Public Act 097-0721
 
HB1882 EnrolledLRB097 10201 PJG 50396 b

    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is
amended by adding Sections 605-456, 605-460, and 605-465 as
follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 605/605-456 new)
    Sec. 605-456. Survey and report on business incentives.
    (a) The Department shall contact businesses that are
located in the State or have been identified as having left the
State. The Department shall request that the business complete
a survey, developed by the Department, that includes
information regarding (i) why the business left, if applicable,
and the location to which the business relocated and (ii) any
incentives that are needed to keep and attract the business.
    (b) The Department shall compile the results of the surveys
and any other relevant information provided to the Department.
By each July 1, the Department shall report to the General
Assembly upon its compilation of the previous year's survey
responses and any of the other relevant information. The report
must identify, at a minimum, the most common responses,
categorized by industry and region, regarding (i) why
businesses left Illinois, (ii) what incentives would have
influenced businesses to remain in Illinois, and (iii) to which
cities and states the businesses have relocated.
    (c) For the purposes of this Section, a business is defined
as one that is engaged in interstate or intrastate commerce for
the purpose of manufacturing, processing, assembling,
warehousing, or distributing products, conducting research and
development, providing tourism services, or providing services
in interstate commerce, office industries, or agricultural
processing, but excluding retail, retail food, health, or
professional services.
    (d) The Department shall adopt rules for the implementation
of this Section.
 
    (20 ILCS 605/605-460 new)
    Sec. 605-460. Engineering excellence program.
    (a) Coordination between engineering schools and private
business is an important tool in fostering innovation.
Universities have eager students, experienced faculty, and
state-of-the-art research facilities. Businesses have existing
markets, production capital, and evolving needs. The General
Assembly believes that universities and businesses should
share resources to allow students to participate in the
research and development area of innovative design and to allow
businesses to benefit from the developing skills of these
students.
    (b) In order to facilitate engineering excellence, the
Department shall develop a program to achieve the goals set
forth in subsection (a). Under this program, the Department
must:
        (1) Annually contact the State's major public and
    private universities with engineering schools.
        (2) Request a one-page written summary of the
    internship, externship, or residency programs operated by
    the engineering college of each of the contacted
    universities.
        (3) Identify the manufacturing businesses within 50
    miles of each university that responded under paragraph (2)
    that could benefit from assistance in the area of
    innovative design.
        (4) Send a letter to each manufacturer identified under
    paragraph (3), informing it of the university's program and
    advising the business to contact the university if it
    wishes to participate in the engineering school's program.
    (c) The Department shall adopt rules for the implementation
of this Section.
 
    (20 ILCS 605/605-465 new)
    Sec. 605-465. Comprehensive website information.
    (a) The Department's official website must contain a
comprehensive list of State, local, and federal economic
benefits available to businesses in each of the State's
counties and municipalities that the Department includes on its
website. In order to do so:
        (1) The Department annually must request a summary of
    available economic benefits from each of the State's
    counties and municipalities that are linked to the
    Department's website.
        (2) The information obtained under paragraph (1) must
    be published on the related web pages of the Department's
    website.
        (3) The Department's website shall also provide
    information regarding available federal economic benefits
    to the extent possible.
    (b) The Department shall adopt rules for the implementation
of this Section.
 
