Bill Amendment: IL SB3772 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: EPA-ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Status: 2026-08-07 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 104-0827 [SB3772 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB3772-Senate_Amendment_001.html

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Sen. Celina Villanueva

Filed: 4/14/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 3772
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 3772 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by
adding Section 39.16 as follows:
(415 ILCS 5/39.16 new)
Sec. 39.16. Air Pollution Control Construction Permitting
in Areas of Environmental Justice Concern.
(a) Legislative Findings. The General Assembly finds that:
(1) all residents of this State have a right to a
healthful environment under Article XI of the Illinois
Constitution of 1970;
(2) no community should bear disproportionate and
adverse effects from pollution;
(3) in 2024, the Agency entered in an Informal
Resolution Agreement with the United States Environmental

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Protection Agency requiring, among other things,
enhancements to its permit review process for certain
permit transactions in areas of environmental justice
concern; and
(4) such enhancements to the Agency's permit review
process are necessary to avoid the imposition of
disproportionate and adverse effects to communities in
areas of environmental justice concern, as such areas are
identified herein.
The provisions of this Section shall be liberally
construed to carry out the purposes of this Section.
(b) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:
"Area of environmental justice concern" or "area of EJ
concern" means a geographical area, the population of which
potentially experiences disproportionate environmental harms
and risks as a result of both environmental and socioeconomic
conditions that may act cumulatively to affect health and the
environment and contribute to persistent environmental health
disparities. "Area of EJ concern" shall include all census
block groups, and all areas within one mile of such census
block groups, identified and updated by the Agency on a
triennial basis as being within the top 25% of census blocks
statewide, scored by multiplying each census block group's
average statewide percentile for each of the following
environmental indicators, by the census block group's average
statewide percentile for each of the following socioeconomic

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indicators:
Environmental indicators:
(1) annual average concentration of particulate matter
less than 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter;
(2) annual average concentration of ozone;
(3) annual average concentration of nitrogen dioxide;
(4) annual average concentration of diesel particulate
matter;
(5) annual average toxicity-weighted concentrations of
Toxic Release Inventory-listed chemicals;
(6) vehicle traffic;
(7) drinking water violations that have not been
returned to compliance;
(8) percentage of housing units built pre-1960;
(9) number of proposed or listed National Priorities
List sites;
(10) number of facilities with Risk Management Plans;
(11) number of treatment, storage, and disposal and
large-quantity generator hazardous waste facilities;
(12) number of leaking underground storage tanks and
underground storage tanks; and
(13) toxics concentrations at stream segments.
Socioeconomic indicators - percentage of population:
(1) with household income less than or equal to twice
the federal poverty level;
(2) unemployed;

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(3) living in limited English proficiency households;
(4) aged 25 or older whose education is short of a high
school diploma;
(5) under the age of 5; and
(6) over the age of 64.
Environmental indicators (7) through (13) are given half
the weight of environmental indicators (1) through (6) in
calculating the averaged percentile.
(c) Applicability. This Section applies to the following
permits for which an owner or operator applies on or after
January 1, 2027:
(1) a construction permit for a new source that is to
be located in an area of EJ concern and that will require a
Clean Air Act Permit Program permit, or a Federally
Enforceable State Operating Permit issued by the Agency
under Section 39.5 of this Act;
(2) a construction permit for any existing source that
is located in an area of EJ concern, that possesses a Clean
Air Act Permit Program permit, or a Federally Enforceable
State Operating Permit issued by the Agency under Section
39.5 of this Act and that seeks an increase in annual
permitted emissions; or
(3) a construction permit for any existing source that
is located in an area of EJ concern, that seeks an increase
in annual permitted emissions and that will require a new
Clean Air Act Permit Program permit, or a Federally

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Enforceable State Operating Permit issued by the Agency
under Section 39.5 of this Act for the first time.
(d) Review of permit applications; notifications. Upon
receipt of an air pollution control construction permit
application, the Agency shall evaluate the application to:
(1) determine whether the source falls within an area
of EJ concern. Based on this review, the Agency shall send
an EJ notification letter to elected officials, community
groups, and individuals who have requested to be notified,
to provide information about the proposed project and how
an individual can request a public hearing on a permit
application;
(2) determine whether emissions increases from the
proposed project can be reduced or voluntarily limited by
the applicant to avoid or minimize potential air emission
increases to any affected area(s) of EJ concern. This
includes, but is not limited to, establishment of lower
thresholds for potential-to-emit, installation of
alternative pollution controls, and decreased utilization
of other units at the facility; and
(3) determine the need for the applicant to conduct
additional air quality modeling to confirm that the
project will not threaten or compromise existing National
Ambient Air Quality Standards or other applicable
standards appropriate for comparison with other pollutants
of concern.

