Despite our small team size, we are leaders in driving occupational licensing reform for working-class Illinoisans. After discovering that members of the General Assembly receive little information about the impacts and burdens & occupational licenses on ordinary Illinoisans, the IJ Clinic wrote and passed Public Act 102-0984 to ensure General Assembly members would receive more robust reports on a license’s impact and effectiveness when they are reviewed every 10 years.

The State of Illinois faces a critical juncture in its approach to occupational licensing, particularly for low-to-moderate-income occupations. Occupational licensing laws prohibit people in Illinois from working in an occupation unless they meet required qualifications and receive official permission from the state. The General Assembly has recognized that occupational licensing requirements block or restrict people’s pathways to economic prosperity or even stability. The consequences are felt most by people who have been historically disadvantaged. Accordingly, the General assembly commissioned this Task Force to investigate how occupational licensing of low-to-moderate-income occupations relates to economic inequities in Illinois and to recommend reforms. (See the list of occupations we studied in Appendix IV and the full Authorizing Statute in Appendix V.)

To better understand how licenses impact Illinois’ most vulnerable workers, the Clinic also wrote and passed Public act 102-1078 establishing the Comprehensive Licensing Information To Minimize Barriers (CLIMB) Task Force. The Clinic spent two years leading research into barriers to employment for 16 low-to-moderate-income licensed occupations in Illinois with a team of academics, legislators, regulators, and license holders. The CLIMB Report was officially released in November 2024, packed with original research, data analysis and expert recommendations for reforms. In 2025, the Clinic is working on turning some key recommendations into meaningful change. 

The task force’s recommendations comprise concrete, workable steps for Illinois. We found that similar reforms have been shown to succeed in other states. We urge the state to follow these recommendations to slow the growth of unnecessary licensing requirements, to streamline the processes that aspiring workers in Illinois must follow, to knock down unnecessary barriers to employment, and to allow people in Illinois to pursue the work they want to do in an affordable, accessible way. Read more about the CLIMB Task Force Report here!