Voluntary Employee Commute Options Emission Reduction Credit Act (625 ILCS 33/)

Chapter 625 — Vehicles

This text is maintained by the Legislative Reference Bureau for legislative drafting purposes and is NOT the official text of the Illinois Compiled Statutes; the only official copy is the printed copy maintained by the Secretary of State.

Sec. 1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Voluntary Employee Commute Options Emission Reduction Credit Act.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 5. Purpose

It is the purpose of this Act to provide owners with the opportunity to implement voluntary employee commute options programs. These programs would enable the owners to obtain emission reductions that are creditable toward the level of emission reductions required under the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 for the post-1996 period, including emission reductions required under Section 9.8 of the Environmental Protection Act.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 10. Definitions

For purposes of this Act:

"Agency" means the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Department" means the Illinois Department of Transportation.

"Owners" means employers in the Chicago, Illinois ozone nonattainment area who operate stationary sources that are subject to emission reduction requirements for the post-1996 period under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 15. Voluntary Employee Commute Options Program

Owners may implement voluntary programs to encourage the use of carpooling, mass transit, vanpooling, telecommuting, compressed work weeks, clean fuel vehicles, and other measures that either reduce the number of commuting trips by their employees or reduce the emissions associated with those commuting trips for the purpose of creating emission reduction credits that may be used by the owners of stationary sources to satisfy the post-1996 emission reduction requirements under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 20. Submission of programs and awarding of credits

Owners may submit voluntary programs as described in Section 15 to the Department for approval. The Department, after consultation with the Agency, shall determine the appropriate emission reduction credit to be awarded to owners who carry out their programs and to be used by the owners of stationary sources to satisfy the post-1996 emission reduction requirements under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Emission reduction credits shall not be awarded to owners for programs that are required under the Clean Air Act or the Environmental Protection Act or that are substantially the same as an owner's employees' existing level of use of employee commute options programs. The Department shall adjust credits to avoid duplicating the credits the State takes for similar transportation demand management practices under the applicable State Implementation Plan. Credits may be revoked for failure to achieve the reductions called for in the owner's voluntary program.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 25. Voluntary compliance

Within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1996, the State of Illinois shall notify the United States Environmental Protection Agency to remove the mandated Employee Commute Options requirement from the State Implementation Plan for ozone. The State of Illinois shall also notify the United States Environmental Protection Agency that emissions reductions achieved from voluntary implementation of the Voluntary Employee Commute Options Emission Reduction Credit Act by an owner are creditable toward the level of emission reductions required under other post-1996 stationary source emission reduction programs.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 30. Rules

The Department is authorized to adopt rules that may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 35. Review under Administrative Review Law; venue

An owner who does not agree with the credit awarded for his or her program, whose program is disapproved, or whose credit is revoked may seek relief under the Administrative Review Law, as amended now or hereafter, and the rules adopted pursuant to that Law.

Those proceedings for judicial review of final administrative decisions of the Department under this Act shall be commenced in the Appellate Court in the District in which the party applying for review resides, but if the party is not a resident of this State, the venue shall be the Fourth Appellate District.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 40.

The State Finance Act is amended by repealing Section 5.354.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 45.

The Employee Commute Options Act is repealed.

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97.)

Sec. 50.

(Amendatory provisions; text omitted).

(Source: P.A. 89-493, eff. 1-1-97; text omitted.)