1.3 IDFPR, Division of Real Estate & Auction Advisory Board

Why Article 30 is on a 50-item exam

PSI's outline names Articles 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 plus the Administrative Rules as a single 37-item bucket. Candidates who skip Article 30 because it "feels like government org-chart trivia" give away items on who appoints the Auction Advisory Board, how many members sit on it, who the public member cannot be, what a quorum is, where money collected under the Act is deposited, and whether the Board can itself revoke a license. Those facts are short, numerical, and easy to write as four-option questions.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) administers the Act through its Division of Real Estate. The Division's auctioneer profession page is https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/auctioneers.html. That is where applications, fact sheets, and contact routes live. PSI runs the computer exam; IDFPR issues, renews, audits, and disciplines licenses. Mixing those roles is a classic wrong answer ("PSI appoints the Advisory Board," "the Board mails wall licenses," "exam fees stay with PSI's development fund").

Official sources for this chapter, and for the rest of the guide, are 225 ILCS 407, 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1440, and the PSI Candidate Handbook. When those texts differ in date or scope, use the newest applicable Department or General Assembly text for legal duties and the handbook for exam-day logistics.

Section 30-7: Department powers and third-party contracts

225 ILCS 407/30-7 (Department; powers and duties) is short and heavily tested because it explains the split of labor you already used in Sections 1.1 and 1.2:

• The Department shall exercise the powers and duties prescribed by the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois for the administration of licensing acts.
• It shall also exercise such other powers and duties as are prescribed by the Auction License Act.
• The Department may contract with third parties for services necessary for the proper administration of this Act.

PSI is that third-party examination contractor. Section 30-50 separately confirms that the Department may enter into contractual agreements with third parties to carry out the Act. A question that says only the Advisory Board may hire a testing company, or that the Governor must personally administer the exam, is wrong. The Department holds the licensing-act powers; it may hire vendors; it does not thereby hand the license-issuing power to PSI.

Section 30-10: rules after notifying the Advisory Board

225 ILCS 407/30-10 (Rules): the Department, after notifying and considering the recommendations of the Advisory Board, if any, shall adopt any rules that may be necessary for the administration, implementation, and enforcement of this Act. Two phrases do work on the exam:

• "After notifying and considering" means the Board is in the rulemaking loop. The Department does not pretend the Board does not exist.
• "If any" means the Department is not frozen if the Board has not yet produced a recommendation. Rulemaking does not require a Board veto.

Part 1440 is the current body of those rules: definitions, examination, applications, fees, sponsorship forms, advertising, special accounts, and continuing education. When a question asks who adopts auctioneer rules, the answer is the Department (IDFPR), after notifying and considering the Board.

Section 30-13: where the money goes after July 1, 2023

225 ILCS 407/30-13 (The Division of Real Estate General Fund) is a dated split. Memorize the date.

• Prior to July 1, 2023, fees, fines, and penalties collected under the Act were deposited into the General Professions Dedicated Fund and used, as appropriated, for the Department's ordinary and contingent expenses.
• Beginning on July 1, 2023, all of the fees, fines, and penalties collected under this Act shall be deposited into the Division of Real Estate General Fund. Those monies are used, as appropriated, for the Department's ordinary and contingent expenses. The Fund may be invested and reinvested, with earnings staying in the Fund for the same purposes.

Section 10-50 tells the same story for fees and, on or after July 1, 2023, directs transfer of the remaining Act-related balance from the old fund to the Division of Real Estate General Fund. Exam items dated 2026 should use the post-July 1, 2023 fund name. The $37 PSI exam fee you pay to sit is a vendor scheduling fee described in the handbook; the 30-13 deposit rule is about fees, fines, and penalties collected under the Act (IDFPR's statutory collections), not a claim that PSI's $37 is legislatively re-titled.

