Public Act 098-0384
 
HB1295 EnrolledLRB098 07448 OMW 37516 b

    AN ACT concerning local government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Illinois Urban Development Authority Act is
amended by changing Sections 2 and 3 as follows:
 
    (70 ILCS 531/2)
    Sec. 2. Findings. The General Assembly hereby determines
and declares that:
        (1) the economic burdens resulting from involuntary
    unemployment fall in part upon the State in the form of
    increased need for public assistance, reduced tax
    revenues, and increased resources devoted to crime
    prevention and incarceration and that the unemployed
    worker and his or her family may migrate outside the State
    to find work and such migration will reduce the tax
    revenues of local governments and the State of Illinois,
    thereby endangering their financial ability to support
    necessary governmental services for their remaining
    inhabitants;
        (2) the State has a responsibility to help create a
    favorable climate for new and improved job opportunities
    for all of its citizens, especially in areas with high
    economic distress, by encouraging the development of
    commercial and service businesses and industrial and
    manufacturing plants and creating job opportunities;
        (3) the State has a responsibility to increase and
    improve post-release employment opportunities for
    ex-offenders and reduce recidivism rates through the
    combined resources and expertise of providers of workforce
    development, supportive services, and private enterprises;
        (4) a lack of decent housing contributes to urban
    blight, crime, anti-social behavior, disease, a higher
    need for public assistance, reduced tax revenues, and the
    migration of workers and their families away from areas
    that fail to offer adequate, decent, affordable housing;
        (5) decent, affordable housing is a necessary
    ingredient of life affording each citizen basic human
    dignity, a sense of self worth, confidence, and a firm
    foundation upon which to build a family and educate
    children; and
        (6) in order to foster civic and neighborhood pride,
    citizens require access to educational institutions,
    recreation, parks and open spaces, entertainment and
    sports, a reliable transportation network, cultural
    facilities, and theaters.
    It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of
Illinois, in the interest of promoting industrial, commercial,
residential, jobs, service, transportation, and facilities,
thereby reducing the evils attendant upon unemployment, crime,
and recidivism and enhancing the public health, safety, morals,
happiness, and general welfare of this State specifically by
making available through the Illinois Urban Development
Authority, funds for industrial projects, commercial projects,
transportation projects, and housing projects to a
municipality with a municipal poverty rate greater than 3% in
excess of the statewide average.
(Source: P.A. 96-234, eff. 1-1-10.)
 
