Public Act 0354 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB0406 Enrolled LRB104 06643 HLH 16679 b

Public Act 104-0354

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Department of Early Childhood Act is amended by changing Section 1-30 as follows:

(325 ILCS 3/1-30)

Sec. 1-30. General powers and duties.

(a) The Department shall exercise the rights, powers, duties, and functions provided by law, including, but not limited to, the rights, powers, duties, and functions transferred to the Department.

(a-5) The Department shall establish an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) to make equity driven, inclusive, and data-informed decisions that create a simpler, better, and fairer system for all Illinois children and families. The ECIDS shall be designed and maintained to allow for data integration and sharing with other State agencies and other entities that maintain State data within the State early childhood ecosystem as needed for cross-agency collaboration and to the extent permitted by State and federal requirements.

The Department shall develop public analytic portals and query tools for parents and communities to access aggregated integrated data from the ECIDS system to the extent permitted by State and federal confidentiality requirements.

(b) The Department may employ personnel (in accordance with the Personnel Code and any applicable collective bargaining agreements), provide facilities, contract for goods and services, and adopt rules as necessary to carry out its functions and purposes, all in accordance with applicable State and federal law.

The Department may establish such subdivisions of the Department as shall be desirable and assign to the various subdivisions the responsibilities and duties placed upon the Department by the Laws of the State of Illinois.

The Department shall adopt, as necessary, rules for the execution of its powers. The provisions of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act are hereby expressly adopted and shall apply to all administrative rules and procedures of the Department under this Act, except that Section 5-35 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act relating to procedures for rulemaking does not apply to the adoption of any rule required by federal law in connection with which the Department is precluded by law from exercising any discretion.

(c) Procurements necessary for the Department of Early Childhood to implement this Act are subject to the Illinois Procurement Code, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (25) of subsection (b) of Section 1-10 of that Code. The Department of Early Childhood is subject to the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act.

(Source: P.A. 103-594, eff. 6-25-24.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2026