LEOSA does not mandate a state or agency to do anything. Nothing in that statute says an agency has to issue a retired ID card nor does it say a state or agency has to qualify a retiree. What LEOSA says is that if an agency or state is going to qualify retirees then the method and requirements are specified in the statute.
Additionally, no state can opt out of LEOSA. And no state has no more than they can opt out of any other federal law. If you check the Congressional record you'll find there was discussion to include a paragraph to allow states to opt out. That was soundly tossed. Therefore, the legislative intent of LEOSA is very clear.
Even NYC is abiding by LEOSA. Out of state/out of town LEOs visit NYC everyday and carry within the requirements of LEOSA. If you've ever visited NYC and interacted with NYPD, even prior to LEOSA, then you'd know what I mean. They have been, and are, very accommodating. There are so many erroneous and outright fictitious rumors passed around about NYPD and other cities that no one ever checks for validity but continually repeat them as if they are fact. On another list just within the week a firearms trainer from another state posted a long winded post how IL doesn't honor LEOSA and that IL was the last state to implement a LEOSA program. None of that was anywhere near the truth. In fact, a complete opposite of the truth but he posted it as if he knew what he was talking about. Unfortunately, he was full of hot air or something because none of it was true. Instead of checking the facts h just repeated what he'd heard and embellished it a bit.
To answer the OP's question, IL was one of the first states to fully implement LEOSA so retirees could get qualified. In fact, from what we found at the time IL may have been the first to get our program up and running. Other states contacted us to use our program as a basis for setting up their programs. It works pretty smoothly here. If a retiree's former agency won't qualify a them then they can download the required forms off the internet, send them to the IL Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, and the retiree will be sent a list of qualification sites and dates where the retiree can choose to shoot. Shoots are held all over the state thru the Mobile Training Units. After qualifying the range officer forwards the qualification papers to the ILETSB and a certification card usually gets to the retiree within the week. Again tho, the retiree has to have the retired ID from his former agency. That is a requirement set by LEOSA but LEOSA does not mandate that an agency has to issue such retired ID card.
Here's the website where IL retirees can go to get the forms and info concerning the program.
Illinois Retired Officer Concealed Carry Program - IROCC