Illinois 2025-2026 Regular Session

Illinois Senate Bill SB2082 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2082 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new Creates the Adult Content Age Verification Act. Defines terms. Provides that a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors shall be subject to civil penalties if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material. Provides that the Attorney General may investigate alleged violations and initiate a civil action for an injunction and to assess civil penalties. Provides that the civil penalties shall be deposited into the Cyber Exploitation of Children Fund, which shall be expended for the investigation of cybercrimes involving the exploitation of children and for no other purpose. Amends the State Finance Act to make a conforming change. LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b A BILL FOR 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2082 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new New Act 30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new Creates the Adult Content Age Verification Act. Defines terms. Provides that a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors shall be subject to civil penalties if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material. Provides that the Attorney General may investigate alleged violations and initiate a civil action for an injunction and to assess civil penalties. Provides that the civil penalties shall be deposited into the Cyber Exploitation of Children Fund, which shall be expended for the investigation of cybercrimes involving the exploitation of children and for no other purpose. Amends the State Finance Act to make a conforming change. LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b A BILL FOR
2	2	104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2082 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
3	3	New Act30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new New Act 30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new
4	4	New Act
5	5	30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new
6	6	Creates the Adult Content Age Verification Act. Defines terms. Provides that a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors shall be subject to civil penalties if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material. Provides that the Attorney General may investigate alleged violations and initiate a civil action for an injunction and to assess civil penalties. Provides that the civil penalties shall be deposited into the Cyber Exploitation of Children Fund, which shall be expended for the investigation of cybercrimes involving the exploitation of children and for no other purpose. Amends the State Finance Act to make a conforming change.
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9	9	A BILL FOR
10	10	SB2082LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b SB2082 LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b
11	11	SB2082 LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b
12	12	1 AN ACT concerning civil law.
13	13	2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
14	14	3 represented in the General Assembly:
15	15	4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Adult
16	16	5 Content Age Verification Act.
17	17	6 Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
18	18	7 "Commercial entity" means a corporation, limited liability
19	19	8 company, partnership, limited partnership, sole
20	20	9 proprietorship, or another legally recognized entity.
21	21	10 "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver,
22	22	11 transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means.
23	23	12 "Internet" means the international computer network of
24	24	13 both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data
25	25	14 networks.
26	26	15 "Material harmful to minors" means all of the following:
27	27	16 (1) Material that the average person, applying
28	28	17 contemporary community standards, would find, taking the
29	29	18 material as a whole and with respect to minors, is
30	30	19 designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the
31	31	20 prurient interest.
32	32	21 (2) Any of the following material that exploits, is
33	33	22 devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions of
34	34	23 actual, simulated, or animated displays or depictions of
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38	38	104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2082 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
39	39	New Act30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new New Act 30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new
40	40	New Act
41	41	30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new
42	42	Creates the Adult Content Age Verification Act. Defines terms. Provides that a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors shall be subject to civil penalties if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material. Provides that the Attorney General may investigate alleged violations and initiate a civil action for an injunction and to assess civil penalties. Provides that the civil penalties shall be deposited into the Cyber Exploitation of Children Fund, which shall be expended for the investigation of cybercrimes involving the exploitation of children and for no other purpose. Amends the State Finance Act to make a conforming change.
43	43	LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b
44	44	LRB104 03790 SPS 13814 b
45	45	A BILL FOR
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51	51	New Act
52	52	30 ILCS 105/5.1030 new
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71	71	1 any of the following, in a manner patently offensive with
72	72	2 respect to minors:
73	73	3 (A) Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or a female
74	74	4 nipple.
75	75	5 (B) Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples or
76	76	6 breasts of females, buttocks, anuses, or genitals.
77	77	7 (C) Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy,
78	78	8 bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory
79	79	9 functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act.
80	80	10 (3) Material, taken as a whole, that lacks serious
81	81	11 literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for
82	82	12 minors.
83	83	13 "Minor" means any person under the age of 18.
84	84	14 "News-gathering organization" means any of the following:
85	85	15 (A) An employee of a newspaper, news publication,
86	86	16 or news source, printed or on an online or mobile
87	87	17 platform, of current news and public interest, while
88	88	18 operating as an employee as provided in this
89	89	19 paragraph, who can provide documentation of employment
90	90	20 with the newspaper, news publication, or news source.
