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The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (Public Act 102-0662 or “CEJA”) amended the Illinois Power Agency Act to expand the “priority access to the clean energy economy for businesses and workers from communities that have been excluded from economic opportunities in the energy sector, have been subject to disproportionate levels of pollution, and have disproportionately experienced negative public health outcomes.”

CEJA directed the Illinois Power Agency (“IPA” or “Agency”) to help historically underserved communities participate in and benefit from the growing clean energy economy in Illinois. The Minimum Equity Standard Compliance Plan is the reporting mechanism the Program Administrator uses to assess understanding of compliance requirements and estimated project workforce demographics.

For Program Year 2025-26, at least 14% of the project workforce for each entity participating in the Illinois Shines Program must be composed of Equity Eligible Persons (EEPs). With the exception of Equity Eligible Contractors (EECs), all Approved Vendors (AVs) and Designees participating in the 2025-26 Program Year are required to submit an MES Compliance Plan, describing how the requirement will be met over the course of the year.

The Equity Accountability System Hub provides helpful resources and tips for MES Compliance Plan submissions: https://illinoisshines.com/equity-accountability-system-hub/
Please note that asterisks indicate required sections. Once submitted, MES Compliance Plans will become public records that may be subject to disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140); as such, if any information within this MES Compliance Plan should be protected from disclosure, please indicate in questions at the bottom of each section what information, if any, in this form is proprietary, privileged, or confidential, and the disclosure of that information would cause competitive harm.

1. Is your company an Approved Vendor, Designee or both?

2. Submitting Company Name

3. AV and/or Designee ID #(s):

4. Name of Person Completing Form

5. Title of Person Completing Form

6. Email of Person Completing Form

7. During the 2025-26 Program Year (June 2, 2025 - May 29, 2026), do you intend to submit projects to Illinois Shines, perform construction on a previously Part I approved project, conduct any sales or marketing activity for projects that have been or will be submitted to the program, manage subscriptions for a community solar project that holds a REC contract (including projects approved prior to the passage of CEJA), maintain a project on a waitlist, or otherwise conduct activities or business on a project seeking or that holds a REC contract?

If you answer ‘no’, you do not need to complete the rest of the form. Choosing ‘no’ to this question will complete your submission.

8. affirms its intent to comply with all necessary requirements set forth in Public Act 102-0662 (Climate Equitable Jobs Act) relating to the Minimum Equity Standard and agrees to comply with certain obligations, including hiring a diverse project workforce and working with Equity Eligible Contractors, where applicable.

9. Full name of individual agreeing to attestation

10. Signature of individual agreeing to attestation

11. Today's Date

12. Did your organization enter into a Corrective Action Plan for non-compliance with the Minimum Equity Standard in the 2023-24 Program Year?

12a. Please provide the status of the Corrective Action Plan.

13. Is this an original Compliance Plan submission or a revised Compliance Plan submission?

If you failed your first submission, or received an ‘Info Needed’ request, please choose ‘Revised Compliance Plan’.

14. Please identify if any responses above contain proprietary, privileged or confidential information, the disclosure of which would cause competitive harm.

15. Please select any of the following categories that apply to your business

Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE) Woman-owned Business Enterprise (WBE) Disabled-owned Business Enterprise Veteran-owned Business Small Business None Other

16. Please provide a narrative description of how the AV will ensure that at least 14% of its project workforce are Equity Eligible Persons (EEPs).

Please see https://illinoisshines.com/equity-accountability-system-hub/ for more information on EEP qualification criteria.

17. Do you work with subcontractors that are not registered as Designees?

Non-registered subcontractors are those who do not have direct interaction with the client but are part of the project workforce. Please include employees of any non-registered subcontractors in your projected workforce total below.

18. Projected total number of employees/workers on Illinois Shines projects during the 2025-26 Program Year (exclude any employees/workers of registered Designees your company is subcontracted with from your total*)

Please refer to the MES FAQs for details on who is within the scope of the project workforce for MES: https://illinoisshines.com/vendor-faqs/#mes
*If your organization works with registered Designees on projects, please exclude those individuals from your total project workforce. All registered Designees, as registered participating Program entities, are requireds to submit their own MES Compliance Plans.

19. Estimated Number of Equity Eligible Persons currently in your Illinois-based Illinois Shines project workforce:

An Equity Eligible Person (“EEP”) is a person that “would benefit most from equitable investments by the State designed to combat discrimination,” and CEJA provided four specific characteristics that would qualify a person as an EEP:
- Graduates or current or former participants in the Clean Jobs Workforce Network Program, Clean Energy Contractor Incubator Program, Illinois Climate Works Preapprenticeship Program, Returning Residents Clean Jobs Training Program, or the Clean Energy Primes Contractor Accelerator Program, and the solar training pipeline and multicultural jobs program created by FEJA
- Persons who are graduates of or currently enrolled in the foster care system
- Persons who were formerly incarcerated
- Persons whose primary residence is in an equity eligible investment community
Only individuals who fit within these criteria will count as Equity Eligible Persons.

20. Number of Equity Eligible Persons your organization seeks to hire to meet MES Compliance over the Program year:

21. Please identify if any responses above contain proprietary, privileged or confidential information, the disclosure of which would cause competitive harm.

Equity Eligible Contractor Partnerships