Public Act 103-0684
 
HB4751 EnrolledLRB103 37698 CES 67825 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing
Section 8-402.2 as follows:
 
    (220 ILCS 5/8-402.2)
    Sec. 8-402.2. Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment
programs.
    (a) Within one year after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, each electric
utility serving over 500,000 retail customers in this State
shall implement a Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment
program.
    (b) Each utility's Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment
program shall include the following requirements:
        (1) Each plan shall be designed to offer within the
    utility's service territory to assist public schools, as
    defined by Section 1-3 of the School Code, to increase the
    efficiency of their energy usage, to reduce the carbon
    emissions associated with their energy usage, and to move
    toward a goal of public schools being carbon-free in their
    energy usage by 2030. The program shall include a target
    of completing Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment for
    all public schools in the utility's service territory by
    December 31, 2029.
        (2) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall be
    a generally standardized assessment, but may incorporate
    flexibility to reflect the circumstances of individual
    public schools and public school districts.
        (3) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall
    include, but not be limited to, comprehensive analyses of
    the following subjects:
            (A) The top energy efficiency savings
        opportunities for the public school, by energy saved;
            (B) The total achievable solar energy potential on
        or nearby a public school's premises and able to
        provide power to a school;
            (C) The infrastructure required to support
        electrification of the facility's space heating and
        water heating needs;
            (D) The infrastructure requirements to support
        electrification of a school's transportation needs;
        and
            (E) The investments required to achieve a WELL
        Certification or similar certification as determined
        through methods developed and updated by the
        International WELL Building Institute or similar or
        successor organizations.
        (4) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment also
    shall include, but not be limited to, mechanical
    insulation evaluation inspection and inspection of the
    building envelope(s).
        (5) With respect to those public school construction
    projects for public schools within the service territory
    of a utility serving over 500,000 retail customers in this
    State and for which a public school district applies for a
    grant under Section 5-40 of the School Construction Law on
    or after June 1, 2023, the district must submit a copy of
    the applicable Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment
    report, or, if no such Public Schools Carbon-Free
    Assessment has been performed, request the applicable
    utility to perform such a Public Schools Carbon-Free
    Assessment and submit a copy of the Public Schools
    Carbon-Free Assessment report promptly when it becomes
    available. The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment
    report shall include, but not limited to, an energy audit
    of both the building envelope and the building's
    mechanical insulation system. It shall also include an
    inspection of both the building envelope and the
    mechanical insulation system. The district must
    demonstrate how the construction project is designed and
    managed to achieve the goals that all public elementary
    and secondary school facilities in the State are able to
    be powered by clean energy by 2030, and for such
    facilities to achieve carbon-free energy sources for space
    heat, water heat, and transportation by 2050.
        (6) The results of each Public Schools Carbon-Free
    Assessment shall be memorialized by the utility or by a
    third party acting on behalf of the utility in a
    non-confidential report form that includes recommendations
    and redacts all confidential information. For purposes of
    this Section, "confidential information" means information
    or facts expected and intended to be exempt from
    disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
    "Confidential information" does not include program
    offerings, solar opportunities, health and safety
    certifications, energy efficiency recommendations,
    information about transportation and other funding
    offerings. The non-confidential form and shall be provided
    to the applicable public school by the utility or the
    third party acting on behalf of the utility. Each utility
    shall be required to retain a copy of each Public Schools
    Carbon-Free Assessment report and to provide copies of
    each non-confidential report to the Illinois Power Agency
    and the Illinois Capital Development Board within 3 months
    after of its completion. The Illinois Power Agency shall
    promptly make the results of each non-confidential report
    available for public inspection on its website.
        (7) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall be
    conducted in coordination with each utility's energy
    efficiency and demand-response plans under Sections 8-103,
    8-103A, and 8-103B of this Act, to the extent applicable.
    Nothing in this Section is intended to modify or require
    modification of those plans. However, the utility may
    request a modification of a plan approved by the
    Commission, and the Commission may approve the requested
    modification, if the modification is consistent with the
    provisions of this Section and Section 8-103B of this Act.
        (8) If there are no other providers of assessments
    that are substantively the same as those being performed
    by utilities pursuant to this Section by 2024, a utility
    that has a Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment program
    may offer assessments to public schools that are not
    served by a utility subject to this Section at the
    utility's cost.
        (9) The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall be
    offered to and performed for public schools in the
    utility's service territory on a complimentary basis by
    each utility, with no Assessment fee charged to the public
    schools for the Assessments. Nothing in this Section is
    intended to prohibit the utility from recovering through
    rates approved by the Commission the utility's prudent and
    reasonable costs of complying with this Section.
        (10) Utilities shall make efforts to prioritize the
    completion of Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessments for
    the following school districts by December 31, 2022: East
    St. Louis School District 189, Harvey School District 152,
    Thornton Township High School District 205. Utilities
    shall also prioritize the completion of Public Schools
    Carbon-Free Assessments for schools located within
    environmental justice communities or schools that are
    categorized as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 school based on the
    latest annual evidence-based funding distribution process
    by the State Board of Education.
(Source: P.A. 102-662, eff. 9-15-21; 102-1123, eff. 1-27-23.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2025