HB4012 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 17184 SPS 22636 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB4012

Introduced 3/4/2021, by Rep. Anna Moeller

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Regulatory Sunrise Review Act. Establishes a process to investigate and review the necessity of new regulation over a previously unregulated profession or occupation or the expansion of the scope of practice thereof. Provides that any professional or occupational group or organization, any individual, or any other interested party may submit to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation an application for sunrise review of proposed legislation to regulate a profession or occupation that at the time of application does not require authorization by any agency of the State to practice or the expansion of the scope of practice of a licensed profession or occupation. Establishes minimum criteria for sunrise review. Provides that the Department shall establish the Sunrise Review Unit to consider applications for sunrise review. Specifies actions the Department may take in the course of considering an application for sunrise review. Provides that after evaluating the application, the Department shall submit its final report to the General Assembly. Effective July 1, 2022.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Regulatory Sunrise Review Act.

Section 5. Declaration of public policy.

(a) It is hereby declared that the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is charged with protecting the health, safety, and welfare of Illinois residents and that creation of a Sunrise Review Unit within the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to conduct comprehensive reviews of any proposed legislation to regulate a profession or occupation or expansion of scope of practice thereof, is necessary to ensure such legislation will be necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare from significant and discernible harm or damage.

(b) It is also declared that, if there is a need to protect the health, safety, and welfare by way of legislation to provide for licensure or title protection of an unregulated profession or occupation or an expansion of scope of practice thereof, the General Assembly shall consider the Sunrise Review Unit's recommendations as part of its legislative function. Nothing in this Act shall interfere with the General Assembly otherwise considering legislation on any regulatory matter.

Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Address of record" means the designated address recorded by the Department in the applicant's sunrise application file maintained by the Department.

"Applicant" means a person or entity requesting a sunrise review for legislation to regulate a profession or occupation or to expand the scope of practice of a regulated profession or occupation.

"Department" means the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

"Email address of record" means the designated email address recorded by the Department in the applicant's sunrise application file maintained by the Department.

"License" means the privilege conferred by the Department to a person that has fulfilled all the requirements prerequisite to any type of licensure under this Act.

"Licensee" means a person who holds or claims to hold a license. An unlicensed person or entity that holds himself, herself, or itself out as a licensee or engages in a licensed activity shall be deemed to be a licensee for the purposes of investigation or disciplinary action.

"Licensing" and "Licensure" means a process by which the Department grants to a person who has met certain prerequisite qualifications the right to perform prescribed professional or occupational tasks and to use the title of the profession or occupation.

"Practitioner" means a person who is actively engaged in a specified profession or occupation.

"Secretary" means the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation or a person authorized by the Secretary to act in the Secretary's stead.

"Sunrise application" means the application for review by an applicant for licensure of an unregulated profession, occupation, or respective scope thereof.

"Sunrise review" means the process as provided in this Act by which the Department shall assess the sunrise application.

Section 15. Address of record; email address of record. All applicants shall:

(1) provide a valid address and email address to the Department, which shall serve as the address of record and email address of record, respectively, at the time of application for sunrise review; and

(2) inform the Department of any change of address of record or email address of record within 14 days after such change either through the Department's website or by otherwise contacting the Department.

Section 20. Fees. The Department shall establish by rule a schedule of fees for the administration and maintenance of this Act. The fees shall not be refundable.

Section 25. Returned checks; fines. Any person who delivers a check or other payment to the Department that is returned to the Department unpaid by the financial institution upon which it is drawn shall pay to the Department, in addition to the amount already owed to the Department, a fine of $50. The Department shall notify the person that payment of fees and fines shall be paid to the Department by certified check or money order within 30 calendar days of the notification. If, after the expiration of 30 days from the date of the notification, the person has failed to submit the necessary remittance, the Department shall automatically withdraw the applicant's sunrise application.

