GLENVIEW, Ill. —  State Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview) released the following statement today following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment, rejecting President Trump’s executive order that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to immigrant parents:

“This decision is personal for me. My grandparents came to this country as Chinese immigrants and faced deportation under the Chinese Exclusion Acts. They won the right to stay by challenging the constitutionality of those race-based laws. It was my father’s birthright citizenship that secured his place here, and made everything that came after possible, including my own life and the chance to serve in this legislature. I grew up understanding that citizenship and belonging are not always guaranteed. They have had to be fought for, generation after generation.

“That is exactly why today’s ruling matters so much. The Supreme Court looked to the same case that gave my family’s history its legal shape — Wong Kim Ark, the 1898 decision affirming that a child born on American soil to Chinese immigrant parents was, and is, an American citizen. That precedent held firm today, more than a century later, against an attempt to unwind it.

“The Fourteenth Amendment does not draw distinctions based on where your parents came from or what status they held when you were born. It says, in plain language, that if you are born here, you belong here. That is not a technicality. It is the foundation of what makes this country’s promise real rather than conditional — that citizenship is not a privilege reserved for some, but a birthright extended to all.

“I think often about what it would have meant for my own family if my father’s citizenship had depended on my grandparents’ immigration status rather than on where he was born. Today’s ruling means another generation of children born to immigrant families, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, will not have to wonder whether they belong.

“This is a good day for the Constitution, and a good day for every family in Illinois and across the country who has ever had to fight to be seen as fully American. I will keep working to make sure our laws reflect the equality this country promises — not just to some of us, but to all of us.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A measure—sponsored by state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, and state Sen.Willie Preston, D-Chicago—that would help parents better protect children online passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and awaits Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature.

Gong-Gershowitz’s House Bill 5511 would create the Children’s Online Social Media Safety Act, a landmark bill that would enable parents to more effectively control the types of content their children can consume online, standardizing and improving on many existing private-market parental controls. 

“It’s far more common today than at any point previously that kids will spend a significant chunk of their time online, and that fact has profound implications for our duties as parents,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “The Children’s Online Social Media Safety Act will empower parents to set limits to ensure that their kids’ online activities don’t cause more harm than good.”

The bill would have device-makers supply a settings panel where parents could input their child’s age while setting up a new device. When new software is installed or a new website is visited, a number of settings will trigger by default, unless a parent authorizes otherwise. These settings include:

• Prohibitions against social media companies using addictive algorithms and limiting social media notifications to daytime hours.
• Requiring apps to obtain parental consent for in-app purchases or any transaction between children and third-party users.
• Requiring companies to apply default privacy settings based on a user’s age to protect the user’s location data and profile information.

Parents would be able to tailor these restrictions to meet their child’s needs and better monitor their online activity. 

“This legislation is about creating guardrails that put children before corporate algorithms,” Preston said. “We cannot continue allowing online platforms to prioritize engagement and profit over the mental health, privacy and well-being of young people.”

The bill comes as concerns have risen for years over the negative impacts of social media on children’s mental and physical well-being—a worry backed up by a growing body of psychology, child development and sociology research.

“We know that too many tech companies are deliberately designing their apps and devices to encourage endless scrolling and constant screentime,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “Our kids’ well-being should not be thrown aside in the name of increasing revenue through additional advertisements or the latest microtransaction scheme. Big tech has fallen far short of its moral and ethical responsibilities to protect our kids, and this legislation will empower parents to take back control.”

House Bill 5511 cleared both legislative chambers on June 1 and was sent to the governor.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, ended the 2026 spring legislative session by helping craft a responsible budget that makes life more affordable for working families and passing legislation that creates new consumer protection laws, particularly protecting against the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI).

“These past few months have been focused on addressing both familiar kitchen table issues and protecting our state from the harmful effects of the AI frontier,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “While our federal leadership stands by as costs skyrocket and technology evolves, my colleagues and I are committed to fighting for the families of our state.”

Gong-Gershowitz, worked to pass a budget that cuts the cost of government bureaucracy, gives local governments tools for property tax relief, fully funds community-based approaches to public safety and provides funding for social services amid federal cuts.

