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1		AN ACT concerning agriculture.
2		Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3		represented in the General Assembly:
4		Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Local
5		Food Infrastructure Grant Act.
6		Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:
7		"Department" means the Department of Agriculture.
8		"Director" means the Director of Agriculture.
9		"Fund" means the Local Food Infrastructure Grant Fund.
10		"Grantee" means the person or entity to which a grant is
11		made from the Fund.
12		"Lender" means any federal or State chartered bank,
13		federal land bank, production credit association, bank for
14		cooperatives, federal or state chartered savings and loan
15		association or building and loan association, small business
16		investment company, or any other institution qualified within
17		this State to originate and service loans, including, but not
18		limited to, insurance companies, credit unions, and mortgage
19		loan companies. "Lender" includes a wholly owned subsidiary of
20		a manufacturer, seller or distributor of goods or services
21		that makes loans to businesses or individuals, commonly known
22		as a "captive finance company".
23		"Liability" includes, but is not limited to, the

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1		following: accounts payable; notes or other indebtedness owed
2		to any source; taxes; rent; amounts owed on real estate
3		contracts or real estate mortgages; judgments; accrued
4		interest payable; and any other liability.
5		"State" means the State of Illinois.
6		"Underserved Farmer" means farmers or ranchers who are:
7		Beginning; Socially Disadvantaged; Veterans; and Limited
8		Resource, as defined by the USDA.
9		"Underserved Community" means communities that have
10		limited or no access to resources or that are otherwise
11		disenfranchised. These groups may include people who are
12		socioeconomically disadvantaged; people with limited English
13		proficiency; geographically isolated or educationally
14		disenfranchised people; people of color as well as those of
15		ethnic and national origin minorities; women and children;
16		individuals with disabilities and others with access and
17		functional needs; and seniors.
18		"Value-added" means the processing, packaging, or
19		otherwise enhancing the value of farm and agricultural
20		products or by-products produced in Illinois.
21		Section 10. Legislative findings.
22		(a) The General Assembly finds that in this State the
23		following conditions exist:
24		(1) Small fruit, vegetable, and livestock farmers are
25		vital to the health and wealth of Illinois communities,

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1		yet Illinois does not currently have infrastructure in
2		place to support local food farmers and feed Illinois
3		communities.
4		(2) An estimated 95% of the food consumed in Illinois
5		is purchased from outside our borders, resulting in the
6		export of billions of food dollars outside our state
7		instead of building local economies.
8		(3) A shift of just 10% toward local food purchasing
9		by Illinois individuals, families, schools, institutions,
10		and state agencies could generate billions in economic
11		growth for our state.
12		(4) In order for Illinois families, businesses,
13		schools, and institutions to shift their purchasing
14		practices, Illinois must invest in supporting critical
15		local food infrastructure needed to scale up production,
16		aggregation, and distribution of local food.
17		(b) The General Assembly determines and declares that
18		there exist conditions in the State that require the
19		Department to issue grants on behalf of the State for the
20		development of local food processing, aggregation, and
21		distribution.
22		Section 15. Local Food Infrastructure Grant Program.
23		Subject to appropriation, the Department shall develop and
24		administer an annual Local Food Infrastructure Grant Program
25		to enhance local food processing, aggregation, and

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1		distribution within this State.
2		(1) Eligibility. Eligible applicants must currently or
3		plan to store, process, package, aggregate, or distribute
4		farm products raised in Illinois. Eligible applicants
5		include, but are not limited to:
6		(A) Illinois farms with less than 50 employees.
7		(B) Illinois cooperatives with less than 50
8		employees.
9		(C) Illinois processing facilities, food
10		businesses, and food hubs, with less than 50
11		employees.
12		(D) Illinois non-profit organizations.
13		(E) Units of local government in Illinois.
14		Proposals may be submitted by individuals, groups,
15		partnerships, or collaborations.
16		(2) Award. Grant awards shall be between $1000 and
17		$150,000.
18		(3) Matching. The recipient of a grant under this
19		Section must provide a percentage for the total project
20		costs. 80% of all funded projects will be required to
21		provide a 50% match. The remaining 20% of funded projects
22		shall be categorized as "high need" and shall be required
23		to provide a 0 to 20% match. The recipient's match may be
24		in cash, cash-equivalent investments, or bonds,
25		irrevocable letters of credit, or any combination thereof.
26		Acceptable matching fund sources include, but are not