Section 30. Disposition of funds. All of the fees collected as authorized under this Act shall be deposited into the General Professions Dedicated Fund. The moneys deposited into the General Professions Dedicated Fund may be used for the expenses of the Department in the administration of this Act. Moneys from the Fund may also be used for direct and allocable indirect costs related to the public purposes of the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Moneys in the Fund may be transferred to the Professions Indirect Cost Fund as authorized by Section 2105-300 of the Department of Professional Regulation Law of the Civil Administration Code of Illinois.

Section 35. Establishment of the Sunrise Review Unit within the Department. Subject to appropriation, the Department shall establish the Sunrise Review Unit to carry out the provisions of this Act. Subject to appropriation, the Secretary shall appoint 3 members to the Sunrise Review Unit from within the Department.

Section 40. Application for sunrise review.

(a) Any professional or occupational group or organization, any individual, or any other interested party seeking licensure of a profession or occupation or seeking to expand the scope of practice of a licensed profession or occupation shall submit a sunrise application. Applications for sunrise review shall be made to the Department in writing on forms provided by the Department and shall be accompanied by the required nonrefundable fee. All applications shall contain information that, in the judgment of the Department, will enable the Department to evaluate an application for sunrise review.

(b) Applicants for sunrise review shall have one year after the date of application to complete the application process for review by the Department's Sunrise Review Unit. If the process has not been completed in one year, the application shall be denied, the fee shall be forfeited, and the applicant must reapply and meet the requirements in effect at the time of reapplication.

(c) Multiple applications for the same review made by the same applicant shall result in a denial of all applications for sunrise review in process by the Department. The fees shall be forfeited. The applicant shall be prohibited to reapply for sunrise review by the Department for one year from the date of the last application.

(d) The Department may adopt additional rules to administer this Section.

Section 45. Department procedures for sunrise reviews.

(a) Upon receipt of a completed application for sunrise review, the Department may, in the course of its review, do the following:

(1) request the applicant to provide notice, in a format prescribed by the Department, of its sunrise application and proposed legislation to regulate practitioners of the profession or occupation, or an expansion of scope of practice thereof, to the public, to any professional organizations or associations that include practitioners of the profession or occupation that is proposed by the applicant to be regulated, as determined by the Department, and to any opposition groups to the proposed legislation, as determined by the Department; the applicant shall provide the Department a copy of the notice and a list of the persons, organizations or associations, or any opposition group to whom the notice was sent;

(2) request information from state agencies that contract with individuals in the unregulated profession or occupation, the Attorney General Consumer Protection division, and others knowledgeable of the profession or occupation;

(3) identify evidence, if any, of present, significant or discernible harm that the unregulated profession or occupation or its current regulatory treatment has caused to consumers;

(4) when deemed appropriate, provide notice and hold public hearings subject to the Open Meetings Act to gather additional information from members of the public and anyone opposed or in favor of the proposed regulation;

(5) receive any information or documentation for consideration to the Sunrise Review Unit from the public, including professional and government organizations; and

(6) recommend if the proposed regulation is necessary to protect consumers from present, significant, and discernible harms.

(b) In conducting the sunrise review, the Sunrise Review Unit shall consider the information provided by the applicant as set forth in Section 50 of this Act to determine whether the applicant has satisfied the minimum requirements. The applicant carries the burden of demonstrating to the Sunrise Review Unit that the proposed regulation is necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare from significant and discernible harm or damage.

(c) The Sunrise Review Unit shall commence its review within 12 months after receipt of a completed application and prepare a final report within 6 months of the review conclusion date. The Department may issue a report in advance of the time allotted. The report shall contain, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) a summary of proposed legislation to regulate an unregulated profession or occupation, or the expansion of scope of practice thereof, the criteria and standards provided by the applicant, comments or arguments made by the public or opponent groups, and any steps taken to include the public and any opposition group in the sunrise process;

(2) an analysis of whether the applicant's responses to the criteria set forth in Section 50 demonstrate that the proposed regulation is necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare from significant and discernible harm or damage; and

(3) a recommendation on whether legislation is needed to regulate the profession or occupation, or expansion of the scope of practice thereof, and, if so, the type and scope of regulation needed.

