Illinois General Assembly · 2026-05-28 · major
Gov. Pritzker Pledges to Sign Illinois SB 315 — Frontier AI Labs Face First-in-Nation Independent Third-Party Audits After House Passes 110-0 With OpenAI's Endorsement
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker publicly commits to sign SB 315, the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, after a 110-0 House vote sends the first U.S. mandate for annual independent third-party frontier-AI audits, 72-hour incident reports, and whistleblower protections to his desk.
Illinois is about to become the first U.S. state to put outside auditors inside frontier AI labs, after a unanimous House vote and a governor commitment to sign.
Key specs
| House vote | 110-0 |
|---|---|
| Senate vote | 52-5 |
| Revenue threshold | $500M |
| Civil penalty | Up to $3M per violation |
| Incident report window | 72h |
| Audit cadence | Annual |
| Enforcer | Illinois Attorney General |
| State # | 3rd (after NY, CA) |
What is it?
An ecosystem and policy story. On May 28, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker publicly committed to sign SB 315, the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, after the House passed it 110-0 on May 27 (the Senate had cleared it 52-5 on May 21). The law targets a narrow tier of frontier developers — companies with $500M+ in annual revenue and frontier-scale compute, i.e. the labs behind ChatGPT and Claude.
How does it work?
Covered developers must publish and annually update a 'frontier AI framework' covering catastrophic-risk assessment, mitigations, cybersecurity, internal governance, third-party evaluations, and risks from internal use. They must file transparency reports before deploying or materially modifying a frontier model and submit to an independent third-party audit every year — a first-in-the-U.S. requirement. Critical safety incidents must be reported within 72 hours. The bill adds whistleblower protections and internal reporting channels. Enforcement sits solely with the Illinois Attorney General, with civil penalties up to $3M per violation.
Why does it matter?
Illinois is the third state to set frontier-model standards, joining New York's RAISE Act and California's SB 53. But it is the first to require an outside auditor verify the safety framework, not just publish it. OpenAI publicly endorsed the bill, arguing that with Illinois on board the states are 'increasingly aligning around a common approach', creating a 'de facto national framework' — useful timing given the White House is also weighing a federal pre-release vetting EO. Sponsor Rep. Daniel Didech called the bill 'critical protections against the most catastrophic risks that advanced AI systems pose to public safety.'
Who is it for?
Frontier AI compliance teams, AI policy professionals, state and federal regulators