Illinois 2025-2026 Regular Session

Illinois Senate Bill SB0213 Latest Draft

Bill / Engrossed Version Filed 04/10/2025

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  SB0213 Engrossed  LRB104 05543 SPS 15573 b
1  AN ACT concerning business.
2  Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3  represented in the General Assembly:
4  Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5  Government Advertising Spending Transparency Act.
6  Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds and
7  declares:
8  (a) Illinois benefits from robust local news services that
9  provide trusted and essential information to the community
10  that limits corruption, encourages citizen participation,
11  helps combat misinformation, and mitigates community and
12  individual alienation.
13  (b) Local news in Illinois and throughout the country is
14  struggling with newspaper advertising dropping 82% nationally
15  since 2000, contributing to a 57% drop in the number of
16  reporters at newspapers and thousands of closures.
17  (c) Local news outlets are trusted sources of information
18  for communities throughout Illinois and advertising spending
19  with these outlets carries a substantial benefit for the
20  effective dissemination of important government information to
21  the communities it serves.
22  (d) Government initiatives to increase spending on local
23  news advertising have been manifestly successful in both

 

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1  supporting local news outlets and improving the information
2  diet of communities in several major cities.
3  (e) The public has a right to know where government is
4  spending its advertising dollars and what proportion of those
5  dollars are going to local news outlets in this State.
6  Section 15. Reporting requirements.
7  (a) No later than October 1, 2026, and October 1 of each
8  year thereafter, each State agency or department shall report
9  the amount and distribution of its advertising spending to the
10  General Assembly and post the report on its website.
11  (b) The annual report described in subsection (a) shall
12  include:
13  (1) the overall amount of advertising spending made by
14  the State agency or department;
15  (2) the names of each advertising vendor that received
16  advertising contracts from the State agency or department
17  and the amount of those contracts;
18  (3) the type of entity that received the advertising
19  spending, categorized by media type, including, but not
20  limited to, search platforms, national news outlets,
21  digital platforms, and local news outlets; and
22  (4) the general subject matter of the advertising
23  placement, such as military recruitment, public health, or
24  job training.
25  (c) If a contracted vendor places advertisements on behalf

 

 

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1  of a State agency or department, the State agency or
2  department shall make a good faith effort to collect from the
3  vendor sufficient information to comply with paragraph (3) of
4  subsection (b).

 

 

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