TWP CD-TOWNSHIP DISSOLUTION
HB3581 expands Illinois’s existing township-dissolution framework beyond McHenry County and makes related conforming changes across the Motor Fuel Tax Law, Counties Code, and Illinois Highway Code. The bill renames the Township Code article on dissolution of townships so it applies to all counties under township organization, rather than only McHenry County, and updates procedures for petitions, referenda, transfer of assets and liabilities, and county assumption of township functions. It also preserves the special rules for dissolved townships and road districts, including how property, personnel, obligations, and local funds are handled after dissolution.
A major substantive change is that the bill would require all townships, not just those in Lake County and McHenry County, to abolish road districts with fewer than 15 centerline miles of roads. It repeals the current permissive language and replaces it with a mandatory abolition rule. The bill also adjusts motor fuel tax distribution provisions so that, when a township is dissolved, funds that would have gone to the township are redirected to the county or to a municipality that assumes road district responsibilities, with the money required to be used in the geographic area of the dissolved township. The act takes effect immediately.
The bill would broaden a county-specific township dissolution statute into a statewide rule for counties under township organization, while leaving the core dissolution mechanics largely intact. It would amend the Motor Fuel Tax Law to account for dissolved townships and road districts in the distribution of road-related revenues, amend the Counties Code to reflect county assumption of dissolved township duties, and amend the Illinois Highway Code to make abolition of small road districts mandatory statewide. It would also repeal Section 6-135 of the Illinois Highway Code, removing a separate provision tied to road district abolition.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate, support, or opposition in the available materials. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears administrative and structural rather than ideological, focusing on local government consolidation, road district governance, and revenue allocation. The overall framing suggests an intent to standardize dissolution procedures and reduce small road district structures across the state.
The most likely point of contention is the bill’s shift from permissive to mandatory abolition of road districts under 15 miles, which would affect local control, township autonomy, and the continued existence of small road districts. Another potential issue is the statewide expansion of a framework that previously applied only in McHenry County, especially because the bill assigns counties or municipalities responsibility for dissolved township functions and constrains how related tax levies and motor fuel tax revenues may be used. Stakeholders most directly affected would be township officials, road commissioners, county boards, municipalities that might assume road duties, and taxpayers in dissolved areas.