Sara Feigenholtz headshot
State Sen. Sara Feigenholtz

Illinois Senate Bill 2068, sponsored by state Sen. Sarah Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) would add Illinois to a multistate nurse licensure compact, allowing registered nurses and LPNs licensed in any of the 34 participating states to practice in any other member state.

Illinois currently has its own nursing license that does not allow reciprocity for licenses from other states, meaning that nurses from other states cannot cross state lines to try to help alleviate staffing shortages.

“What we could have done in some of those peak moments of the pandemic, those peak times where cases were exploding, we could have had nurses from other states come in to alleviate some of the pressure. I think that that would have been an enormous help for professional nurses as they struggled to meet the needs,” Karen Messer, president and CEO of LeadingAge Illinois, told Illinois Policy.

If the Senate bill passes, both RNs and LPNs would be covered by the compact. Illinois also still would issue its own nursing licenses.