(d) The Department has the discretion to decline to conduct a sunrise review in certain circumstances, including, but not limited to, repeat applications where no new substantive information is provided and where the requested review is not applicable to the Department's regulatory oversight. When the Department exercises its discretion to decline to conduct a sunrise review, it shall provide a written explanation of its decision to the applicant.

Section 50. Minimum criteria for sunrise review. Prior to review as authorized under this Act, an applicant for sunrise review shall provide, at minimum, the following criteria in this Section:

(1) the name or type of profession or occupation or expansion of scope of practice thereof that is requested to be regulated or expanded;

(2) the types of harm to the public health, safety, or welfare in this State that will be remedied by legislation to regulate a profession or occupation or to expand the scope of practice thereof;

(3) whether and how the public can reasonably expect to benefit from an assurance of initial and continuing professional or occupational competence;

(4) whether and how any current protections exist for consumers of the goods and services provided by the unregulated profession or occupation or expansion of scope of practice thereof;

(5) the nature of the potential or discernible harm or threat to the public health, safety, or welfare if the profession or occupation or expansion of scope of practice thereof is not regulated or expanded, and an explanation of why regulatory frameworks other than licensure would not be adequate to protect the public;

(6) the approximate number of individuals or businesses that would be subject to the legislation to regulate the profession or occupation, or the expansion of the scope of practice thereof, and a list of associations, organizations, and other groups available to practitioners of the profession or occupation;

(7) the existence of national accreditations or national certification systems for the profession or occupation;

(8) a list and description of State and federal laws that have been enacted to protect the public with respect to the profession or occupation;

(9) a copy of any federal legislation mandating regulation;

(10) a list of states that regulate the profession or occupation, the type of regulation, copies of other states' laws and available evidence from those states of the effects of regulation on the profession or occupation;

(11) a description of any previous efforts in this State to implement legislation to regulate the profession or occupation or an expansion of scope of practice thereof;

(12) a description of the extent that the legislation to regulate will place unreasonable barriers to entry on individuals that practice the profession or occupation, or in the expansion of scope of practice thereof, including, but not limited to, a description of any anticipated barriers for practitioners based on criminal history and any barriers for active military members and their spouses;

(13) a description of how legislation to regulate a profession or occupation, or the expansion of scope of practice thereof, will increase the cost of goods or services provided or affect the availability of goods or services to the public;

(14) the cost that will be imposed on practitioners of the profession or occupation, or the expansion of scope of practice thereof, resulting from the regulation;

(15) the educational or training programs that exist, the cost of such educational or training programs, the relevance of such educational or training programs for the full scope of practice proposed to be licensed, and whether all applicants will be required to pass an examination and, if an examination is required, its relevance to the skills of the profession or occupation, by whom it will be developed, and how the costs of development will be met;

(16) whether renewal will be based only upon payment of a fee or whether renewal will involve continuing education, reexamination, or other methodologies;

(17) the standards for licensure as compared with the standards of other jurisdictions;

(18) the form, powers, and composition of a licensing board if needed; and

(19) any other information the Department requests for its analysis of the proposed legislation.

Additional criteria may be established by the Department by rule.

Section 55. Review by the General Assembly.

(a) After evaluating the application for sunrise review, the Department shall submit its final report to the General Assembly as provided for in subsection (c) of Section 45.

(b) The General Assembly shall consider the Department's recommendation.

Section 60. Severability. This Act is declared to be severable, and should any word, phrase, sentence, provision, or Section hereof be hereafter declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the remainder of this Act shall not thereby be affected, but shall remain valid and in full force and effect for all intents and purposes.

Section 65. Rulemaking authority. The Department may adopt rules for the administration and enforcement of this Act.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2022.