In addition to her work in passing a balanced budget, Gong-Gershowitz was the lead sponsor of House Bill 5511 and, as chair of the House Democratic AI Working Group, guided all three of the following measures through the General Assembly:

• House Bill 5511, which creates the Child Social Media Safety Act, banning the addictive algorithmic feeds that keep children glued to their screens. The measure passed the House with bipartisan support.
• Senate Bill 318, which restricts automated bots from purchasing mass amounts of event tickets online, driving up costs for consumers.
• Senate Bill 315, which mitigates catastrophic harms created by AI Frontier Models. Under this bipartisan legislation, AI firms would be subject to new reporting and disclosure requirements for potential safety incidents.

Gong-Gershowitz chairs the House Democratic AI Working Group, which was established by Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch earlier this year in order to launch a multifaceted approach to AI policy in Illinois.

The working group has been instrumental in building consensus around common- sense, consumer-focused protections that are technically sound and grounded in the real-world impacts on Illinois families.

“Protecting users from manipulative technology is not a partisan issue, and these pieces of legislation have proven that,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “Artificial intelligence and data-driven algorithms are no longer emerging technologies – they are already shaping nearly every aspect of our daily lives. As legislators, it is our responsibility to adapt our consumer protection laws now, before the harms outpace our ability to respond.”

All three measures have passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and now head to the governor’s desk for consideration.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, ended the 2026 spring legislative session by helping craft a responsible budget that makes life more affordable for working families and passing legislation that creates new consumer protection laws, particularly protecting against the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI).

“These past few months have been focused on addressing both familiar kitchen table issues and protecting our state from the harmful effects of the AI frontier,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “While our federal leadership stands by as costs skyrocket and technology evolves, my colleagues and I are committed to fighting for the families of our state.”

Gong-Gershowitz, worked to pass a budget that cuts the cost of government bureaucracy, gives local governments tools for property tax relief, fully funds community-based approaches to public safety and provides funding for social services amid federal cuts. 

In addition to her work in passing a balanced budget, Gong-Gershowitz was the lead sponsor of House Bill 5511 and, as chair of the House Democratic AI Working Group, guided all three of the following measures through the General Assembly:

•  House Bill 5511, which creates the Child Social Media Safety Act, banning the addictive algorithmic feeds that keep children glued to their screens. The measure passed the House with bipartisan support.

•  Senate Bill 318, which restricts automated bots from purchasing mass amounts of event tickets online, driving up costs for consumers. 

• Senate Bill 315, which mitigates catastrophic harms created by AI Frontier Models. Under this bipartisan legislation, AI firms would be subject to new reporting and disclosure requirements for potential safety incidents.

Gong-Gershowitz chairs the House Democratic AI Working Group, which was established by Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch earlier this year in order to launch a multifaceted approach to AI policy in Illinois.

The working group has been instrumental in building consensus around common-sense, consumer-focused protections that are technically sound and grounded in the real-world impacts on Illinois families.

“Protecting users from manipulative technology is not a partisan issue, and these pieces of legislation have proven that,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “Artificial intelligence and data-driven algorithms are no longer emerging technologies – they are already shaping nearly every aspect of our daily lives. As legislators, it is our responsibility to adapt our consumer protection laws now, before the harms outpace our ability to respond.”

All three measures have passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and now head to the governor’s desk for consideration. 

CHICAGO – The House Democratic AI Working Group, chaired by state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, held a subject matter hearing on Monday, May 4, to discuss efforts to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) in order to protect consumers and safeguard elections in Illinois.

“These discussions are about protecting consumers and ensuring fairness in our state’s liability statutes,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “AI-powered technologies are no longer simply an emerging technology, they’re impacting almost every aspect of our lives right now.”

Four bills were discussed during the hearing, all pertaining to AI regulation and consumer protection.

Gong-Gershowitz’s House Bill 4557 would create the Digital Forgeries in Politics Act, which places new disclosure requirements on the use of digital manipulation in images, video and audio in political advertising. 

