Pritzker signs 124 bill impacting Chicago pensions, AI, buses, bicycles
and more
[August 02, 2025]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(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.”
[to top of second column]
|
Illinois state legislators hold up legislation Gov. J.B. Pritzker
signed in Chicago on Monday, June 30, 2025 - BlueRoomStream
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.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
