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SB3945 • 2026
ADULT CONTENT AGE VERIFICATION
This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.
Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.
ADULT CONTENT AGE VERIFICATION
Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments
Rule 2-10 Committee/3rd Reading Deadline Established As May 22, 2026
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 To AI and Social Media
Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Jil Tracy
Rule 2-10 Committee/3rd Reading Deadline Established As May 15, 2026
Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Chris Balkema
Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Darby A. Hills
Added as Chief Co-Sponsor Sen. Jason Plummer
Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Sally J. Turner
Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. John F. Curran
Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Sue Rezin
Rule 2-10 Committee Deadline Established As April 24, 2026
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Assignments Refers to Executive
Rule 2-10 Committee Deadline Established As March 27, 2026
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Filed with Secretary by Sen. Erica Harriss
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Referred to Assignments
To AI and Social Media
Assigned to Executive
Filed with Secretary by Sen. Erica Harriss
First Reading
Referred to Assignments
ADULT CONTENT AGE VERIFICATION
Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB3945 Select Language × The Illinois General Assembly offers the Google Translate™ service for visitor convenience. In no way should it be considered accurate as to the translation of any content herein. Visitors of the Illinois General Assembly website are encouraged to use other translation services available on the internet. The English language version is always the official and authoritative version of this website. NOTE: To return to the original English language version, select the "Show Original" button on the Google Translate™ menu bar at the top of the window. 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Full Text of SB3945 Home Legislation Full Text SB3945 - 104th General Assembly Bill Status Full Text Votes Witness Slips Select Menu Bill Status Full Text Votes Witness Slips Printer Friendly Version Introduced Senate Amendment 001 Printer Friendly Version Introduced Senate Amendment 001 Open PDF 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB3945 Introduced 2/6/2026, by Sen. Erica Harriss SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act 30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new Creates the Adult Content Age Verification Act. 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. Amends the State Finance Act to make a conforming change. LRB104 18625 SPS 32068 b A BILL FOR SB3945 LRB104 18625 SPS 32068 b 1 AN ACT concerning civil law. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Adult 5 Content Age Verification Act. 6 Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: 7 "Commercial entity" means a corporation, limited liability 8 company, partnership, limited partnership, sole 9 proprietorship, or another legally recognized entity. 10 "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, 11 transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means. 12 "Internet" means the international computer network of 13 both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data 14 networks. 15 "Material harmful to minors" means all of the following: 16 (1) Material that the average person, applying 17 contemporary community standards, would find, taking the 18 material as a whole and with respect to minors, is 19 designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the 20 prurient interest. 21 (2) Any of the following material that exploits, is 22 devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions of 23 actual, simulated, or animated displays or depictions of SB3945 - 2 - LRB104 18625 SPS 32068 b 1 any of the following, in a manner patently offensive with 2 respect to minors: 3 (A) Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or a 4 nipple. 5 (B) Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples or 6 breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals. 7 (C) Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, 8 bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory 9 functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act. 10 (3) Material, taken as a whole, that lacks serious 11 literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for 12 minors. 13 "Minor" means any person under the age of 18. 14 "News-gathering organization" means any of the following: 15 (A) An employee of a newspaper, news publication, 16 or news source, printed or on an online or mobile 17 platform, of current news and public interest, while 18 operating as an employee as provided in this 19 paragraph, who can provide documentation of employment 20 with the newspaper, news publication, or news source. 21 (B) A radio broadcast station, television 22 broadcast station, cable television operator, wire 23 service, or an employee of a station, operator, or 24 service. 25 "Publish" means to communicate or make information 26 available to another person or entity on a publicly available SB3945 - 3 - LRB104 18625 SPS 32068 b 1 website. 