anticipation warrants against the
20current tax levy in the manner provided by statute.
21(Source: P.A. 95-244, eff. 8-17-07; 95-723, eff. 6-23-08.)