Illinois

Amends the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act. Provides that the advice and technical assistance provided to State grant-making agencies by the Governor's Office of Management and Budget for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Act shall include training for State agency staff. Sets forth requirements for the training. Provides that a State grant-making agency that awards a grant must issue the grant agreement associated with the grant within 60 days after the grant's effective date. Sets forth requirements for the grant agreement.

Amends the State Fire Marshal Act. Provides that the Office of State Fire Marshal shall adopt amendments to the rules set forth in 41 Ill. Adm. Code 149.20 to adhere to the intent of the U.S. Coast Guard in its June 21, 2004 Federal Register notice, which described that permanently moored vessels (PMVs) are gaming, casino, or other vessels that are designed and constructed for use by gaming operations. Effective July 1, 2025.

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Expands the categories of families eligible for child care assistance to include families with a parent or guardian who is employed as a mental health care worker, teacher, or health care provider and has income below the specified income threshold established for such families. Provides that notwithstanding any other provision of law or administrative rule to the contrary, beginning in State Fiscal Year 2026, for families with a parent or guardian who is employed as a mental health care worker, teacher, or health care provider, the specified income threshold shall be no less than 300% of the then-current federal poverty level for each family size. Defines terms. Effective July 1, 2025.

Amends the State Comptroller Act. Provides that the Comptroller may provide in his or her rules and regulations for periodic transfers, with the approval of the State Treasurer, for use in accordance with the imprest system, subject to the rules and regulations of the Comptroller as respects vouchers, controls, and reports to the Department of Agriculture to pay State Fair competition personnel and entertainment support contracts necessary to provide the entertainment at each State Fair. Effective July 1, 2026.

Amends the Hospital Services Trust Fund Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. In provisions requiring the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to pay safety-net hospitals a low volume add-on payment of $200 for each inpatient General Acute and Psychiatric day of care, removes the December 31, 2026 sunset date for such add-on payments. Effective immediately.

Amends the Newborn Screening Act. Changes the title of the Act and the short title. Provides that, beginning July 1, 2026, an additional newborn screening fee of at least $45, determined by the Department by rule, may be collected and deposited into the Metabolic Screening and Treatment Fund for specified purposes. Provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to override, replace, preempt, or supersede any provision, requirement, or other duty or prohibition under the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act. Limits the application of certain provisions to hearing screenings and makes technical and conforming changes. Makes conforming changes in the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois, the Illinois Procurement Code, the Illinois Public Aid Code, and the Genetic Information Privacy Act. Effective immediately.

Amends the School Code. Provides that the State Board of Education may provide statewide guidance to school districts concerning a workforce development curriculum or programming or both that can be adopted at the school district, school, or classroom level and that provides best practices for teaching artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other types of rapidly growing technologies as deemed necessary, in a manner that prepares students for workforce, job, and career competencies in the future and informs students of new or growing job or career opportunities in these new fields. Provides that the State Board shall prepare a comprehensive review of any workforce development preparation curriculum and programming specifically designed around technology implemented or considered in other states through other state actions, policies, pilot programs, or school-based programs implemented or tested on a statewide or school-district basis. Provides that the State Superintendent of Education may convene meetings with stakeholders from the public or private sector in preparing the guidance and may allow for the submission of public comments from individuals, organizations, or other entities prior to finalizing the prepared guidance.

Amends the Election Code. Provides that the County Board in each county, except in counties having a population of 3,000,000 inhabitants or over, shall, at its regular meeting in June or an adjourned meeting in July, divide its election precincts so that each precinct shall contain, as near as may be practicable, 1,800 registered voters (rather than 1,200 registered voters). Provides that the Board of Election Commissioners shall change the boundaries of election precincts after each decennial census as soon as is practicable following the completion of congressional and legislative redistricting and such precincts shall contain as nearly as practicable 1,800 registered voters (rather than 1,200 registered voters if the precinct is located in a county with fewer than 3,000,000 inhabitants; or 1,800 registered voters if the precinct is located in a county with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants). Makes conforming changes.

