Chicago City Wire

Nicholas K. Smith introduced HB1371 in the Illinois House on Jan. 15, 2025, during the general assembly session 104, according to the Illinois General Assembly.

According to the Illinois General Assembly site, the legislature summarized the bill's official text as follows: "Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that, if a Public Act transfers State real property to a municipality for nominal consideration and the Public Act requires the property to be used for "public purposes" without defining that term, "public purposes" means any lawful purposes when used in a Public Act with an effective date prior to, on, or after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Makes conforming changes to a Division heading."

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill amends the Illinois Municipal Code to clarify the meaning of "public purposes" when state real property is transferred to a municipality for nominal consideration. If a Public Act requires the property to be used for "public purposes" but does not define the term, it will be interpreted as any lawful purposes, regardless of whether the Public Act has an effective date before, on, or after the effective date of this amendatory Act. Additionally, the bill makes conforming changes to the heading of Division 76 of Article 11, which deals with the sale, lease, or transfer of real or personal property.

Smith graduated from Chicago State University in 2000 with a BS.

Nicholas K. Smith is currently serving in the Illinois State House, representing the state's 34th House District. He replaced previous state representative Elgie R. Sims, Jr. in 2018.

Bills in Illinois follow a multi-step legislative process, beginning with introduction in either the House or Senate, followed by committee review, floor debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, and while typically thousands of bills are introduced each session, only a fraction successfully pass through the process to become law.

You can read more about bills and other measures here.

Bill Number	Date Introduced	Short Description
HB1371	01/15/2025	Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that, if a Public Act transfers State real property to a municipality for nominal consideration and the Public Act requires the property to be used for "public purposes" without defining that term, "public purposes" means any lawful purposes when used in a Public Act with an effective date prior to, on, or after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Makes conforming changes to a Division heading.
HB1376	01/15/2025	Appropriates $6,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Human Services for a grant to the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago for costs associated with funding equitable mortgage lending, homeownership rehabilitation and development, and homebuyer subsidies and support. Effective July 1, 2025.