## Facts

- Illinois enacted Public Act 83-1454 adding section 19a to the Fire Protection District Act, creating a petition-and-referendum process to disconnect territory from one fire protection district and transfer it to another to consolidate service within a municipality.
- Section 19a applied only in counties with a population of more than 600,000 but less than 1,000,000; at enactment, this range covered only Du Page County.
- Petitioners filed two petitions in the Du Page County circuit court seeking referenda to disconnect certain municipal territory from the Belmont and Downers Grove Estates Fire Protection Districts and transfer it to the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District.
- The affected fire protection districts appeared and challenged section 19a as unconstitutional special legislation under article IV, section 13 of the Illinois Constitution.
- The circuit court held section 19a unconstitutional and invalidated it; petitioners took a direct appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether section 19a’s population-based county limitation violates article IV, section 13 of the Illinois Constitution as impermissible special legislation where a general law could be made applicable.
2. Whether the 600,000–1,000,000 population classification bears a rational relationship to the statute’s objective of addressing problems caused by multiple fire protection districts serving a single municipality.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s judgment.
- The court held section 19a unconstitutional as special legislation under article IV, section 13.
- The court concluded the population classification effectively singled out Du Page County and lacked a rational relationship to the stated objective of consolidating fire protection services within municipalities.

## Legal Principles

- Article IV, section 13 bars special legislation when a general law can be made applicable.
- A legislative classification (including population brackets) is valid only if based on a real and substantial difference and rationally related to the statute’s purpose.
- Population ranges may not be used as a device to target a single locality absent a purpose-related justification for treating that locality differently.
- When the identified problem is not unique to one county, limiting a statutory remedy to one county through a narrow population bracket is unconstitutional.

## Conclusion

Section 19a was invalidated because its narrow population bracket operated as a Du Page County-only rule without a rational connection to the goal of consolidating overlapping fire protection districts, making it prohibited special legislation under the Illinois Constitution.


In re Belmont Fire Protection District, 111 Ill. 2d 373, 489 N.E.2d 1385 (Ill. 1986)