Cutting the Red Tape for Illinois

Governor Rauner announced a comprehensive plan to promote economic growth and job creation by cutting the red tape in Illinois. He signed Executive Order 16-13 to review all agency rules and regulations by the newly-created Illinois Competitiveness Council.

"For years, Illinois has added layers and layers of burdensome rules and regulations to a never-ending bureaucracy," Governor Rauner said. "It's an endless line of red tape that creates a barrier for small businesses and entrepreneurs. By cutting the red tape, we are creating an environment where they can succeed."

The Illinois Competitiveness Council will be comprised of a representative of each of Illinois' regulatory State agencies. Its goal is to save Illinoisans at least $250 million in direct license fee costs over the next decade, and save Illinois taxpayers and business owners at least 4 million pages in paperwork. It will work to ensure current regulations are up to date and relevant to today's industries and practices; ensure the language in rules are easy to understand; reduce the amount of unduly burdensome requirements on businesses, social service providers, and citizens through both time and cost; and ensure there is a clear need for the regulation.

In addition, the Illinois Competitiveness Council will look for recommendations to improve Illinois' licensing environment to promote job growth and job creation. Currently, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) has more than a million active licenses in more than 200 license categories, however for nearly a third, IDFPR has issued fewer than 100 licenses. The growth of these licenses has increased 184 percent in the last 20 years.

Burdensome and unnecessary regulations, policies and licensing requirements disproportionately impact small businesses, particularly minority-owned businesses.

 

Stage II vapor recovery systems have been required at most Chicago area retail and commercial gasoline dispensing facilities (GDF) located in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, along with Oswego Township in Kendall County, and Goose Lake and Aux Sable Townships in Grundy County, since the mid-1990s. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) determined that onboard refueling vapor recovery technology is now present in enough motor vehicles such that the onboard vapor recovery systems on the vehicles can now replace the dispenser-based Stage II equipment.

 

On December 19, 2013 the Illinois Pollution Control Board adopted rules to: (1) eliminate the Stage II equipment installation requirements for new GDFs; and (2) require existing retail and commercial GDFs that have Stage II systems to decommission the equipment by December 31, 2016.

 

At least ten (10) days prior to the start of decommissioning activities at the facility, a Notice of Intent to Decommission Stage II Vapor Recovery Equipment form must be submitted to the Illinois EPA. The Stage II systems must be decommissioned using one or more contractors that have the appropriate licenses and registrations with the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal and the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Weights & Measures.  Extensions cannot be given and facilities should schedule contractors to complete the decommissioning as soon as possible to meet the December 31, 2016 deadline.

 

The Illinois Small Business Environmental Assistance Program (IL SBEAP) at the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity provides services to help companies understand their environmental requirements. For additional information about Stage II equipment decommissioning requirements visit: www.ildceo.net/enviro.   For questions, contact the Illinois Small Business Environmental Assistance Program at 800-252-3998 or dceo.sbeap@illinois.gov .