70 ILCS 3210/100

(70 ILCS 3210/100)

Sec. 100. Bonds and notes.

(a) (1) The Authority may at any time and from time to time issue bonds and notes for any corporate purpose, including the establishment of reserves and the payment of interest and costs of issuance. In this Act the term "bonds" includes notes of any kind, interim certificates, refunding bonds or any other evidence of obligation for borrowed money issued under this Section 100. Bonds may be issued in one or more series and may be payable and secured either on a parity with or separately from other bonds.

(2) The bonds of any issue shall be payable solely from all or any part of the property or revenues of the Authority, including, without limitation:

(i) Rents, rates, fees, charges, or other revenues payable to or any receipts of the Authority, including amounts which are deposited pursuant to the Act with a trustee for bondholders;

(ii) Payments by financial institutions, insurance companies, or others pursuant to letters or lines of credit, policies of insurance, or purchase agreements;

(iii) Investment earnings from funds or accounts maintained pursuant to a bond resolution or trust agreement; and

(iv) Proceeds of refunding bonds.

(3) Bonds may be authorized by a resolution of the Authority and may be secured by a trust agreement by and between the Authority and a corporate trustee or trustees, which may be any trust company or bank having the powers of a trust company within or without the State. Bonds may:

(i) Mature at a time or times, whether as serial bonds, as term bonds, or as both, not exceeding 40 years from their respective dates of issue;

(ii) Notwithstanding the provision of "An Act to authorize public corporations to issue bonds, other evidences of indebtedness and tax anticipation warrants subject to interest rate limitations set forth therein", approved May 26, 1970, as now or hereafter amended, or any other provision of law, bear interest at any fixed or variable rate or rates determined by the method provided in the resolution or trust agreement;

(iii) Be payable at a time or times, in the denominations and form, either coupon, or registered, or both, and carry the registration and privileges as to exchange, transfer or conversion and for the replacement of mutilated, lost or destroyed bonds as the resolution or trust agreement may provide;

(iv) Be payable in lawful money of the United States at a designated place;

(v) Be subject to the terms of purchase, payment, redemption, refunding, or refinancing that the resolution or trust agreement provides;

(vi) Be executed by the manual or facsimile signatures of the officers of the Authority designated by the Authority which signatures shall be valid at delivery even for one who has ceased to hold office; and

(vii) Be sold in the manner and upon the terms determined by the Authority.

(b) Any resolution or trust agreement may contain provisions which shall be part of the contract with the holders of the bonds as to:

(1) Pledging, assigning, or directing the use, investment, or disposition of all or any part of the revenues of the Authority or proceeds or benefits of any contract including, without limit, any management agreement or assistance agreement and conveying or otherwise securing any property or property rights;

(2) The setting aside of loan funding deposits, debt service reserves, capitalized interest accounts, replacement or operating reserves, cost of issuance accounts and sinking funds, and the regulation, investment, and disposition thereof;

(3) Limitations on the purposes to which or the investments in which the proceeds of sale of any issue of bonds or the Authority's revenues and receipts may be applied or made;

(4) Limitations on the issue of additional bonds, the terms upon which additional bonds may be issued and secured, the terms upon which additional bonds may rank on a parity with, or be subordinate or superior to, other bonds;

(5) The refinancing, advance refunding, or refinancing of outstanding bonds;

(6) The procedure, if any, by which the terms of any contract with bondholders may be altered or amended and the amount of bonds and holders of which must consent thereto, and the manner in which consent shall be given;

(7) Defining the acts or omissions which shall constitute a default in the duties of the Authority to holders of bonds and providing the rights or remedies of such holders in the event of a default which may include provisions restricting individual right of action by bondholders;

(8) Providing for guarantees, pledges of property, letters of credit, or other security, or insurance for the benefit of bondholders; and

(9) Any other matter relating to the bonds which the Authority determines appropriate.

(c) No member of the Authority nor any person executing the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds or subject to any personal liability by reason of the issuance of the bonds.

