In this week’s edition of Bills of Note, we update you on the tax increment financing (TIF) bill package and a bill that requires newborns be screened for lysosomal storage disorders.

TIF Bill Package

The tax increment financing bill package is a product of the 2014 Legislative Council study committee on TIF – also referred to as a Tax Incremental District (TID). The package, which includes eight bills, has been introduced in the legislature and includes a number of reforms to streamline administrative processes and increase local flexibility. After being introduced by Joint Legislative Council, the bills have been referred to the Senate committee on Economic Development and Commerce. The next step is for a public hearing to be scheduled on the bills. The bill package includes:

Senate Bill 50 – Makes several technical changes including:

• Modify the industrial zoning requirements to only apply to industrial use tax increment districts;
• Changes the maximum review period the JRB has to approve a resolution on a TID from 30 days to 45 days;
• Amends the notice requirement of the planning commission from a class 2 notice to a class 1 notice when it comes to announcing a notice of amendment.

Senate Bill 51 – Creates a standing Joint Review Board, modifies annual reporting requirements, adds penalties for not reporting annually (based on set of Illinois statutes), and repeals the DOR process to review industry-specific town TIDs.

Senate Bill 52 – Allows any TID to be a recipient TID and use tax increments, if the involved taxing jurisdictions lie within the same municipality. In addition, this bill excludes small taxing jurisdictions (such as lake, sanitary, or public inland lake districts) from donating to tax increments.

Senate Bill 53 – Allows project plan amendments that would extend the life of a TID if the district has been impacted by statute changes.

Senate Bill 54 – Removes the restriction that property standing vacant may not comprise more than 25 percent of the area in a TID and removes tax-exempt city owned property from being assessed as part of base value.

Senate Bill 55 – Increases TID value increments to total equalized value of taxable property in a city or village from 12 percent to 15 percent.

Senate Bill 56 – Replaces the October 1, 2015 deadline for declaring a TID distressed or severely distressed to October 1, 2020.

Senate Bill 57 – Allows a local legislative body to request a reassessment of a TID base value if the TID has reached decrement in a year.

Senate Bill 64 – Allows a city or village to adopt a resolution requiring DOR to redetermine the tax incremental base of a TID that is in a decrement situation that has continued for at least two consecutive years without first completing a financial analysis of the TID and without amending the TID’s project plan to meet any of the three conditions that are required under current law.

Newborn Screenings

Current law states all infants must be tested for some congenital and metabolic disorders before being discharged from a hospital, or if born outside of a hospital, within one week of birth. New legislation introduced by Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) and Representative Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville), would require infants also be tested for lysosomal storage disorders. The disease, which is an inherited disorder, affects motor and cognitive skills and often leads to death by age two. According to the Mayo Clinic, treatment can change the course of the disease if the disease is identified prior to the onset of symptoms.

The bill, (AB 65/SB 39), has bipartisan support in both houses and awaits scheduling for a public hearing.