“When voters can no longer trust what they see and hear, democracy itself is at risk,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “AI-generated deepfakes of political candidates and elected officials are not a distant threat — they are already being weaponized to deceive the public, suppress participation and undermine elections. HB4557 draws a clear line: if you use artificial intelligence to fabricate the words or likeness of a political figure to deceive voters, there will be consequences. Illinoisans deserve to make their voices heard based on facts.”

House Bill 5044, also by Gong-Gershowitz, would create the Chatbot Provider Liability Act, defining chatbots as products and establishing that providers have a duty to ensure that the use of a chatbot does not cause injury to a user.

“We have always held manufacturers accountable when their products cause serious harm — and an AI chatbot is a product,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “When companies deploy these systems knowing they have the potential to deceive, manipulate or injure the people who interact with them, they should be held to exactly the same standard we apply to any other dangerous product under Illinois law,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “This legislation closes a loophole that Big Tech has been counting on. If your chatbot causes real harm, you bear real responsibility — full stop.”

State Rep. Daniel Didech’s House Bill 4705 would create the Artificial Intelligence Public Safety and Child Protection Transparency Act, requiring frontier AI developers and large chatbot providers to create a public safety and child protection plan.

“The pace of AI development and the capabilities of frontier models are accelerating, and the General Assembly has an obligation to ensure that Illinois residents are protected from catastrophic outcomes,” Didech said. “This legislation puts enforceable guardrails in place so Big Tech companies must prioritize safety, be transparent about the risks tied to their systems and take responsibility for preventing serious harm, especially when it comes to protecting children.”

State Rep. Maura Hirschauer’s House Bill 5756, would create the Algorithmic Pricing Transparency Act, requiring online retailers to disclose their use of “surveillance pricing”—a growing phenomena that uses artificial intelligence-powered tools to charge higher prices for certain customers based on a user’s personal data.

“House Bill 5756 prioritizes transparency and fairness,” Hirschauer said. “This legislation makes clear that pricing powered by personal data cannot happen in the shadows. By requiring disclosure, banning the use of sensitive information, and guaranteeing an opt-out, we are putting fairness and accountability back into the marketplace.”

The House Democratic AI Working Group was established by Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch earlier this year in order to launch a multifaceted approach to AI policy in Illinois.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A measure by state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, to better protect children online passed the House of Representatives on Thursday.

House Bill 5511 would place new restrictions on children’s social media accounts and allow parents to have greater control over their children’s online actions.

“Parents deserve peace of mind when their kids are online,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “Big tech has deliberately designed their products to become addictive, and study after study has shown that our kids have been caught right in the middle of it.”

The bill would have parents input their child’s age while setting up a new device. When new software is installed or a new website is visited, a number of settings will trigger by default, unless a parent authorizes otherwise. These settings include:

• Prohibitions against social media companies using addictive algorithms and limiting social media notifications to daytime hours.
• Requiring apps to obtain parental consent for in-app purchases or any transaction between children and unknown users.
• Requiring companies to apply default privacy settings based on a user’s age to protect the user’s location data and profile information.

Parents would be able to tailor these restrictions to meet their child’s needs and better monitor their online activity. 

“This bill is about doing right by our kids and making sure that parents have the tools they need to keep their kids safe,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “Social media offers a chance for people to connect to the world like never before, but it’s important to make sure our kids aren’t being negatively impacted by that connectivity.”  

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Reflecting her yearslong effort in regulating artificial intelligence (AI) companies and products, state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, has been named chair of the House Democratic AI Working Group.

“Technology is accelerating at a breakneck speed,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “It’s important that we don’t let that acceleration leave our regulations in the dust. I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead continued discussions over how we can protect Illinoisans’ rights while ensuring the future is built in Illinois.”

Gong-Gershowitz previously passed the Digital Voice and Likeness Protection Act, a landmark bill which protects individuals from unauthorized reproductions of their voice or likeness via the use of AI, and the Digital Forgeries Act, which created a new cause of action against any person who creates or distributes a digitally altered sexual image, or deepfake, of an individual without their consent.

Gong-Gershowitz is currently pushing for additional protections against AI products, including:

• House Bill 5044, which would define chatbots as products and establish that providers have a duty to ensure that the use of a chatbot does not cause injury to a user. 

