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The Legislative Scene
Legislature faces large workload By Peter M. Murphy, Legal/Legislative Counsel When the April 12th bill deadline for the Illinois General Assembly finally arrived, the House had introduced 2,525 bills and the Senate more than 1,460. This workload exceeds the bill introductions of prior odd-numbered legislative sessions when the bulk of substantive legislation is introduced. The large number of bills vying for the attention of the legislature means that substantial efforts will have to be made by you and the rest of the membership in order to communicate the significance of our legislative platform. Please take the time to acquaint yourself with each proposal on the platform (attached) and share it with your local legislators. Call the IAPD offices if you have any questions or would like to have additional copies of the platform. Other bills introduced affecting park, forest preserve and conservation districts include: HB 18 which amends the Gas Revenue Tax Act and the Public Utilities Revenue Act to change the rate of the tax imposed by the Gas Revenue Tax Act from 5 percent of gross receipts to 2.1 cents per therm of gas sold. HB 112 which amends the Physical Fitness Services Act. Requires a physical fitness center to have available and on its premises, at all times during which persons are engaged in physical fitness activities, at least one person who holds a valid certificate indicating that he has successfully completed a course of training in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). HB 322 which deletes the provision that a municipality may require lands to be dedicated for certain public purposes before approving a plat whenever the resonable requirements of the ordinance, including the official map, indicates the necessity for such dedication. In lieu thereof, it provides for such dedication only for purposes reasonably determined to be necessary at the time the plat is to be approved or in the immediate future. HB 455 amending the Freedom of Information Act to prohibit a public body from requiring a fee for inspection of public records where a person has requested mere inspection of such records and where compliance with the inspection request would not cause an undue burden on the operation of the public body. HB 564 which provides that no unit of local government or other public authority may reject a bid on the ground that the bidder or his employees are not residents of that unit of local government in which the project is located. HB 707 which amends the Open Meetings Act to provide that a meeting in which the acquisition or sale of real estate is being considered, except the portion of such meeting in which final action is taken, may be closed to the public. HB 769 which amends the Local Government Tax Collection Act by deleting a provision requiring the county clerk, if a taxing district elects to receive interest on collected but undistributed taxes, to reduce the tax rate of the taxing district to offset the interest received. It also deletes the provision requiring the county treasurer to have published a notification concerning the use of interest on collected but undistributed taxes. HB 900 which amends the Revenue Act of 1939 to provide that the equalized assessed value of property to be used in 1986 for extension of 1985 tax levies and tax levies filed in 1985 shall be equalized assessed value for such property for 1984 plus adjustments. Effective Jan. 1, 1986. SB 42 which amends the School Code to provide that a school board may not pay national association membership dues to any school association whose purposes include providing athletic competition among schools and students if the association prohibits the student from participating in activities conducted outside the jurisdiction of the association. Proposals to create a Police Officers' Collective Bargaining Act initiated the 1985 legislative session by being among the first bills introduced. House Bill 7 and SB 2 would permit organizational representation and collective bargaining, and prohibit strikes, work stoppages or slowdowns by peace officers. Revenue Legislation having a significant impact on the revenue raising ability Illinois Parks and Recreation 30 May/June 1985 of local governments currently includes: HB 84 which would increase both the senior citizens and regular homestead exemptions by $1,000 beginning in 1985. HB 226 which includes disabled persons in the $2,000 homestead exemption now available to senior citizens. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) estimates the loss to all local governments as a result of this proposal at $3.1 million per year. HB 308 amending the Revenue Act of 1939 to authorize, until Jan. 1, 1986, any county of over 100,000 and under 1,000,000 population to divide into four assessment districts for purpose of the quadrennial assessment system. SB 274 which provides that property owners seeking before the county assessor, supervisor of assessments or board of assessors a revision or correction of property valuation in excess of $100,000 furnish a copy of the complaint and other relevant documents to all taxing districts that received or would have received more than 10 percent of such taxpayer's most recent taxes for such property. SB 441 which amends the Revenue Act of 1939 to provide that, in counties over 1,000,000 population, taxing districts have standing to the challenge complaints seeking changes in assessments of $100,000 or more. It also requires that taxing districts be notified of such complaints. Representative Carol Mosley Braun (D-Chicago) is the sponsor of HB 320 which authorizes the State Board of Education to make grants to school districts, units of local government and 501(c)(3) organizations that provide before and after school extracurricular programs. To qualify for a grant, an