(20 ILCS 4121/5)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on December 1, 2024)

Sec. 5. Declaration of public policy.

(a) The State finds that persons from historically and economically disadvantaged groups have been directly and indirectly excluded from opportunity and shared prosperity and that it is in the public policy interest of the State to foster an environment where all people, particularly those equity-focused populations subjected to arbitrary barriers, have the freedom to create their own path to success and self-actualization.

(b) The State also finds that the freedom and access to opportunities needed to achieve one's highest potential through a lawful occupation is critically important to the well-being of people in the State, and that the right to pursue a lawful occupation is a fundamental right of all people.

(c) Therefore, it is in the public policy interest of the State to minimize and remove unnecessary, arbitrary, and ineffective barriers to employment and economic prosperity that disproportionately exclude persons from historically and economically disadvantaged groups.

(d) The General Assembly finds that occupational licensing procedures and programs can unintentionally erect costly barriers to employment for low-income persons, persons who identify as black, indigenous, and people of color, formerly convicted or incarcerated persons, women, and other historically and economically disadvantaged populations.

(e) It is in the public policy interest of the State to ensure that costly, unnecessary personal qualification requirements or procedures in current occupational licensing policies are minimized or removed in order to expand equitable access to employment opportunities for persons in historically and economically disadvantaged populations.

(Source: P.A. 102-1078, eff. 6-10-22.)