(30 ILCS 559/20-15)

Sec. 20-15. Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program; Illinois Works Bid Credit Program.

(a) The Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program is established and shall be administered by the Department. The goal of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program is to create a network of community-based organizations throughout the State that will recruit, prescreen, and provide preapprenticeship skills training, for which participants may attend free of charge and receive a stipend, to create a qualified, diverse pipeline of workers who are prepared for careers in the construction and building trades. Upon completion of the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program, the candidates will be skilled and work-ready.

(b) There is created the Illinois Works Fund, a special fund in the State treasury. The Illinois Works Fund shall be administered by the Department. The Illinois Works Fund shall be used to provide funding for community-based organizations throughout the State. In addition to any other transfers that may be provided for by law, on and after July 1, 2019 at the direction of the Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget, the State Comptroller shall direct and the State Treasurer shall transfer amounts not exceeding a total of $50,000,000 from the Rebuild Illinois Projects Fund to the Illinois Works Fund.

(b-5) In addition to any other transfers that may be provided for by law, beginning July 1, 2024 and each July 1 thereafter, or as soon thereafter as practical, the State Comptroller shall direct and the State Treasurer shall transfer $20,000,000 from the Capital Projects Fund to the Illinois Works Fund.

(c) Each community-based organization that receives funding from the Illinois Works Fund shall provide an annual report to the Illinois Works Review Panel by April 1 of each calendar year. The annual report shall include the following information:

(1) a description of the community-based organization's recruitment, screening, and training efforts;

(2) the number of individuals who apply to, participate in, and complete the community-based organization's program, broken down by race, gender, age, and veteran status; and

(3) the number of the individuals referenced in item (2) of this subsection who are initially accepted and placed into apprenticeship programs in the construction and building trades.

(d) The Department shall create and administer the Illinois Works Bid Credit Program that shall provide economic incentives, through bid credits, to encourage contractors and subcontractors to provide contracting and employment opportunities to historically underrepresented populations in the construction industry.

The Illinois Works Bid Credit Program shall allow contractors and subcontractors to earn bid credits for use toward future bids for public works projects contracted by the State or an agency of the State in order to increase the chances that the contractor and the subcontractors will be selected.

Contractors or subcontractors may be eligible to earn bid credits for employing apprentices who have completed the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program. Contractors or subcontractors shall earn bid credits at a rate established by the Department and based on labor hours worked by apprentices who have completed the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program. In order to earn bid credits, contractors and subcontractors shall provide the Department with certified payroll documenting the hours performed by apprentices who have completed the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program. Contractors and subcontractors can use bid credits toward future bids for public works projects contracted or funded by the State or an agency of the State in order to increase the likelihood of being selected as the contractor for the public works project toward which they have applied the bid credit. The Department shall establish the rate by rule and shall publish it on the Department's website. The rule may include maximum bid credits allowed per contractor, per subcontractor, per apprentice, per bid, or per year.

The Illinois Works Credit Bank is hereby created and shall be administered by the Department. The Illinois Works Credit Bank shall track the bid credits.

A contractor or subcontractor who has been awarded bid credits under any other State program for employing apprentices who have completed the Illinois Works Preapprenticeship Program is not eligible to receive bid credits under the Illinois Works Bid Credit Program relating to the same contract.

The Department shall report to the Illinois Works Review Panel the following: (i) the number of bid credits awarded by the Department; (ii) the number of bid credits submitted by the contractor or subcontractor to the agency administering the public works contract; and (iii) the number of bid credits accepted by the agency for such contract. Any agency that awards bid credits pursuant to the Illinois Works Credit Bank Program shall report to the Department the number of bid credits it accepted for the public works contract.

Upon a finding that a contractor or subcontractor has reported falsified records to the Department in order to fraudulently obtain bid credits, the Department may bar the contractor or subcontractor from participating in the Illinois Works Bid Credit Program and may suspend the contractor or subcontractor from bidding on or participating in any public works project. False or fraudulent claims for payment relating to false bid credits may be subject to damages and penalties under applicable law.

(e) The Department shall adopt any rules deemed necessary to implement this Section. In order to provide for the expeditious and timely implementation of this Act, the Department may adopt emergency rules. The adoption of emergency rules authorized by this subsection is deemed to be necessary for the public interest, safety, and welfare.

(Source: P.A. 103-8, eff. 6-7-23; 103-305, eff. 7-28-23; 103-588, eff. 6-5-24; 103-605, eff. 7-1-24.)