Days of continued licensing delays in Illinois could be coming to an end
With goals to modernize and streamline an archaic system, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation recently announced it had reached an agreement to secure a new professional online licensing system.
The state agency, in charge of licensing for health care, occupational professionals and more than 100 other professions, will partner with NIC Licensing Solutions, LLC to create the new online system. The $9 million investment will be paid over the next three years, IDFPR said in a news release.
“This new system will elevate the State of Illinois as a national leader in professional licensing by providing state of the art technology for professionals looking to make a career in the Land of Lincoln,” said IDFPR Secretary Mario Treto Jr. said in a statement.
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In naming a vendor, the state is now one step closer in addressing a long-standing issue that has led to substantial wait-times for workers needing licenses. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration with the delays to receive licenses reaching weeks, if not months, for many.
NIC Licensing Solutions, LLC is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Tyler Technologies, who has provided similar services to IDFPR sister-state agencies in Alabama, Colorado, and Georgia. Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, said the new partnership between IDFPR and NIC Licensing was "long overdue."
He sponsored legislation signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in December which required the agency to enter into contract with a technology vendor to build a new computer software system. The Aug. 6 announcement comes nearly five months after the March 7 deadline to enter into a contract had passed.
IDFPR, however, had came close to finding a vendor even before lawmakers voted on the legislation. Treto disclosed during a September 2023 hearing the agency had to walk away from talks with another vendor after they realized the vendor wouldn’t have been able to meet their specific needs.
Securing a vendor is just part one of a multi-stage rollout leading to the implementation of the new system. IDFPR says the licensing system will notify licensees electronically when their applications are received and reviewed. It will also list how to pay license applications and fees online.
The state included a little over $15.8 million for the implementation and administration of the new licensing system in the fiscal year 2025 budget. All in all, IDFPR is hoping the new system will build on steps they say has already cut down on wait times such as a pilot program accepting online payments for some paper applications and a virtual licensing appointments.
Through July, the agency has issued nearly 69,000 first-time licenses this year according to data shared in a news release.
Contact Patrick M. Keck: [email protected], twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois takes major step forward in cutting down licensing delays