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(e) Permit enhancements.
(1) The Agency shall evaluate and, if necessary to
comply with this Act, include appropriate permit
enhancements to address potential air emission increases
to an area of EJ concern. These enhancements may include,
but are not limited to:
(A) improved air monitoring systems, including
parametric and continuous monitoring systems;
(B) development of a fugitive dust operating
program/plan or enhancements to an existing
program/plan;
(C) operational requirements to establish limits
on potential-to-emit or to demonstrate source
compliance with an emission rate;
(D) increased use or frequency of emissions
testing;
(E) development of enforceable requirements to go
into the construction permit to assure that the source
meets modeling assumptions used in the air quality
modeling (including hours of operation, operating
requirements, operating schedule, meteorological
assumptions, property boundaries, etc.);
(F) development of an odor control plan to
identify and mitigate potential off-site odor impacts
from the project;
(G) development of odor monitoring of third-party

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complaints, including a process for tracking
complaints and inspecting affected process operations
known to be capable of causing air pollution;
(H) discretionary use of prior adjudications of
violations of this Act and regulations adopted
thereunder by the applicant that involve a release of
a contaminant into the environment in evaluating the
permit application;
(I) discretionary use of reasonable conditions
specifically related to an applicant's past compliance
history with this Act and regulations adopted
thereunder as necessary to correct, detect, or prevent
noncompliance;
(J) use of pollution prevention techniques; or
(K) applicant outreach, independent of the permit
review process, with the affected community.
(2) The Agency may also conduct further analysis, as
needed, to inform its permit decision, including:
(A) consideration of information relating to other
sources permitted by the Agency or the United States
Environmental Protection Agency;
(B) information relating to regulated sources
under State or federal environmental laws;
(C) data bearing upon the classification of an
area of EJ concern;
(D) location of sensitive populations or places

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near the proposed facility, including schools,
hospitals, day care centers, and culturally
significant resources;
(E) factors that may increase community exposure
or vulnerability as compared to other populations; or
(F) consultation with the United States
Environmental Protection Agency or other state and
federal regulatory authorities regarding additional
areas of study.
(3) If the Agency's analysis described in this Section
shows disproportionate and adverse effects, the Agency
shall consider making additional refinements to the
project emissions analysis, air quality modeling, or
permit enhancements; prioritizing compliance inspections
and any resulting enforcement initiatives of an
applicant's existing permitted source or other
contributing sources to the affected area, with the aim of
reducing existing adverse impacts; prioritizing grant
funding for projects in the affected community; and
conducting consultations with the United States
Environmental Protection Agency or other state and federal
agencies relating to potential mitigation options,
including fence-line monitoring, risk assessments, or
rulemakings.
(f) Issuance of permits.
(1) In making its determination on permit applications

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identified in Section 39.16(2) of this Act, the Agency
shall consider prior adjudications of noncompliance with
this Act and regulations adopted thereunder by the
applicant. In granting permits, the Agency shall consider
whether to impose reasonable conditions specifically
related to the applicant's past compliance history with
this Act and regulations adopted thereunder as necessary
to correct, detect, or prevent noncompliance. This may
include consideration of:
(A) information contained within USEPA's and the
Agency's environmental compliance tracking system;
(B) information submitted in public comments to a
construction permit application pending review;
(C) judicial or administrative consent decrees or
compliance orders that are entered into, or issued by,
USEPA involving requirements of the Illinois State
Implementation Plan; or
(D) information relating to State-only compliance
history.
(2) The Agency shall prepare a written analysis of its
evaluation of compliance enforcement history, as well as
any additional civil rights analysis or mitigation
measures undertaken. The analysis shall be prepared before
a notice of public comment or hearing concerning a draft
construction permit and must be posted among the documents
available on the Agency's public notice website or public

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repository. If no public participation is provided for
under Agency rules, the analysis shall be posted to the
Agency's public notice webpage at the time of permit
issuance.
(g) Severability. If any provision of this Section or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
invalidity of that provision or application does not affect
other provisions or applications of this Section that can be
given effect without the invalid provision or application.
Section 10. The Environmental Justice Act is amended by
adding Section 18 as follows:
(415 ILCS 155/18 new)
Sec. 18. Office of Environmental Justice. An Office of
Environmental Justice is established within the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency. The Office shall coordinate
the integration of environmental justice into Agency programs
and activities, oversee implementation of language access
policies, and provide enhanced public outreach to areas of
environmental justice concern. The Director shall appoint an
Environmental Justice Officer within the Office of
Environmental Justice to administer the Office.
Section 97. Severability. If any provision of this
Amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly or its

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application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
invalidity of that provision or application does not affect
other provisions or applications of this Amendatory Act of the
104th General Assembly that can be given effect without the
invalid provision or application.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".