Illinois frontier-AI audit bill sent to Governor Pritzker for signature

A legal update from the law firm Mintz reports that Illinois lawmakers have approved S.B. 315, titled the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, and that it reached Governor Pritzker's desk on June 26, 2026. The House voted unanimously for it on May 27, 2026, following earlier Senate passage. According to Mintz, the Governor has signaled that he intends to sign, and the measure would apply from January 1, 2027.

The firm says Illinois would become the first state to demand yearly independent third-party audits of how frontier AI models are kept safe. The bill is aimed at the biggest frontier developers: those earning over $500 million annually that build models above a set computing-power threshold. Mintz notes the design follows laws that California and New York adopted in 2025, with the audit requirement distinguishing the Illinois approach.

The obligations listed include writing and publishing safety frameworks that are refreshed each year, releasing transparency reports ahead of deployment, reporting critical safety incidents within 72 hours, and protecting whistleblowers. Developers would also file disclosure statements naming primary contacts and business locations, and pay proportional fees that fund administration of the Act. Only the Illinois Attorney General could enforce the law, with civil penalties reaching $3 million for each violation. No private right of action is created.

Mintz advises developers across industries to check whether their models meet the thresholds and to prepare for audit and reporting duties. It describes the law as one more piece of a growing state patchwork covering California, New York and Illinois, alongside a federal proposal, the Great American AI Act, that would partly preempt state rules.