Starting July 1, 2020, if you have unpaid parking tickets or toll charges, the Illinois Secretary of State (SOS) is no longer required to suspend or revoke your license. And, if your license is currently suspended for these reasons, the SOS will automatically reinstate your license at no cost to you.

License to Work Act: What it Does and Doesn’t Do

The License to Work Act (LTWA) (P.A. 101-0623) eliminates some but not all non-traffic or criminal reasons that previously suspended or revoked someone’s license. It is reported that as many as 55,000 Illinois licenses will be reinstated as a result of the LTWA. These grounds no longer suspend or revoke a driver’s license:

• Having five (5) or more toll violations;


• Having ten (10) or more unpaid city or county violations for standing, parking, or compliance (e.g., failure to purchase a city sticker);


• Failing to pay fees owed to the Illinois Commerce Commission;


• Being adjudicated a “truant minor” in need of supervision, addicted or delinquent;


• Removing or tampering with a vehicle without an owner’s permission, unless the person “exercised actual physical control” over the vehicle when the crime occurred;


• Stealing motor fuel;


• Being adjudged afflicted with or suffering from any mental disability or disease;


• Convicted of criminal trespass to a vehicle unless the person “exercised actual physical control” over vehicle when the crime occurred; and


• Liquor Control Act violations involving selling or providing alcohol to underage or intoxicated persons or possession of alcohol as a minor unless the person was in a vehicle at time liquor violation occurred.

The LTWA does not remove the SOS’s legal duty to suspend or revoke someone’s license for such infractions as: 1) DUI violations; 2) moving violations; 3) unpaid red-light camera violations; or 4) failure to pay child support.

If your driver’s license has been suspended or revoked for more than one reason and at least one of those reasons is still valid under Illinois law, your license will not be reinstated.

The LTWA also does not erase the obligation to pay those unpaid parking tickets, tow or city sticker violations. As most know when a ticket/toll violation is not paid on time, the amount due goes up. Eventually these unpaid tickets/toll violations are sent to a collection’s agency, adding further fees and costs. Unpaid tickets will lower your credit rating, making it harder for you to obtain a loan in the future.

Most Suspended or Revoked Licenses Will Be Reinstated Automatically

For anyone whose driver’s license was suspended or revoked prior to July 1, 2020 for any of the reasons listed above, the SOS should have sent you notice regarding your eligibility for reinstatement. If you haven’t received notice yet there could be one of several reasons why not.

One, the SOS may not have current address information for you. Whenever you move it is your responsibility to notify the SOS of a change of address.

To further complicate things, the SOS has separate departments for vehicle and driver license services. One department (Driver Services) oversees the issuance of driver licenses while the other department (Vehicle Services) is responsible for issuing license plates and stickers. Based on past client experience, the two departments do not share a common address database. Thus, it’s possible Vehicle Services has your current mailing information but Driver Services does not and vis-a-versa. You can update your address in person or by using this link ilsos.gov/addrchange/.

Two, you may not have received a reinstatement letter because your license expired at some point after it was suspended or revoked. If that is the case, you will first need to renew your license (renewal fees will still apply) before the SOS can reinstate it.

Three, given the impact of COVID-19 on government operations, it is possible the SOS’s plan to notify and/or process license reinstatements was delayed.

Whether you’ve received a reinstatement letter or not, I recommend calling the SOS (217-782-3720) to determine the status of your license reinstatement. As they say: It’s always better to be safe than sorry.