(20 ILCS 4121/20)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on December 1, 2024)

Sec. 20. Report.

(a) The Task Force shall conduct an analysis of occupational licensing, including, but not limited to, processes, procedures, and statutory requirements for licensure administered by the Department. The findings of this analysis shall be delivered to the General Assembly, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department, and the public in the form of a final report. For the purpose of ensuring that historically and economically disadvantaged populations are centered in this analysis, the Task Force shall identify low-income and middle-income licensed occupations in this State and aggregate the information from those occupations under the occupations' respective regulatory board overseen by the Department to form the basis of the report.

(b) The report shall contain, to the extent available, information collected from sources including, but not limited to, the Department, department licensure boards, other State boards, relevant departments, or other bodies of the State, and supplementary data including, but not limited to, census statistics, federal reporting, or published research as follows:

(1) the number of license applications submitted compared with the number of licenses issued;

(2) data concerning the reason why licenses were denied or revoked and a ranking of the most common reasons for denial or revocation;

(3) an analysis of the information required of license applicants by the Department compared with the information that the Department is required by statute to verify, to ascertain if applicants are required to submit superfluous information;

(4) demographic information for the last 5 years of (i) active license holders, (ii) license holders who were disciplined in that period, (iii) license holders whose licenses were revoked in that period, and (iv) license applicants who were not issued licenses;

(5) data aggregated from the last 5 years of monthly enforcement reports, including a ranking of the most common reasons for public discipline;

(6) the cost of licensure to the individual, including, but not limited to, the fees for initial licensure and renewal, the average cost of training and testing required for initial licensure, and the average cost of meeting continuing education requirements for license renewal;

(7) the locations within this State of each program or school that provides the required training and testing needed to obtain or renew a license, and whether the required training and testing can be fulfilled online;

(8) the languages in which the required training or testing is offered;

(9) the acceptance rates, graduation rates, and dropout rates of the training facilities that provide required training;

(10) the percentage of students at each school that offers required training who financed the required training through student loans; and

(11) the average annual salary of those in the occupation.

(c) The final report shall also contain a general description of the steps taken by the Task Force to fulfill the report criteria and shall include in an appendix of the report any results of the Task Force's analysis in the form of graphs, charts, or other data visualizations. The Task Force shall also exercise due care in the reporting of this information to protect sensitive information of personal or proprietary value or information that would risk the security of residents of this State.

(d) The Task Force shall publish the final report by December 1, 2024 with recommendations to the General Assembly, including recommendations for continued required reporting from the Department to better support the General Assembly in revoking, modifying, or creating new licensing Acts.

(Source: P.A. 102-1078, eff. 6-10-22; 103-563, eff. 11-17-23.)