* I think I may have told you that my mom worked for the Department of Defense as a civilian when I was a teenager. Because of this, I went to three different high schools as we bounced around the country and then moved to Europe (where I graduated high school). My brother Devin went to three different 1st Grades at one point.

So, I do have some experience with the problems that military families face as they move from place to place. This new Illinois law should be a big help to many of those families. From a press release…

Senate Bill 275, sponsored by Illinois State Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) and State Representative Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley), provides for temporary expedited professional and educational licenses for active duty members of the military and their spouses. State agencies that issue occupational licenses, including the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the State Board of Education, will be able to grant temporary licenses to military members and spouses who hold credentials in other states in more than 50 professions, such as teachers, doctors, nurses, dentists, plumbers, paramedics, social workers, dieticians and therapists. […]

In addition to temporary, 6-month licenses, the Act allows IDFPR to consider all relevant experience and training a servicemember has gained through military service towards meeting certain permanent state licensing requirements. These provisions will help military members and their spouses more easily navigate the patchwork of non-uniform regulations across all 50 states. The law takes effect Jan. 1.

* From the WhiteHouse.gov blog…

The First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden spoke to the nation’s Governors and their spouses in February about how they could support military spouses by making it easier for their licenses to transfer as they move from state to state.

You can appreciate that there are hundreds of issues that the First Lady and Dr. Biden could have addressed but they focused on supporting our nation’s military spouses and in this case the 100,000 military spouses in the country who serve in professions that require state licenses.

Back in February, only 11 states had pro-spouse legislation in-place.

[Yesterday], Illinois became the 23rd state to adopt pro-military spouse license portability measures.

* Background…

In states without the eased restrictions, military spouses spend too much time compiling and transferring documents and being retested, and many decide it’s too much trouble, Marcus Beauregard, the Defense Department’s state liaison chief, told American Forces Press Service in a June 22 interview. “We started looking at how to truncate that time,” he said.

States require licenses for those in virtually every medical occupation, as well as teaching, social work, cosmetology and other fields, and the requirements vary from state to state, Beauregard said. Of working military spouses, one-third work in fields that require licenses, and most of those are medical, he said.

To ease the burden, some new state laws allow military spouses to transfer an out-of-state license with an endorsement of the office that issued it, Beauregard said, while others will accept the licenses with documents that validate the license or the holder’s clean business record, and other states issue temporary licenses for spouses to do business.

“We don’t ask them to lower any standards,” he said. “We just ask them to encompass military spouses in licensure more quickly.”

* More…

“I cannot tell you the number of months I’ve spent waiting around for licensing paperwork to catch up so that I can continue with my own nursing career,” said Courtney Sensenig, of Chicago, who has moved eight times because of her husband’s Navy career.

Sensenig, who is licensed in three states and specializes in obstetrics, said many of her friends have similar stories.

“Some find the process so cumbersome and difficult that they give up and decide not to work in their profession,” she said. “This adds so much hardship to our lives. It’s also a loss … to our community.”

* Here’s a map with states in green that have similar laws or policies. States in yellow are considering legislation this year. States in red have nothing yet…

* This was bipartisan legislation. Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno attended yesterday’s event with Gov. Quinn and the First Lady, so please keep your comments focused on the law, not the stupid DC talking points. Thanks.

       

