(20 ILCS 730/5-25)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on September 15, 2045)

Sec. 5-25. Clean Jobs Curriculum.

(a) As used in this Section, "clean energy jobs", subject to administrative rules, means jobs in the solar energy, wind energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, solar thermal, green hydrogen, geothermal, electric vehicle industries, other renewable energy industries, industries achieving emission reductions, and other related sectors including 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. "Clean energy jobs" includes administrative, sales, other support functions within these industries and other related sector industries.

(b) The Department shall convene a comprehensive stakeholder process that includes representatives from the State Board of Education, the Illinois Community College Board, the Department of Labor, community-based organizations, workforce development providers, labor unions, building trades, educational institutions, residents of BIPOC and low-income communities, residents of environmental justice communities, clean energy businesses, nonprofit organizations, worker-owned cooperatives, other groups that provide clean energy jobs opportunities, groups that provide construction and building trades job opportunities, and other participants to identify the career pathways and training curriculum needed for participants to be skilled, work ready, and able to enter clean energy jobs. The curriculum shall:

(1) identify the core training curricular competency areas needed to prepare workers to enter clean energy and related sector jobs;

(2) identify a set of required core cross-training competencies provided in each training area for clean energy jobs with the goal of enabling any trainee to receive a standard set of skills common to multiple training areas that would provide a foundation for pursuing a career composed of multiple clean energy job types;

(3) include approaches to integrate broad occupational training to provide career entry into the general construction and building trades sector and any remedial education and work readiness support necessary to achieve educational and professional eligibility thresholds; and

(4) identify on-the-job training formats, where relevant, and identify suggested trainer certification standards, where relevant.

(c) The Department shall publish a report that includes the findings, recommendations, and core curriculum identified by the stakeholder group and shall post a copy of the report on its public website. The Department shall convene the process described to update and modify the recommended curriculum every 3 years to ensure the curriculum contents are current to the evolving clean energy industries, practices, and technologies.

(d) Organizations that receive funding to provide training under the Clean Jobs Workforce Network Program, including, but not limited to, community-based and labor-based training providers, and educational institutions must use the core curriculum that is developed under this Section.

(Source: P.A. 102-662, eff. 9-15-21.)