65 ILCS 115/ River Edge Redevelopment Zone Act.

(65 ILCS 115/10-10.3)

Sec. 10-10.3. River Edge Construction Jobs Credit.

(a) Beginning on January 1, 2021, a business entity may receive a tax credit against the tax imposed under subsections (a) and (b) of Section 201 in an amount equal to 50% (or 75% if the project is located in an underserved area) of the amount of the incremental income tax attributable to River Edge construction jobs employees employed in the course of completing a River Edge construction jobs project. The credit allowed under this Section shall apply only to taxpayers that make a capital investment of at least $1,000,000 in a qualified rehabilitation plan.

(b) A business entity seeking a credit under this Section must submit an application to the Department describing the nature and benefit of the River Edge construction jobs project to the qualified rehabilitation project and the River Edge Redevelopment Zone. The Department may adopt any necessary rules in order to administer the provisions of this Section.

(c) Within 45 days after the receipt of an application, the Department shall give notice to the applicant as to whether the application has been approved or disapproved. If the Department disapproves the application, it shall specify the reasons for this decision and allow 60 days for the applicant to amend and resubmit its application. The Department shall provide assistance upon request to applicants. Resubmitted applications shall receive the Department's approval or disapproval within 30 days of resubmission. Those resubmitted applications satisfying initial Department objectives shall be approved unless reasonable circumstances warrant disapproval.

(d) On an annual basis, the designated zone organization shall furnish a statement to the Department on the programmatic and financial status of any approved project and an audited financial statement of the project.

(e) The Department shall certify to the Department of Revenue the identity of the taxpayers who are eligible for River Edge construction jobs credits and the amounts of River Edge construction jobs credits awarded in each taxable year.

(f) The Department, in collaboration with the Department of Labor, shall require certified payroll reporting, pursuant to Section 10-10.4 of this Act, be completed in order to verify the wages and any other necessary information which the Department may deem necessary to ascertain and certify the total number of River Edge construction jobs employees and determine the amount of a River Edge construction jobs credit.

(g) The total aggregate amount of credits awarded under the Blue Collar Jobs Act (Article 20 of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly) shall not exceed $20,000,000 in any State fiscal year.

(Source: P.A. 101-9, eff. 6-5-19.)

(65 ILCS 115/10-10.4)

Sec. 10-10.4. Certified payroll. Any contractor and each subcontractor who is engaged in and is executing a River Edge construction jobs project for a taxpayer that is entitled to a credit pursuant to Section 10-10.3 of this Act shall:

(1) make and keep, for a period of 5 years from the date of the last payment made on or after June 5, 2019 (the effective date of Public Act 101-9) on a contract or subcontract for a River Edge Construction Jobs Project in a River Edge Redevelopment Zone records of all laborers and other workers employed by them on the project; the records shall include:

(A) the worker's name;

(B) the worker's address;

(C) the worker's telephone number, if available;

(D) the worker's social security number;

(E) the worker's classification or classifications;

(F) the worker's gross and net wages paid in each pay period;

(G) the worker's number of hours worked each day;

(H) the worker's starting and ending times of work each day;

(I) the worker's hourly wage rate; and

(J) the worker's hourly overtime wage rate; and

(2) no later than the 15th day of each calendar month, provide a certified payroll for the immediately preceding month to the taxpayer in charge of the project; within 5 business days after receiving the certified payroll, the taxpayer shall file the certified payroll with the Department of Labor and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity; a certified payroll must be filed for only those calendar months during which construction on a River Edge Construction Jobs Project has occurred; the certified payroll shall consist of a complete copy of the records identified in paragraph (1), but may exclude the starting and ending times of work each day; the certified payroll shall be accompanied by a statement signed by the contractor or subcontractor or an officer, employee, or agent of the contractor or subcontractor which avers that:

(A) he or she has examined the certified payroll records required to be submitted and such records are true and accurate; and

(B) the contractor or subcontractor is aware that filing a certified payroll that he or she knows to be false is a Class A misdemeanor.

A general contractor is not prohibited from relying on a certified payroll of a lower-tier subcontractor, provided the general contractor does not knowingly rely upon a subcontractor's false certification.

