AI Frontier Institute

BIOMETRIC SURVEILLANCE ACT

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Illinois HB5521, introduced by Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy in the 104th General Assembly, creates the Illinois Biometric Surveillance Act (Section 1) and amends two existing statutes. Under Section 10, law enforcement agencies are broadly prohibited from obtaining, retaining, possessing, accessing, requesting, or using a biometric identification system, or entering into agreements with third parties, state or local government agencies, or federal agencies to do so. Narrow exceptions in Section 10(b) allow use for employment background checks, fingerprinting pursuant to arrest or conviction, forensic evidence collection at crime scenes, and officer device authentication. Section 15 establishes enforcement mechanisms: any violation constitutes an injury giving rise to injunctive, declaratory, or mandamus relief; negligent violations carry damages of $1,000 or actual damages (whichever is greater); intentional or reckless violations carry $5,000 or actual damages plus injunctive or declaratory relief; prevailing parties also receive attorney fees, costs, and deletion/destruction of their biometric data. The Attorney General may initiate or intervene in civil actions against violating agencies. The bill also amends 15 ILCS 335/11 (Illinois Identification Card Act, Section 90) to add subsection (c-5), permitting the Secretary of State to use facial recognition only to verify identity when issuing a mobile driver's license or identification card, provided no federal, state, local, or third-party access to those facial recognition search services is allowed. It similarly amends 625 ILCS 5/6-110.1 (Illinois Vehicle Code, Section 95) to prohibit the Secretary of State from providing facial recognition search services or driver's license photographs to any federal, state, or local government agency or third party, with a pre-existing exception carving out non-immigration criminal investigations.

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