(20 ILCS 605/605-800) (was 20 ILCS 605/46.19a in part)

Sec. 605-800. Training grants for skills in critical demand.

(a) Grants to provide training in fields affected by critical demands for certain skills may be made as provided in this Section.

(b) The Director may make grants to eligible employers or to other eligible entities on behalf of employers as authorized in subsection (c) to provide training for employees in fields for which there are critical demands for certain skills. No participating employee may be a person without employment authorization under federal law.

(c) The Director may accept applications for training grant funds and grant requests from: (i) entities sponsoring multi-company eligible employee training projects as defined in subsection (d), including business associations, strategic business partnerships, institutions of secondary or higher education, large manufacturers for supplier network companies, federal Job Training Partnership Act administrative entities or grant recipients, and labor organizations when those projects will address common training needs identified by participating companies; and (ii) individual employers that are undertaking eligible employee training projects as defined in subsection (d), including intermediaries and training agents.

(d) The Director may make grants to eligible applicants as defined in subsection (c) for employee training projects that include, but need not be limited to, one or more of the following:

(1) Training programs in response to new or changing technology being introduced in the workplace.

(2) Job-linked training that offers special skills for career advancement or that is preparatory for, and leads directly to, jobs with definite career potential and long-term job security.

(3) Training necessary to implement total quality management or improvement or both management and improvement systems within the workplace.

(4) Training related to new machinery or equipment.

(5) Training of employees of companies that are expanding into new markets or expanding exports from Illinois.

(6) Basic, remedial, or both basic and remedial training of employees as a prerequisite for other vocational or technical skills training or as a condition for sustained employment.

(7) Self-employment training of the unemployed and underemployed with comprehensive, competency-based instructional programs and services, entrepreneurial education and training initiatives for youth and adult learners in cooperation with the Illinois Institute for Entrepreneurial Education, training and education, conferences, workshops, and best practice information for local program operators of entrepreneurial education and self-employment training programs.

(8) Other training activities or projects, or both training activities and projects, related to the support, development, or evaluation of job training programs, activities, and delivery systems, including training needs assessment and design.

(e) Grants shall be made on the terms and conditions that the Department shall determine. No grant made under subsection (d), however, shall exceed 50% of the direct costs of all approved training programs provided by the employer or the employer's training agent or other entity as defined in subsection (c). Under this Section, allowable costs include, but are not limited to:

(1) Administrative costs of tracking, documenting, reporting, and processing training funds or project costs.

(2) Curriculum development.

(3) Wages and fringe benefits of employees.

(4) Training materials, including scrap product costs.

(5) Trainee travel expenses.

(6) Instructor costs, including wages, fringe benefits, tuition, and travel expenses.

(7) Rent, purchase, or lease of training equipment.

(8) Other usual and customary training costs.

(f) The Department may conduct on-site grant monitoring visits to verify trainee employment dates and wages and to ensure that the grantee's financial management system is structured to provide for accurate, current, and complete disclosure of the financial results of the grant program in accordance with all provisions, terms, and conditions contained in the grant contract. Each applicant must, on request by the Department, provide to the Department a notarized certification signed and dated by a duly authorized representative of the applicant, or that representative's authorized designee, certifying that all participating employees are employed at an Illinois facility and, for each participating employee, stating the employee's name and providing either (i) the employee's social security number or (ii) a statement that the applicant has adequate written verification that the employee is employed at an Illinois facility. The Department may audit the accuracy of submissions. Applicants sponsoring multi-company training grant programs shall obtain information meeting the requirement of this subsection from each participating company and provide it to the Department upon request.

(g) The Director may establish and collect a schedule of charges from subgrantee entities and other system users under federal job-training programs for participating in and utilizing the Department's automated job-training program information systems if the systems and the necessary participation and utilization are requirements of the federal job-training programs. All monies collected pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited into the Federal Workforce Training Fund and may be used, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly, only for the purpose of financing the maintenance and operation of the automated federal job-training information systems.

(Source: P.A. 102-1030, eff. 5-27-22.)