91	91	21 (B) A radio broadcast station, television
92	92	22 broadcast station, cable television operator, wire
93	93	23 service, or an employee of a station, operator, or
94	94	24 service.
95	95	25 "Publish" means to communicate or make information
96	96	26 available to another person or entity on a publicly available
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107	107	1 website.
108	108	2 "Reasonable age verification methods" means verifying that
109	109	3 a person seeking to access the material is 18 years of age or
110	110	4 older by requiring the person attempting to access the
111	111	5 material to comply with a commercial age verification system
112	112	6 that verifies in any of the following ways:
113	113	7 (1) Government-issued identification.
114	114	8 (2) Any commercially reasonable method that relies on
115	115	9 public or private transactional data to verify that the
116	116	10 person attempting to access the information is at least 18
117	117	11 years of age or older.
118	118	12 "Substantial portion" means more than 33 1/3% of total
119	119	13 material on a website is material harmful to minors.
120	120	14 "Transactional data" means a sequence of information that
121	121	15 documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer between an
122	122	16 individual, commercial entity, or third party used for the
123	123	17 purpose of satisfying a request or event. "Transactional data"
124	124	18 includes, but is not limited to, records from mortgage,
125	125	19 education, and employment entities.
126	126	20 Section 10. Publishing or distributing material harmful to
127	127	21 minors; age verification.
128	128	22 (a) Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
129	129	23 publishes or distributes a substantial portion of material
130	130	24 harmful to minors on a website is subject to civil penalties as
131	131	25 provided in this Act if the entity fails to perform reasonable
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142	142	1 age verification methods to verify the age of an individual
143	143	2 attempting to access the material harmful to minors.
144	144	3 (b) The Attorney General may investigate an alleged
145	145	4 violation of this Act and initiate a civil action for an
146	146	5 injunction and to assess civil penalties. Prior to initiating
147	147	6 a civil action, the Attorney General shall provide the
148	148	7 commercial entity with not less than 30 days to comply with
149	149	8 this Section.
150	150	9 Section 15. Penalties.
151	151	10 (a) If a court finds that a commercial entity violated
152	152	11 this Act, the court may assess a civil penalty in an amount of
153	153	12 not more than $5,000 for each day of violation. The Attorney
154	154	13 General must deposit the civil penalty into the Cyber
155	155	14 Exploitation of Children Fund, a special fund that is created
156	156	15 in the State treasury, and, subject to funding from civil
157	157	16 penalties or appropriation and as directed by the Secretary of
158	158	17 State, shall be expended for the investigation of cybercrimes
159	159	18 involving the exploitation of children and for no other
160	160	19 purpose. In addition to the remedies provided in this Section,
161	161	20 the Attorney General may request and the court may impose an
162	162	21 additional civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each
163	163	22 violation of this Act against any commercial entity found by
164	164	23 the court to have knowingly failed to perform reasonable age
165	165	24 verification methods to verify the age of individuals
166	166	25 attempting to access the material. The additional civil
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177	177	1 penalty shall also be deposited into the Cyber Exploitation of
178	178	2 Children Fund.
179	179	3 (b) Each violation may be treated as a separate violation
180	180	4 or may be combined into one violation at the option of the
181	181	5 Attorney General.
182	182	6 (c) If a court finds that a commercial entity violated
183	183	7 this Act, the court may assess against the commercial entity
184	184	8 all costs, expenses, and fees related to investigations and
185	185	9 proceedings associated with the violation, including
186	186	10 attorney's fees.
187	187	11 Section 20. Exceptions.
188	188	12 (a) This Act does not apply to any bona fide news or public
189	189	13 interest broadcast, website, video, report, or event and shall
190	190	14 not be construed to affect the rights of any news-gathering
191	191	15 organization.
192	192	16 (b) No Internet service provider, or its affiliates or
193	193	17 subsidiaries, search engine, or cloud service provider shall
194	194	18 be held to have violated the provisions of this Act solely for
195	195	19 providing access or connection to or from a website or other
196	196	20 information or content on the Internet or a facility, system,
197	197	21 or network not under the control of that provider, including
198	198	22 transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access
199	199	23 software, or other related capabilities, to the extent the
200	200	24 provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of
201	201	25 the communication that constitutes material harmful to minors.
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212	212	1 Section 99. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
213	213	2 Section 5.1030 as follows:
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