* Transformer…

Last month, OpenAI endorsed a controversial bill in Illinois that would provide AI companies with a liability shield as long as they met (very basic) transparency requirements. The move prompted outrage, with LawAI’s Charlie Bullock calling it a contender for “worst state AI bill of all time.”

Now, however, OpenAI appears to be backtracking. In written testimony to the Illinois Senate this week OpenAI’s Caitlin Niedermeyer disavowed the liability shield part of that bill.

“We want to be very clear: we do not support the liability safe harbor included in SB 3444,” Niedermeyer said. “We testified in support of SB 3444 because it also contributed to a broader, coordinated approach to frontier AI safety and helped establish a pathway toward harmonization with emerging national standards … we were silent on the provision in that bill related to a safe harbor for liability and some took it as an endorsement of a no liability framework.”

OpenAI has not just disavowed the controversial provision in SB 3444. Along with Anthropic, it has also endorsed a much stronger bill, SB 315, which has the backing of AI safety organizations. Like various AI bills circulating state legislatures at the moment, SB 315 (first introduced in February as SB 3261) is closely modeled on California’s SB 53 and New York’s RAISE Act: it is focused on catastrophic risks, and requires the largest AI companies to develop and adhere to a frontier safety framework.

Importantly, SB 315 also builds on those bills by requiring third-party audits to check companies are actually complying with their safety frameworks — a provision that was in the original version of RAISE, but was stripped out due to industry opposition.

* WRIED reporter Max Zeff…

Update: Anthropic also seems to be supporting Illinois bill SB 315.

Anthropic's state and government affairs lead James Hartmann spoke in favor of the bill earlier today:

"We want to thank Senator Edly Allen for introducing SB315. As we mentioned in the AI subject matter… https://t.co/fMGqDTQTBY

— Max Zeff (@ZeffMax) May 13, 2026

* WAND…

The Illinois Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday to ban insurance companies from automatically coding a health service lower than what is actually provided to patients.

This proposal states that all downcoding determinations must be made or reviewed by a real person, and insurance companies would be required to notify doctors if a service is downcoded.

The plan also bans insurers from downcoding in a discriminatory manner against doctors who routinely treat patients with complex health conditions. […]

Senate Bill 3114 now moves to the House for further consideration.

* Sen. Laura Ellman…

To ensure Illinois maintains strong environmental and public health protections even if federal standards are weakened in the future, State Senator Laura Ellman advanced House Bill 5070 through the Senate on Thursday in an effort to safeguard clean air, water and more.

“Illinois families deserve clean air to breathe and safe water to drink regardless of changes happening at the federal level,” said Ellman (D-Naperville). “This measure ensures our state can continue protecting public health and the environment instead of automatically rolling back standards whenever federal protections are weakened.”

House Bill 5070 would prohibit the Illinois Pollution Control Board from adopting standards that are less stringent than existing state regulations through the expedited “identical-in-substance” rulemaking process. The legislation would apply to regulations concerning air pollution, water pollution, drinking water, hazardous waste and landfills.

Under current law, the Illinois Pollution Control Board is generally required to adopt certain federal environmental regulations through an expedited process when federal standards change. HB 5070 clarifies that Illinois cannot use that process to weaken existing state protections if federal regulations are rolled back.

The measure also standardizes language throughout the Environmental Protection Act to reaffirm the state’s authority to adopt protections that are stronger than federal minimum standards. […]

House Bill 5070 passed the Senate and now heads to the governor’s desk for further consideration.

* Sen. Mike Halpin…

In the face of higher student debt for many in Illinois and across the country, State Senator Mike Halpin’s measure to keep track of the private student loan borrowing market has passed the Senate.

“With the Trump administration placing caps on federal lending for student borrowers, we need to keep track of where the Illinois student loan market is at,” said Halpin (D-Rock Island). “Monitoring student loan default rates and loans with cosigners will give us a clearer picture of how students are doing with their debt and what actions Illinois can make to assist them.”

Halpin’s measure would provide that the annual report to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation should include the total number and dollar amount – instead of the volume – of private education loans made annually by a private educational lender. It should also include the total number and dollar amount of private education loans made annually at institutions of higher education, the total number and dollar amount of private education loans made annually with a cosigner, and the default rate for the private education loans reported by the private educational lender.

According to The Education Initiative, Illinois residents hold $63.4 billion in student loan debt. The average borrower owes $39,042, with over one and a half million people in student loan debt. Over half of these borrowers are under the age of 35. […]

House Bill 4754 has passed the Senate and heads to the governor’s desk for further consideration.

