HB7327 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB093 23355 DRH 53336 b

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004
HB7327

Introduced 9/23/2004, by Rep. Robert W. Pritchard

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

605 ILCS 10/10

from Ch. 121, par. 100-10

Amends the Toll Highway Act. Provides that the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority must obtain the approval of the General Assembly for future toll increases and for any toll increases effective within the 6 months preceding the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the General Assembly's rejection or reduction of any toll increase is binding upon the Authority. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning transportation.

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

Section 5. The Toll Highway Act is amended by changing Section 10 as follows:

(605 ILCS 10/10) (from Ch. 121, par. 100-10)

Sec. 10. The Authority shall have power:

(a) To pass resolutions, make by-laws, rules and regulations for the management, regulation and control of its affairs, and to fix tolls, and to make, enact and enforce all needful rules and regulations in connection with the construction, operation, management, care, regulation or protection of its property or any toll highways, constructed or reconstructed hereunder.

(a-5) To fix, assess, and collect civil fines for a vehicle's operation on a toll highway without the required toll having been paid. The Authority may establish by rule a system of civil administrative adjudication to adjudicate only alleged instances of a vehicle's operation on a toll highway without the required toll having been paid, as detected by the Authority's video surveillance system. Rules establishing a system of civil administrative adjudication must provide for written notice of the alleged violation and an opportunity to be heard on the question of the violation and must provide for the establishment of a toll-free telephone number to receive inquiries concerning alleged violations. Only civil fines may be imposed by administrative adjudication. A fine may be imposed under this paragraph only if a violation is established by a preponderance of the evidence. Judicial review of all final orders of the Authority under this paragraph shall be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Review Law.

(b) To prescribe rules and regulations applicable to traffic on highways under the jurisdiction of the Authority, concerning:

(1) Types of vehicles permitted to use such highways or parts thereof, and classification of such vehicles;

(2) Designation of the lanes of traffic to be used by the different types of vehicles permitted upon said highways;

(3) Stopping, standing, and parking of vehicles;

(4) Control of traffic by means of police officers or traffic control signals;

(5) Control or prohibition of processions, convoys, and assemblages of vehicles and persons;

(6) Movement of traffic in one direction only on designated portions of said highways;

(7) Control of the access, entrance, and exit of vehicles and persons to and from said highways; and

(8) Preparation, location and installation of all traffic signs; and to prescribe further rules and regulations applicable to such traffic, concerning matters not provided for either in the foregoing enumeration or in the Illinois Vehicle Code. Notice of such rules and regulations shall be posted conspicuously and displayed at appropriate points and at reasonable intervals along said highways, by clearly legible markers or signs, to provide notice of the existence of such rules and regulations to persons traveling on said highways. At each toll station, the Authority shall make available, free of charge, pamphlets containing all of such rules and regulations.

(c) The Authority, in fixing the rate for tolls for the privilege of using the said toll highways, is authorized and directed, in fixing such rates, to base the same upon annual estimates to be made, recorded and filed with the Authority. Said estimates shall include the following: The estimated total amount of the use of the toll highways; the estimated amount of the revenue to be derived therefrom, which said revenue, when added to all other receipts and income, will be sufficient to pay the expense of maintaining and operating said toll highways, including the administrative expenses of the Authority, and to discharge all obligations of the Authority as they become due and payable.

(c-1) If the Authority determines that an increase in tolls is justified:

(1) The Authority must submit a report, to be filed with both houses of General Assembly, the Comptroller, and the Secretary of State, explaining the necessity for the increase.

(2) Each house of the General Assembly must, within 30 session days after that house next convenes after the date on which the report was filed, conduct a record vote on the proposed increase.

(3) If a majority of the members of both houses vote against the proposed increase, the General Assembly may adopt a resolution rejecting or reducing the proposed increase.

A resolution adopted under this subsection (c-1) shall be binding upon the Authority.

(c-2) If any increase in tolls has taken effect within the 6 months preceding the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly:

(1) The Authority must submit a report, to be filed with both houses of the General Assembly, the Comptroller, and the Secretary of State, indicating the amount of the increase.

(2) Each house of the General Assembly must, no later than April 30, 2005, conduct a record vote with regard to the increase in tolls.

(3) If a majority of the members of both houses vote against the increase in tolls, the General Assembly may, no later than May 31, 2005, adopt a resolution rejecting or reducing the increase and providing that:

(A) the amount of toll to be collected in the future shall be reduced to the amount that was collected before the increase went into effect; or

(B) the amount of toll to be collected in the future shall be reduced according to the terms of the adopted resolution.

A resolution adopted under this subsection (c-2) shall be binding upon the Authority.

(d) To accept from any municipality or political subdivision any lands, easements or rights in land needed for the operation, construction, relocation or maintenance of any toll highways, with or without payment therefor, and in its discretion to reimburse any such municipality or political subdivision out of its funds for any cost or expense incurred in the acquisition of land, easements or rights in land, in connection with the construction and relocation of the said toll highways, widening, extending roads, streets or avenues in connection therewith, or for the construction of any roads or streets forming extension to and connections with or between any toll highways, or for the cost or expense of widening, grading, surfacing or improving any existing streets or roads or the construction of any streets and roads forming extensions of or connections with any toll highways constructed, relocated, operated, maintained or regulated hereunder by the Authority. Where property owned by a municipality or political subdivision is necessary to the construction of an approved toll highway, if the Authority cannot reach an agreement with such municipality or political subdivision and if the use to which the property is being put in the hands of the municipality or political subdivision is not essential to the existence or the administration of such municipality or political subdivision, the Authority may acquire the property by condemnation.

(Source: P.A. 89-120, eff. 7-7-95.)

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