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| | SB0213 Engrossed | | LRB104 05543 SPS 15573 b |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning business.
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| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the |
| 5 | | Government Advertising Spending Transparency Act.
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| 6 | | Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds and |
| 7 | | declares: |
| 8 | | (a) Illinois benefits from robust local news services that |
| 9 | | provide trusted and essential information to the community |
| 10 | | that limits corruption, encourages citizen participation, |
| 11 | | helps combat misinformation, and mitigates community and |
| 12 | | individual alienation. |
| 13 | | (b) Local news in Illinois and throughout the country is |
| 14 | | struggling with newspaper advertising dropping 82% nationally |
| 15 | | since 2000, contributing to a 57% drop in the number of |
| 16 | | reporters at newspapers and thousands of closures. |
| 17 | | (c) Local news outlets are trusted sources of information |
| 18 | | for communities throughout Illinois and advertising spending |
| 19 | | with these outlets carries a substantial benefit for the |
| 20 | | effective dissemination of important government information to |
| 21 | | the communities it serves. |
| 22 | | (d) Government initiatives to increase spending on local |
| 23 | | news advertising have been manifestly successful in both |
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| | SB0213 Engrossed | - 2 - | LRB104 05543 SPS 15573 b |
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| 1 | | supporting local news outlets and improving the information |
| 2 | | diet of communities in several major cities. |
| 3 | | (e) The public has a right to know where government is |
| 4 | | spending its advertising dollars and what proportion of those |
| 5 | | dollars are going to local news outlets in this State.
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| 6 | | Section 15. Reporting requirements. |
| 7 | | (a) No later than October 1, 2026, and October 1 of each |
| 8 | | year thereafter, each State agency or department shall report |
| 9 | | the amount and distribution of its advertising spending to the |
| 10 | | General Assembly and post the report on its website. |
| 11 | | (b) The annual report described in subsection (a) shall |
| 12 | | include: |
| 13 | | (1) the overall amount of advertising spending made by |
| 14 | | the State agency or department; |
| 15 | | (2) the names of each advertising vendor that received |
| 16 | | advertising contracts from the State agency or department |
| 17 | | and the amount of those contracts; |
| 18 | | (3) the type of entity that received the advertising |
| 19 | | spending, categorized by media type, including, but not |
| 20 | | limited to, search platforms, national news outlets, |
| 21 | | digital platforms, and local news outlets; and |
| 22 | | (4) the general subject matter of the advertising |
| 23 | | placement, such as military recruitment, public health, or |
| 24 | | job training. |
| 25 | | (c) If a contracted vendor places advertisements on behalf |