HB4939 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 19473 SPS 32921 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4939

Introduced , by Rep. Jay Hoffman

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

30 ILCS 559/20-5
30 ILCS 559/20-10
30 ILCS 559/20-20
30 ILCS 559/20-25

Amends the Illinois Works Jobs Program Act. Provides that the provisions of the Act apply to projects financed or funded, in whole or in part, by a grant, loan, incentive, or tax subsidy, credit, or rebate provided through a program established by State law and administered by a State agency and that require the payment of prevailing wages to employees. Makes changes to the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative. Provides that the Department of Labor may reduce or waive the apprenticeship requirements under certain conditions. Makes conforming changes. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning finance.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Works Jobs Program Act is amended by changing Sections 20-5, 20-10, 20-20, and 20-25 as follows:

(30 ILCS 559/20-5)

Sec. 20-5. Findings. It is in the public policy interest of the State to ensure that all Illinois residents have access to State capital projects and careers in the construction industry and building trades, including those who have been historically underrepresented in those trades. It is also in the public policy interest of the State to ensure that projects funded by the State can provide training and job opportunities as a means to increase skills and develop the workforce in the construction industry. To ensure that those interests are met, the General Assembly hereby creates the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program and the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative.

(Source: P.A. 101-31, eff. 6-28-19.)

(30 ILCS 559/20-10)

Sec. 20-10. Definitions.

"Apprentice" means a participant in an apprenticeship program approved by and registered with the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training.

"Apprenticeship program" means an apprenticeship and training program approved by and registered with the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training.

"Bid credit" means a virtual dollar for a recipient, contractor, or subcontractor to use toward future bids on contracts with the State for public works or State-assisted projects.

"Community-based organization" means a nonprofit organization, including an accredited public college or university, selected by the Department to participate in the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program. To qualify as a "community-based organization", the organization must demonstrate the following:

(1) the ability to effectively serve diverse and underrepresented populations, including by providing employment services to such populations;

(2) knowledge of the construction and building trades;

(3) the ability to recruit, prescreen, and provide preapprenticeship training to prepare workers for employment in the construction and building trades; and

(4) a plan to provide the following:

(A) preparatory classes;

(B) workplace readiness skills, such as resume preparation and interviewing techniques;

(C) strategies for overcoming barriers to entry and completion of an apprenticeship program; and

(D) any prerequisites for acceptance into an apprenticeship program.

"Contractor" means a person, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or joint venture entering into a contract to construct a public work or State-assisted project.

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

"Labor hours" means the total hours for workers who are receiving an hourly wage and who are directly employed for the public works project or who are employed on a State-assisted project and are subject to prevailing wage requirements. "Labor hours" includes hours performed by workers employed by the contractor and subcontractors on the public works project and hours performed by workers employed by the recipient, contractor, or subcontractors on a State-assisted project. "Labor hours" does not include hours worked by the forepersons, superintendents, owners, and workers who are not subject to prevailing wage requirements.

"Minorities" means minority persons as defined in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act.

"Public works" means all projects, contracted or funded by the State or any agency of the State, in whole or in part, from appropriated capital funds, that constitute public works under the Prevailing Wage Act.

"Recipient" means a person or entity, other than a public body, that has received a grant, loan, incentive, or tax subsidy, credit, or rebate through a program established by State law and administered by a State agency, that requires the payment of prevailing wages to employees engaged in construction activities associated with the program.

"State-assisted project" means a project financed or funded, in whole or in part, by a grant, loan, incentive, or tax subsidy, credit, or rebate provided through a program established by State law and administered by a State agency and that requires the payment of prevailing wages to employees engaged in construction activities associated with the program, or any successor program, including, but not limited to, programs established under the Illinois Power Agency Act, the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, the Energy Transition Act, and the Broadband Expansion Act.

"Subcontractor" means a person, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or joint venture that has contracted with the contractor to perform all or part of the work to construct a public work or State-assisted project by a contractor.

"Underrepresented populations" means populations identified by the Department that historically have had barriers to entry or advancement in the workforce. "Underrepresented populations" includes, but is not limited to, minorities, women, and veterans.