Any contractor or subcontractor subject to this Section, and any officer, employee, or agent of such contractor or subcontractor whose duty as an officer, employee, or agent it is to file a certified payroll under this Section, who willfully fails to file such a certified payroll on or before the date such certified payroll is required to be filed and any person who willfully files a false certified payroll that is false as to any material fact is in violation of this Act and guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

The taxpayer in charge of the project shall keep the records submitted in accordance with this Section on or after June 5, 2019 (the effective date of Public Act 101-9) for a period of 5 years from the date of the last payment for work on a contract or subcontract for the project.

The records submitted in accordance with this Section shall be considered public records, except an employee's address, telephone number, and social security number, and made available in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. The Department of Labor shall accept any reasonable submissions by the contractor that meet the requirements of this Section and shall share the information with the Department in order to comply with the awarding of River Edge construction jobs credits. A contractor, subcontractor, or public body may retain records required under this Section in paper or electronic format.

Upon 7 business days' notice, the contractor and each subcontractor shall make available for inspection and copying at a location within this State during reasonable hours, the records identified in paragraph (1) of this Section to the taxpayer in charge of the project, its officers and agents, the Director of Labor and his or her deputies and agents, and to federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors.

(Source: P.A. 101-9, eff. 6-5-19; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21.)

(65 ILCS 115/10-15)

Sec. 10-15. Riverfront Development Fund.

(a) Purpose. The General Assembly has determined that it is in the interest of the State of Illinois to promote development that will protect, promote, and improve the riverfront areas of a financially distressed city designated under the Financially Distressed City Law.

(b) Definitions. As used in this Section:

"Agreement" means the agreement between an eligible employer and the Department under the provisions of subsection (f) of this Section.

"Department" means the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

"Director" means the Director of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

"Eligible developer" means an individual, partnership, corporation, or other entity that develops within a river edge redevelopment zone that is located within a municipality designated as a financially distressed city.

"Eligible employer" means an individual, partnership, corporation, or other entity that employs full-time employees within a river edge redevelopment zone that is located within a municipality designated as a financially distressed city.

"Full-time employee" means an individual who is employed for consideration for at least 35 hours each week or who renders any other standard of service generally accepted by industry custom or practice as full-time employment. An individual for whom a W-2 is issued by a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) is a full-time employee if employed in the service of the eligible employer for consideration for at least 35 hours each week or who renders any other standard of service generally accepted by industry custom or practice as full-time employment.

"Incremental income tax" means the total amount withheld from the compensation of new employees under Article 7 of the Illinois Income Tax Act arising from employment by an eligible employer.

"Infrastructure" means roads, access roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, water and sewer line extensions, water distribution and purification facilities, waste disposal systems, sewage treatment facilities, stormwater drainage and retention facilities, gas and electric utility line extensions, or other improvements that are essential to the development of the project that is the subject of an agreement.

"New employee" means a full-time employee first employed by an eligible employer in the project that is the subject of an agreement between the Department and an eligible developer and who is hired after the eligible developer enters into the agreement, but does not include:

(1) an employee of the eligible employer who performs a job that (i) existed for at least 6 months before the employee was hired and (ii) was previously performed by another employee;

(2) an employee of the eligible employer who was previously employed in Illinois by a related member of the eligible employer and whose employment was shifted to the eligible employer after the eligible employer entered into the agreement; or

(3) a child, grandchild, parent, or spouse, other than a spouse who is legally separated from the individual, of any individual who has a direct or an indirect ownership interest of at least 5% in the profits, capital, or value of the eligible employer.

Notwithstanding item (2) of this definition, an employee may be considered a new employee under the agreement if the employee performs a job that was previously performed by an employee who was:

(A) treated under the agreement as a new employee; and

(B) promoted by the eligible employer to another job.

"Professional Employer Organization" (PEO) means an employee leasing company, as defined in Section 206.1(A)(2) of the Illinois Unemployment Insurance Act.

