Carbondale Reporter

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) has launched an online licensing system for select professions, as announced by State Representative Paul Jacobs. The new system is designed to simplify the licensing process for clinical psychologists, nail technicians, and music therapists.

Representative Jacobs, who also practices optometry, has been advocating for the modernization of the agency's licensing procedures. He expressed satisfaction with the recent developments: “I’ve been working hard to push the agency to modernize their licensing system,” he stated. He highlighted the backlog issue in license renewals that he and others have been addressing during this General Assembly session. "It is good to see some movement in the right direction," he added.

The newly introduced system, known as CORE (Comprehensive Online Regulatory Environment), will be implemented over a two-year period in six phases. The aim is to transition Illinois' professional licensing fully online.

Jacobs emphasized the necessity of updating IDFPR's outdated processes: “IDFPR provides licenses for more than 300 different license types, and it has been working with an antiquated system for far too long,” he noted. He expressed cautious optimism about the new initiative's potential impact on reducing backlogs and enhancing workforce participation: "I’m cautiously optimistic that this new system will move forward with very few glitches, and that the State of Illinois can move into the 21st century and end backlogs and improve workforce participation in critical occupational fields."

For further information on CORE, interested parties can visit IDFPR’s website at https://idfpr.illinois.gov/core.html