(70 ILCS 910/21) (from Ch. 23, par. 1271)
    Sec. 21. A District may secure the necessary funds to finance part or all of the cost of acquiring, establishing, constructing, developing, expanding, extending or further improving a hospital or hospital facilities within its corporate limits, through the issuance of bonds, the principal amount of which at any one time outstanding may not exceed 5.75% of the value, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, of all taxable property located within its corporate limits or, until January 1, 1983, if greater, the sum that is produced by multiplying the district's 1978 equalized assessed valuation by the debt limitation percentage in effect on January 1, 1979. However, no such District may issue bonds the principal amount of which, together with all other outstanding bonds, exceeds 1-1/2% of the value, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, of all taxable property located within its corporate limits, unless the proposition to issue such bonds has been submitted to the legal voters of such District at an election and has been approved by a majority of those voting upon the proposition.
    The question of issuing bonds in excess of 1-1/2% of the value of all taxable property located within the limits of the District must be submitted at an election. The Board of Directors shall certify the proposition to the proper election officials, who shall submit the proposition to the voters at an election in accordance with the general election law. The proposition shall be substantially as follows:
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    Shall.... Hospital District be            YES
authorized to issue bonds in the amount  --------------------------------------------------------------------
of $.... for the purpose of....?              NO
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    If a majority of the voters voting upon such question vote in favor thereof, the board of directors has the authority to adopt an ordinance providing for the issuance of the bonds.
    The ordinance must prescribe all details of the bonds and must state the time or times when bonds, and the interest thereon, become payable. The bonds are payable within 20 years from the date thereof and the interest payable thereon may not exceed the maximum rate authorized by the Bond Authorization Act, as amended at the time of the making of the contract. The ordinance must provide for the levy and collection of a direct annual tax upon all the taxable property within the corporate limits of such District sufficient to meet the principal and interest of the bonds as they mature, which tax is in addition to and in excess of any other tax authorized to be levied by the District.
    A certified copy of the ordinance providing for the issuance of bonds authorized by this Section must be filed with the county clerk of each county in which the District or any portion thereof is situated and constitutes the basis for the extension and collection of the tax necessary to pay the principal of and interest upon the bonds issued under the ordinance as they mature.
    Such bonds may be made registrable as to principal and may not be sold at less than par and accrued interest and are considered to be negotiable instruments. They must be executed by the chairman of the District and its secretary and must be sealed with the corporate seal of the District. The facsimile signatures of the chairman and the secretary of the District may be used on all interest coupons attached to the bonds instead of their actual signatures. In case any officer whose signature appears on the bonds, or any portion thereof, or in facsimile form to any coupons attached to the bonds, or any portion thereof, ceases to hold office before delivery of the bonds, his signature, nevertheless, is valid and sufficient for all purposes, as if he had remained in office until after the bonds had been delivered.
    A Hospital District may apply for and receive the grant or loan of money or other financial aid from the state or federal government or from any State or federal agency, department, bureau or board, necessary or useful for the undertaking, performance or execution of any of its corporate objects or purposes. Any such District may undertake the acquisition, establishment, construction, development or improvement of a hospital within its corporate limits and hospital facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto, in cooperation with or as a joint enterprise with the state or federal governments or with both the state and federal governments acting or represented by any State or federal agency, department, bureau or board.
    The District may not issue any bonds under this Section unless a public hearing, with adequate notice to the public, is held prior to the issuance of the bonds. Notice of the hearing giving the purpose, time and place of the hearing shall be published at least once, not more than 30 nor less than 15 days before the hearing, in one or more newspapers published in the district, and if there is none, in a newspaper published in the county and having general circulation in the district.
    No District shall issue bonds or levy and collect a tax pursuant to this Section other than to retire debt existing as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1983, if more than half of the territory of the District lies within a non home rule county with a population over 500,000 and if no part of the territory lies within a home rule county.
    With respect to instruments for the payment of money issued under this Section either before, on, or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1989, it is and always has been the intention of the General Assembly (i) that the Omnibus Bond Acts are and always have been supplementary grants of power to issue instruments in accordance with the Omnibus Bond Acts, regardless of any provision of this Act that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts, (ii) that the provisions of this Section are not a limitation on the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts, and (iii) that instruments issued under this Section within the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts are not invalid because of any provision of this Act that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts.
(Source: P.A. 86-4.)