Springfield, Illinois - A new bill has been introduced in Illinois to hold corporations and institutions accountable for profiting off chattel enslavement and systemic anti-Black discrimination, marking a significant step forward for the reparations movement.

HB 1227, the Enslavement Era Disclosure and Redress Act, requires corporations or institutions seeking to do business with the State of Illinois to disclose any ties to the trafficking and enslavement African people and their descendants.

Introduced by State Representative Sonya Harper, the legislation also calls for the creation of a Redress Fund. Any potential contractor with ties to slavery would be required to submit a statement of their past or planned contributions to that fund.

The resources would then be put toward economic and educational programs in communities historically harmed by discriminatory laws and policies of the Jim Crow apartheid era.

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"Corporate, institutional, and individual complicity to the crimes of the transatlantic slave trade and enslavement was very broad in the US. Many of these actors are still benefiting from and building on the stolen wealth," Kamm Howard, executive director of Reparations United, said in a statement.

"HB 1227 mandates a different form of complicity – complicity in the redress of those crimes. They must join in this effort to repair the harms inherited by the descendants of those they originally harmed," he added.

The Enslavement Era Disclosure and Redress Act includes provisions to punish corporations for neglecting their obligations under the legislation.

Any potential contractor that fails to meet the requirements of the bill in a timely fashion or willfully submits a false report would be debarred from participating in their current bid with the State of Illinois.

Those who do not contribute to the Redress Fund within the allotted timeframe would see their contracts with the state terminated.

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Robin Rue Simmons, the former Evanston alderman who led passage of the US' first government-funded Black reparations legislation, praised the new bill: "Reparation legislation with transparency and redress from responsible corporations is a necessary step to repair past harm and the lasting impact. This legislation should be a guide and model for all localities and states practicing reparations."

A press conference formally announcing the bill's introduction is scheduled for January 28 at 11:00 AM in the state capital of Springfield.