Creates the Student Educational Technologies Rights Act. Provides that it is the policy of the State that a student and the student's parent have the right to: opt out of school-issued personal electronic devices, electronic textbooks, electronic required reading, or electronic or online assignments; request a human teacher review any automated scored grade or scored grade generated by artificial intelligence; and opt out of predictive analytics systems without academic penalty. Amends the School Code. Removes language allowing school districts that collect biometric information from students to adopt specified policies. Prohibits a school district from purchasing or otherwise acquiring biometric systems to use on students. Establishes prohibitions for a school district with respect to biometric systems and biometric information of its students. Sets forth requirements on the destruction of biometric information in the possession of a school district. Makes other changes. Amends the Student Online Personal Protection Act. Prohibits an operator from selling or renting any other person's information collected by the operator for K through 12 school purposes or permitting artificial intelligence to train on covered information unless for K through 12 school purposes or in furtherance of improving operability and functionality of the operator's service. Provides, with exceptions, that an operator's artificial intelligence model shall not train on a student's covered information and retain the training data indefinitely. Makes other and conforming changes.

Creates the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act. Defines "frontier model", "frontier developer", and "large frontier developer". Requires large frontier developers to adopt and publish a frontier AI framework addressing catastrophic risk management, transparency, and cybersecurity. Mandates reporting of critical safety incidents to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security and establishes civil penalties for noncompliance. Directs the Department of Innovation and Technology to review and recommend updates to definitions and standards. Creates a consortium to develop ILCompute, a public cloud computing resource. Exempts specified information under the Freedom of Information Act. Makes conforming changes to the Freedom of Information Act.

Amends the Bingo License and Tax Act. Allows a volunteer who is not a paid bona fide member of the sponsoring organization to participate in the management or operation of bingo. Increases the maximum price for a single card to $1.79 (instead of $1).

Amends the Illinois Housing Development Act. Provides that the Illinois Housing Development Authority shall issue to home builders who build single-family homes in the State (i) certificates of exemption from the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act, the Use Tax Act, the Service Use Tax Act, and the Service Occupation Tax Act and (ii) credit certifications against the taxes imposed under the Illinois Income Tax Act.

Amends the Fair Patient Billing Act. Provides that "artificial intelligence" has the meaning given to that term in the Illinois Human Rights Act. Prohibits all hospitals from using artificial intelligence to set or influence health care pricing or billing.

Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Creates a child care credit in an amount equal to 25% of the federal tax credit for each qualifying child. Effective immediately.

Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that, for tax sales occurring on or after January 1, 2027, a certificate of purchase shall not be issued sooner than 90 days after the conclusion of the tax sale.

Amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to establish and implement within 12 months after the effective date of the amendatory Act a 3-year medical nutrition therapy pilot program that provides targeted populations, that otherwise meet the eligibility requirements for medical assistance, with nutrition education and counseling to prevent, delay, manage, treat, or rehabilitate a disease or condition. Provides that under the pilot program, medical nutrition therapy services shall be provided by a registered dietitian licensed under the Dietitian Nutritionist Practice Act who is acting within the scope of his or her license. Provides that program services shall include nutrition assessment, nutrition intervention, nutrition counseling, and nutrition monitoring and evaluation. Lists the populations targeted for eligibility under the pilot program. Requires the Department to identify and track the progress and health outcomes of program participants and submit a report of its findings and recommendations on possible program expansion to the Governor and the General Assembly within 3 months after the pilot program terminates. Requires the Department to adopt any rules necessary to implement the pilot program.

Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Provides that a taxpayer who employs a person with a developmental disability or a severe mental illness, as certified by the Department of Human Services, during the taxable year is entitled to an income tax credit in an amount equal to 25% of the wages paid by the taxpayer to the person with a developmental disability or severe mental illness, but not to exceed $6,000 in wages paid during the taxable year to any single qualified employee. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Creates an income tax credit in an amount equal to the amount paid by the taxpayer during the taxable year for the purpose of purchasing materials, labor, and professional services to soundproof a residential home located at an eligible address against aircraft noise generated by an airport governed by the provisions of the Permanent Noise Monitoring Act. Provides that the credit may not reduce the taxpayer's liability to less than zero. Provides that the credit may be carried forward. Provides that the credit is exempt from the Act's automatic sunset provisions. Effective immediately.

Amends Illinois Procurement Code. Provides that, after exhausting the list of master contracts and cooperative agreements, procurement expenditures necessary for the Department of Public Health, the Department of Agriculture, the Illinois State Police, or the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to operate State laboratories are exempt from the Code.