* Merrill Cole, president of the Western Illinois University chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois…

According to Advance Illinois, WIU currently gets less than half the state funding needed to serve its students. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, however, is funded at nearly 90% adequacy. […]

Senate Bill 13 and House Bill 158, the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act, would change this. The bill would direct new funding to the universities furthest from adequacy first.

For WIU, that means a potential increase from $16,000 per student to $35,000 — a genuine investment in an institution that serves first-generation students, veterans, and rural communities that larger universities do not.

The cost is $135 million annually — less than one-quarter of one percent of a $56 billion state budget. The University of Illinois system has opposed the bill, citing its own budget priorities.

But as WIU Trustee Kirk Dillard noted, a degree today is worth 85% more over a lifetime than one earned in 1979. Why wouldn’t Illinois invest $135 million to keep that opportunity accessible?

* The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies…

Illinois consumers will see fewer options and higher prices should HB 4273 and SB 714, which were approved by state lawmakers today, become law.

“Giving the government absolute control over insurance rates will not solve the problem,” said Brian Christenberry, regional vice president for NAMIC. “HB 4273 and SB 714 only serve to create uncertainty in the marketplace by giving the state the ability to reject a rate filing – past, present, or future – as excessive, without defining why. Letting politicians set prices is never a good idea, and it will drive competition from the marketplace.”

The legislation would allow the state Department of Insurance to revisit and overturn past rate approvals, calling previously accepted rates “excessive” long after the fact, based on a broad, undefined authority to decide what qualifies as an “excessive” rate, without objective standards. It provides no timelines or due-process for insurers that request a hearing, opening the door to indefinite delays and inconsistent enforcement, and allows the state to mandate retroactive refunds based solely on its own decision.

Illinois has long been one of the nation’s most competitive marketplaces, and rates have remained around the national average even as losses have skyrocketed due to increasingly frequent severe weather and rising construction and replacement costs. The regulatory changes laid out in HB 4273 could cause homeowners’ premiums to increase by approximately 20 percent, or $230 on average, with a similar effect on auto insurance rates due to SB 714.

“Increasing state control over insurance underwriting doesn’t lower rates, because it doesn’t address the risks and costs drivers at the heart of the problem,” Christenberry said. “We’ve seen this approach in California, and it doesn’t work. HB 4273 and SB 714 would create an even worse regulatory system, likely with even worse results.”

* WCIA…

A bill that would require businesses to provide cash or credit refunds for eligible returns is making its way through the Illinois Legislature.

State Senator Rachel Ventura said House Bill 4044 would prohibit retailers from requiring that people accept store credit instead of a refund on unopened or unused products.

Eligible products include any machine, appliance, clothing or similar product that was purchased for personal, family or household purpose, the bill reads. […]

House Bill 4044 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

* More…

* Press release | Johnson passes measure to expand access to life-saving asthma medication at Illinois schools: “By keeping asthma medication in gyms and practice fields, we allow students to participate in sports and activities without worrying about access to medication,” said Johnson (D-Buffalo Grove). “Quick access to life-saving medication can make all the difference in an emergency.” House Bill 4247 would allow schools to maintain a supply of asthma medication at practice fields and gyms and permit coaches and athletic trainers to administer undesignated asthma medication.

* Press release | Rep. Fritts Joins Press Conference on Affordability; Demands Gas Tax Suspension: Today, State Representative Brad Fritts (R-Dixon) joined his Republican colleagues in a press conference on affordability in Illinois. He championed legislation to suspend the gas tax to provide immediate relief to Illinois residents.
“Affordability is the top issue for Illinoisans,” said Fritts. “At any time, Governor Pritzker could join our efforts by temporarily suspending the state sales tax on gas, which is a tax on a tax. I signed onto House Bill 5738, which would suspend the state sales tax on gas for six months, to allow Illinois families to save a little bit of extra money every time they fill their tank.

* WSJ | ‘Yimby’ Has Arrived in Illinois, and Some Cities Don’t Like It: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is taking a page from other blue states to combat a housing shortage, proposing that Illinois take some control away from locals. The governor and his allies in the statehouse have introduced legislation that would remove some zoning control from municipalities to clear a path for faster development of multiunit housing. They are facing opposition from a group of cities and towns that have introduced their own bill that they say would increase housing but allow them to keep control over how and where it is built.

* WAND | IL Senate committee approves bill requiring diaper ingredients transparency for consumers: This plan requires each package or box of diapers sold in Illinois to include a printed list of all ingredients. Sponsors said the Attorney General or state’s attorneys could enforce this change and collect civil penalties from companies violating the policy. “We will be having a runoff period for packaging on the shelves,” said Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl (D-Northbrook). “The order that the ingredients are listed is from most to least with the exception that the very small 1% elementary can be whatever order, as it becomes hard to distinguish at that level.”