4 new Illinois laws take effect in 2025

(WIFR) - The new laws will go into effect Jan. 1 in Illinois.

House Bill 4623

This law prohibits the use of Artificial Intelligence technology to create child sexual abuse images involving real children or obscene imagery.

Experts testified that AI images of real children used to generate child sexual abuse images cause real reputational, emotional and privacy injuries. Even when the technology doesn’t use images of real children, child abuse sexual abuse images can perpetuate abusive and predatory behavior.

The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigates child exploitation crimes and trains law enforcement agencies.

House Bill 5371

This law enhances civil rights protections for residents and provides the following clarifications to the Illinois Human Rights Act:

Strengthens relief in discriminatory pattern-and-practice determinations by clarifying the term “per violation”
Increases the maximum penalty amounts that a court may award in pattern-and-practice determination and fair housing lawsuits
Clarifies that aggrieved parties have the right to take action to collect judgements, even if they do not intervene in the state’s enforcement action
Codifies criteria language from the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003 to prohibit unjustified disparate impacts in real estate transactions

House Bill 5561

This law protects workers from retaliatory conduct by employers, strengthens current protections under state law and codifies the right of the Workplace Rights Bureau to investigate and hold employers who retaliate accountable.

The definition of retaliation is expanded under this law to include blacklisting an employee from future opportunities and immigration-based retaliation.

Senate Bill 3713

This law increases accessibility to the Illinois Crime Victims Compensation Program, providing reimbursement to eligible victims of violent crime and their families to help pay expenses like hospital and medical charges, funeral and burial costs, relocation expenses and lost wages related to the crime.