HB4725ham001 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Thomas M. Bennett

Filed: 4/4/2016

09900HB4725ham001 LRB099 17847 SLF 46589 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4725

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4725 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Land Conservation and Stewardship Act.

Section 5. Legislative findings and statement of public policy.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) Lands and waters held in the public trust by non-governmental conservation land trusts contribute to the general public good, health, prosperity, and welfare of the State and its citizenry. It is therefore appropriate for State government to promote and assist conservation land trusts to secure, steward, and defend for the people of the present and future generations the benefits of land conservation, including flood protection, improved water and air quality, erosion control, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, wildlife migration corridors, and outdoor recreation.

(2) Lands acquired for these purposes require perpetual stewardship and defense actions to fully protect them. Stewardship and defense needs often exceed the capacity of conservation land trusts to provide the proper level of these actions to meet the ever increasing pressures exerted on conservation lands, including climate change, pollution, encroachment by invasive and exotic species, and criminal trespass.

(3) The State's natural resource agencies and conservation land trusts are natural partners in the implementation of the Illinois State Wildlife Action Plan and the management and defense of lands identified on the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory. This Act is intended to foster local support and execution of statewide conservation goals and priorities by streamlining the process of acquisition, stewardship, and defense of conservation lands. This Act is intended to enable the Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, and conservation land trusts to work collaboratively on a scale and breadth that cannot be otherwise achieved.

(b) It is the purpose of this Act to:

(1) provide cost share grants to conservation land trusts to acquire, steward, and defend undeveloped lands that help implement the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan by creating an interconnected system of natural areas such as those listed on the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory or other science-based State or county inventories, and including other lands that connect them; and

(2) preserve and enhance natural, buffer lands, or other conservation values of real property, assuring its availability for maintaining or enhancing natural flood protection capacity, water and air quality, erosion control, wildlife habitat, travel and migration corridors, carbon sequestration, or preserving the natural aspects of real property, and to provide outdoor recreation opportunities for citizens of this State now and in the future.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Applicant" means a conservation land trust that files an application for a grant under this Act.

"Commission" means the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission as defined under the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act.

"Director" means the Director of Natural Resources.

"Conservation easement" means a conservation right, as defined in the Real Property Conservation Rights Act, or dedication as a nature preserve or nature preserve buffer under the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act.

"Conservation land trust" means an entity exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code whose purposes include the conservation of land, natural areas, open space, or water areas, for the preservation of native plants or animals, biotic communities, geologic formations, or archeological sites.

"Conservation value" means the physical features or geographic characteristics present that demonstrate the land will help implement the Wildlife Action plan or help conserve sites listed on the INAI or other science based State or county inventories and the other lands that connect them.

"Department" means the Department of Natural Resources.

"Fines and settlements" means natural resource fines, either State or federal, and out of court settlements for environmental damages.

"Grant application" means a grant application for the acquisition, stewardship, and defense of lands acquired under this Act by conservation land trusts.

"Nature preserve" has the meaning as it is defined in the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act.

"Illinois Land Conservation and Stewardship Grant Program" means a program established under Section 20 of this Act.

"INAI" means Illinois Natural Areas Inventory.

"Incidental take authorizations" means funds received for authorized taking of endangered or threatened species under the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act.

"IRS" means federal Internal Revenue Service.

"IWAP" means Illinois Wildlife Action Plan.

"Land" means real property and ownership rights applying to it and includes water and the land thereunder, structures, and improvements.

"LOI" means letter of inquiry.

"Management plan" means a written, management schedule, developed for the preservation, protection, development, management, and use of lands purchased under this Act and approved by the landowner and the Department.

"NAAF" means Natural Areas Acquisition Fund.

"NHEF" means Natural Heritage Endowment Trust Fund.

"NRDA" means Natural Resource Damages Assessment.

"OLT" means Open Lands Trust Program under the Illinois Open Land Trust Act.

"Project proposal" means a proposal for the acquisition, stewardship, and defense of lands acquired under this Act by conservation land trusts.

"Protection grant" means a grant from the Department to a conservation land trust for the purpose of acquiring land by fee simple acquisition or acquiring the development or protection rights via permanent conservation easement to steward and protect these lands in perpetuity for the purposes of this Act.