(Source: P.A. 101-31, eff. 6-28-19; 101-601, eff. 12-10-19.)

(30 ILCS 559/20-20)

Sec. 20-20. Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative.

(a) The Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative is established and shall be administered by the Department and the Department of Labor.

(1) Subject to the exceptions set forth in subsection (b) of this Section, apprentices shall be utilized on all public works projects estimated to cost $500,000 or more and on all State-assisted projects of any amount in accordance with this subsection (a).

(2) For public works projects estimated to cost $500,000 or more, and for State-assisted projects of any amount:

(A) Not less than 10% of the total labor hours in each prevailing wage classification shall be worked by apprentices, subject to the apprentice-to-journeyman ratio of the applicable apprenticeship program. Total labor hours shall be the goal of the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative is that apprentices will perform either 10% of the total labor hours actually worked in each prevailing wage classification or 10% of the estimated labor hours in each prevailing wage classification, whichever is less. The apprenticeship requirement set forth in this subparagraph shall apply to each recipient, contractor, and subcontractor performing work on the project, with respect to the labor hours performed by its employees in each prevailing wage classification. For the purposes of this subsection, a worker may be considered an apprentice in only one trade for the duration of a project and the labor hours of that worker as an apprentice in another prevailing wage classification shall not count as hours worked by an apprentice.

(B) For contracts and grant agreements executed after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly and before January 1, 2024, of this goal, at least 25% of the labor hours of each prevailing wage classification performed by apprentices shall be performed by graduates of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program, the Illinois Climate Works Preapprenticeship Program, or the Highway Construction Careers Training Program. For contracts and grant agreements executed on or after June January 1, 2026 2024, of the requirement set forth in subparagraph (A), the goal of the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative is that this goal, at least 50% of the labor hours of each prevailing wage classification performed by apprentices of each recipient, contractor, and subcontractor shall be performed by graduates of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program, the Illinois Climate Works Preapprenticeship Program, or the Highway Construction Careers Training Program.

(3) For public works projects estimated to cost $500,000 or more and for State-assisted projects of any amount, recipients, contractors, and subcontractors subject to this Act shall:

(A) file a certified payroll with the Department and the Department of Labor as required under the Prevailing Wage Act;

(B) record the number of labor hours of journeymen and apprentices that are used on the project, including an estimate of the number of such labor hours that are expected to be used on the project;

(C) record the registration, placement, advancement, and graduation of any apprentice that works on the project for a period of 5 years; and

(D) indicate in a certified payroll the classification of any employee who is an apprentice.

The Department and the Department of Labor may require the production of records consistent with the Prevailing Wage Act relative to a matter under investigation. The Department and Department of Labor shall make accessible to the public the following information from a certified payroll: (i) names; (ii) classifications; (iii) skill level; (iv) gross wages paid in the pay period; (v) number of hours worked each day; (vi) starting and ending times of work each day; (vii) hourly wage rates, hourly overtime rates; and (viii) hourly fringe benefit rates of employees. The Department and Department of Labor shall redact any social security numbers, addresses, and telephone numbers from all records made accessible to the public under this Section.

If there is a conflict between an apprentice requirement or goal set forth in this Section and an apprenticeship requirement or goal for a public works or State-assisted project set forth in another law of this State, the more stringent requirement shall apply.

(a-5) The Department of Labor may reduce or waive the apprenticeship requirements set forth in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) upon a written request by a recipient, contractor, or subcontractor to the Department of Labor made no later than 45 days before the start of work on a project covered by this Act. The Department of Labor may grant a reduction or waiver only upon a determination that the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor has demonstrated that insufficient apprentices to meet requirements set forth in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) are available. In order to make the demonstration, the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor shall submit with its request to the Department of Labor documentation showing:

(1) the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor made a written request, including the proposed dates of employment, occupation of qualified apprentices needed, location of work to be performed, the number of qualified apprentices needed, the number of labor hours expected to be performed by the qualified apprentices, and the name and contact information of the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor requesting employment of qualified apprentices, to at least one apprenticeship program that has a geographic area of operation that includes the location of the work, that trains apprentices in the occupations needed to perform the work, and that has a usual and customary business practice of agreements with employers, including through a sponsoring labor organization, for the placement of apprentices in the occupation for which they are training, consistent with the standards and requirements set forth in 29 CFR 29 and 29 CFR 30 and any subsequent guidance issued by the United States Department of Labor; and

(2) the written request was denied or the apprenticeship program failed to respond within 7 business days after the written request.

