Licensing orientation program and progress report

(225 ILCS 10/7.10)     Sec. 7.10. Licensing orientation program and progress report.     (a) For the purposes of this Section, "early care and education licensing" means licensing of early care and education centers, early care and education homes, and group early care and education homes.     (a-5) In addition to current early care and education training and subject to appropriations, the Department or any State agency that assumes early care and education center licensing responsibilities shall host licensing orientation programs to help educate potential early care and education center, early care and education home, and group early care and education home providers about the early care and education licensing process. The programs shall be made available in person and virtually. The Department or its successor shall offer to host licensing orientation programs at least twice annually in each Representative District in the State. Additionally, if one or more persons request that a program be offered in a language other than English, then the Department or its successor must accommodate the request.     (b) No later than September 30th of each year, the Department of Early Childhood shall provide the General Assembly with a comprehensive report on its progress in meeting performance measures and goals related to early care and education licensing.     (c) The report shall include:         (1) details on the funding for child care licensing,     including:            (A) the total number of full-time employees         working on early care and education licensing;            (B) the names of all sources of revenue used to         support early care and education licensing;            (C) the amount of expenditures that is claimed         against federal funding sources;            (D) the identity of federal funding sources; and             (E) how funds are appropriated, including         appropriations for line staff, support staff, supervisory staff, and training and other expenses and the funding history of such licensing since fiscal year 2010;        (2) current staffing qualifications of early care and     education licensing representatives and early care and education licensing supervisors in comparison with staffing qualifications specified in the job description;        (3) data history for fiscal year 2010 to the current     fiscal year on early care and education licensing representative caseloads and staffing levels in all areas of the State;        (4) per the Early Care and Education Licensing     Advisory Council's work plan, quarterly data on the following measures:            (A) the number and percentage of new applications         disposed of within 90 days;            (B) the percentage of licenses renewed on time;             (C) the percentage of early care and education         centers receiving timely annual monitoring visits;            (D) the percentage of early care and education         homes receiving timely annual monitoring visits;            (E) the percentage of group early care and         education homes receiving timely annual monitoring visits;            (F) the percentage of provider requests for         supervisory review;             (G) the progress on adopting a key indicator         system;            (H) the percentage of complaints disposed of         within 30 days;            (I) the average number of days an early care and         education center applicant must wait to attend a licensing orientation;            (J) the number of licensing orientation sessions         available per region in the past year; and            (K) the number of Department of Early Childhood         trainings related to licensing and child development available to providers in the past year; and        (5) efforts to coordinate with the Department of     Human Services and the State Board of Education on professional development, credentialing issues, and child developers, including training registry, child developers, and Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS).    (d) The Department of Early Childhood shall work with the Governor's appointed Early Learning Council on issues related to and concerning early care and education. (Source: P.A. 103-594, eff. 7-1-26; 103-805, eff. 1-1-25; 104-307, eff. 1-1-26; 104-417, eff. 8-15-25; 104-480, eff. 7-1-26.)