* 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.