23 Comments - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:06 am: Good idea. I can’t imagine having to move around like that. I haven’t moved in 23 years and plan on going out of my house feet first. - Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:16 am: Seems like everyone (not limited to servicemen/women) who have to move should find the process to move professional certification easier. Too much stuff moves at government speed. i.e. slow. - cassandra - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:20 am: I agree with Plutocrat03. Fine with plan for military, but make this an option for all workers requiring licensure-in all states. Not sure why not possible, certainly in the age of computers. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:27 am: =but make this an option for all workers requiring licensure-in all states= In an age where our officials–especially the GOP (and you know who you are)–are willing to sell out Americans by cutting deals to send our jobs overseas and act as spokesmodels for businesses that do all of their manufacturing in the BRICs, the least we can do is help our Military, who still ARE in the business of defending our Nation and its interests. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:27 am: Yes, maybe the certification/licensing process could be streamlined for everyone, but we need to be careful too. If somebody loses a nursing license or teaching certificate as a result of committing fraud or abusing their license, it would be nice if state agencies took the time to check backgrounds, etc., before stamping approval. But yeah, for service members, this is a good thing. For those seeking to hop around to new jurisdictions after they’ve been kicked out of a previous one, not so much. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:29 am: Sorry. Hit the Say It! button too quickly. …And while I like cassandra’s idea, I’ve seen way too much to believe that anyone would have the courage (or integrity) to defend our workforce overall in such a big way. The trend is the opposite: do whatever you can to come up with ridiculous reasons to keep Americans OUT of the workforce (while providing more visas because no one in this country is “qualified” for anything anymore. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:33 am: 47th Ward makes a good point, which again could be resolved through technology. Quick Qs for those who know: How rigorous is the certification process for new arrivals to the US who had similar or equal certification (assuming there was any) in their originating country? I know that there are some educational requirements, but what about background checks, including ensuring that their certification/license wasn’t suspended overseas? - PAD 24 - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:42 am: It’s interesting that North Dakota, South Dakota and Colorado does not have a law similar to this in place. More military in those states than one would originally think to “Turn the Key(s)”. - Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 11:53 am: PAD24, you might want to recheck the map regarding Colorado. - Endangered Moderate Species - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 12:01 pm: To Pad 24, This may not be an issue in the Dakota’s. The expediency of state government in the Dakota’s may be more streamlined than it is in the more populous states. - Southern Peggy R - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 12:04 pm: No arguments here about the law. As for extending to all licensing, sure unreasonable delays ought to be cut down, but there should be a minimum amount of time to check backgrounds and prior license denials/losses of any new residents in those professions. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 12:10 pm: =check backgrounds and prior license denials/losses of any new residents in those professions.= And no cheating when it comes to how the rules are applied. If you’ve arrived from another country, and you don’t pass the background check because the originating country can’t (or won’t) provide the required information, well…you didn’t pass the background check. - reflector - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 12:10 pm: I am so happy to see this happen.I worked to try to overcome this problem for Vietnam vets.Welost the services of hundreds of trained people because of our laws in Illinois.We finally found how to get medical personel credit for their military training but it was a fight.Now let’s get them jobs. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 12:13 pm: =We finally found how to get medical personel credit for their military training but it was a fight.= Thank goodness for that. I can just “imagine” how frustrating it would have been to have to start all over again in academia, by first and foremost taking classes that, e.g., teach you how to balance a company’s checking account. - Wumpus - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 12:17 pm: Good law! Rich, you may have left out the part where your brother was in three different 1rst grades for three consecutive years. I joke. Expand this beyond the military. - Pink Tomato - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 12:49 pm: Expedited processing for a temporary license is a good idea. These military families probably won’t be in Illinois for long and there is at least some level of confidence that they have been issued a license in another state. The risk to the public is minimal. However, expedited or reduced standards for permanent licensure is not a good idea. Licensure standards differ from state to state. Illinois general has as high or higher licensure standards than most other states. Also, military training for a profession such as nursing is probably fine for military situations, but it is not equivalent to the training a domestic nurse gets through approved nursing programs. There is a possibility that this bill will grant expediency for military folks in exchange for protection of the public health, safety and welfare. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 1:43 pm: Speaking of a “very good law,” the Chicago City Council voted today to decriminalize marijuana possession. @Pink Tomato - There’s also a possibility that expediting licensure for military family members who are nurses, doctors, security guards, teachers, and social workers will improve public health, safety and welfare. - PAD 24 - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 3:28 pm: Michelle Flaherty - Thanks for the clarity. Need to look at things a tad bit closer before hitting the “Say It!” button. - Boone Logan Square - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 4:16 pm: Good. I’m a little surprised Hawaii does not already have such a law in place, but it looks like it will soon. - Just Observing - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 4:30 pm: Illinois should also be looking at getting rid of licenses altogether for certain professions. Many of these licenses are enacted not to protect the general public, but to protect the status quo from competition. I’m not talking about licenses for doctors, lawyers, nurses, etc., but rather for professions like florists, hair braiders, etc. The Institute for Justice has done lots of good work on this subject: http://www.ij.org/licensetowork - Huh? - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 5:00 pm: To expedite a professional engineering license, all a person needs is a NCEES Record. Here is the website that tells more about it: www.ncees.org/Records.php A little over a year ago, I went through the process to set up the Record, it took some time to get all the needed information accummulated, but it greased the ways for getting licensed in Indiana and Kentucky. - Devin - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 5:22 pm: Wumpus — I entered college at 17 after attending 8 different schools. The joke is how long it took me to get my BA degree from SIU … I blame the perpetual fun machine that is Carbondale. And it is great to see a law sponsored in Illinois that makes actual sense. - Freeman - Wednesday, Jun 27, 12 @ 6:24 pm: Great law, very glad to see both parties recognized the logic in this. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.