Bill Text: IL HB1166 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Procurement Code. Provides that, for procurements first solicited on or after January 1, 2025, a person who is required to obtain an equal pay registration certificate may qualify as a bidder, offeror, or contractor under the Code if the person was issued an equal pay registration certificate from the Department of Labor during the previous 2 calendar years. Provides that, for any bid or offer for a contract with a State agency by a person required to obtain an equal pay registration certificate, the chief procurement officer shall verify that the person holds an equal pay registration certificate issued during the 2 calendar years prior to award. Amends the Equal Pay Act of 2003. Provides that, beginning December 31, 2024, and annually thereafter, the Director of Labor shall make publicly available a list of businesses that were issued an equal pay registration certificate by the Department in the previous 2 calendar years.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2023-04-28 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [HB1166 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB1166-Engrossed.html

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AN ACT concerning finance.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Procurement Code is amended by
adding Section 50-83 as follows:
(30 ILCS 500/50-83 new)
Sec. 50-83. Equal pay registration certificate. For
procurements first solicited on or after January 1, 2025, a
person who is required to obtain an equal pay registration
certificate under Section 11 of the Equal Pay Act of 2003 may
qualify as a bidder, offeror, or contractor under this Code if
the person was issued an equal pay registration certificate
from the Department of Labor during the previous 2 calendar
years. For any bid or offer for a contract with a State agency
by a person required to obtain an equal pay registration
certificate under Section 11 of the Equal Pay Act of 2003, the
chief procurement officer shall require the person to certify
that the person holds an equal pay registration certificate
issued during the 2 calendar years before the award.
Section 10. The Equal Pay Act of 2003 is amended by
changing Section 11 as follows:

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(820 ILCS 112/11)
Sec. 11. Equal pay registration certificate requirements;
application. For the purposes of this Section 11 only,
"business" means any private employer who has 100 or more
employees in the State of Illinois and is required to file an
Annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, but does not include the
State of Illinois or any political subdivision, municipal
corporation, or other governmental unit or agency.
(a) A business must obtain an equal pay registration
certificate from the Department.
(b) Any business subject to the requirements of this
Section that is authorized to transact business in this State
on March 23, 2021 shall submit an application to obtain an
equal pay registration certificate, between March 24, 2022 and
March 23, 2024, and must recertify every 2 years thereafter.
Any business subject to the requirements of this Section that
is authorized to transact business in this State after March
23, 2021 must submit an application to obtain an equal pay
registration certificate within 3 years of commencing business
operations, but not before January 1, 2024, and must recertify
every 2 years thereafter. The Department shall collect contact
information from each business subject to this Section. The
Department shall assign each business a date by which it must
submit an application to obtain an equal pay registration
certificate. The business shall recertify every 2 years at a

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date to be determined by the Department. When a business
receives a notice from the Department to recertify for its
equal pay registration certificate, if the business has fewer
than 100 employees, the business must certify in writing to
the Department that it is exempt from this Section. Any new
business that is subject to this Section and authorized to
conduct business in this State, after the effective date of
this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, shall
submit its contact information to the Department by January 1
of the following year and shall be assigned a date by which it
must submit an application to obtain an equal pay registration
certificate. The Department's failure to assign a business a
registration date does not exempt the business from compliance
with this Section. The failure of the Department to notify a
business of its recertification deadline may be a mitigating
factor when making a determination of a violation of this
Section.
(c) Application.
(1) A business shall apply for an equal pay
registration certificate by paying a $150 filing fee and
submitting wage records and an equal pay compliance
statement to the Director as follows:
(A) Wage Records. Any business that is required to
file an annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must also
submit to the Director a copy of the business's most

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recently filed Employer Information Report EEO-1. The
business shall also compile a list of all employees
during the past calendar year, separated by gender and
the race and ethnicity categories as reported in the
business's most recently filed Employer Information
Report EEO-1, and the county in which the employee
works, the date the employee started working for the
business, any other information the Department deems
necessary to determine if pay equity exists among
employees, and report the total wages as defined by
Section 2 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection
Act paid to each employee during the past calendar
year, rounded to the nearest $100, to the Director.
(B) Equal Pay Compliance Statement. The business
must submit a statement signed by a corporate officer,
legal counsel, or authorized agent of the business
certifying:
(i) that the business is in compliance with
this Act and other relevant laws, including but
not limited to: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Illinois
Human Rights Act, and the Equal Wage Act;
(ii) that the average compensation for its
female and minority employees is not consistently
below the average compensation, as determined by
rule by the United States Department of Labor, for

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its male and non-minority employees within each of
the major job categories in the Employer
Information Report EEO-1 for which an employee is
expected to perform work, taking into account
factors such as length of service, requirements of
specific jobs, experience, skill, effort,
responsibility, working conditions of the job,
education or training, job location, use of a
collective bargaining agreement, or other
mitigating factors; as used in this subparagraph,
"minority" has the meaning ascribed to that term
in paragraph (1) of subsection (A) of Section 2 of
the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and
Persons with Disabilities Act;
(iii) that the business does not restrict
employees of one sex to certain job
classifications, and makes retention and promotion
decisions without regard to sex;
(iv) that wage and benefit disparities are
corrected when identified to ensure compliance
with the Acts cited in item (i);
(v) how often wages and benefits are
evaluated; and
(vi) the approach the business takes in
determining what level of wages and benefits to
pay its employees; acceptable approaches include,