Creates the Professional AI Oversight Act. Defines terms. Provides that a licensee shall prominently disclose when a person who is paying for a service provided by the licensee is interacting with artificial intelligence. Provides that the disclosure shall (i) be provided verbally at the start of an oral exchange or conversation and in writing before a written exchange and (ii) notify the person of the specific purpose of the artificial intelligence that will be used in the interaction. Sets forth rulemaking authority for the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Provides that any individual, corporation, or entity found in violation of the Act shall pay a civil penalty to the Department in an amount not to exceed $2,500 per violation, as determined by the Department, with penalties assessed based on the degree of harm and the circumstances of the violation. Provides that an individual, corporation, or entity that is found in violation of the Act shall pay the civil penalty within 60 days after the date of the issuance of an order by the Department imposing the civil penalty. Provides that the Department's order shall constitute a judgment and may be filed and executed in the same manner as any judgment from a court of record. Provides that the Department may investigate any actual, alleged, or suspected violation of the Act. Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Provides that it is an unlawful practice within the meaning of the Act for any person to use, prompt, or otherwise cause artificial intelligence to interact with a person while engaging in trade and commerce without clearly and conspicuously disclosing to the person with whom the artificial intelligence interacts, if asked or prompted by that person, that the person is interacting with artificial intelligence and not a human. Effective January 1, 2027.

Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that the municipal hotel operators' tax and municipal hotel use tax in Dupage County are repealed on January 1, 2029 (rather than January 1, 2027).

Amends the Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act of the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that, on and after the effective date of the amendatory Act, before the estimated dates of completion of a redevelopment project and retirement of obligations issued to finance development project costs (including refunding bonds) are extended to the 35th or 47th years, the municipality must submit to the Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives written support for the extension of the life of the redevelopment project area from each school district, community college district, and park district that has authority to directly levy taxes on property within the redevelopment project area. Provides that a municipality may only submit written support to extend a redevelopment project area to the 35th year within the 5 years prior to the estimated date of completion of the redevelopment project and may only submit written support to extend a redevelopment project area to the 47th year within one year prior to the estimated date of completion of the redevelopment project area. Effective immediately.

Amends the Transportation Article of the School Code. Provides that the allowable direct cost of transporting pupils for regular, vocational, and special education pupil transportation shall be limited to, among other costs, expenditures to electrification-as-a-service contractors that provide electric school buses or a combination of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, equipment, or daily charge management services, plus a depreciation allowance of 8.33% for 12 years for electric school buses and vehicles approved for transporting pupils to and from school.

Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Provides that a hospital licensed under the Act shall not charge a covered hospital employee more than 10% of the total health insurance premium cost. Provides that any agreement permitting a charge to a covered hospital employee in excess of 10% of the total health insurance premium cost shall be deemed invalid, void, and unenforceable. Provides that a hospital in violation of those provisions shall pay a civil penalty of $500 to the Department of Public Health for each impacted covered hospital employee.

Amends the Public Utilities Act. In provisions concerning nondiscrimination, provides that the Commission is authorized to approve a low-income discount rate for residential electric and natural gas customers that applies to the entirety of a qualifying customer's bill, including, but not limited to, a qualifying customer's delivery service charges and energy supply charges. Provides that an electric or natural gas utility may fund low-income discount rates through a surcharge on customers' electric and natural gas bills. Provides that the changes to the Act apply retroactively on and after January 1, 2023. Amends the Energy Assistance Act. In provisions concerning eligibility under the Act, provides that, in setting the annual eligibility level for the use of State funds from the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall consider the amount of available funding and may not set a limit higher than 300% of the federal nonfarm poverty level. In provisions concerning the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund, provides that the yearly administrative expenses of the Fund may not exceed 15% (rather than 13%) of the amount collected during that year, except when unspent funds from the Fund are reallocated from a previous year. Provides that any unspent balance of the 15% administrative allowance may be utilized for administrative expenses in the year they are reallocated. Provides that, of the 15% administrative allowance, no less than 9% (rather than 8%) shall be provided to Local Administrative Agencies for administrative expenses. Provides that, beginning January 1, 2027, the Base Energy Assistance Charge shall be $0.80 per month for each utility that is required by the Illinois Commerce Commission to implement a low-income discount rate and shall be $0.40 per month for each utility that is not required to implement a low-income discount rate and that contributes to the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund. Makes other changes.