Section 30-30: Auction Advisory Board — composition

225 ILCS 407/30-30 creates the Board. The single most common wrong answer on this topic is "appointed by the Governor." The statute says the Advisory Board shall consist of 7 members and shall be appointed by the Secretary. "Secretary" means the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation or a designee (Act definitions). In making appointments, the Secretary shall give due consideration to recommendations by members and organizations of the industry, including but not limited to the Illinois State Auctioneers Association. Due consideration of industry names is not election by the Association and is not gubernatorial appointment.

The seven seats are not seven auctioneers:

The public-member disabilities are stacked on purpose. A licensee's spouse with no license of their own still fails. A silent investor in an auction firm fails. A managing broker who is actively in real estate fills the seventh seat; that person is not a second "public consumer" seat and is not required to hold an auctioneer license. Older outlines that say "two public members" or "salesperson" instead of broker or managing broker are stale.

The Board annually elects, at its first meeting of the fiscal year, one of its members to serve as Chairperson. The Secretary does not sit as chair by statute, and the Director of the Division of Real Estate is not an ex-officio chair under the current 30-30 text.

Terms, removal, quorum, pay, and meetings

• Terms are 4 years and until a successor is appointed.
• No member shall be reappointed for a term that would cause cumulative service to exceed 12 years.
• Vacancies are filled by the Secretary for the unexpired portion of the term.
• To the extent practicable, the Secretary shall appoint members so that various geographic regions of the State are represented.
• The Secretary shall remove any member whose license has been revoked or suspended, and may remove a member for neglect of duty, misconduct, incompetence, or missing 2 board meetings during any one fiscal year.
• Four Board members constitute a quorum. A quorum is required for all Board decisions. A vacancy does not stop a quorum from acting.
• Members may receive a per diem stipend in an amount determined by the Secretary and shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses while performing duties.
• Members are immune from suit for disciplinary proceedings or other acts performed in good faith as Board members.
• The Board meets as convened by the Department (not on a self-scheduled monthly constitutional calendar).

Four is a quorum of seven, not five and not a unanimous board. Three members cannot pass a recommendation. A 12-year cumulative cap is not "two terms of four years" and is not a lifetime ban after a single term.

What the Board actually does — and what it does not

Section 30-30(g) states the job:

• Advise the Department on matters of licensing and education and make recommendations on those matters; and
• Hear and make recommendations to the Secretary on disciplinary matters that require a formal evidentiary hearing.

Section 30-30(h): the Secretary shall give due consideration to all recommendations of the Advisory Board. Due consideration is mandatory. Final Department action is still the Secretary's. The Board does not issue pocket cards, does not set the $200 fee by itself, does not adopt Part 1440 in its own name, and does not sign a final revocation order merely because it held a hearing. It hears and recommends on the subset of discipline that requires a formal evidentiary hearing; routine citations and the Secretary's final order practice remain Department action. If a question asks who appoints, who chairs, who has a quorum, or who gives due consideration, quote 30-30, not a real-estate-board rumor.

Realistic PSI-style scenarios

Scenario H — the appointment trap. A question asks who names Advisory Board members. Industry groups may recommend names. The Secretary appoints all seven. "The Governor," "PSI," and "election by licensed auctioneers" are distractors.

Scenario I — the public member. A candidate's spouse who has never held an auctioneer license volunteers for the consumer seat while still sharing profits from the candidate's auction firm. That person is both a spouse of a licensee and a person with a financial interest in the profession. Section 30-30(a) disqualifies that seat.

Scenario J — quorum and discipline. Four members attend, including three auctioneers and the public member. They can transact Board business. They may hear a formal evidentiary disciplinary case and send a recommendation to the Secretary. They cannot skip the Secretary and mail a revocation. The Secretary must give that recommendation due consideration and then decide.

Scenario K — the 2023 fund. A 2026 item asks where IDFPR deposits a civil penalty collected under the Act. Beginning July 1, 2023, the answer is the Division of Real Estate General Fund, not the retired General Professions Dedicated Fund path and not an Association scholarship account.