"Stewardship grant" means a grant from the Department to a conservation land trust for the purpose of managing conservation land held by the trust to steward and protect the lands as prescribed in the approved management plan and in perpetuity for the purposes of this Act.

Section 15. Powers, duties, and authorizations. The Department may:

(1) Make grants in accordance with Section 20 of this Act from NAAF, under OLT, and other appropriated funds to conservation land trusts to acquire and steward real property, including land such as those listed on the INAI or other science-based State or county inventories, and including other lands that connect them to provide fish and wildlife corridors and outdoor recreation.

(2) Establish the total amount of funds available for annual grants with review and approval by the Commission at one of their regularly established meetings. The total amount available for annual grants shall not exceed 20% of the NAAF fund balance on June 30 of the previous fiscal year and shall not result in adverse impacts on the operations of Department or the Commission.

(3) Accept State and federal appropriations, transfers of unused balances from other State funds, grants, NRDA damage assessments, natural resource fines and settlements, compensation related to incidental take authorizations, transfers or appropriations from the federal government or the State, or any agency, or donations from any corporation, foundation, non-governmental agency, individual, or instrumentality thereof, for the purposes of executing this Act and these funds are to be deposited into the NAAF.

(4) Transfer the balance in the Natural Heritage Endowment Trust Fund into the NAAF to be used for stewardship grants and close out the NHEF.

(5) Develop and administer the Illinois Land Conservation and Stewardship Grant program.

(6) Adopt rules to effectuate the purposes of this Act.

(7) Execute contracts, grant agreements, memoranda of understanding, cooperation agreements, and any other agreements with conservation land trusts and other State and local agencies that are necessary to implement this Act.

(8) Monitor compliance with all agreements, grants, contracts, and other instruments developed under this Act and to assure coordination with the IWAP and the INAI.

(9) Develop progress reports on the implementation and development of this Act which shall be filed annually with the Governor and the General Assembly. These reports shall include a statement of goals and objectives and quantifiable support documentation as expenditures, allocation of funds by location, and performance and measurement criteria sufficient to enable the General Assembly to properly evaluate and review program effectiveness.

Section 20. Illinois Land Conservation and Stewardship Grant Program.

(a) The Illinois Land Conservation and Stewardship Grant Program is established to make grants to conservation land trusts for the purpose of acquiring real property, including conservation easements from willing sellers, and to steward and protect these lands in perpetuity for the purposes of this Act.

(b) The lands shall be held in fee simple title or placed under permanent conservation easements provided that these mechanisms are all voluntary on the part of the landowners and shall not involve the use of eminent domain.

(c) Any conservation land trust in good standing with the IRS may apply for a grant.

(d) Any agency, organization, or entity that has taxing powers, collects taxes, or has eminent domain powers is not eligible for a grant under this Act.

(e) The Department shall adopt rules in consultation with the Commission for the selection of grant recipients, amount of grant awards, and eligibility requirements to implement the purposes of this Act. However, the rules must include the following requirements:

(1) Any protection grant under this Act shall be conditioned upon the State providing assistance not exceeding a 50/50 matching basis for the acquisition of land.

A LOI from a qualifying applicant for a protection grant shall be accepted by the Department at any time during the calendar year. The LOI must contain a project description, description of the conservation value of the land, legal description, GPS coordinates, estimated cost, budget, and map and be sent electronically. Within 30 days, the Department shall review the LOI and respond electronically to the land trust indicating if the proposed project fits the grant guidelines. If the project proposal qualifies and funding is available the Department may request a full proposal in the form of a protection grant application from the applicant.

Protection grant applications must be submitted electronically within 90 days and contain a narrative description of the project, the legal description of the lands to be acquired or placed under permanent easement, a map, current appraisal showing the fair market value of those lands or the permanent easement to be acquired, a 5-year management schedule, the total project cost, and any other information as the Department may reasonably require.

Within 30 days after completing its consideration of a protection grant application, the Department shall notify the applicants of the disposition made of its application. The Department shall, in addition, direct the payment of grant funds to the applicants whose projects have been approved within the limits of the amounts appropriated for grants and the level available established in the process described in paragraph (2) of Section 15 of this Act for that fiscal year.

