Governor Edgar Calls for Statewide Tax Caps                                                                   By Peter M. Murphy                                                               IAPD General Counsel

Governor Jim Edgar during his State of the State Message on Wednesday, January 27, 1993 called for the imposition of property tax caps statewide.

In beginning this push for statewide property tax caps Governor Edgar stated:

Governor Edgar's comments have found their way into bill form in both the Illinois House (HOUSE BILL 48) and in the State Senate (SENATE BILL 1). On Tuesday, January 27th, preceding the Governor's State of the State Message, the Senate Executive Committee met to take testimony on SENATE BILL 1 sponsored by Senate President Pate Phillip. SENATE BILL 1 is designed to extend the property tax caps to Cook County, downstate counties and all home rule municipalities.

The Illinois Association of Park Districts testified extensively on this bill and reiterated the very serious and damaging effects that the property tax cap will have on Illinois' infrastructure if an exemption is not made for park and forest preserve district nonreferendum bonding ability. In concluding his remarks, Governor Edgar stated that "We must turn challenge into opportunity, apathy into involvement and adversity into advantage. Together we must work to build a tomorrow for Illinois that will allow future generations of Illinoisans to look back at our work with pride and gratitude."

I suggest that we take the Governor's words to heart if we are interested in seeing the continued growth of park and recreation opportunities for Illinois citizens. But we must use those words to join together to fight the extension of the property tax caps statewide, if such extension does not include the necessary amendments to make the property tax cap a workable policy for Illinois local government. The Governor's tax policy will wreak havoc on local government in Illinois, and it is our duty to share the drastic and negative impact of the tax cap with our constituents, the media and our elected state officials.

88th General Assembly
Elects Leadership

Here's the leadership line-up for the upcoming 88th General Assembly. In the House: HOUSE SPEAKER MICHAEL MADIGAN (D-Chicago) was re-elected for the sixth consecutive time. No other Speaker has held more than four consecutive terms.

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER LEE DANIELS (R-Addison) was also elected to a sixth consecutive term.

The breakdown in the House of Representatives is: DEMOCRATS-67; RE-

PUBLICANS-51.

In the Senate: JAMES "PATE" PHILIP (R-Elmhurst) was elected SENATE PRESIDENT after 18 years of Democratic control.

EMIL JONES (D-Chicago) was elected SENATE MINORITY LEADER.

The breakdown in the Senate is: REPUBLICANS-32; DEMOCRATS-27.

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There are 44 first-time Legislators in the House plus 3 former Legislators who did not serve in the 87th General Assembly. There are 22 new Senators of which 13 served as Representatives in the past General Assembly.

Legislative Leadership Announces
Early Adjournment

Both House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Pate Philip have announced their respective Chamber's schedule deadlines for the upcoming 88th General Assembly. The schedule reflects a May 28th adjournment date, a full month earlier than in past General Assemblies.

ISTEA Grants

Illinois will receive up to $20 million per year for the next six years under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). The Act requires states to set aside 10 percent of their share of surface transportation enhancement projects. This means approximately $2 million per year will be available for grants to local governments.

In addition to landscaping and scenic beautification, the funds may be used for constructing or improving bicycle and pedestrian trails; developing abandoned rail corridors; restoring historic rail facilities, streets, highways, bridges and buildings linked to transportation; accomplishing "streetscape" projects in small towns; purchasing important scenic and historic easements; and controlling outdoor advertising.

The program will be administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), which will work with the Department of Conservation (IDOC), the Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) and metropolitan planning agencies in selecting projects to be funded.

Projects that are selected will be funded on an 80-20 basis, with the project sponsor responsible for 20 percent of its costs. Engineering costs, as well as certain work performed by local people, may be considered as a portion of the local match.

This program will complement existing programs at IDOC, IHPA, IDOT, but will not be used to replace those programs. Projects should have a linkage or relationship to active transportation systems, and lesser priority will be given to projects designed solely for recreation, historic preservation or economic development.

ISTEA will provide approximately $150 billion during the next six years to improve the nation's highway, road and transportation infrastructure.

NATIONAL ISSUES

103rd Congress: Changes at
House Interior

When the 103rd Congress convened January 5, there were significant committee changes of particular interest to park and recreation advocates. For starters, the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs will be renamed the Committee on Natural Resources. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) will remain chair. About one quarter of membership will be new (see list). The subcommittee on energy and the environment, chaired by Rep. Peter Kostmayer (D-Pa.) prior to his defeat, will become the mining energy and environment subcommittee.

Jurisdiction over the Land and Water Conservation Fund state assistance will probably revert back to Rep. Bruce Vento's (D-Minn.) national parks and public lands subcommittee, which currently oversees LWCF federal land acquisition, rivers and trails, historic preservation and related functions.