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but are not limited to, a wage and salary survey.
(C) Filing fee. The business shall pay to the
Department a filing fee of $150. Proceeds from the
fees collected under this Section shall be deposited
into the Equal Pay Registration Fund, a special fund
created in the State treasury. Moneys in the Fund
shall be appropriated to the Department for the
purposes of this Section.
(2) Receipt of the equal pay compliance application
and statement by the Director does not establish
compliance with the Acts set forth in item (i) of
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection (c).
(3) A business that has employees in multiple
locations or facilities in Illinois shall submit a single
application to the Department regarding all of its
operations in Illinois.
(d) Issuance or rejection of registration certificate.
After January 1, 2022, the Director must issue an equal pay
registration certificate, or a statement of why the
application was rejected, within 45 calendar days of receipt
of the application. Applicants shall have the opportunity to
cure any deficiencies in its application that led to the
rejection, and re-submit the revised application to the
Department within 30 calendar days of receiving a rejection.
Applicants shall have the ability to appeal rejected
applications. An application may be rejected only if it does

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not comply with the requirements of subsection (c), or the
business is otherwise found to be in violation of this Act. The
receipt of an application by the Department, or the issuance
of a registration certificate by the Department, shall not
establish compliance with the Equal Pay Act of 2003 as to all
Sections except Section 11. The issuance of a registration
certificate shall not be a defense against any Equal Pay Act
violation found by the Department, nor a basis for mitigation
of damages.
(e) Revocation of registration certificate. An equal pay
registration certificate for a business may be suspended or
revoked by the Director when the business fails to make a good
faith effort to comply with the Acts identified in item (i) of
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c), fails to
make a good faith effort to comply with this Section, or has
multiple violations of this Section or the Acts identified in
item (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subsection
(c). Prior to suspending or revoking a registration
certificate, the Director must first have sought to conciliate
with the business regarding wages and benefits due to
employees.
Consistent with Section 25, prior to or in connection with
the suspension or revocation of an equal pay registration
certificate, the Director, or his or her authorized
representative, may interview workers, administer oaths, take
or cause to be taken the depositions of witnesses, and require

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by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and the
production of personnel and compensation information relative
to the matter under investigation, hearing or a
department-initiated audit.
Neither the Department nor the Director shall be held
liable for good faith errors in issuing, denying, suspending
or revoking certificates.
(f) Administrative review. A business may obtain an
administrative hearing in accordance with the Illinois
Administrative Procedure Act before the suspension or
revocation of its certificate or imposition of civil penalties
as provided by subsection (i) is effective by filing a written
request for hearing within 20 calendar days after service of
notice by the Director.
(g) Technical assistance. The Director must provide
technical assistance to any business that requests assistance
regarding this Section.
(h) Access to data.
(1) Any individually identifiable information
submitted to the Director within or related to an equal
pay registration application or otherwise provided by an
employer in its equal pay compliance statement under
subsection (c) shall be considered confidential
information and not subject to disclosure pursuant to the
Illinois Freedom of Information Act. As used in this
Section, "individually identifiable information" means

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data submitted pursuant to this Section that is associated
with a specific person or business. Aggregate data or
reports that are reasonably calculated to prevent the
association of any data with any individual business or
person are not confidential information. Aggregate data
shall include the job category and the average hourly wage
by county for each gender, race, and ethnicity category on
the registration certificate applications. The Department
of Labor may compile aggregate data from registration
certificate applications.
(2) The Director's decision to issue, not issue,
revoke, or suspend an equal pay registration certificate
is public information. Beginning December 31, 2024, and
annually thereafter, the Director shall make publicly
available a list of businesses that were issued an equal
pay registration certificate by the Department in the
previous 2 calendar years.
(3) Notwithstanding this subsection (h), a current
employee of a covered business may request anonymized data
regarding their job classification or title and the pay
for that classification. No individually identifiable
information may be provided to an employee making a
request under this paragraph.
(4) Notwithstanding this subsection (h), the
Department may share data and identifiable information
with the Department of Human Rights, pursuant to its

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enforcement of Article 2 of the Illinois Human Rights Act,
or the Office of the Attorney General, pursuant to its
enforcement of Section 10-104 of the Illinois Human Rights
Act.
(5) Any Department employee who willfully and
knowingly divulges, except in accordance with a proper
judicial order or otherwise provided by law, confidential
information received by the Department from any business
pursuant to this Act shall be deemed to have violated the
State Officials and Employees Ethics Act and be subject to
the penalties established under subsections (e) and (f) of
Section 50-5 of that Act after investigation and
opportunity for hearing before the Executive Ethics
Commission in accordance with Section 20-50 of that Act.
(i) Penalty. Falsification or misrepresentation of
information on an application submitted to the Department
shall constitute a violation of this Act and the Department
may seek to suspend or revoke an equal pay registration
certificate or impose civil penalties as provided under
subsection (c) of Section 30.
(Source: P.A. 101-656, eff. 3-23-21; 102-36, eff. 6-25-21;
102-705, eff. 4-22-22.)