Illinois Governor Pritzker Must Address the Professional Licensing Crisis in the Land of Lincoln

A state legislator in Downstate Illinois makes an appeal for affected professional license applicants to reach out for assistance on delayed applications. Governor Pritzker’s administration is MIA on implementing required reforms by the Illinois General Assembly.

The Metro East Sun reported on May 9th that State Representative Amy Elik (R-Alton, 111th District) made an appeal for any professional license applicant in her district who faced significant delays on their application to contact her office for assistance.

Americans for Autism Advocacy has previously highlighted numerous issues that have affected the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation (IDPFR) that oversees licensing of professionals who work with the neurodiversity community in Illinois.  The State-Journal Register of Springfield reported on May 9th that Illinois failed to meet a legislative imposed deadline that the Governor signed into law for the IDPFR to select a new vendor to improve their technology infrastructure.  This would have been a first step in addressing the professional licensing backlog in The Land of Lincoln.

While Governor Pritzker is boosting his political profile nationally, he is ignoring a growing mental health crisis back at home.  A crisis that can be addressed by improving an outdated professional licensing system as the first step.

Why Governor Pritzker Needs to Address Professional Licensing Reform in Illinois 

1. Illinois has the sixth highest rate of adult Autism diagnosis in the United States out of all fifty states-World Population Review 

2. The 2023 State of Mental Health in America report published by Mental Health America found Illinois ranked 28th out of 50th for availability of professionals working in mental health.  There are 370 Illinoisians to one mental health professional in the Land of Lincoln.

   1. Despite Illinois ranks third overall for access to mental health care by Mental Health America, the lack of available licensed professionals puts this statistic in jeopardy.

3. Illinois ranked 37th out of 50th in the The 2023 State of Mental Health in America report for youth having at least one major depressive episode in a twelve month period researched by Mental Health America.

4. Illinois has not entered the interstate licensing compacts for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) and Social Workers despite being a member state for psychologists (PSYPACT).   Three of Illinois neighboring states including Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin are already member states of the Counseling Compact.

5. The American School Counselor Association found that Illinois has the fifth worst student to school counselor ratio in its 2022-2023 report.  There are 501 students to every school counselor in Illinois.  Neighboring Indiana and adjacent Michigan have much worse school counselor to student ratios in the same report.

6. The United States Department of Education ranked Illinois as needing assistance for two years straight in its 2023 report card for implementing special education programs for children at birth to age two. This ranking shows Illinois lacks the readiness to help families with early Autism diagnosis in which research shows it is proven to help individuals live healthier lives.

Governor Pritzker needs to put his political ambitions on a brief pause to address the professional licensure crisis in Illinois.  Governor Pritzker should demand IDPFR Secretary Maro Treto, Jr. to either implement the necessary changes or he must demand Secretary Treto’s resignation for the good of Illinois.