• House Bill 4557, which would create the Digital Forgeries in Politics Act, placing new disclosure requirements on the use of digital manipulation in images, video and audio in political advertising. 

“Artificial intelligence has the power to produce countless breakthroughs in a wide array of fields,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “But it also has the power to undermine fair elections and cause serious harm to individuals, and we need to rein in those damaging prospects.”

GLENVIEW, Ill. – In another successful step in the fight to secure universal access to legal representation, state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, passed a measure to ensure that changes to immigration policy don’t deprive Cook County residents of their existing access to legal counsel.

“Donald Trump continues to sidestep constitutionally mandated due process at every opportunity, threatening the rights of citizens and non-citizens alike,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “This law helps safeguard access to legal counsel in immigration hearings with the commonsense step of authorizing the Cook County Public Defender’s Office to represent all Cook County residents, regardless of where the hearings are held.”

Under existing law, the Public Defender may represent Cook County residents in Chicago’s immigration court. Working with the Public Defender’s Office, Gong-Gershowitz passed House Bill 2436 to ensure that Cook County residents are not denied access to counsel simply by virtue of where they are detained, preventing immigration officials from transferring cases to other jurisdictions in order to deny a person’s ability to be effectively represented by an attorney. All immigration court hearings take place virtually so this measure does not change or require anyone to travel inside or outside of Illinois.

The bill was signed into law last Friday.

 “Despite being a bedrock principle of our justice system, legal representation is not guaranteed for all defendants. People standing before an immigration court, even children without guardians present, have no right to an attorney at government expense,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “In the face of the Trump administration’s attacks on due process, it’s more important than ever to expand the right to legal representation, including in immigration court.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, issued the following response to Gov. Pritzker’s budget address on Wednesday:

“Today, Governor Pritzker outlined his budget proposal during this critical time for Illinois. My colleagues and I are hard at work reviewing the budget proposal in detail. We are committed to working with Governor Pritzker to craft a responsible budget that spends within our means while protecting the vital services that Illinois families rely on—especially in education and healthcare.

“Since 2018, disciplined financial management has helped Illinois strengthen its fiscal foundation, reduce debt, and secure multiple credit rating upgrades. This progress has allowed us to invest in our communities by ensuring every taxpayer dollar is used efficiently and thoughtfully. While we have made a great deal of improvement, there is still much to be done to right our fiscal ship.

“With this budget and every budget going forward, we must double down on our commitment to building on this hard-fought progress by continuing to make smart, often tough, financial decisions that prioritize stability and sustainable economic opportunity.

“A responsible budget must reflect both fiscal discipline and our core values. That means continuing to invest in high-quality education and healthcare to ensure that Illinois families – especially children and seniors – have access to the essential services they need. I look forward to working with my colleagues to craft a budget that protects these priorities while keeping Illinois on a path toward long-term financial security.”

Co-Chairs Rep. Rashid, Sen. Peters, AI Task Force Members, Rep. Gong-Gershowitz Issue Call for Robust Regulations to Protect Workers, Civil Rights, and the Environment

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Today, the Illinois Generative AI and Natural Language Processing Task Force released a new report that provides the first in-depth analysis by the state on the far-reaching effects of generative AI on civil rights, education, labor, consumer protections, and the environment. The report outlines critical recommendations for AI regulations and standards in Illinois.

Task force members, led by co-chairs state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Bridgeview, and state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, Secretary Sanjay Gupta of DoIT, labor leaders representing AFSCME Council 31, SAG-AFTRA, and joined by state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, the ACLU and others, held an event on Wednesday to announce the report.

“This report serves as both a call to action and a roadmap for ensuring that generative AI is harnessed responsibly in Illinois,” said Rashid, co-chair of the task force, “We need to foster innovation, while safeguarding against the very real risks that AI poses to privacy, equity, and public trust. Technology can be used to uplift – but only if there is transparency and accountability.”

“Generative AI presents both immense challenges and opportunities,” said Peters, co-chair of the task force, “This report is a crucial step toward ensuring Illinois can harness this technology responsibly, protecting our workers, our privacy and our environment. We must lead with clear standards to make sure AI serves the public good, not just corporate interests.”

