HB2937eng 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB2937 Engrossed LRB100 10173 AXK 20354 b

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 9.12 as follows:

(605 ILCS 10/9.12)

Sec. 9.12. Land disclosure requirements. The Authority may not enter into any contract relating to the ownership or use of real property unless the identity of every owner and beneficiary having any interest, real or personal, in the property and every member, shareholder, limited partner, or general partner entitled to receive more than 7 1/2% of the total distributable income of any limited liability company, corporation, or limited partnership having any interest, real or personal, in the property is disclosed. The disclosure shall be in writing and shall be subscribed by a member, owner, authorized trustee, corporate official, general partner, or managing agent, or his or her authorized attorney, under oath. However, if the interest, stock, or shares in a limited liability company, corporation, or general partnership are publicly traded and there is no readily known individual having greater than a 7 1/2% interest, then a statement subscribed to under oath by a member, officer of the corporation, general partner, or managing agent, or his or her authorized attorney, shall fulfill the disclosure statement requirement of this Section. As a condition of contracts entered into on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly, the beneficiaries of a trust shall furnish the trustee of a trust subject to disclosure under this Section with a binding non-revocable letter of direction authorizing the trustee to provide the Authority with an up-to-date disclosure whenever requested by the Authority. The letter of direction shall be binding on the beneficiaries' heirs, successors, and assigns during the term of the contract. This Section shall be liberally construed to accomplish the purpose of requiring the identification of the actual parties benefiting from any transaction with the Authority involving the procurement of the ownership or use of real property thereby.

If an entity is wholly or partially owned by another entity, the names of the owners of the wholly or partially owning entity shall be disclosed under this Section as well as the names of the owners of the wholly or partially owned entity.

(a) Disclosure required. The Authority may not enter into any agreement or understanding for the use or acquisition of land that is intended to be used or acquired for toll highway purposes unless full disclosure of all beneficial interests in the land is made under this Section.

(b) Condemnation proceedings. If the Authority commences condemnation proceedings to acquire land that is intended to be used or acquired for toll highway purposes, the holders of all beneficial interests in the land must make full disclosure under this Section unless the court determines that the disclosure would cause irreparable harm to one or more holders of a beneficial interest.

(c) Beneficial interests. Each holder of any beneficial interest in the land, including without limitation beneficial interests in a land trust, must be disclosed, including both individuals and other entities. If any beneficial interest is held by an entity, other than an entity whose shares are publicly traded, and not by an individual, then all the holders of any beneficial interest in that entity must be disclosed. This requirement continues at each level of holders of beneficial interests until all beneficial interests of all individuals in all entities, other than entities whose shares are publicly traded, have been disclosed.

(d) Written statement. Disclosure must be made by a written statement filed (i) with the Authority contemporaneously with the execution of the agreement or understanding or (ii) in the case of a condemnation proceeding, with the Authority and the court within a time period ordered by the court. Each individual and entity must be disclosed by name and address and by a description of the interest held, including the percentage interest in the land held by the individual or entity. The statement must be verified, subject to penalty of perjury, by the individual who holds the greatest percentage of beneficial interest in the land.

(e) Recordation. The Authority must file the statement of record with the recorder of each county in which any part of the land is located within 3 business days after the statement is filed with the Authority.

(f) Agreements and understandings void. Any agreement or understanding in violation of this Act is void.

(g) Penalty. A person who knowingly violates this Section is guilty of a business offense and shall be fined $10,000.

(h) Other disclosure requirements. The disclosure required under this Act is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other disclosure required by law.

(Source: P.A. 92-759, eff. 8-2-02.)