National Electrical Code (NFPA 70)
Illinois leaves the NEC to cities and counties
Illinois leaves the NEC to cities and counties. Adopted by General Assembly (statute); Capital Development Board administers. The legal citation is 20 ILCS 3105/10.09-1 (as amended by P.A. 103-510).
Record of adoption
Edition in force
Local adoption
Partial
- Legal citation
- 20 ILCS 3105/10.09-1 (as amended by P.A. 103-510)
- Adopted by
- General Assembly (statute); Capital Development Board administers
- Second reading
- Applies
- Local option
No general statewide NEC adoption found. The statute applies the current or most recent preceding NEC edition only to commercial work in jurisdictions with no building code.
Exceptions
- Chicago enforces its own Chicago Electrical Code, which incorporates provisions of the 2017 NEC and became mandatory Mar 1, 2018
- Illinois has no statewide electrical licensing; local jurisdictions adopt their own NEC editions
How Illinois adopts the NEC
The legislature fixes the default in statute as the current or most recent preceding NEC edition for non-building-code jurisdictions, so the default moves as NFPA publishes new editions. Elsewhere each municipality or county adopts its own NEC edition by local ordinance. P.A. 103-510 reworked these provisions (eff. Jan 1, 2024).
Cycle. No state cycle; default tracks NFPA publication, local adoption irregular
Laws, rulings, and other actions
- LegislationP.A. 103-0510 (SB 2368, 103rd General Assembly)
Requires municipal and county building codes to meet a rolling IBC/IEBC/IRC structural baseline from Jan 1, 2025, and sets IBC/NEC defaults for jurisdictions without a building code.
Enacted 2023, effective Jan 1, 2024; local structural-design floor begins Jan 1, 2025
ilga.gov (opens in a new tab) - Other actionChicago Electrical Code (2017 NEC based) mandatory
Chicago’s own electrical code, incorporating provisions of the 2017 NEC, became mandatory in the city.
How it was checked
Partial
Researched in the state’s own record. The seal stays broken until the passage is on file word for word.
Read twice: a second, blind reading of the state’s record agreed with the first on .
The state’s record was last read on , from five source pages.
Evidence 5 sources
Sources for the record itself come first, the state’s own records ahead of others. A label marks a source about something else, such as an exception. A source marked secondary is not the state’s own record.
“the International Building Code, | | | including Appendix G and excluding Chapters 11, 13, and 29”
“current edition or most recent preceding edition”
20 ILCS 3105/10.09-1 Certification of inspectionIllinois General Assemblyilga.gov (opens in a new tab)StatuteRetrieved “The current edition or most recent preceding | edition of the National Electrical Code NFPA 70”
Public Act 103-0510 (SB 2368), 103rd General AssemblyIllinois General Assemblyilga.gov (opens in a new tab)Session lawRetrieved Building Codes and RegulationsIllinois Capital Development Boardcdb.illinois.gov (opens in a new tab)Agency pageRetrieved About an exception
“became mandatory March 1, 2018”
Modernizing Chicago’s Construction CodesCity of Chicago Department of Buildingschicago.gov (opens in a new tab)Agency pageRetrieved About an exception
“incorporates provisions of the 2017 National Electrical Code”
“2019 Chicago Building Code (Title 14B)”
“Effective November 1, 2022”
Chicago Building Code OnlineCity of Chicago Department of Buildingschicago.gov (opens in a new tab)Agency pageRetrieved
Tracker cross-checks
Code adoption trackers are a cross-check. They are not Illinois’s own record.
Mike Holt’s NEC adoption listCross-checkDoes not agree with the record
There is no statewide adoption of the NEC; the state adopted the 2008 NEC effective Jul 1, 2011, for non-building-code jurisdictions.
NFPA’s enforcement mapCross-checkAgrees with the record
Chicago 2017 with Chicago amendments (3/1/2018) (NFPA table as of Aug 3, 2026)