Public Act 103-0917
 
SB2743 EnrolledLRB103 36156 MXP 66248 b

    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Water
Plan Task Force Act.
 
    Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
    "Plan" means the State Water Plan.
    "Task Force" means the State Water Plan Task Force.
 
    Section 10. State Water Plan Task Force.
    (a) There shall be established within State government and
universities an interagency task force which shall be known as
the State Water Plan Task Force. The Task Force shall be
chaired by the Director of the Office of Water Resources of the
Department of Natural Resources and composed of the directors,
or their designee, from the following State entities:
        (1) The Office of Resource Conservation of the
    Department of Natural Resources.
        (2) The Department of Public Health.
        (3) The Environmental Protection Agency.
        (4) The Department of Transportation.
        (5) The Department of Agriculture.
        (6) The Department of Transportation.
        (7) The Illinois Emergency Management Agency and
    Office of Homeland Security.
        (8) The Pollution Control Board
        (9) The Department of Commerce and Economic
    Opportunity.
        (10) The State Water Survey of the University of
    Illinois.
        (11) The Water Resource Center of the University of
    Illinois.
    (b) The Task Force shall coordinate with State agencies
and universities to develop a concise plan for addressing
water issues facing the State.
    (c) The Task Force shall:
        (1) identify critical water issues;
        (2) develop recommendations to address critical water
    topic issues;
        (3) implement recommendations; and
        (4) reevaluate critical water issues and needs.
    (d) The Task Force shall publish a State Water Plan not
less than every 10 years. The Plan shall include:
        (1) Identification of critical water topics needing
    specific attention in this State based on stakeholder
    input sought and provided during the plan development.
        (2) Topic Lead as an individual from the Task Force
    membership responsible for ensuring the development of the
    Topic Lead's assigned critical topic section of the Plan.
        (3) Plan development shall include public outreach
    phases to obtain feedback on the most critical water
    issues faced by the State and how to address those issues.
        (4) Recommendations related to the identified issues
    for each critical topic, including, but not limited to:
            (A) New State programs or modification to existing
        programs.
            (B) New or modified existing policy within a
        program or agency.
            (C) New or modified legislation.
            (D) Requests for a study or research be completed.
            (E) Proposals or designs of a construction
        project.
            (F) Funding requests for the above listed
        recommendations.
        (5) No more than 2 years shall be used to develop a new
    Plan.
        (6) The Task Force shall develop and maintain a
    publicly available website or portal that summarizes
    projects of the Task Force.
    (e) The Task Force shall be responsible for developing
membership voting and operational rules.
    (f) The Task Force shall meet not less than once per
quarter each calendar year to:
        (1) Update the status of the Plan recommendations by
    providing a implementation summary that will be published
    to the official Task Force website or portal.
        (2) Review, evaluate, and publish an annual report
    showing the implementation status for each of the Plan's
    recommendations.
    (g) The Task Force shall have the authority to:
        (1) Create and use subtask forces or committees to
    identifying critical issues and implementing
    recommendations related to the Plan.
        (2) Publish special reports specific to critical
    topics to add clarification and provide additional details
    of action needed.
        (3) Review and evaluate State laws, rules,
    regulations, and procedures that relate to water needs in
    the state.
        (4) Recommend procedures for better coordination among
    State water-related programs, with local programs and
    stakeholder groups.
        (5) Recommend and prioritize the State's water related
    research needs.
        (6) Review, coordinate, and evaluate water data
    collection, analysis, and public sharing.
        (7) Allow member entities to request annual
    appropriations to resource necessary staff participation
    on the Task Force and resource Plan development.