Illinois House Bill 5338 is nearly identical to Senate Bill 571 which was unanimously passed by the Senate in 2007, but was held up in the House.

The bill is an update to the Real Estate License Act of 2000 and among other issues:

increases the required education for salesperson licensing from 45 hours to 90 hours with 30 hours of continuing education prior to the first renewal and 12 hours each subsequent renewal,

establishes initial broker licensing requirements of 45 hours of pre-license course work which must be in the area of brokerage management, supervision and administration with 18 hours of continuing education, 6 of which must be in broker management, and

provides that broker applicants must be licensed as real estate sales persons for 2 out of the last three years prior to broker licensing.

If passed, the proposed changes become effective May 1, 2009.  Complete details available here.