(d) The Authority may enter into agreements with agents, banks, insurers, or others for the purpose of enhancing the marketability of or security for its bonds.

(e) (1) A pledge by the Authority of revenues and receipts as security for an issue of bonds or for the performance of its obligations under any management agreement or assistance agreement shall be valid and binding from the time when the pledge is made.

(2) The revenues and receipts pledged shall immediately be subject to the lien of the pledge without any physical delivery or further act, and the lien of any pledge shall be valid and binding against any person having any claim of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the Authority, irrespective of whether the person has notice.

(3) No resolution, trust agreement, management agreement or assistance agreement or any financing statement, continuation statement, or other instrument adopted or entered into by the Authority need be filed or recorded in any public record other than the records of the Authority in order to perfect the lien against third persons, regardless of any contrary provision of law.

(f) The Authority may issue bonds to refund, advance refund, or refinance any of its bonds then outstanding, including the payment of any redemption premium and any interest accrued or to accrue to the earliest or any subsequent date of redemption, purchase or maturity of the bonds. Refunding or advance refunding bonds may be issued for the public purposes of realizing savings in the effective costs of debt service, directly or through a debt restructuring, for alleviating impending or actual default, or for paying principal of, redemption premium, if any, and interest on bonds as they mature or are subject to redemption, and may be issued in one or more series in an amount in excess of that of the bonds to be refunded.

(g) At no time shall the total outstanding bonds and notes of the Authority issued under this Section 100 exceed (i) $40,000,000 in connection with facilities owned by the Authority; and (ii) $40,000,000 in connection with facilities owned by a governmental owner other than the Authority. Bonds which are being paid or retired by issuance, sale or delivery of bonds or notes, and bonds or notes for which sufficient funds have been deposited with the paying agent or trustee to provide for payment of principal and interest thereon, and any redemption premium, as provided in the authorizing resolution, shall not be considered outstanding for the purposes of this paragraph.

(h) The bonds and notes of the Authority shall not be indebtedness of the State, or of any political subdivision of the State other than the Authority. The bonds and notes of the Authority are not general obligations of the State of Illinois, or of any other political subdivision of the State other than the Authority, and are not secured by a pledge of the full faith and credit of the State of Illinois, or of any other political subdivision of the State other than the Authority, and the holders of bonds and notes of the Authority may not require the levy or imposition by the State, or any other political subdivision of the State other than the Authority, of any taxes or, except as provided in this Act, the application of revenues or funds of the State of Illinois, or any other political subdivision of the State other than the Authority, to the payment of bonds and notes of the Authority.

(i) In order to provide for the payment of debt service requirements (including amounts for reserve funds and to pay the costs of credit enhancements) on bonds issued pursuant to this Act, the Authority may provide in any trust agreement securing such bonds for a pledge and assignment of its right to all amounts to be received from the Illinois Sports Facilities Fund and for a pledge and assignment (subject to the terms of any management agreement or assistance agreement) of all taxes and other amounts to be received under Section 100 of this Act and may further provide written notice to the State Treasurer and State Comptroller (which notice shall constitute a direction to those officers) for a direct payment of these amounts to the trustee for its bondholders.

(j) The State of Illinois pledges to and agrees with the holders of the bonds and notes of the Authority issued pursuant to this Act that the State will not limit or alter the rights and powers vested in the Authority by this Act so as to impair the terms of any contract made by the Authority with such holders or in any way impair the rights and remedies of such holders until such bonds and notes, together with interest thereon, with interest on any unpaid installments of interest, and all costs and expenses in connection with any action or proceedings by or on behalf of such holders, are fully met and discharged. In addition, the State pledges to and agrees with the holders of the bonds and notes of the Authority issued pursuant to this Act that the State will not limit or alter the basis on which State funds are to be allocated, deposited and paid to the Authority as provided in this Act, or the use of such funds, so as to impair the terms of any such contract. The Authority is authorized to include these pledges and agreements of the State in any contract with the holders of bonds or notes issued pursuant to this Section.

(Source: P.A. 93-227, eff. 1-1-04.)