New Members of the Committee
on Natural Resources

Democrats
Collin Peterson, Minn.
Carlos Romero-Barcelo, Puerto Rico
Karan English, Ariz.
Karen Shepherd, Utah
Nathan Deal, Ga.
Maurice Hinchey, N.Y.
Robert Underwood, Guam
(Three more may be named.)

Republicans
Richard Pombo, Calif.
Scott McInnis, Colo.
Jay Dickey, Ariz.
Ken Calvert, Calif.

LWCF Allocations

The National Park Service released the apportionment of $24.8 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriated for fiscal year 1993 for assistance grants to state and local governments. LWCF provides matching grants on a 50/50 basis to state and local units of government for the acquisition and development of public outdoor recreation areas and facilities. The allocation is determined by a formula prescribed in law which splits half the funds evenly between the states, and half based primarily on population. Funds are then administered through state liaison officers (SLO) appointed by the governor of each state. Illinois' share was approximately $900,000 for FY93.

NEW ACTION ON LWCF

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Urban Park And Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR) could be the focus of new congressional and executive amendments.

Action includes the following:

1. LWCF Act amendments will soon be proposed by Senator Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.). Among anticipated provisions is one directing that States/Locals receive one-half of the annual LWCF appropriation.

2. Rep. Bruce Vento (D-MN) may also propose amendments to LWCF which will include a predictable level of funding, a revised role for congress in certain LWCF planning processes, a new category of federal-aided "park" landscapes, and a loan authority.

3. Senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) may propose a $1 billion per year LWCF account not subject to the annual appropriation process. The executive branch would annually submit priorities.

4. Rep. William Natcher (D-Ky.) has directed preparation of an appropriation bill expected to include a $1 billion public facilities spending package including local park and recreation facilities.

In the short term, the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) has urged inclusion of LWCF statewide assistance and UPARR funding in a job/infrastructure initiative (LWCF $150 million, UPARR $75 million) in the FY93 supplemental appropriation bill. The NRPA request also includes $250 million for LWCF and $100 million for UPARR in the FY 94 Interior appropriations bill.

Illinois Gets New
Statutory Compilation

Illinois lawmakers are beginning the task of sorting out the new codification of Illinois laws. The "Illinois Compiled Statutes" became Illinois' official statutory code on January 1, 1993. It will replace the unofficial classification in the Illinois Revised Statutes and Illinois Annotated Statutes (Smith-Hurd).

The new compilation categorizes every existing Illinois law under one of nine topics. Each topic contains several chapters, which are numbered in multiples of five to allow for new chapters if needed.

The Legislative Reference Bureau designed the new compilation at the direction of the General Assembly. Instead of following the traditional method of proposing one or more huge codification bills for the General Assembly to enact as a new code, the LRB simply categorized each existing Illinois law into a new numbering system. Each law keeps its existing section numbers in the new system. A citation in the new system consists of a chapter number; a number designating the act within the chapter (also in multiples of five); and the section within that act.

For example, the Park District Code (Ill. Rev. ff.) is chapter 70, Act number 1205 in the new system. Section 8-1 of the Park Code on General Corporate Powers will be cited as:
70 ILCS 1205/8-1 (1992 State Bar Edition)

Reasons For Codification

The Legislative Research Unit reports that the numbering system used in the Illinois Revised and Annotated Statutes resulted from legal publishers' gradual revisions of the last official codification of the Illinois laws. This popularly accepted numbering system is owned by the publisher of those statutes. West Publishing Co. of St. Paul, Minnesota. Other legal publishers could not print Illinois statutes using this numbering system because West's system (although not the texts of the laws themselves) is copyrighted.

Another problem was the unwieldy structure that developed in the numbering system as new laws were added over the years. The resulting complexity — with some chapter numbers including fractions and other chapters excessively long — made finding some laws a challenge.

Public Act 86-523 (1989) directed the LRB to submit a plan for a comprehensive and systematic codification of Illinois statutes. The LRB did so in 1990, and after public hearings released a revised plan in the fall of 1991. Last year P.A. 87-1005 directed the LRB to file a complete plan organizing all existing Illinois statutes. The act says the new numbering system is in the public domain; thus anyone can use it. At present, both West Publishing Co. and the Michie Co. of Charlottesville, Virginia are preparing editions of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.

Transition to New System

The 1992 act says state and local government agencies can continue using citations to the Illinois Revised Statutes in their forms, published rules, computer software, and the like for "a reasonable period of time" after the January 1, 1993 changeover. The act adds that statewide criminal and traffic reports must use the old Illinois Revised Statutes until July 1, 1994, unless the affected agencies agree on an earlier date.

The Legislative Reference Bureau has printed a booklet listing all Illinois acts and giving their citations under the new system, It also contains cross-reference tables linking the two versions. This booklet is free to legislators, and costs others $5. During a transition period the LRB will give citations to both versions of the statutes in bills it drafts, and the Legislative Research Unit will cite both versions in its research.