Eye On Illinois: House GOP targeting licensing delays with commonsense proposals

Don’t just complain about it, offer a solution.

That’s one baseline expectation for elected officials. Slightly up the ladder is making sure the proposed solution is practical and, more importantly, plausible. Practical in the sense of real-world implementation and plausible in terms of “can we get this through the legislature and signed by the governor?”

House Bill 1572 might check both boxes, especially notable given its origins in the minority party.

State Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, filed the bill Jan. 30. As of Tuesday, it was assigned to the Health Care License Committee, concurrent with a House Republican press conference at which Hauter explained the intent.

“Illinois is losing highly compensated, highly trained individuals like physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, physical therapists, veterinarians and many more to other states,” Hauter said. “Why? Because we can’t get our licensing act together.”

House GOP Leader Tony McCombie, Savanna, and state Rep. Dave Severin, R-Benton, also spoke to support a total of 11 bills aimed at improving the professional licensure process. They echoed arguments I made in November following the bipartisan veto session passage of House Bill 2394, a plan to deal with backlogs at the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation by forcing an upgrade to decades-old software and paperwork reductions.

While a useful step, HB2394 didn’t directly clear the agency’s backlog, so physical and mental health care providers continue to wait months for license applications and renewals.

“IDFPR is too often the barrier for people getting to work,” McCombie explained. “Significant delays, breakdowns in communication, lost applications and overall dysfunction has often resulted in bipartisan frustration with this agency.”

Hauter’s proposal would change the Civil Administrative Code to give the IDFPR secretary power to expedite regular and temporary licenses in accordance with department rules. McCombie’s House Bill 4855 would require the department to accept online payments. Other GOP bills call for lowering licensure costs, streamlining out-of-state licenses and creating task forces to explore long-term solutions.

Without endorsing each individual legislative proposal, it’s fair to characterize the overall approach as attempting to directly address a widely understood problem with practical, administrative solutions that don’t carry the stigma of partisan hackery, culture wars or an attempt to force Capitol Hill debates onto Springfield.

In other words, how we expect our state government to function.

“We have written letters, reached out to the director, and many of us have seen firsthand the pain this agency causes our constituents who want to work throughout the state,” McCombie said. “It is imperative this agency comes to terms with its own mismanagement and implements solutions. Not years from now, but now. … Where is the sense of urgency?”

A fair question, and one for which both parties can provide answers.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.