STATEHOUSE INSIDER
ISSUES & INSIGHTS FROM THE LEGAL/LEGISLATIVE SCENE

PETER M. MURPHY IAPD General Counsel

The Illinois General Assembly adjourned on May 31, avoiding the need for an overtime legislative session. By doing so, it eliminated a number of potentially contentious budget issues as it passed the state budget in both houses using only Democratic votes.

The state's general fund increased 2 percent to approximately $24.4 billion. As widely reported, $2.3 billion will be transferred out of the state pension fund to balance the budget and provide increases in a variety of educational line items.

In addition, $159 million was swept from the current balances of more than 200 special funds. The sweep took approximately 34 percent of all the existing balances. Included was money from the Clean Water Fund, Natural Heritage Endowment Trust Fund, the Park and Recreation Conservation Fund, as well as $4,899 from the Park District Youth License Plate Fund.

In contrast, the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development Fund (OSLAD), the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund (NAAF) and Conservation 2000 (C-2000) were not included in the sweeps legislation. This is a big victory for park and recreation advocates.

OSLAD was fully funded this year at $20 million. This means that a new grant program for fiscal year 2006 will be passed. Overall, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, for the first time in several years, has had a positive increase in funding.

Quite a few bills concerning park, recreation and conservation issues are pending the governor's approval. These include:

Local Government Consolidation
House Bill 62 - Creates a local government consolidation commission of 17 members. The commission consists of three legislative members appointed by each of the legislative leaders and five members appointed by the governor. Four appointments will be made by selecting one person from each of four lists of recommended persons submitted by four associations, one of which is the IAPD The final appointment the governor can make will be an elected official from a local governmental entity.

Amendment to the Prevailing Wage Act
House Bill 188 — Requires contractors and subcontractors to submit monthly a certified payroll to the public body in charge of a project and requires that this information become a public record upon two business days' notice. An employee's address, telephone number and social security number will be kept from public inspection. Public bodies must keep these records for at least three years.

Property Tax Code Amendment Regarding Refunds
House Bill 504 — Provides that property tax refunds must be paid to the taxpayer at an annual rate of five percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less.

IDOT Bike and Pedestrian Routes Construction Program
House Bill 744 - Provides that the Department of Transportation shall establish and administer a Safe Routes to School Construction Program for bicycle and pedestrian safety projects. Grants would be made available to local government agencies. This legislation includes proximity to parks and other recreation facilities as a factor on which proposals are to be rated.

Parental Liability
House Bill 766 - Amends the parental responsibility law to raise the maximum recovery of actual damages from $2,500 to $20,000 for each occurrence of willful or malicious acts by the minor causing injury.

Bid Limits Raised
House Bill 1323 - Amends the Conservation District Act to increase bid limits for contracts for supplies, materials or work from $10,000 to $20,000.

Theft of Government Property
House Bill 1434/Senate Bill 471 -Provides for enhanced penalties for theft of governmental property.

Change to IMRF Code
House Bill 1527 - Amends the IMRF Code to provide exclusion for elective office in the provisions restricting the return to employment after receiving early retirement benefits.

Personal Protection for Government Employees
House Bill 1588 - Amends the Criminal Code to provide that a person commits aggravated battery if the person knows the individual harmed to be an officer or employee of the state of Illinois, a unit of local government or a school district engaged in the performance of his or her authorized duties.

Changes to Workers Comp
HB 2137 - This bill would provide for significant benefit increases and cost control measures within the Workers Compensation Act. The amendment contains changes in the medical fee schedule and medical care utilization review process. While these provisions have the potential to provide some cost savings to local governments, it is difficult to know if they will provide enough savings to offset the significant costs of the benefit increases.

10 Illinois Parks and Recreation www.ILipra.org

Abolition of Canvassing Boards
House Bill 2417 - Amends the Election Code to abolish local canvassing boards and provides that canvasses must be done by the election authorities.

Changes to the Ethics Act
House Bill 2455 — Eliminates the requirement that the county clerk must notify a person when his or her statement of economic interest is examined. The bill removes the requirements that a person examining a statement of economic interest identify himself or herself and the reason for the examination.

