(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed 124 bills Friday impacting everything from Chicago police and fire pensions to the use of artificial intelligence for mental health therapy.
Effective immediately, House Bill 3657 makes changes to Tier 2 Chicago Police and Firefighter pension benefits. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said the measure was incomplete when asked how the city will pay for the bill of increased pension costs for retirees hired after 2011.
“Absent progressive revenue, it’s impossible to maintain that expectation, so the best way to put it is this is incomplete,” Johnson said last month before the measure was signed.
The city faces a billion dollar budget deficit for the next fiscal year starting in January.
Beginning July 2031, newly purchased buses for schools must be equipped with lap and shoulder seat belts with Senate Bill 191.
Effective immediately, House Bill 1806 prohibits licensed mental health professionals from using AI to make independent therapeutic decisions.
Neil Parikh, cofounder at Slingshot AI, a company utilizing AI in the treatment of mental health, said there are about 1,500 Illinoisans that will be cut off if the measure is signed. Passing laws prohibiting innovation without guardrails isn’t the solution, he said.
“This is going to be a real problem for the people in Illinois,” Parikh told The Center Square in June. “We’re talking about a measure that’s basically going to stop a lot of people from getting access to quality, affordable care that really doesn’t have measures in it to try to figure out how should we design safe systems, guardrails … mechanisms to actually help people.”
Senate Bill 213 creates more transparency by requiring state agencies to report on advertising expenditures annually, beginning Jan. 1.
Carbon sequestration in the Mahomet Aquifer is banned beginning Jan. 1, and with Senate Bill 1723, the Mahomet Aquifer Advisory Study Commission is created.
Senate Bill 1793 creates a religious exemption to allow cremated remains to be scattered in Illinois rivers beginning Jan. 1.
Beginning Jan. 1, the definition of “bicycle” will include low-speed electric bikes with Senate Bill 2285.
The entire list of more than 120 bills Pritzker’s office announced were signed are available on the governor’s website.
The General Assembly approved more than 400 measures during spring session. They return for fall session for six days in October.
