Public Act 103-0684
 
HB4751 EnrolledLRB103 37698 CES 67825 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing 
Section 8-402.2 as follows:
 
    (220 ILCS 5/8-402.2)
    Sec. 8-402.2. Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment 
programs.
    (a) Within one year after the effective date of this 
amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, each electric 
utility serving over 500,000 retail customers in this State 
shall implement a Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment 
program.
    (b) Each utility's Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment 
program shall include the following requirements:
        (1) Each plan shall be designed to offer within the 
    utility's service territory to assist public schools, as 
    defined by Section 1-3 of the School Code, to increase the 
    efficiency of their energy usage, to reduce the carbon 
    emissions associated with their energy usage, and to move 
    toward a goal of public schools being carbon-free in their 
    energy usage by 2030. The program shall include a target 
    of completing Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment for 
    all public schools in the utility's service territory by 
    December 31, 2029.
        (2) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall be 
    a generally standardized assessment, but may incorporate 
    flexibility to reflect the circumstances of individual 
    public schools and public school districts.
        (3) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall 
    include, but not be limited to, comprehensive analyses of 
    the following subjects:
            (A) The top energy efficiency savings 
        opportunities for the public school, by energy saved;
            (B) The total achievable solar energy potential on 
        or nearby a public school's premises and able to 
        provide power to a school;
            (C) The infrastructure required to support 
        electrification of the facility's space heating and 
        water heating needs;
            (D) The infrastructure requirements to support 
        electrification of a school's transportation needs; 
        and
            (E) The investments required to achieve a WELL 
        Certification or similar certification as determined 
        through methods developed and updated by the 
        International WELL Building Institute or similar or 
        successor organizations.
        (4) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment also 
    shall include, but not be limited to, mechanical 
    insulation evaluation inspection and inspection of the 
    building envelope(s).
        (5) With respect to those public school construction 
    projects for public schools within the service territory 
    of a utility serving over 500,000 retail customers in this 
    State and for which a public school district applies for a 
    grant under Section 5-40 of the School Construction Law on 
    or after June 1, 2023, the district must submit a copy of 
    the applicable Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment 
    report, or, if no such Public Schools Carbon-Free 
    Assessment has been performed, request the applicable 
    utility to perform such a Public Schools Carbon-Free 
    Assessment and submit a copy of the Public Schools 
    Carbon-Free Assessment report promptly when it becomes 
    available. The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment 
    report shall include, but not limited to, an energy audit 
    of both the building envelope and the building's 
    mechanical insulation system. It shall also include an 
    inspection of both the building envelope and the 
    mechanical insulation system. The district must 
    demonstrate how the construction project is designed and 
    managed to achieve the goals that all public elementary 
    and secondary school facilities in the State are able to 
    be powered by clean energy by 2030, and for such 
    facilities to achieve carbon-free energy sources for space 
    heat, water heat, and transportation by 2050.
        (6) The results of each Public Schools Carbon-Free 
    Assessment shall be memorialized by the utility or by a 
    third party acting on behalf of the utility in a 
    non-confidential report form that includes recommendations 
    and redacts all confidential information. For purposes of 
    this Section, "confidential information" means information 
    or facts expected and intended to be exempt from 
    disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. 
    "Confidential information" does not include program 
    offerings, solar opportunities, health and safety 
    certifications, energy efficiency recommendations, 
    information about transportation and other funding 
    offerings. The non-confidential form and shall be provided 
    to the applicable public school by the utility or the 
    third party acting on behalf of the utility. Each utility 
    shall be required to retain a copy of each Public Schools 
    Carbon-Free Assessment report and to provide copies of 
    each non-confidential report to the Illinois Power Agency 
    and the Illinois Capital Development Board within 3 months 
    after of its completion. The Illinois Power Agency shall 
    promptly make the results of each non-confidential report 
    available for public inspection on its website. 
        (7) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall be 
    conducted in coordination with each utility's energy 
    efficiency and demand-response plans under Sections 8-103, 
    8-103A, and 8-103B of this Act, to the extent applicable. 
    Nothing in this Section is intended to modify or require 
    modification of those plans. However, the utility may 
    request a modification of a plan approved by the 
    Commission, and the Commission may approve the requested 
    modification, if the modification is consistent with the 
    provisions of this Section and Section 8-103B of this Act.
        (8) If there are no other providers of assessments 
    that are substantively the same as those being performed 
    by utilities pursuant to this Section by 2024, a utility 
    that has a Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment program 
    may offer assessments to public schools that are not 
    served by a utility subject to this Section at the 
    utility's cost.
        (9) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall be 
    offered to and performed for public schools in the 
    utility's service territory on a complimentary basis by 
    each utility, with no Assessment fee charged to the public 
    schools for the Assessments. Nothing in this Section is 
    intended to prohibit the utility from recovering through 
    rates approved by the Commission the utility's prudent and 
    reasonable costs of complying with this Section.
        (10) Utilities shall make efforts to prioritize the 
    completion of Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessments for 
    the following school districts by December 31, 2022: East 
    St. Louis School District 189, Harvey School District 152, 
    Thornton Township High School District 205. Utilities 
    shall also prioritize the completion of Public Schools 
    Carbon-Free Assessments for schools located within 
    environmental justice communities or schools that are 
    categorized as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 school based on the 
    latest annual evidence-based funding distribution process 
    by the State Board of Education. 
(Source: P.A. 102-662, eff. 9-15-21; 102-1123, eff. 1-27-23.)

Effective Date:  1/1/2025