20 ILCS 655/9

(20 ILCS 655/9) (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 613)

Sec. 9. State Regulatory Exemptions In Enterprise Zones. (a) The Department shall conduct an ongoing review of such agency rules and regulations that may be identified by the department or representatives of designating municipalities and counties as business enterprises and preliminarily appearing to the Department to:

(i) affect the conduct of business, industry and commerce;

(ii) impose excessive costs on either the creation or conduct of such enterprises; and

(iii) inhibit the development and expansions of enterprises within Enterprise Zones.

The Department shall conduct hearings, pursuant to public notice, to solicit public comment on such identified rules and regulations as part of this review process.

(b) No later than August 1 of each calendar year, the Department shall publish in the Illinois Register a list of such rules and regulations identified pursuant to paragraph (a). The Department shall transmit a copy of the list to each agency which has promulgated rules or regulations on the list.

(c) Within 90 days of the publication of the list by the Department, each agency which promulgated rules or regulations identified therein shall file a written report with the Department detailing for each identified rule or regulation:

(i) the need or justification;

(ii) whether the rule or regulation is mandated by state or federal law, or is discretionary, and to what extent;

(iii) a synopsis of the history of the rule, including any internal agency review after its original promulgation; and

(iv) any appropriate explanation of its relationship to other regulatory requirements.

The promulgating agency shall also include any available data, analysis and studies concerning the economic impact of the identified rules and regulations. The agency responses shall be public records.

(d) No later than January 1 of the following calendar year, the Department shall file proposed rules exempting business enterprises within Enterprise Zones from those agency rules and regulations contained in the published list, for which the Department finds that the job creation or business development incentives for Enterprise Zone development engendered by the exemption outweigh the need and justification for the rule or regulation. In making its findings, the Department shall consider all information, data, and opinions submitted to it by the public, as well as by promulgating agencies, as well as information otherwise available to it.

(e) The proposed rules and regulations promulgated by the Department shall be in the form of amendments to the existing rules and regulations to be affected, and shall be subject to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.

(f) Upon its effective date, any exempting rule or regulation of the Department shall supersede the exempted agency rule or regulation in accordance with the terms of the exemption. Such exemptions may apply only to business enterprises within Enterprise Zones during the effective term of the respective Zones. Agencies may not promulgate emergency rules to circumvent an exemption effected by a Department exemption rule; any such emergency rules shall not be effective within Enterprise Zones to the extent inconsistent with the terms of such an exemption.

(Source: P.A. 83-1114.)