HB6293 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 20910 RLJ 36713 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB6293

Introduced 2/11/2010, by Rep. Raymond Poe

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
735 ILCS 30/15-5-45
735 ILCS 30/25-5-30 new

Creates the Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority Act. Provides for the creation of the Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority for the purpose of consolidating rail traffic in Sangamon County. Provides that the Authority shall be governed by a board of directors. Provides that the board shall consist of 4 members. Sets forth the membership, terms, and powers of the board. Authorizes the board to acquire property by eminent domain. Amends the Eminent Domain Act to authorize eminent domain powers under the Act. Provides that quick-take proceeding may be used by the Authority for the acquisition of property located within Sangamon County for the purpose of consolidating rail traffic. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

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 Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority Act.

Section 5. Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority. There is hereby created an authority known as the Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority, which shall be an Illinois political subdivision, municipal corporation, and unit of local government.

Section 10. Appointment of Board of Directors.

(a) The Board of Directors shall have 4 directors. The directors shall be appointed as follows:

(1) 2 directors shall be appointed by the Mayor of the City of Springfield, with the advice and consent of the Springfield City Council; and

(2) 2 directors shall be appointed by the Chairperson of the Sangamon County Board, with the advice and consent of the Sangamon County Board.

(b) The appointing officers shall make their initial appointments within 60 days after the effective date of this Act. The failure of an appointing authority to make an appointment shall not affect the establishment of the Authority or the exercise of its powers.

Section 15. Terms, vacancies, and removal.

(a) Directors shall serve for a 4-year term. Directors shall hold office until their respective successors have been appointed and qualified. Directors may be reappointed and may serve consecutive terms.

(b) A vacancy in office shall occur upon a director's resignation, death, or disqualification under the laws of this State or any other state or under the laws of the United States or upon removal by the appointing official, as provided in subsection (c) of this Section. In the event of a vacancy, the appointing officer who appointed the director whose position is vacant shall make an appointment to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same manner as provided for the appointment of directors.

(c) Any director may be removed from office by the official or successor who appointed that director for incompetence, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.

Section 20. Meetings; quorum.

(a) As soon as practical after the effective date of this Act, the Board shall organize for the transaction of business. The Board may organize and conduct business when a majority of the members have been appointed. The Board shall prescribe the time and place for meetings, the place of the principal office of the Authority (which shall be in Sangamon County), the manner in which special meetings may be called, the notice that must be given to directors of any meeting of the Board, and the notice that must be given to the public of meetings of the Board. The Board shall promulgate the by-laws of the Authority. A majority of the total number of directors holding office at any time shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

(b) All substantive action of the Board shall be by resolution. The concurrence of a majority of the total number of directors then holding office shall be necessary for the adoption of any resolution. No action may be taken by the board until at least a majority of the directors have been appointed and qualified.

Section 25. Compensation. Directors shall not receive compensation, but shall be reimbursed for their reasonable and actual expenses incurred in serving the Authority.

Section 30. Chairperson; officers. The Chairperson shall preside at the meetings of the Board and shall be entitled to vote on all matters. The Board shall select a Vice-Chairperson (who shall preside in the Chairperson's absence), and may provide for other officers of the Authority as deemed to be necessary. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, officers of the Authority may, but need not, be directors.

Section 35. Expenses. Expenses of the Authority shall be shared and paid on an equal basis by the City of Springfield and Sangamon County.

Section 40. Powers.

(a) The Authority shall have the power to sue and be sued.

(b) The Authority may take and acquire possession by eminent domain of property or interests that the Authority reasonably deems necessary or appropriate to consolidate rail traffic in Sangamon County, including high speed rail traffic, rail freight traffic, and other rail passenger traffic. The power of eminent domain shall be exercised by the Authority only as authorized by resolution of the Authority, and shall extend to all types of interests in property, both real and personal, including, without limitation, easements for access or open space purposes and rights of concurrent usage of existing or planned facilities. The powers given to the Authority under this Section include the power to condemn or otherwise acquire, and to convey, substitute property when the Authority reasonably determines that monetary compensation will not be sufficient or practical just compensation for property acquired by the Authority in connection with the consolidation of rail traffic in Sangamon County. The acquisition of substitute property is declared to be for public use. The Authority shall exercise the power of eminent domain granted in this Section with respect to property located within the State of Illinois in the manner provided for the exercise of the right of eminent domain under the Code of Civil Procedure and the Eminent Domain Act. The power to condemn may include condemnation by quick-take to the extent and within the limits authorized under Article 20 of the Eminent Domain Act.

Section 45. Limitation on actions. The Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act shall apply to the Authority and all its directors, officers, and employees.

Section 50. The Eminent Domain Act is amended by changing Section 15-5-45 and by adding Section 25-5-30 as follows:

(735 ILCS 30/15-5-45)

Sec. 15-5-45. Eminent domain powers in new Acts. The following provisions of law may include express grants of the power to acquire property by condemnation or eminent domain:

Massac-Metropolis Port District Act; Massac-Metropolis Port District; for general purposes.

Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority Act; Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority; for rail traffic consolidation purposes.

(Source: P.A. 96-838, eff. 12-16-09.)

(735 ILCS 30/25-5-30 new)

Sec. 25-5-30. Quick-take; Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority. Quick-take proceedings under Article 20 may be jointly used by the Springfield-Sangamon County Rail Consolidation Authority for the acquisition of real property in Sangamon County for the consolidation of rail freight traffic that the Authority deems necessary or appropriate to expand the rail corridor adjacent to 10th Street where the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company currently operates freight trains, to expand the rail corridor adjacent to 15th Street where the Illinois & Midland Railroad currently operates its freight trains, to acquire the right-of-way appropriate to connect the foregoing rail corridors to the existing Union Pacific Railroad Company tracks and carry the projected increased Union Pacific Railroad Company freight traffic and high speed rail trains over the new connections and in the expanded corridors described above, or to enable the Union Pacific Railroad Company tracks to cross or pass over the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company tracks or vice versa.

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