applicant must establish that the program will be coordinated by and conducted under the supervision of a certified teacher. Build Illinois Governor Thompson's Build Illinois proposal has taken shape in the form of HB 568 - HB 570. Principal sponsors are House Minority Leader Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst) and House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) Watch the progress of House Bill 569 which includes a $5 million appropriation for the local grant program under the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Act (OSLAD) and House Bill 570, which includes substantive amendments to the OSLAD in order to make the Department of Conservation (DOC) the administrating agency. The correspondence of park, forest preserve and conservation districts to the Governor's office on behalf of this program has played a key role in the attention and importance alotted it. DOC budget The Governor's budget message portends good news for the Illinois Department of Conservation (DOC). In it Thompson proposed a 51 percent increase in the funding levels of the DOC in order to "preserve and expand our precious natural resources, establish a work program for young people and make our State parks and local recreation areas more attractive for visitors." Subject to legislative approval, this represents a $41 million increase for the DOC's FY'86 budget, which begins July 1, 1985.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 31 May/June 1985 Fair Labor Standards Act On February 19, 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its earlier decision in National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 V.S. 833 (1976), which held that the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) were not applicable to state and local governments "in areas of traditional governmental functions." Parks and recreation were one of the functions that had previously been specifically identified by the Court. In requiring the Transit Authority to comply with the overtime and minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Court, in its 5-4 decision in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Authority, held that the attempt to draw boundaries of state regulatory immunity in terms of traditional governmental functions was unworkable and "inconsistent with established principles of federalism." The effect of the decision requires public employers to pay employees covered by the Act the minimum wage of $3.35 per hour. (Note that the Illinois minimum wage was scheduled to rise under Illinois law on July 1, 1985, to $3.35 per hour for all employees unless under the age of 18, in which case the minimum wage would have increased to $2.85 per hour.) The Fair Labor Standards Act applies the $3.35 wage to all hourly employees regardless of age. A more significant result of this decision is the requirement that public employers pay employees time and one-half for hours worked over 40 in a week. PAC campaign spending limits On March 18th, the United States Supreme Court in a 7 to 2 decision eliminated the spending limits imposed by the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act (Fund). The Act provides the Presidential candidates of major political parties with the option of receiving public financing for their campaigns. Once the candidate decides to accept public financing, the Act makes it a criminal offense for an independent political action committee (PAC) to spend more than $1,000 to assist a candidate's election. In its decision to remove the limit, the Court held that the free speech and association guarantees of the First Amendment protect unlimited independent campaign expenditures by PACs. It is interesting to note that the limit was not in effect during the 1980 and 1984 Presidential elections as a result of the issue being addressed by the courts. Consequently, while $29.4 million was provided to the campaigns of the Presidential candidates from the Fund in 1980, independent groups supplemented this amount with an additional $12.3 million of which $12,246,057 went to support the Reagan candidacy and $45,869 went to help Jimmy Carter. In 1984, independent expenditures came to $15.7 million for Reagan and $751,952 for Walter Mondale. The flat grant from the Fund totaled $40.4 million. Illinois' negligence standard Legislation is being introduced by the Alliance of American Insurers which would make substantial changes in the manner in which Illinois courts address negligence cases. In 1981, the Illinois Supreme Court, in the case of Alvis v. Ribar (85 111. 2d 1, 421 N.E., 2d 886), adopted a "pure" comparative negligence standard. This approach allows a plaintiff to recover monetary damages in spite of the fact that the greatest amount of negligence was attributable to such plaintiff. Under prior Illinois law, a finding of contributory negligence on the part of a plaintiff would act to bar his recovery of damages. The Alliance of American Insurers is seeking to replace Illinois' current "pure" comparative negligence standard with a modified negligence standard and to set limitations on Joint and Several Liability. (Joint and Several Liability enables a plaintiff to collect full damages from any one of a group of defendants without regard to degree of fault.) Under a "modified" form, a negligent plaintiff may recover, but only so long as the percentage of his fault does not exceed 50 percent of the total. Currently, six states operate under a contributory negligence doctrine, 14 follow a pure comparative negligence rule and 30 states operate under some form of a modified system.
The Oak Lawn Park District was represented at the legislative conference. Richard Barrett (left), Janet Swanson and Martin Larson talked with Rep. John McNamara (D-27), (far right). Illinois Parks and Recreation 33 May/June 1985 |
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