“As we embrace generative AI and Natural Language Processing, we must recognize the unique cybersecurity risks they pose to our institutions and users,” said Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Sanjay Gupta. “Our report emphasizes the need for robust security measures and proactive approach to effectively mitigate these risks. By doing so, we can harness the power of AI to improve public services and operational efficiency for all Illinois residents.”

“The entire Illinois labor community, and the creative sector in particular, want to thank the Governor and the legislature for the groundbreaking worker protections they’ve enacted,” said Richard Shavzin of SAG-AFTRA and the IL AFL-CIO. “At the same time, we acknowledge that the potential threats posed by unchecked generative AI will require constant attention and vigilance well into the future.”

Generative AI is a subset of artificial intelligence capable of creating novel content such as text and images. The report identifies and analyzes generative AI’s effects in seven key areas:

Labor and the Workforce: Generative AI has the potential to automate a wide range of tasks, from content creation to legal analysis, raising concerns about mass job displacement and the erosion of intellectual property rights. The report urges policymakers to support workers through training programs and stronger worker protections against data collection and surveillance.

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: The report emphasizes the risks of algorithmic bias, surveillance, and discrimination with AI. It calls for stronger laws to crackdown on deepfakes and regulations to ensure that generative AI systems do not perpetuate systemic inequity or violate civil rights, particularly in sensitive areas such as law enforcement, hiring practices, and financial services.

Consumer Protections: With the increasing use of AI in marketing, advertising, and online commerce, consumers are at risk for fraud, misinformation, and loss of privacy. The task force recommends robust consumer protection laws that ensure transparency and give consumers control of their personal data.

Environment: AI requires significant electricity and water resources to run. The report urges the adoption of energy-efficient AI development practices and additional state investment in e-recycling and renewable energy sources.

Education: Generative AI has the potential to provide personalized learning experiences and help educators with learning plans, but it also will exacerbate inequalities in education access and quality. Recommendations include regulating the use of AI in educational settings to ensure teachers are not replaced by AI and guarantee data privacy protections for students.

Cybersecurity: As AI-generated content becomes more sophisticated, it could be used to create highly convincing phishing attacks, misinformation campaigns, and cyber threats. The report calls for enhanced cybersecurity measures, including regulations that hold companies accountable for securing AI systems.

Public Service Delivery: Generative AI has the potential to streamline and improve access to public services. However, the report highlights the need for transparency and accountability when AI systems are used by government agencies, recommending that governments establish clear guidelines for ethical AI use in public services and establish clear and easy-to-use redress mechanisms for residents to challenge decisions made by AI systems.

The report contains a set of policy recommendations designed to balance the innovative potential of generative AI with the need for strong safeguards for individuals and families. 

Key recommendations include:

• Supporting Workers: Implementing proactive measures to reskill workers, protect labor rights, and mitigate economic displacement caused by AI automation.
• Safeguarding Civil Rights: Cracking down on algorithmic discrimination in hiring, housing, banking, healthcare, and other industries to ensure that AI does not perpetuate and amplify systemic bias and racism.
• Protecting Democracy: Regulating the use of deepfakes in political ads and communications to safeguard against misinformation and inference in our elections.
• Enhancing Privacy and Consumer Rights: Strengthening data protection laws and implementing privacy-first principles in AI applications to safeguard consumers’ rights and data.
• Fostering Sustainable AI Development: Encouraging the development of energy-efficient, low-carbon AI technologies to minimize environmental impacts.

The report is the culmination of months of collaborative research, expert consultations, and public input by a bipartisan task force, consisting of legislators, technology experts, educators and other stakeholders.

“This report is the first step towards a holistic approach to good generative AI governance in Illinois, but the work doesn’t end here,” said Rashid. “We need to continue to monitor and analyze the shifting AI landscape to ensure that Illinois isn’t left behind.”

Rashid will be asking the General Assembly to extend the task force into the future to allow for ongoing monitoring of the effects of AI in Illinois.

Full report can be found at http://bit.ly/3CtDlbC.