    Section 10. The Corporate Accountability for Tax
Expenditures Act is amended by changing Section 25 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 715/25)
    Sec. 25. Recapture.
    (a) All development assistance agreements shall contain,
at a minimum, the following recapture provisions:
        (1) The recipient must (i) make the level of capital
    investment in the economic development project specified
    in the development assistance agreement; (ii) create or
    retain, or both, the requisite number of jobs, paying not
    less than specified wages for the created and retained
    jobs, within and for the duration of the time period
    specified in the legislation authorizing, or the
    administrative rules implementing, the development
    assistance programs and the development assistance
    agreement.
        (2) If the recipient fails to create or retain the
    requisite number of jobs within and for the time period
    specified, in the legislation authorizing, or the
    administrative rules implementing, the development
    assistance programs and the development assistance
    agreement, the recipient shall be deemed to no longer
    qualify for the State economic assistance and the
    applicable recapture provisions shall take effect.
        (3) If the recipient receives State economic
    assistance in the form of a High Impact Business
    designation pursuant to Section 5.5 of the Illinois
    Enterprise Zone Act and the business receives the benefit
    of the exemption authorized under Section 5l of the
    Retailers' Occupation Tax Act (for the sale of building
    materials incorporated into a High Impact Business
    location) and the recipient fails to create or retain the
    requisite number of jobs, as determined by the legislation
    authorizing the development assistance programs or the
    administrative rules implementing such legislation, or
    both, within the requisite period of time, the recipient
    shall be required to pay to the State the full amount of
    the State tax exemption that it received as a result of the
    High Impact Business designation.
        (4) If the recipient receives a grant or loan pursuant
    to the Large Business Development Program, the Business
    Development Public Infrastructure Program, or the
    Industrial Training Program and the recipient fails to
    create or retain the requisite number of jobs for the
    requisite time period, as provided in the legislation
    authorizing the development assistance programs or the
    administrative rules implementing such legislation, or
    both, or in the development assistance agreement, the
    recipient shall be required to repay to the State a pro
    rata amount of the grant; that amount shall reflect the
    percentage of the deficiency between the requisite number
    of jobs to be created or retained by the recipient and the
    actual number of such jobs in existence as of the date the
    Department determines the recipient is in breach of the job
    creation or retention covenants contained in the
    development assistance agreement. If the recipient of
    development assistance under the Large Business
    Development Program, the Business Development Public
    Infrastructure Program, or the Industrial Training Program
    ceases operations at the specific project site, during the
    5-year period commencing on the date of assistance, the
    recipient shall be required to repay the entire amount of
    the grant or to accelerate repayment of the loan back to
    the State.
        (5) If the recipient receives a tax credit under the
    Economic Development for a Growing Economy tax credit
    program, the development assistance agreement must provide
    that (i) if the number of new or retained employees falls
    below the requisite number set forth in the development
    assistance agreement, the allowance of the credit shall be
    automatically suspended until the number of new and
    retained employees equals or exceeds the requisite number
    in the development assistance agreement; (ii) if the
    recipient discontinues operations at the specific project
    site during the 5-year period after the beginning of the
    first tax year for which the Department issues a tax credit
    certificate, the recipient shall forfeit all credits taken
    by the recipient during such 5-year period; and (iii) in
    the event of a revocation or suspension of the credit, the
    Department shall contact the Director of Revenue to
    initiate proceedings against the recipient to recover
    wrongfully exempted Illinois State income taxes and the
    recipient shall promptly repay to the Department of Revenue
    any wrongfully exempted Illinois State income taxes. The
    forfeited amount of credits shall be deemed assessed on the
    date the Department contacts the Department of Revenue and
    the recipient shall promptly repay to the Department of
    Revenue any wrongfully exempted Illinois State income
    taxes.
    (b) The Director may elect to waive enforcement of any
contractual provision arising out of the development
assistance agreement required by this Act based on a finding
that the waiver is necessary to avert an imminent and
demonstrable hardship to the recipient that may result in such
recipient's insolvency or discharge of workers. If a waiver is
granted, the recipient must agree to a contractual
modification, including recapture provisions, to the
development assistance agreement. The existence of any waiver
granted pursuant to this subsection (c), the date of the
granting of such waiver, and a brief summary of the reasons
supporting the granting of such waiver shall be disclosed
consistent with the provisions of Section 25 of this Act.
    (b-5) The Department shall post, on its website, (i) the
identity of each recipient from whom amounts were recaptured
under this Section on or after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, (ii) the date of
the recapture, (iii) a summary of the reasons supporting the
recapture, and (iv) the amount recaptured from those
recipients.
    (c) Beginning June 1, 2004, the Department shall annually
compile a report on the outcomes and effectiveness of recapture
provisions by program, including but not limited to: (i) the
total number of companies that receive development assistance
as defined in this Act; (ii) the total number of recipients in
violation of development agreements with the Department; (iii)
the total number of completed recapture efforts; (iv) the total
number of recapture efforts initiated; and (v) the number of
waivers granted. This report shall be disclosed consistent with
the provisions of Section 20 of this Act.
    (d) For the purposes of this Act, recapture provisions do
not include the Illinois Department of Transportation Economic
Development Program, any grants under the Industrial Training
Program that are not given as an incentive to a recipient
business organization, or any successor programs as described
in the term "development assistance" in Section 5 of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 97-2, eff. 5-6-11.)
 