    (70 ILCS 531/3)
    Sec. 3. Definitions. The following terms, whenever used or
referred to in this Act, shall have the following meanings,
except in such instances where the context may clearly indicate
otherwise:
    "Authority" means the Illinois Urban Development Authority
created by this Act.
    "Board" means the Illinois Urban Development Authority
Board of Directors.
    "Bonds" shall include bonds, notes, or other evidence of
indebtedness.
    "Commercial project" means any project, including but not
limited to one or more buildings and other structures,
improvements, machinery, and equipment whether or not on the
same site or sites now existing or hereafter acquired, suitable
for use by any retail or wholesale concern, distributorship, or
agency, any cultural facilities of a for-profit or
not-for-profit type including but not limited to educational,
theatrical, recreational and entertainment, sports facilities,
racetracks, stadiums, convention centers, exhibition halls,
arenas, opera houses and theaters, waterfront improvements,
swimming pools, boat storage, moorage, docking facilities,
restaurants, coliseums, sports training facilities, parking
facilities, terminals, hotels and motels, gymnasiums, medical
facilities, and port facilities.
    "Costs incurred in connection with the development,
construction, acquisition, or improvement of a project" means
the cost of purchase and construction of all lands and
improvements in connection with a project and equipment and
other property, rights, easements, and franchises acquired
that are deemed necessary for such construction; financing
charges; interest costs with respect to bonds, notes, and other
evidences of indebtedness of the Authority prior to and during
construction and for a period of 6 months thereafter;
engineering and legal expenses; the costs of plans,
specifications, surveys, and estimates of costs and other
expenses necessary or incident to determining the feasibility
or practicability of any project, together with such other
expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing,
insuring, acquisition, and construction of a specific project
and the placing of the same in operation.
    "Develop" or "development" means to do one or more of the
following: plan, design, develop, lease, acquire, install,
construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, extend, or expand.
    "Financial aid" means the expenditure of Authority funds or
funds provided by the Authority through the issuance of its
revenue bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness for
the development, construction, acquisition, or improvement of
a project.
    "Governmental agency" means any federal, State or local
governmental body, and any agency or instrumentality thereof,
corporate or otherwise.
    "Governor" means the Governor of the State of Illinois.
    "Housing project" or "residential project" includes a
specific work or improvement undertaken to provide dwelling
accommodations, including the acquisition, construction,
leasing, or rehabilitation of lands, buildings, and community
facilities and in connection therewith to provide nonhousing
facilities which are an integral part of a planned large-scale
project or new community.
    "Industrial project" means (1) a capital project,
including one or more buildings and other structures,
improvements, machinery, and equipment whether or not on the
same site or sites now existing or hereafter acquired, suitable
for use by any manufacturing, industrial, research,
transportation, or commercial enterprise including but not
limited to use as a factory, mill, processing plant, assembly
plant, packaging plant, fabricating plant, office building,
industrial distribution center, warehouse, repair, overhaul or
service facility, freight terminal, research facility, test
facility, railroad facility, solid waste and wastewater
treatment and disposal sites and other pollution control
facilities, resource or waste reduction, recovery, treatment
and disposal facilities, and including also the sites thereof
and other rights in land therefor whether improved or
unimproved, site preparation and landscaping and all
appurtenances and facilities incidental thereto such as
utilities, access roads, railroad sidings, truck docking and
similar facilities, parking facilities, dockage, wharfage,
railroad roadbed, track, trestle, depot, terminal, switching,
and signaling equipment or related equipment and other
improvements necessary or convenient thereto; or (2) any land,
buildings, machinery or equipment comprising an addition to or
renovation, rehabilitation or improvement of any existing
capital project.
    "Lease agreement" means an agreement whereby a project
acquired by the Authority by purchase, gift, or lease is leased
to any person or corporation that will use or cause the project
to be used as a project as defined in this Act upon terms
providing for lease rental payments at least sufficient to pay
when due all principal of and interest and premium, if any, on
any bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness of the
Authority issued with respect to such project, providing for
the maintenance, insurance, and operation of the project on
terms satisfactory to the Authority, and providing for
disposition of the project upon termination of the lease term,
including purchase options or abandonment of the premises, with
such other terms as may be deemed desirable by the Authority.
The Authority may, directly or indirectly, lease or otherwise
transfer property the Authority owns to another and such leased
property shall remain tax exempt.
    "Loan agreement" means any agreement pursuant to which the
Authority agrees to loan the proceeds of its bonds, notes, or
other evidences of indebtedness issued with respect to a
project to any person or corporation that will use or cause the
project to be used as a project as defined in this Act upon
terms providing for loan repayment installments at least
sufficient to pay when due all principal and interest and
premium, if any, on any bonds, notes, or other evidences of
indebtedness of the Authority issued with respect to the
project, providing for maintenance, insurance, and operation
of the project on terms satisfactory to the Authority and
providing for other matters as may be deemed advisable by the
Authority.
    "Maintain" or "maintenance" includes ordinary maintenance,
repair, rehabilitation, capital maintenance, maintenance
replacement, and any other categories of maintenance that may
be designated by the local, regional, or State transportation
agency.
    "Municipal poverty rate" is the percentage of total
population of the municipality having income levels below the
poverty level as determined by the Authority based upon the
most recent data released by the United States Census Bureau
before the beginning of such calendar year.
    "Occupational license" means a license issued by the
Illinois Gaming Board to a person or entity to perform an
occupation which the Illinois Gaming Board has identified as
requiring a license to engage in riverboat, dockside, or
land-based gambling in Illinois.
    "Operate" or "operation" means to do one or more of the
following: maintain, improve, equip, modify, or otherwise
operate.
    "Person" means any natural person, firm, partnership,
corporation, both domestic and foreign, company, association,
or joint stock association and includes any trustee, receiver,
assignee, or personal representative thereof.
    "Project" means an industrial, housing, residential,
commercial, transportation, or service project, or any
combination thereof, provided that all uses shall fall within
one of those categories. Any project, of any nature whatsoever,
shall automatically include all site improvements and new
construction involving sidewalks, sewers, solid waste and
wastewater treatment and disposal sites and other pollution
control facilities, resource or waste reduction, recovery,
treatment and disposal facilities, parks, open spaces,
wildlife sanctuaries, streets, highways, and runways.
    "Revenue bond" means any bond issued by the Authority under
the supervision of the Illinois Finance Authority, the
principal and interest of which are payable solely from
revenues or income derived from any project or activity of the
Authority.
    "Transportation facility" means any new or existing road,
highway, toll highway, bridge, tunnel, intermodal facility,
intercity or high-speed passenger rail, or other
transportation facility or infrastructure, excluding airports.
The term "transportation facility" may refer to one or more
transportation facilities that are proposed to be developed or
operated as part of a single transportation project.
    "Transportation project" means one or more transportation
improvement projects including, but not limited to, new or
existing roads or highways, new or expanded intermodal
projects, and new or expanded transit projects,
transit-oriented development, intercity rail, and passenger
rail. "Transportation project" does not include airport
projects.
(Source: P.A. 96-234, eff. 1-1-10.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.