Straight out of Shelby County, but following typical Illinois procedure, break the law then try to change the law. Proposed bill HB5182 (view here) seeks to give county boards the power to acquire any amount of farmland, no limitations or restrictions, for the purpose of then leasing it for a profit, back to private citizens in order to launch the local governments into the private business of farming. The main problem? It's in direct violation of the Illinois State Constitution, Article 8, Section 1. "(a) Public funds, property or credit shall be used only for public purposes"
Hearing is set for Feb 16th, 4pm, Virtual Room 5 www.ilga.gov
The proposed HB5182 itself reads "Provides that such farmland may be leased to either public or private entities for the public purpose of financially supporting the operations of government" The idea has no chance of being legal, as is clearly written on page 129 of the annotated version of the IL State Constitution for legislature reading "Several Attorney General’s opinions have addressed leasing of county-owned real estate to other persons or organizations. Those opinions advised that not only must such leases be for adequate consideration to the county, but the use to which the lessee puts the property must itself benefit the public, such as providing space for other units of government or for legislators."
Having a private farming operation does not meet the qualifications of public purpose. Merely having income that goes to the county does not meet the definition of public purpose either. A similar situation is that counties could then also start buying up buildings (real estate) and renting to private entities (restaurants), so long as the revenue went to the county. This sets up the scenario that private individuals are then competing against the government to purchase real estate, bidding against their own tax dollars being used, and then having the local government rent it back to them, keeping profit for themselves. What could go wrong? Rest assured, the next step after that is Imminent Domain because the county "needs that land to produce revenue in order to fund the county expenses, out of control pensions, and wasteful spending."
Here are a few court cases and AG Opinions on the matter:
1938 - Yakley V. Johnson Court Ruling “Since a county has only the rights and privileges granted to it, either by the legislature or by the constitution, we cannot find in the provisions of the statute, or in the adjudicated cases in our Supreme Court that a county has the power, either expressly or by implication, to lease the public property for private purposes."
1974 Attorney General opinion to Stephenson County “From the foregoing it is my opinion that a county may not lease real estate owned by it and held in public trust by a private individual to be used by such individual for a private farming operation on an annual cash rental basis.”
1975 Attorney General opinion to Logan County “The power to lease public property granted by section 24 does not authorize counties to lease their property for private purposes.” This one is of particular interest in its similarity to Shelby County farm ground. It was 240 acres and originally a poor farm just the same. But in this AG opinion, it was actually stated that the States Attorney had the authority and duty to commence civil action against board members who were found to be leasing out the public property for private purposes of farming.
Whats important to note is that the reason every AG opinion and court case has been against leasing to private operations is not merely because of the county code, which this bill attempts to change. But its the fact that it's in direct conflict with the IL State Constitution, which they can't change.
But the current situation gets even stranger. Our "Republican" States Attorney helped draft this new bill (on tax payer dollars?) to give the government unlimited power to acquire new land, and the first sponsor of the bill is "Democrat" state rep Lance Yednock, followed by co-sponsor "Republican" Avery Bourne, running mate for Richard Irvin, who has done nothing but praise "Democrat" Governor Pritzker. Seems a little swampy around here. If you'd like to see how many of your local elected "Republicans" are in favor of giving government unlimited power to buy as much land as they want, check out the Proponent Witness Slips.
You can also file your own Witness Slip as an "Opponent" if you are against this. In the boxes firm/agency, and representing, just put "self". And as a side note, I didn't go to law school and am not a lawyer, and hear this nearly every county meeting these days. Irony is not without a sense of humor though, as there is a statue of Lincoln outside of this very court house, who many might know was a lawyer, but what most don't know..... He didn't go to law school. He simply studied up on court cases and laws himself, then went and passed an exam under the Illinois supreme court.
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