Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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20 ILCS 1505/1505-215

    (20 ILCS 1505/1505-215)
    Sec. 1505-215. Bureau on Apprenticeship Programs and Clean Energy Jobs.

(a) For purposes of this Section, "clean energy sector" means solar energy, wind energy, energy efficiency, solar thermal, green hydrogen, geothermal, and electric vehicle industries and other renewable energy industries, industries achieving emission reductions, and related industries that manufacture, develop, build, maintain, or provide ancillary services to renewable energy resources or energy efficiency products or services, including the manufacture and installation of healthier building materials that contain fewer hazardous chemicals.

(b) There is created within the Department of Labor a Bureau on Apprenticeship Programs and Clean Energy Jobs. This Bureau shall work to increase minority participation in active apprentice programs in Illinois that are approved by the United States Department of Labor and in clean energy jobs in Illinois. The Bureau shall identify barriers to minorities gaining access to construction careers and careers in the clean energy sector and make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly for policies to remove those barriers. The Department may hire staff to perform outreach in promoting diversity in active apprenticeship programs approved by the United States Department of Labor.

(c) The Bureau shall annually compile racial and gender workforce diversity information from contractors receiving State or other public funds and by labor unions with members working on projects receiving State or other public funds.

(d) The Bureau shall compile racial and gender workforce diversity information from certified transcripts of payroll reports filed in the preceding year pursuant to the Prevailing Wage Act for all clean energy sector construction projects. The Bureau shall work with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Illinois Power Agency, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and other agencies, as necessary, to receive and share data and reporting on racial and gender workforce diversity, demographic data, and any other data necessary to achieve the goals of this Section.

(e) By April 15, 2022 and every April 15 thereafter, the Bureau shall publish and make available on the Department's website a report summarizing the racial and gender diversity of the workforce on all clean energy sector projects by county.  The report shall use a consistent structure for information requests and presentation, with an easy-to-use table of contents, to enable comparable year-over-year solicitation and benchmarking of data. The development of the report structure shall be open to a public review and comment period. That report shall compare the race, ethnicity, and gender of the workers on covered clean energy sector projects to the general population of the county in which the project is located.  The report shall also disaggregate such data to compare the race, ethnicity, and gender of workers employed by union and nonunion contractors and compare the race, ethnicity, and gender of workers who reside in Illinois and those who reside outside of Illinois. The report shall also include the race, ethnicity, and gender of the workers by prevailing wage classification.

(f) The Bureau shall present its annual report to the Energy Workforce Advisory Council in order to inform its program evaluations, recommendations, and objectives pursuant to Section 5-65 of the Energy Transition Act. The Bureau shall also present its annual report to the Illinois Power Agency in order to inform its ongoing equity and compliance efforts in the clean energy sector.

The Bureau and all entities subject to the requirements of subsection (d) shall hold an annual workshop open to the public in 2022 and every year thereafter on the state of racial and gender workforce diversity in the clean energy sector in order to collaboratively seek solutions to structural impediments to achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, including testimony from each participating entity, subject matter experts, and advocates.

(g) The Bureau shall publish each annual report prepared and filed pursuant to subsection (d) on the Department of Labor's website for at least 5 years.

(Source: P.A. 101-170, eff. 1-1-20; 101-601, eff. 1-1-20; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21; 102-662, eff. 9-15-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22.)