SB1711 Summary

• Upgrades landscape architecture from a registration-based system to full state licensure, changing all references from "registration" to "licensure" throughout the Illinois Landscape Architecture Act of 1989.

• Replaces "Director of Professional Regulation" with "Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation" and updates department references accordingly.

• Establishes new requirements including professional liability insurance, license display, professional seals on technical submissions, and a minimum of 6 hours of continuing education per year.

• Creates exemptions for contractors, designers, gardeners, and related professionals engaged in landscape work who do not hold themselves out as licensed landscape architects.

• Extends the sunset date of the Act from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2020, and amends the Professional Engineering Practice Act to recognize landscape architects as design professionals alongside architects and engineers.