SB3096 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 37845 JAG 67975 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB3096

Introduced 2/2/2024, by Sen. Dale Fowler

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Department of Natural Resources Sahara Woods State Recreation Area Act. Authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to enter into a public-private agreement to develop, construct, finance, lease, manage, and operate campground facilities at Sahara Woods State Recreation Area. Authorizes the Director of Natural Resources to enter into discussions with interested persons prior to soliciting requests for proposals. Directs the Department to comply with specified provisions of the Illinois Procurement Code. Describes the request-for-proposal process that is to be employed. Contains provisions concerning the payment of prevailing wages and the use of project labor agreements. Specifies that the term of any public-private agreement entered into under the Act shall be no less than 25 years and no more than 99 years. Defines terms. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning conservation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Department of Natural Resources Sahara Woods State Recreation Area Act.

Section 5. Legislative intent. The General Assembly finds that authorizing the Department of Natural Resources to enter into a public-private partnership for the development, construction, maintenance, or operation of campground facilities at Sahara Woods State Recreation Area will allow greater utilization of the Area and is in the best interest of the State and the local community.

Section 10. Definitions.

"Contractor" means a person who has been selected to enter or has entered into a public-private agreement with the Department on behalf of the State for the development, financing, management, or operation of campgrounds facilities at Sahara Woods State Recreational Area pursuant to this Act.

"Department" means the Department of Natural Resources.

"Director" means the Director of Natural Resources.

"Maintain" or "maintenance" includes ordinary maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, capital maintenance, replacement, and any other categories of maintenance that may be designated by the Department.

"Offeror" means a person who responds to a request for proposals under this Act.

"Operate" or "operation" means to do one or more of the following: maintain, improve, equip, modify, or otherwise operate.

"Person" means any individual, firm, association, joint venture, partnership, estate, trust, syndicate, fiduciary, corporation, or any other legal entity, group, or combination thereof.

"Public-private agreement" means an agreement or contract between the Department and the contractor on behalf of the State and all schedules, exhibits, and attachments thereto, entered into pursuant to a competitive request for proposals process governed by this Act, for the development, construction, financing, management and operation of campground facilities at Sahara Woods State Recreation Area under this Act.

"Revenues" means all revenues, including, but not limited to, income, user fees, earnings, interest, lease payments, allocations, moneys from the federal government, the State, and units of local government, including, but not limited to, federal, State, and local appropriations, grants, loans, lines of credit, and credit guarantees; bond proceeds; equity investments; service payments; or other receipts arising out of or in connection with the development, construction, financing, development, management, or operation of campground facilities at Sahara Woods State Recreation Area.

"Sahara Woods State Recreation Area" means real property in Carrier Mills, Illinois, consisting of approximately 4,000 acres of vacated strip mine land including the 98 acre Sahara Lake and numerous strip cuts that make up approximately 270 acres of fishable water.

Section 15. Authority to enter public-private agreement. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the Department, on behalf of the State, may enter into a public-private agreement to develop, construct, finance, lease, manage, and operate campground facilities at Sahara Woods State Recreation Area on behalf of the State, pursuant to which the contractors may receive certain revenues, including management or user fees in consideration of the payment of moneys to the State for that right.

Section 20. Engagement prior to request for proposals. The Director or the Director's designee may, prior to soliciting requests for proposals, enter into discussions with interested persons in order to assess existing market conditions and demands, provided that no such interested persons shall have any role in drafting any request for proposals, nor shall any request for proposal be provided to any interested person prior to its general public distribution. The Director may issue a request for qualifications that requests interested persons to provide such information as the Director deems necessary in order to evaluate the qualifications of such interested persons. This may include, but is not limited to, the ability of interested persons to acquire the property, as determined by the Director. Such engagement and discussions with interested persons are exempt from Sections 50-10.5, 50-39, 50-40, 50-45, and 50-50 of the Illinois Procurement Code.

Section 25. Requests for proposals. If requests for proposals are made by the Department, the Department shall comply with the competitive request for proposals process under Article 20 of the Illinois Procurement Code, rules adopted under that Code, and this Act.

Section 30. Request for proposal process.

(a) The Department, on behalf of the State, may select a contractor through a competitive request for proposals process under Article 20 of the Illinois Procurement Code and rules adopted under that Article of the Code.

(b) The competitive request for proposals process shall solicit statements of qualification and proposals from offerors.

(c) In addition to any requirements under Article 20 of the Illinois Procurement Code, the competitive request for proposals process may take into account the following criteria:

(1) the offeror's plans for the campgrounds project at Sahara Woods State Recreation Area;

(2) the offeror's current and past business practices; and

(3) the offeror's poor or inadequate past performance in developing, financing, constructing, managing, or operating other historic landmark properties or other public assets.

Section 35. Provisions of the public-private agreement.

(a) The public-private agreement may include, but is not limited to, the following:

(1) the powers, duties, responsibilities, obligations, and functions of the Department and the contractor;

(2) compensation or payments to the Department, if applicable;

(3) compensation or payments to the contractor, if applicable;

(4) a provision specifying that the Department:

(A) has ready access to information regarding the contractor's powers, duties, responsibilities, obligations, and functions under the public-private agreement;

(B) has the right to demand and receive information from the contractor concerning any aspect of the contractor's powers, duties, responsibilities, obligations, and functions under the public-private agreement; and

(C) has the authority to direct or countermand decisions by the contractor at any time.

(5) the authority of the contractor to impose user fees and the amounts of those fees;

(6) a provision governing the deposit and allocation of revenues, including user fees;

(7) a provision governing rights to real and personal property of the State, the Department, the contractor, and other third parties;

(8) rights and remedies of the Department if the contractor defaults or otherwise fails to comply with the terms of the agreement; and

(9) all other terms, conditions, and provisions acceptable to the Department that the Department deems necessary and proper and in the public interest.

Section 40. Labor.

(a) A public-private agreement related to Sahara Woods State Recreation Area pertaining to the building, altering, repairing, maintaining, improving, or demolishing of campground facilities shall require the contractor and all subcontractors to comply with the requirements of Section 30-22 of the Illinois Procurement Code as they apply to responsible bidders, including, but not limited to, all applicable provisions of the Prevailing Wage Act, and to present satisfactory evidence of that compliance to the Department, unless the project is federally funded and the application of those requirements would jeopardize the receipt or use of federal funds in support of the project.

(b) A public-private agreement related to Sahara Woods State Recreation Area pertaining to the building, altering, repairing, maintaining, improving, or demolishing campground facilities at the Area shall require the contractor and all subcontractors to enter into a project labor agreement used by the Capital Development Board.

Section 45. Term of agreement; reversion of property to the Department.

(a) The term of any public-private agreement entered into under this Act shall be no less than 25 years and no more than 99 years.

(b) The Department may terminate the contractor's authority and duties under the public-private agreement on the date set forth in the public-private agreement. The Department may also terminate the public-private agreement pursuant to any clause or condition as set forth in the public-private agreement.

(c) Upon termination of the public-private agreement, the authority, and duties of the contractor under this Act cease, except for those duties and obligations that extend beyond the termination, as set forth in the public-private agreement, and all interests in the campground facilities at Sahara Woods State Recreation Area shall revert to the Department.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.