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1		limited to, commercial and private lenders, leasing
2		companies, and grants.
3		(4) Allowable expenses. All grant funding must be used
4		for the purchasing, leasing to own, renting, building, or
5		installation of infrastructure that will increase market
6		access of Illinois communities to Illinois agricultural
7		products. Allowable expenses include, but are not limited
8		to:
9		(A) Equipment used in the production of
10		value-added agricultural products.
11		(B) Milling or pressing equipment.
12		(C) Creamery or milk product processing and
13		packaging equipment.
14		(D) Food hub development or expansion.
15		(E) Cooler walls and refrigeration units.
16		(F) Grading, packing, labeling, packaging, or
17		sorting equipment.
18		(G) Refrigerated trucks.
19		(H) Custom exempt mobile slaughter units and
20		livestock processing equipment.
21		(I) Agroforestry processing equipment.
22		(J) Local fish and shrimp processing.
23		Grant funding may not be used for labor, marketing, or
24		promotion.
25		(5) Funding source. The Local Food Infrastructure
26		Grant Fund is created as a special fund in the State

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1		treasury. Appropriations and moneys from any public or
2		private source may be deposited into the Fund. The Fund
3		shall be used for the purposes of this Act. Repayments of
4		grants made under this Section shall be deposited into the
5		Fund. A maximum of 10% of all funds appropriated through
6		this fund may be awarded to the Department for
7		administrative costs.
8		Section 20. Steering Committee. Subject to appropriation,
9		the Department shall create an independent Local Food
10		Infrastructure Steering Committee to guide the implementation
11		and evaluation of the grant. The committee shall be selected
12		by the Director. The committee shall include, but is not
13		limited to, at least 3 farmers, including one specialty crop
14		farmer, one livestock farmer, and one farmer of color, one
15		representative from the local food processing industry, one
16		representative from a non-profit organization serving farmers
17		of color, one representative from a non-profit organization
18		serving farmers at large, and one representative from the
19		Department.
20		(1) The Steering Committee's responsibilities shall
21		include:
22		(A) Determining the grant funding cycle.
23		(B) Determining Application Requirements and terms
24		of the grant agreement.
25		(C) Determining grant criteria and preferences in

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1		addition to those specified in this Act.
2		(D) Grant review and selection.
3		(E) Determining project reporting requirements for
4		funded projects.
5		(F) Evaluating program success and adjusting
6		criteria, requirements, preferences, implementation,
7		and all other elements of the grant as needed to ensure
8		the grant program meets its intended purpose, so long
9		as changes are in compliance with this Act.
10		(2) Application requirements. Grant applications must
11		be made on forms provided by the Department and in
12		accordance with procedures established by the Steering
13		Committee. At a minimum, an applicant must be an Illinois
14		resident, as defined by Department rule, and must provide
15		the names, addresses, and occupations of all project
16		owners, the project address, relevant credit and financial
17		information (including, but not limited to, assets and
18		liabilities), and any other information deemed necessary
19		by the Steering Committee for review of the grant
20		application.
21		(A) All requests for the waiver of any
22		requirements in this Section must be made in writing
23		to the Department. A grant award is subject to
24		modification or alteration under, but is not limited
25		to, the following conditions:
26		(i) The grant award is subject to any

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1		modifications that may be required by changes in
2		State law or regulations. The Department shall
3		notify the recipient in writing of any amendment
4		to the regulations and the effective date of those
5		amendments.
6		(ii) If either the Department or the recipient
7		requests to modify the terms of the grant award,
8		written notice of the proposed modification shall
9		be given to the other party. No modification shall
10		take effect unless agreed to in writing by both
11		the Department and the recipient.
12		(3) Grant review process.
13		(A) Criteria. The Steering Committee, in reviewing
14		the applications, must consider, but is not limited to
15		considering the following criteria:
16		(i) The project has a reasonable assurance of
17		increasing the availability and accessibility of
18		Illinois agricultural products among Illinois
19		communities.
20		(ii) There is an adequate and realistic budget
21		projection.
22		(iii) The application meets the eligibility
23		requirements and the project costs are eligible
24		under this Act.
25		(B) Preference. Preference for grants shall be
26		given to, but is not limited to, the following:

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1		(i) Proposals that have established favorable
2		community support.
3		(ii) Proposals that have a positive economic
4		impact on the State's local food sector.
5		(iii) Proposals that increase the availability
6		of Illinois agricultural products to underserved
7		communities in Illinois.
8		(iv) Proposals that positively impact
9		underserved farmers in Illinois.
10		(v) Established farmers and food businesses.
11		(vi) Proposals that facilitate long-term
12		economic development in the local food sector.
13		(C) High Need Determination. The Steering
14		Committee shall select all applications for funding,
15		and from this selection shall determine 20% of
16		applications to qualify as high need projects that are
17		eligible for a lower match requirement of 0 to 25%. To
18		qualify as a high need project, the independent
19		Steering Committee shall consider, but is not limited
20		to considering the following criteria:
21		(i) Proposals submitted by underserved
22		farmers.
23		(ii) Proposals that will positively impact
24		underserved communities.
25		(iii) Proposals that are submitted by small
26		and very small farms and food businesses.

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1		Section 25. Report. The Director must file with the
2		Governor and General Assembly, and publish publicly on or
3		before March 1 of each year a written report detailing the
4		impact of the Local Food Infrastructure Grant for the previous
5		calendar year. The report must include a complete list of: (1)
6		all applications for grants under the Local Food
7		Infrastructure Grant Program during the previous calendar
8		year; (2) all persons that were awarded the Local Food
9		Infrastructure Grant and the nature and amount of their awards
10		in the previous calendar year; and (3) the economic impact of
11		the grant from the previous calendar year, which may include
12		jobs created, local food sales increases, and communities
13		served.
14		Section 30. Liability. The Director, Local Food
15		Infrastructure Steering Committee, any Department employee, or
16		any authorized person executing grants is not personally
17		liable on the grants and is not subject to any personal
18		liability or accountability by reason of the issuance of the
19		grants.
20		Section 35. Default or termination of grant agreement. If
21		the recipient of a grant violates any of the terms of the grant
22		agreement, the Department shall send a written notice to the
23		recipient that he or she is in default and be given the

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1		opportunity to correct the violations.
2		(1) If the violation is not corrected within 30 days
3		after receipt of the notification, the Director may take,
4		but is not limited to, one or more of the following
5		actions:
6		(A) Declare due and payable the amount of the
7		grant, or any portion of it, and cease additional
8		grant payments not yet made to the recipient.
9		(B) Take any other action considered appropriate
10		to protect the interest of the project.
11		(2) The Department may determine that a recipient has
12		failed to faithfully perform the terms and conditions of
13		the scope of work of the project when:
14		(A) The Department has notified the recipient in
15		writing of the existence of circumstances such as
16		misapplication of grant funds, failure to match
17		Department funds, evidence of fraud and abuse,
18		repeated failure to meet performance timelines or
19		standards, or failure to resolve negotiated points of
20		the agreement.
21		(B) The recipient fails to develop and implement a
22		corrective action plan within 30 calendar days of the
23		Department's notice.
24		(3) A grant may be terminated under, but termination
25		is not limited to, any of the following circumstances:
26		(A) In the absence of State funding for a specific

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1		year, all grants that year will be terminated in full.
2		In the event of a partial loss of State funding, the
3		Department may make proportionate cuts to all
4		recipients.
5		(B) If the Department determines that the
6		recipient has failed to comply with the terms and
7		conditions of the grant agreement, the Department may
8		terminate the grant in whole, or in part, at any time
9		before the date of completion.
10		(C) The Department may terminate the grant in
11		whole, or in part, when the Department determines that
12		the continuation of the project would not produce
13		beneficial results commensurate with the further
14		expenditures of funds.
15		(D) The recipient may refuse or elect not to
16		complete the grant agreement and terminate the grant.
17		The recipient shall notify the Department within 10
18		days after the date upon which performance ceases. The
19		Department may declare due and payable the amount of
20		the grant and may cease additional grant payments not
21		yet made to the grantee.
22		(4) Any moneys collected from the default or
23		termination of a grant shall be placed into the Fund and
24		expended for the purposes of this Act.
25		Section 40. Construction. This Act is necessary for the

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1		welfare of this State and must be liberally construed to
2		effect its purposes. The Department may adopt rules that are
3		consistent with and necessary for the administration of this
4		Act.
5		Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
6		Section 5.990 as follows:
7		(30 ILCS 105/5.990 new)
8		Sec. 5.990. The Local Food Infrastructure Grant Fund.
9		Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
10		becoming law.