Re:
This from the Citizens Advocacy center...
http://www.citizenadvocacycenter.org/HOMERULE96.htm
Illinois formally adopted home rule with the 1970 Illinois Constitution.
Since then, the use of home rule power has had its greatest impact on municipal government because Cook County is the only one of Illinois’ 102 counties to have become home rule.
Municipalities:
According to the Illinois Constitution, any municipality with a population of more than 25,000 is automatically a home rule unit. Smaller municipalities may adopt home rule by referendum or initiative. Regardless of how it became home rule, any municipality may elect by referendum to drop the status.
When a population dips below 25,000, state law provides that the municipality will retain home rule status until the next election in which a referendum will be held to determine the future status of the municipality.
To place a home rule referendum on the ballot, either the municipal or county government must pass a resolution or citizens must file a petition with signatures of at least ten percent of the registered voters in the municipality.
Counties:
The Illinois Constitution restricts home rule counties to those that have the county executive form of government, which means that the top official is a chief executive officer elected at large. The County Executive Act defines “chief executive officer.†Unlike traditional forms of county government, the executive form contains a chief executive who is not actually part of the county board. The chief executive has the power to veto ordinances passed by the county board, much like the President may veto laws passed by Congress. The chief executive also coordinates the administration of the county government by proposing a budget, appointing a cabinet with the advice and consent of the county board, and presiding at county board meetings where s/he possesses the power to break ties.
The doctrine of separation of powers is the paramount reason for allowing only executive form counties to become home rule counties. When a county becomes a home rule unit, its government becomes more powerful. In the executive form of government, the duties of the county board and county board chairman are split between a chief executive and the legislative county board to prevent abuses of this increased power.
If a county wants to change from one form of government to another, the Illinois Constitution requires a county-wide referendum. The County Executive Act regulates the referenda and states that a county may vote to adopt the executive form of government while choosing to abstain from or to become home rule.
There are two ways to put either of these referenda on the ballot: (1) the county board can pass a resolution calling for a proposal to adopt the executive form of government, or (2) the citizens of the county can file a petition with the clerk of the circuit court of the county.
The petition must be signed by at least two percent of the registered voters in the county or five hundred individuals, whichever is smaller.
To date, every county home rule referendum has failed. Cook County automatically became home rule with the constitution of 1970 and remains the only county possessing the status.
In 1972, DuPage County held a home rule referendum, which was soundly defeated. In the early 1990s, DuPage County was involved in a lawsuit in which county representatives claimed that despite the failed referendum, the county was home rule because the county board chairman was elected at large, a condition which met the constitutional requirements for having a chief executive officer. The trial court and the appeals court rejected DuPage’s position that a referendum was unnecessary if other qualifications were met.
Thus far, the County Executive Act offers the only route to home rule: a referendum, under the statute’s specifications, that establishes the statute’s version of the executive form of government.
The Powers of Non-Home Rule and Home Rule Units of Government
The powers of home rule and non-home rule counties and municipalities come from the state constitution and the state government. Non-home rule units still operate primarily under Dillon’s Rule, although Article VII, Section 7 of the Illinois Constitution gave them additional powers. These include the authority to make local improvements (such as building roads) funded by specially assessed fees, to incur debt except as limited by law, and to levy additional taxes upon areas within their boundaries for the provision of special services (such as garbage collection). Other than these exceptions, non-home rule units lack inherent powers, even over purely local affairs such as the financing of election campaigns for municipal and county office. The authority of non-home rule governments to regulate in different areas is derived primarily from state statutes which grant explicit power. And, because Dillon’s Rule is still in effect, courts are strict in their interpretation of the state statutes that create new powers for non-home rule local governments.
Home rule units are no longer governed by Dillon’s Rule. In addition to powers explicitly given to them by the state legislature, the constitution gives a home rule unit inherent power over any function “pertaining to its government and affairs, including, but not limited to, the power to regulate for the protection of public health, safety, morals and welfare; to license; to tax; and to incur debt.†No subject is “off limits†to local authorities unless the General Assembly specifically restricts it.
In determining whether a home rule unit can regulate in a certain area, two primary questions must be asked:
(1) Is the regulation concerned solely with local matters or does it involve broader issues?
(2) Has the state chosen to regulate in this area?
Both of these questions typically require extensive legal analysis because often the determination of whether an action is “local†or whether the state is already regulating in this area can be very complicated.
Illinois courts have said that home rule units of government, because of their inherent power over local affairs, may regulate: cigarette taxes, taxes on retail sales of new motor vehicles, parking taxes, reductions in mandatory fire and police retirement age, land dedications for schools and parks, zoning landfill sites, mobile home parks, low-income housing developments, and self-service gas. Illinois courts have ruled that the inherent powers of local government do not include the power to regulate health ordinances that conflict with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, noise regulations, branch banking regulations, and the disposition of unclaimed property, nor reduction of officials’ salaries or discrimination based on personal appearance. In some of these areas the state legislature may be able to delegate its power to local government, but without state action, home rule units can not regulate in these areas. Finally, courts have ruled that there are some areas where the state’s power to regulate cannot be passed along to the local unit even if the state wants to delegate these powers. For example, for public policy reasons, matters involving divorce and family law, real property, trusts and contracts must be regulated by the state and cannot vary from one municipality to the next.