A waiver shall not be granted under this subsection because the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor has not or will not execute an agreement with a labor organization necessary for an apprenticeship program to place an apprentice. The Department of Labor may, in its determination, require a recipient, contractor, or subcontractor to make written requests to more than one apprenticeship program if the Department of Labor has information that other apprenticeship programs within the applicable geographic area are generally able to provide apprentices consistent with this Section.

The Department of Labor shall maintain a list of apprenticeship programs, accessible to the public, that have indicated to the Department of Labor that they are generally able to provide apprentices. Any apprenticeship program may request to be added to this list, with information on the classifications of employees it trains, its geographic area, and a contact person, including address, telephone number, and e-mail.

(b) Before or during the term of a contract subject to this Section, the Department of Labor may reduce or waive the goals set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection (a). Prior to the Department of Labor granting a request for a reduction or waiver, the Department of Labor shall determine, in its discretion, whether to hold a public hearing on the request. In determining whether to hold a public hearing, the Department of Labor may consider factors, including the scale of the project and whether the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor seeking the reduction or waiver has previously requested reductions or waivers on other projects. The Department of Labor may also consult with the Business Enterprise Council under the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act and the Chief Procurement Officer or person of similar responsibility of the agency administering the public works or State-assisted project contract. The Department of Labor may grant a reduction or waiver of the goals set forth in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) upon a determination that:

(1) the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor has demonstrated that insufficient apprentices are available in accordance with paragraph (1) of subsection (b);

(2) the reasonable and necessary requirements of the contract do not allow the goal to be met;

(3) there is a disproportionately high ratio of material costs to labor hours that makes meeting the goal infeasible;

(4) apprentice labor hour goals conflict with existing requirements, including federal requirements, in connection with the public work; or

(5) the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor has demonstrated that insufficient graduates of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program are available to meet the goals requirements of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a).

A reduction or waiver of an apprenticeship goal does not act as a reduction or waiver of an apprenticeship requirement set forth in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a).

(c) Recipients, contractors, Contractors and subcontractors must submit a certification to the Department and the agency that is administering the contract, or the grant, loan, incentive, or tax credit, rebate, or subsidy agreement funding the contract, demonstrating that the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor has:

(1) met the apprentice labor hour requirements and goals set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection (a);

(2) received a reduction or waiver pursuant to subsection (b); or

(3) not complied with the labor hour requirements and goals set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection (a) and did not receive a reduction or waiver pursuant to subsection (b).

It shall be deemed to be a material breach of the contract, or the grant agreement funding the contract, and entitle the State to declare a default, terminate the contract or grant agreement funding it, and exercise those remedies provided for in the contract, at law, or in equity if the recipient, contractor, or subcontractor fails to submit the certification required in this subsection or submits false or misleading information.

Intentional failure to comply with the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative, including, but not limited to, the apprenticeship requirements and goals set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection (a), may result in the State agency that contracted or funded the public works or State-assisted project: (i) terminating the contract or agreement involved, (ii) prohibiting the party that contracted with the State from participating in public contracts or agreements for a period not to exceed 5 3 years, (iii) seeking a penalty of up to 25% of the contract or agreement as a result of the violation, or (iv) any combination of items (i) through (iii). State agencies shall report to the Department all projects that did not comply with the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative and any action taken against the noncompliant party and shall provide an action plan to address the reported instance of noncompliance with the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative.