Individual protection grants shall not exceed $1,000,000 to any one grantee per fiscal year.

(2) Any stewardship grant under this Act shall require a 20% match but cannot exceed $25,000 to any applicant in any fiscal year. Stewardship grant applications from qualifying conservation land trusts shall be accepted by the Department at any time during the calendar year. Applications must contain a project description, including a description of the conservation value of the land, ownership, budget, map, and timeline for completion and be sent electronically. The Department shall review the application and respond electronically to the land trust indicating whether the proposed project fits the grant guidelines. If the project proposal qualifies and funding is available, the Department may approve the application or request more information from the conservation land trust. Lands included in a stewardship grant that are not already encumbered by a permanent conservation easement approved in writing by the Director or under rules adopted under this Act, shall be so encumbered by a permanent conservation easement, the conditions of which have been approved in writing by the Director or under rules adopted under this Act.

(3) Land acquired with grant funds must be accessible to the public for conservation and outdoor recreation purposes as provided in the grant application and agreed to in the management plan approved by the Department and the Commission, unless the Department and the owner agree that public accessibility would be detrimental to the real property or any associated natural resources.

(4) No land acquired with grant funds may be sold, leased, exchanged, or transferred to the federal government, the State, a unit of local government or another qualifying conservation land trust without the written approval by the Director and only if the new owner intends to continue the same conservation purposes specified in the grant agreement. If the land is sold to a government agency, then the agency shall be given a cash credit for the purchase equal to the value of the grant funds received, less any documented expenses for acquiring and holding the land until it is transferred to the governmental agency and less the value of any conservation easement held by the Department or Commission. This credit shall be no less than $0.

(5) All grantees must agree to encumber the property acquired using the grant funds from this Act with a permanent conservation easement, the conditions of which have been approved in writing by the Director or prescribed in rules adopted under this Act.

(6) Grantees must agree to develop a management plan and manage lands in accordance with the terms of the grant. Any changes to the management plan must have written approval by the Department and the Commission if the land is encumbered by a conservation easement held by the Commission.

(7) Acquisitions with approved protection grant funds must be completed within 120 days or funds must be returned to the Comptroller unless an extension of time is granted by the Director.

Section 25. Priorities. In considering applications for grants under this Act, the Department shall give priority to projects which will provide the greatest benefit to implementing the needs and priorities identified in the IWAP and sites on the INAI. The total amount of grants made for any fiscal year may not exceed the amount of the appropriation for that fiscal year or 20% of the funds in the NAAF on June 30 of the previous fiscal year.

Section 30. Injunctions. The Attorney General or the State's Attorney of the county where a project is located, may, upon his or her own motion or upon request of the Department, Commission, or the public, institute a civil action for an injunction or other appropriate legal action to restrain violations of this Act or its rules. In this proceeding, the court shall determine whether a violation has been committed and shall enter orders as it considers necessary to remove the effects of any violation and to prevent the violation from continuing or from being renewed in the future.

Section 35. Violations. Any person, agency, or organization that willfully violates this Act or its rules, or causes a violation by their employee or agent, shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation, and the penalty shall be recovered in an action brought by the Attorney General or the State's Attorney in the circuit court. All penalties shall be deposited in the NAAF.

Section 40. Administrative Review Law. All final administrative decisions under this Act are subject to judicial review under the Administrative Review Law and its rules. "Administrative decision" means the term as defined in Section 3-101 of the Administrative Review Law.

Section 45. Exceptions. Conservation land trusts are exempt from any Department charges, costs, and expenses, including, without limitation, any application fees, commitment fees, or program fees, in connection with its activities under this Act.

Section 50. Fund depository. All funds, assessments, fines, settlements, compensations, transfers, appropriations, penalties, and donations made under this Act shall be deposited into the NAAF and subject to the limitations described in paragraph (2) of Section 15 of this Act.

Section 55. Due diligence. With appropriations from NAAF, the Department shall make grants to conservation land trusts as financial assistance for the acquisition, stewardship, and defense of natural areas, including acquisition of conservation easements and other property interests less than fee simple ownership if the Department and the Commission determine that the property interests are sufficient to carry out the purposes of this Act, subject to the purposes, conditions, and limitations set forth in this Act.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".