CEJA would improve air quality, which reduces risk and susceptibility to COVID-19 and put people back to work, especially in communities of color and places where coal-fired electricity plants operate. CEJA was created with equity and environmental justice at its core. 

As COVID-19 ravages public health and the economy, the urgency to take action on climate change has never been more clear.  Ramping up renewable energy development in our state by committing Illinois to 100% renewable energy by 2050, cutting carbon from the power sector by 2030, reducing pollution from gas and diesel vehicles in the transportation sector, and creating jobs and economic opportunity for every part of Illinois must be part of the new reality going forward. Going back to a dirty, expensive energy sector with few job opportunities is no longer an option.

The 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) was an important first step to increase renewable energy in Illinois and reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels. CEJA builds on that success:

Workforce Training: Funds Clean Jobs Workforce Hubs all across Illinois at $25 million per year. Workforce Hubs provide training as well as wraparound services such as child care, transportation and job placement.

Creating New Businesses: Funds entrepreneurship assistance for those wanting to start or grow their own clean energy business at $20 million per year.

Increasing Diversity: Requires Illinois Power Agency to give a preference to electricity projects, including wind and solar, that meet diversity goals in hiring, subcontracting and providing other community benefits.

Expanded Target Populations: CEJA is a visionary clean energy policy because of its explicit commitment to ensuring that equity is at the core of every provision. All of the above tools are specifically targeted at residents of economically disadvantaged communities, environmental justice communities, communities of color, people with criminal records, people who are or were foster children, and other underserved and underrepresented communities

The economics of fossil fuels is forcing change - a change we must plan for. CEJA establishes a new, innovative Energy Community Reinvestment Act that’s paid for by fossil fuel companies, not workers, communities or consumers. • Provides up to $100 million in new investment to communities that lose property taxes because of a closed plant or mine. • Allocates $9 million to assist displaced workers find new employment. • Establishes a Displaced Energy Workers Bill of Rights with requirements for plant or mine operators to provide advance notice of closure, health care, financial planning services, retirement security, scholarships and other benefits for displaced workers.

CEJA invests $210 million per year for worker-focused programs by: ● Imposing “polluter pays” fees on coal and gas generating plants. ● Collecting a coal severance fee. Illinois would join many other states with coal mining operations that impose a severance fee.

CEJA increases Illinois’ renewable energy goals and builds on lessons learned from FEJA: • Expands Illinois Solar for All almost fourfold, making solar even more accessible to low income households. • Assures innovative solar access in urban areas, building on the successful projects built largely in rural Illinois. • Funding for renewable energy in FEJA is inadequate to meet our renewable energy goals. CEJA addresses this at no additional expense to the individual consumer, family, or business. In fact, CEJA ensures consumers save money!

Promoting Jobs, Equity and Economic Opportunity, especially in communities of color

• Creates Clean Jobs Workforce Hubs, a network of frontline organizations that provide direct and sustained support for minority and disadvantaged communities, including job opportunities.

• Prioritizes  companies that implement equity actions to ensure equitable representation in Illinois’ clean energy workforce.

• Creates a Contractor Incubator program that focuses on the development of underserved businesses in the clean energy sector.

Ensuring Illinois reaches 100% renewable energy by 2050

• Builds more than 40 million solar panels and 2,500 wind turbines across Illinois by 2030, generating more than $30 billion in new infrastructure in the state. Taps into the falling cost of wind and solar, lowering costs for consumers.

• Expands Solar for All, and ensures people have access to solar in their community.

• Expands goals for Energy Efficiency, on the electric and gas side, to lower costs.

• Directs utilities to evaluate lower-cost alternatives to infrastructure modernization

Reducing the equivalent of 1 million gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles from the road

• Empowers local communities to develop Community Energy and Climate Plans, to drive comprehensive local investment in energy, transportation, workforce, and environmental projects.

• Creates a new Beneficial Electrification initiative to incentivize electric vehicle charging, focused on medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that create local health impacts.

• Creates the EV Access for All program, to ensure all Illinois residents can benefit from electric vehicles, and supports the creation of low income electric vehicle car-sharing and “last-mile” electric shuttles to serve transit deserts

Achieving a carbon-free power-sector by 2030 that creates jobs in communities abandoned by coal-burning companies

• Directs the Illinois EPA to begin a comprehensive stakeholder process that prioritizes carbon reductions in impacted communities and reduces harmful pollution from power plants to zero by 2030.

• Creates Clean Energy Empowerment Zones to support communities and workers who are economically impacted by the decline of fossil fuel generation.

• Directs the IPA to procure clean energy and capacity resources to achieve customer savings and expand renewables investment