Dear Students,

On Friday, August 23, Governor Pritzker signed into law House Bill 2243 which changed the Illinois statute governing pre-election/appointment requirements for township and county assessors. In short, effective immediately, township and county assessors who hold a CIAO are no longer required to complete 30 hours (at least 15 hours being exam hours) in the year of, or the year immediately preceding, election, appointment, or contract. This bill was supported and championed by the Illinois Assessors Association (IAA) and the County Assessment Officers Association (CAOA).

A few critical items of note:

• The IPAI still requires you complete 60 hours of continuing education (CE) within a four year cycle (currently 2019 – 2022). Failure to complete your CE will result in your CIAO designation becoming inactive. Courses cannot be repeated in the last four years for CIAO CE credit and the four core qualifying courses do not count for CE.
• IDOR will still require 30 hours (at least 15 hours being exam hours) and holding a qualifying position in order for a CIAO to receive the IDOR stipend. Courses cannot be repeated in the last 10 years to qualify for stipend credit.
• This bill specifically impacts elected, appointed, and contracted township assessors and elected and appointed county assessors, not deputy assessors or other assessment office staffers.
• Candidates to be elected, appointed, or contracted to office are still required to obtain a Certificate of Educational Qualification from IDOR before they can be appointed, contracted, or file nominating papers to be elected to office.  

The full text of the bill, now public act, may be viewed here. I encourage you to read the full text to better understand what I have pointed out above, as well as other items of interest to elected and appointed township and county assessors. Should you have questions, please contact our office or IDOR.
 
Thank you,

Josh W. Barnett
Executive Director

P.S. Remember, all CIAOs regardless of position are still required by the IPAI to complete 60 hours of CE during a four year cycle (currently 2019-2022).