2 "Reasonable age verification methods" means verifying that 3 a person seeking to access the material is 18 years of age or 4 older by requiring the person attempting to access the 5 material to comply with a commercial age verification system 6 that verifies in any of the following ways: 7 (1) Government-issued identification. 8 (2) Any commercially reasonable method that relies on 9 public or private transactional data to verify that the 10 person attempting to access the information is at least 18 11 years of age or older. 12 "Substantial portion" means more than 33 1/3% of total 13 material on a website is material harmful to minors. 14 "Transactional data" means a sequence of information that 15 documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer between an 16 individual, commercial entity, or third party used for the 17 purpose of satisfying a request or event. "Transactional data" 18 includes, but is not limited to, records from mortgage, 19 education, and employment entities. 20 Section 10. Publishing or distributing material harmful to 21 minors; age verification. 22 (a) Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally 23 publishes or distributes a substantial portion of material 24 harmful to minors on a website is subject to civil penalties as 25 provided in this Act if the entity fails to perform reasonable SB3945 - 4 - LRB104 18625 SPS 32068 b 1 age verification methods to verify the age of an individual 2 attempting to access the material harmful to minors. 3 (b) The Attorney General may investigate an alleged 4 violation of this Act and initiate a civil action for an 5 injunction and to assess civil penalties. Prior to initiating 6 a civil action, the Attorney General shall provide the 7 commercial entity with not less than 30 days to comply with 8 this Section. 9 Section 15. Penalties. 10 (a) If a court finds that a commercial entity violated 11 this Act, the court may assess a civil penalty in an amount of 12 not more than $5,000 for each day of violation. The Attorney 13 General must deposit the civil penalty into the Cyber 14 Exploitation of Children Fund, a special fund that is created 15 in the State treasury, and, subject to funding from civil 16 penalties or appropriation and as directed by the Secretary of 17 State, shall be expended for the investigation of cybercrimes 18 involving the exploitation of children and for no other 19 purpose. In addition to the remedies provided in this Section, 20 the Attorney General may request and the court may impose an 21 additional civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each 22 violation of this Act against any commercial entity found by 23 the court to have knowingly failed to perform reasonable age 24 verification methods to verify the age of individuals 25 attempting to access the material. The additional civil SB3945 - 5 - LRB104 18625 SPS 32068 b 1 penalty shall also be deposited into the Cyber Exploitation of 2 Children Fund. 3 (b) Each violation may be treated as a separate violation 4 or may be combined into one violation at the option of the 5 Attorney General. 6 (c) If a court finds that a commercial entity violated 7 this Act, the court may assess against the commercial entity 8 all costs, expenses, and fees related to investigations and 9 proceedings associated with the violation, including 10 attorney's fees. 11 Section 20. Exceptions. 12 (a) This Act does not apply to any bona fide news or public 13 interest broadcast, website, video, report, or event and shall 14 not be construed to affect the rights of any news-gathering 15 organization. 16 (b) No Internet service provider, or its affiliates or 17 subsidiaries, search engine, or cloud service provider shall 18 be held to have violated the provisions of this Act solely for 19 providing access or connection to or from a website or other 20 information or content on the Internet or a facility, system, 21 or network not under the control of that provider, including 22 transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access 23 software, or other related capabilities, to the extent the 24 provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of 25 the communication that constitutes material harmful to minors. SB3945 - 6 - LRB104 18625 SPS 32068 b 1 Section 25. The State Finance Act is amended by adding 2 Section 5.1038 as follows: 3 (30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new) 4 Sec. 5.1038. The Cyber Exploitation of Children Fund. Footer Disclaimer This site is maintained for the Illinois General Assembly by the Legislative Information System, 705 Stratton Building, Springfield, Illinois 62706. Contact ILGA Webmaster ILGA.gov uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to browse ILGA.gov you consent to our use of cookies. Read About Cookies ILGA.GOV 2026 ILGA.gov | All Rights Reserved | ADA | Disclaimers | Learn This site is maintained for the Illinois General Assembly by the Legislative Information System, 705 Stratton Building, Springfield, Illinois 62706. Contact ILGA Webmaster ILGA.gov uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to browse ILGA.gov you consent to our use of cookies. Read About Cookies ILGA.GOV 2026 ILGA.gov | All Rights Reserved | ADA | Disclaimers | Learn