    Section 15. The Energy Assistance Act is amended by
changing Section 6 as follows:
 
    (305 ILCS 20/6)  (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1406)
    Sec. 6. Eligibility, Conditions of Participation, and
Energy Assistance.
    (a) Any person who is a resident of the State of Illinois
and whose household income is not greater than an amount
determined annually by the Department, in consultation with the
Policy Advisory Council, may apply for assistance pursuant to
this Act in accordance with regulations promulgated by the
Department. In setting the annual eligibility level, the
Department shall consider the amount of available funding and
may not set a limit higher than 150% of the federal nonfarm
poverty level as established by the federal Office of
Management and Budget; except that for the period ending June
30, 2013, 2012, or until the expenditure of federal resources
allocated for energy assistance programs by the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, whichever occurs first, the
Department may not establish limits higher than 200% of that
poverty level or the maximum level provided for by federal
guidelines.
    (b) Applicants who qualify for assistance pursuant to
subsection (a) of this Section shall, subject to appropriation
from the General Assembly and subject to availability of funds
to the Department, receive energy assistance as provided by
this Act. The Department, upon receipt of monies authorized
pursuant to this Act for energy assistance, shall commit funds
for each qualified applicant in an amount determined by the
Department. In determining the amounts of assistance to be
provided to or on behalf of a qualified applicant, the
Department shall ensure that the highest amounts of assistance
go to households with the greatest energy costs in relation to
household income. The Department shall include factors such as
energy costs, household size, household income, and region of
the State when determining individual household benefits. In
setting assistance levels, the Department shall attempt to
provide assistance to approximately the same number of
households who participated in the 1991 Residential Energy
Assistance Partnership Program. Such assistance levels shall
be adjusted annually on the basis of funding availability and
energy costs. In promulgating rules for the administration of
this Section the Department shall assure that a minimum of 1/3
of funds available for benefits to eligible households with the
lowest incomes and that elderly and disabled households are
offered a priority application period.
    (c) If the applicant is not a customer of record of an
energy provider for energy services or an applicant for such
service, such applicant shall receive a direct energy
assistance payment in an amount established by the Department
for all such applicants under this Act; provided, however, that
such an applicant must have rental expenses for housing greater
than 30% of household income.
    (c-1) This subsection shall apply only in cases where: (1)
the applicant is not a customer of record of an energy provider
because energy services are provided by the owner of the unit
as a portion of the rent; (2) the applicant resides in housing
subsidized or developed with funds provided under the Rental
Housing Support Program Act or under a similar locally funded
rent subsidy program, or is the voucher holder who resides in a
rental unit within the State of Illinois and whose monthly rent
is subsidized by the tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher
Program under Section 8 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937; and
(3) the rental expenses for housing are no more than 30% of
household income. In such cases, the household may apply for an
energy assistance payment under this Act and the owner of the
housing unit shall cooperate with the applicant by providing
documentation of the energy costs for that unit. Any
compensation paid to the energy provider who supplied energy
services to the household shall be paid on behalf of the owner
of the housing unit providing energy services to the household.
The Department shall report annually to the General Assembly on
the number of households receiving energy assistance under this
subsection and the cost of such assistance. The provisions of
this subsection (c-1), other than this sentence, are
inoperative after August 31, 2012.
    (d) If the applicant is a customer of an energy provider,
such applicant shall receive energy assistance in an amount
established by the Department for all such applicants under
this Act, such amount to be paid by the Department to the
energy provider supplying winter energy service to such
applicant. Such applicant shall:
        (i) make all reasonable efforts to apply to any other
    appropriate source of public energy assistance; and
        (ii) sign a waiver permitting the Department to receive
    income information from any public or private agency
    providing income or energy assistance and from any
    employer, whether public or private.
    (e) Any qualified applicant pursuant to this Section may
receive or have paid on such applicant's behalf an emergency
assistance payment to enable such applicant to obtain access to
winter energy services. Any such payments shall be made in
accordance with regulations of the Department.
    (f) The Department may, if sufficient funds are available,
provide additional benefits to certain qualified applicants:
        (i) for the reduction of past due amounts owed to
    energy providers; and
        (ii) to assist the household in responding to
    excessively high summer temperatures or energy costs.
    Households containing elderly members, children, a person
    with a disability, or a person with a medical need for
    conditioned air shall receive priority for receipt of such
    benefits.
(Source: P.A. 96-154, eff. 1-1-10; 96-157, eff. 9-1-09;
96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 6/29/2012