"Related member" means a person or entity that, with respect to the eligible employer during any portion of the taxable year, is any one of the following:

(1) an individual stockholder, if the stockholder and the members of the stockholder's family (as defined in Section 318 of the Internal Revenue Code) own directly, indirectly, beneficially, or constructively, in the aggregate, at least 50% of the value of the eligible employer's outstanding stock;

(2) a partnership, estate, or trust and any partner or beneficiary, if the partnership, estate, or trust, and its partners or beneficiaries own directly, indirectly, or beneficially, or constructively, in the aggregate, at least 50% of the profits, capital, stock, or value of the eligible employer;

(3) a corporation, and any party related to the corporation in a manner that would require an attribution of stock from the corporation to the party or from the party to the corporation under the attribution rules of Section 318 of the Internal Revenue Code, if the taxpayer owns directly, indirectly, beneficially, or constructively at least 50% of the value of the corporation's outstanding stock;

(4) a corporation and any party related to that corporation in a manner that would require an attribution of stock from the corporation to the party or from the party to the corporation under the attribution rules of Section 318 of the Internal Revenue Code, if the corporation and all such related parties own in the aggregate at least 50% of the profits, capital, stock, or value of the eligible employer; or

(5) a person to or from whom there is attribution of stock ownership in accordance with Section 1563(e) of the Internal Revenue Code, except, for purposes of determining whether a person is a related member under this definition, 20% shall be substituted for 5% wherever 5% appears in Section 1563(e) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(c) The Riverfront Development Fund. The Riverfront Development Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury. As soon as possible after the first day of each month, upon certification of the Department of Revenue, the Comptroller shall order transferred and the Treasurer shall transfer from the General Revenue Fund to the Riverfront Development Fund an amount equal to the incremental income tax for the previous month attributable to a project that is the subject of an agreement. The total amount transferred under this subsection may not exceed $3,000,000 in any State fiscal year.

(d) Grants from the Riverfront Development Fund. In State fiscal years 2015 through 2021, all moneys in the Riverfront Development Fund, held solely for the benefit of eligible developers, shall be appropriated to the Department to make infrastructure grants to eligible developers pursuant to agreements.

(e) Limitation on grant amounts. The total aggregate amount of grants awarded to all eligible developers shall not exceed $3,000,000 in each State fiscal year. The total amount of a grant awarded to an eligible developer shall not exceed the total amount of infrastructure costs incurred by that eligible developer with respect to a project that is the subject of an agreement. No eligible developer shall receive moneys that are attributable to a project that is not the subject of the developer's agreement with the Department.

(f) Agreements with applicants. The Department shall enter into an agreement with an eligible developer who is entitled to grants under this Section. The agreement must include all of the following:

(1) A detailed description of the project that is the subject of the agreement, including the location of the project, the number of jobs created by the project, and project costs. For purposes of this subsection, "project costs" includes the costs of the project incurred or to be incurred by the eligible developer, including infrastructure costs, but excludes the value of State or local incentives, including tax increment financing and deductions, credits, or exemptions afforded to an employer located in an enterprise zone.

(2) A requirement that the eligible developer shall maintain operations at the project location, stated as a minimum number of years not to exceed 10 years.

(3) A specific method for determining the number of new employees attributable to the project.

(4) A requirement that the eligible developer shall report monthly to the Department and the Department of Revenue the number of new employees and the incremental income tax withheld in connection with the new employees.

(5) A requirement that the Department is authorized to verify with the Department of Revenue the amounts reported under paragraph (4).

(Source: P.A. 98-109, eff. 7-25-13.)

(65 ILCS 115/Art. 90 heading) ARTICLE 90. AMENDATORY PROVISIONS (Text omitted)(Source: P.A. 94-1021, eff. 7-12-06.)

(65 ILCS 115/Art. 900 heading) ARTICLE 900. SEVERABILITY; EFFECTIVE DATE (Source: P.A. 94-1021, eff. 7-12-06.)

(65 ILCS 115/900-5)

Sec. 900-5. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

(Source: P.A. 94-1021, eff. 7-12-06.)

(65 ILCS 115/900-10)

Sec. 900-10. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.

(Source: P.A. 94-1021, eff. 7-12-06.)