The final meeting of the Study Committee on the Review of TIF, held on November 13, focused on final edits to drafted bill proposals, and how to package the bills when they are introduced in the legislature this upcoming session.

The committee voted on bill drafts related to technical law changes, JRB review and annual reporting, and donor TIDs, in addition to a variety of other bill drafts that can be found on the study committee website. The committee dropped two bill drafts relating to levy limits (WLC 0013) and increasing ration of TID value to total value from 12 percent to 15 percent coupled with allowing one additional TID even in excess of the 15 percent cap (WLC 0016).

1. Technical Bill Package

• WLC 0012: JRB Review Period –  This draft changes the maximum review period the JRB has to approve a resolution on a TID from 30 days to 45 days.
• WLC 0035: Industrial Zoning – Current law requires that any property within a TID that is found suitable for industrial zone sites and zoned for industrial use will remain zoned for industrial use through the life of the TID. This draft would only require this for industrial use tax increment districts.
• WLC 0036: Amendment Notice – This draft amends the notice requirement of the planning commission from a class 2 notice to class 1 notice, when it comes to announcing a notice of amendment. This means only one notice in a newspaper or journal must be made; current law requires two notices.
• WLC 0040: Obsolete References – This draft removes provisions of TIF statutes that DOR has identified as obsolete.
• WLC 0044: Timing Penalty – Under current law, if a TID project plan is adopted after September 30, it will receive one fewer positive increments. The draft would change current law so that project plans adopted after September 30 and before May 15 would not have a timing penalty.

2. JRB Review and Annual Reporting

• WLC 0018: Creates a standing JRB, annual reporting requirements, penalties for not reporting annually (based on set of Illinois statutes).
• WLC 0037: Town TID reporting requirements

3. Donor TIDs Package

• WLC 0038: Authority for any TID to be a Recipient TID – This draft allows any TID to be a recipient TID and use tax increments, if the involved taxing jurisdictions lie within the same municipality.
• WLC 0039: Excluding Smaller Taxing Jurisdictions from Tax Incremental Financing – This draft excludes small taxing jurisdictions (such as lake sanitary or public inland lake districts) from donating to tax increments.

4. WLC 0015: Base value for Blighted TIDs – This draft allows blighted districts or rehabilitation districts to reassess value if they reach decrement in a year. 

5. WLC 0017: Sunset for Distressed or Severely Distressed TID Designation – This draft replaces the October 1, 2015 deadline for declaring a TID distressed or severely distressed to October 1, 2020.

6. WLC 0019: 15 Percent Limit – Increases TID value increments to total equalized value of taxable property in a city or village from 12 percent to 15 percent, and allows the JRB to vote on the increase, without letting the municipality break the tie by a vote. 

7. WLC 0041: Vacant Land –  This draft removes the restriction that property standing vacant may not comprise more than 25 percent of the area in a TID.

8.  WLC 0043: Changes in Statute and DOR Policy Adversely Impacting TIDs –  This draft would allow project plan amendments that would extend the life of a TID if the district has been impacted by statute changes. 

Legislative Council will send out the final draft bills to the committee for a final vote in December. The draft bills are then forwarded to the legislative committees for consideration.