Pritzker signs 31 new laws, including ban on AI teacher evaluations

Gov. JB Pritzker signed 31 new laws on Friday as he continues evaluating measures passed in the spring legislative session, including bills to ban certain ingredients from cosmetics and correct the state’s property tax laws.

Teacher evaluations

Senate Bill 2909 prohibits school administrators from using artificial intelligence to evaluate teachers. Likewise, teachers also cannot use AI to meet performance requirements. The bill does not prohibit teachers or school administrators from using AI in other forms of work, however.

“I’m in favor of exploring AI as a tool for basic organization and streamlining simple aspects of modern work, but this technology is not capable of effectively carrying out judgement-based tasks this complex,” bill sponsor Rep. Mary Beth Canty, a Democrat from Arlington Heights, said in a statement.

Access to birth control

Senate Bill 3341 allows minors to receive birth control without permission from their parents or another adult. With Illinois’ new law, half of states now allow minors to access birth control on their own.

During debate on the bill in the Senate, Republicans objected and said it cuts parents out of important decisions concerning their children. They also worried minors won’t fully understand complications from birth control.

Cosmetic ingredients

House Bill 3409 bans manufacturing and selling cosmetic products with 11 different ingredients that are considered harmful substances or forever chemicals. The law specifically bans manufacturers from intentionally including those ingredients in their products.

“For too long, the cosmetics industry has operated without the kind of oversight we apply to food, medicine and drinking water,” said bill sponsor Sen. Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat.

Many of the ingredients are already banned in cosmetics sold in the European Union. Illinois’ law takes effect in July 2028, but does not outline penalties for manufacturers and sellers that fail to comply.

Property taxes

House Bill 4537 brings Illinois into compliance with the 2023 Supreme Court decision Tyler v. Hennepin County that regulates property tax debt sales.

Now, if a homeowner has their property seized and sold for failing to pay debt, they will receive any surplus funds left over from the auction.

Illinois is the last state to comply with the decision, which found that selling a property over unpaid debt without returning surplus to the owner is a violation of the property owner’s rights.

Play-based learning

House Bill 4577 implements a definition of play-based learning into state law for kindergarten classes. The concept was already required for kindergarten classes; the new law just made it more specific.

It describes “teacher-initiated play” as teacher-led activities that are “aligned to learning goals or standards,” and “student-initiated play” as activities chosen by the child to “build, pretend, create, move, or explore in an environment intentionally curated by a teacher to align with learning goals or standards.”

Expulsions

School districts are prohibited from expelling students in kindergarten through second grade under House Bill 3772, unless state law would otherwise require it.

Voter registration

House Bill 4339 requires high schools to provide all eligible graduating students an opportunity to register to vote. The bill is named after the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died earlier this year and was known for his work registering young people to vote.

The bill doesn’t outline how schools should implement the new requirement, which led some Republicans to oppose it over fears schools could make voter registration partisan. The new law takes effect immediately, but it doesn’t create penalties for schools that don’t comply.

Court reminders

House Bill 4428 requires pretrial service agencies to send defendants three text message reminders about their court date. The courts must keep those messages as part of their records. Supporters of the bill say they believe it will help more people show up to their mandatory court dates. The law takes effect immediately.