(c-5) The Department of Labor may accept complaints and investigate any claim of a violation of the apprenticeship requirements and goals set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection (a), consistent with the power and procedures set forth in the Prevailing Wage Act. If the Department of Labor determines that a violation has occurred, in addition to any other action or remedies available under this Act, the Prevailing Wage Act, and any other law, the Department of Labor shall notify the Department and the Comptroller of the violation and, until the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of the Department of Labor, the Comptroller shall withhold any and all payments associated with the public works or State-assisted project. Any withholding made in accordance with this Section is not subject to any penalty for late payment under the State Prompt Payment Act.

(d) No later than one year after the effective date of this Act, and by April 1 of every calendar year thereafter, the Department of Labor shall submit a report to the Illinois Works Review Panel regarding the use of apprentices under the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative for public works and State-assisted projects. To the extent it is available, the report shall include the following information:

(1) the total number of labor hours on each project and the percentage of labor hours actually worked by apprentices on each public works and State-assisted project;

(2) the number of apprentices used in each public works and State-assisted project, broken down by trade; and

(3) the number and percentage of minorities, women, and veterans utilized as apprentices on each public works and State-assisted project.

(e) The Department and the Department of Labor shall adopt any rules deemed necessary to implement the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative. In order to provide for the expeditious and timely implementation of this Act, the Department and the Department of Labor may adopt emergency rules. The adoption of emergency rules authorized by this subsection is deemed to be necessary for the public interest, safety, and welfare.

(f) The Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative shall not interfere with any contracts or grants in existence on the effective date of this Act.

(g) Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary in this Act, any State agency that administers a construction program for which federal law or regulations establish standards and procedures for the utilization of apprentices may implement the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative using the federal standards and procedures for the establishment of requirements and goals and utilization procedures for the State-funded, as well as the federally assisted, portions of the program. In such cases, these requirements and goals shall not exceed those established pursuant to the relevant federal statutes or regulations.

(h) The Department shall maintain a list of graduates of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program for a period of not less than one year after the participant graduates from the Program. The list shall include the name, address, county of residence, phone number, email address, and the self-attested construction and building trade career path preferences of each graduate. This list shall be made available to any recipient, contractor, or subcontractor, as well as any apprenticeship program approved by and registered with the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training in alignment with the graduate's self-attested construction and building trade career path preferences.

(Source: P.A. 103-305, eff. 7-28-23.)

(30 ILCS 559/20-25)

Sec. 20-25. The Illinois Works Review Panel.

(a) The Illinois Works Review Panel is created and shall be comprised of 25 members, each serving 3-year terms. The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate shall each appoint 5 members within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly. The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and the Minority Leader of the Senate shall each appoint 5 members within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly. The Director of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, or his or her designee, shall serve as a member. The Governor shall appoint the following individuals to serve as members within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly: a representative from a contractor organization; a representative from a labor organization; and 2 members of the public with workforce development expertise, one of whom shall be a representative of a nonprofit organization that addresses workforce development.

(b) The members of the Illinois Works Review Panel shall make recommendations to the Department regarding identification and evaluation of community-based organizations.

(c) The Illinois Works Review Panel shall meet, at least quarterly, to review and evaluate (i) the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program and the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative, (ii) ideas to diversify the trainee corps in the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program and the workforce in the construction industry in Illinois, (iii) ideas to increase diversity in active apprenticeship programs in Illinois, and (iv) workforce demographic data collected by the Illinois Department of Labor. The Illinois Works Review Panel shall hold its initial meeting no later than 45 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly.

(d) All State contracts and grant agreements funding State contracts shall include a requirement that the recipient, contractor, and subcontractor shall, upon reasonable notice, appear before and respond to requests for information from the Illinois Works Review Panel.

(e) By August 1, 2020, and every August 1 thereafter, the Illinois Works Review Panel shall report to the General Assembly on its evaluation of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program and the Illinois Works Apprenticeship Initiative, including any recommended modifications.

(Source: P.A. 101-31, eff. 6-28-19; 101-601, eff. 12-10-19; 101-633, eff. 6-5-20.)

Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.