Illinois Code § 8h

§ 8h.

Encouragement for telecom and communications entities to submit supplier diversity reports. (1) The following entities that do business in Illinois or serve Illinois customers shall be subject to this Section: (i) all local exchange telecommunications carriers with at least 35,000 subscriber access lines; (ii) cable and video providers, as defined in Section 21-20l of the Public Utilities Act; (iii) interconnected VoIP providers, as defined in Section 13-235 of the Public Utilities Act; (iv) wireless service providers; (v) broadband internet access services providers; and (vi) any other entity that provides messaging, voice, or video services via the Internet or a social media platform. (2) Each entity subject to this Section may submit to the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Business Enterprise Council an annual report by April 15, 20l8, and every April 15 thereafter, which provides, for the previous calendar year, information and data on diversity goals, and progress toward achieving those goals, by certified businesses owned by minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and service-disabled veterans, provided that if the entity does not track such information and data for businesses owned by service-disabled veterans, the entity may provide information and data for businesses owned by veterans. The diversity report shall include the following: (i) Overall annual spending on all such certified businesses. (ii) A narrative description of the entity's supplier diversity goals and plans for meeting those goals. (iii) The entity's best estimate of its annual spending in professional services and spending with certified businesses owned by minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and service-disabled veterans (or veterans, if the reporting entity does not track spending with service-disabled veterans), including, but not limited to, the following professional services categories: accounting; architecture and engineering; consulting; information technology; insurance; financial, legal, and marketing services; and other professional services. The diversity report shall also include the entity's overall annual spending in the listed professional service categories. For the diversity reports due on April 15, 2018 and April 15, 2019, the information on annual spending with certified businesses for professional services required by this Section may be provided for all professional services on an aggregated basis. (iv) Beginning with the diversity report due on April 15, 2020, the total number and percentage of women and minorities that provided services for each construction project in the State. An entity subject to this Section which is part of an affiliated group of entities may provide information for the affiliated group as a whole. (3) Any entity that is subject to this Section that does not submit a report shall be reported by the Business Enterprise Council to each chief procurement officer. Upon receiving a report from the Business Enterprise Council, the chief procurement officer may prohibit any entities that do not submit a report from bidding on State contracts for a period of one year beginning the first day of the following fiscal year and post on its respective bulletin the names of all entities that fail to comply with the provisions of this Section. (4) A vendor may appeal any of the actions taken pursuant to this Section in the same manner as a vendor denied certification, by following the appeal procedures in the administrative rules created pursuant to this Act. (Source: P.A. 100-391, eff. 8-25-17.)