New Rules for Change Orders
House Bill 2533 — Amends the Public Works Contract Change Order Act to provide that if a change order for any public works contract (i) is entered into by a unit of local government, (ii) is not procured in accordance with the Illinois Procurement Code and the State Finance Act and (iii) authorizes or necessitates any increase in the price of a subcontract under the contract that is 50 percent or more of the original subcontract price, then the portion of the contract that is subject to the change order must be resubmitted for bidding in the same manner for which the original contract was bid.

Township Code Amendments Regarding Referenda, Eminent Domain and Bonds
House Bill 2613 - Provides a variety of limitations and notice requirements prior to filing a petition for a referendum. Under this measure, a township may not exercise its eminent domain power as to land within a municipality if the land is served by a recreation department or park district. Further, bond proceeds may be used to support parks operated by a township.

Protection from Annexation as a Condition of Continuing to Receive Municipally Provided Utilities
House Bill 3694/Senate Bill 2085 - Amends the Illinois Municipal Code to provide that if a non-home rule municipality has extended sewers or water mains, or both, to another unit of local government, the municipality cannot thereafter require the annexation of the property to the municipality as a prerequisite to the continuation and maintenance of such service.

Park District Protection from Annexation without Consent
Senate Bill 1826 - Amends the Park District Code to provide that a park district's property shall not be subject to annexation by a municipality without the express consent of the board of park commissioners.

Misconduct of Public Contractors
House Bill 3874 - Amends the Criminal Code to create the offense of public contractor misconduct, which would be a Class 3 felony.

Amendments to the Open Meetings Act
Senate Bill 226 - For a public body that has a site maintained by the public body's full-time staff, this bill requires the public body to post on the site (i) an agenda of a regular meeting of the public body's governing body, (ii) notice of all meetings of the governing body, and (iii) beginning July 1, 2006, minutes of regular meetings of the governing body open to the public. The measure specifies how long the postings must remain on the site, and provides that failure to post on the Web site does not invalidate meetings or actions of the governing body.

Senate Bill 1857 - Provides that a public body's failure to strictly comply with the requirements of the semi-annual review of closed meeting minutes does not make the minutes or verbatim recordings open to the public or available in judicial proceedings (other than those for violations of the act) if the public body, within 60 days of the discovery of its failure, conducts the review and reports in an open meeting that the need for confidentiality remains or no longer exists.

Clarifications to Recreational Use of Land and Water Areas Act
Senate Bill 251 - Provides that the purpose of the act is to encourage owners of land to make land and water areas available to any individual or members of the public (rather than to the public) for recreational or conservation purposes by limiting their liability towards persons entering thereon for such purposes. The measure changes the definition of "recreational or conservation purpose" to mean entry onto the land of another to conduct hunting or recreational shooting or a combination thereof or any activity solely related to hunting or recreational shooting.

New Rules for Collective Bargaining
Senate Bill 274 - Amends the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act to require a public employer to furnish the exclusive bargaining representative with the names and addresses of its public employees if requested by the representative. The bill provides that an employer is not required to furnish the list more than once per payroll period. The bill also requires that the exclusive representative use the list only for bargaining representation purposes and prohibits the representative from disclosing information on the list for any other purpose.

Military Leave
Senate Bill 1627 — Provides that an employee is entitled to up to 30 days unpaid military leave during the time federal or state deployment orders are in effect. But, an employee shall not take leave under this act unless he or she has exhausted all accrued vacation, personal and compensatory leave except sick leave and disability leave.

Protections from Challenges to Backdoor Referenda
Senate Bill 1637 — Amends the Election Code to provide that when the secretary or clerk of a political subdivision provides the form for a backdoor referendum petition, the legal sufficiency of the form cannot be the basis for a challenge to place the referendum on the ballot.

Bond Refunding
Senate Bill 2054 - Amends the Park District Code to provide that refunding bonds issued under the Park District Refunding Bond Act that refund or continue to refund bonds approved by referendum do not limit the right of a park district to issue non-referendum bonds in accordance with the section.

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You can follow the action on these measure by going to the IAPD website at www.ilparks.org and clicking the "Public Policy" option in the column on the right of the page. Then follow the instructions on the Public Policy page to check the status of these bills.

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