SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Mary Edly-Allen passed an initiative to align nutrition and restraint protections for pregnant and postpartum incarcerated individuals in state prisons.

“Every jail in Illinois has their own policies and procedures when it comes to pregnant incarcerated individuals and their rights,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “This bill ensures that every pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding individual in all county jails and prisons has the same protections.”

House Bill 5431 seeks to align rights statewide to address the lack of humane treatment of pregnant and postpartum people. Additionally, this legislation requires annual reporting on pregnancies, births, miscarriages, and the use of restraints in facilities as well as requiring supplemental nutrition for pregnant and breastfeeding prisoners.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Mary Edly-Allen passed a measure through the Senate to protect artists if their songs or likeness are stolen through the means of artificial intelligence (AI).

“In the last few years, we have seen an explosion of AI tools and AI generated content, often created and distributed without authorization,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “While AI is a powerful tool with the potential to do much good, guardrails are necessary to protect artists and the general public. I’d like to thank the numerous groups that worked in collaboration to ensure this measure is effective including the Motion Picture Association, TechNet, the Software Alliance and more.”

House Bill 4875 would create a private right of action for the artist or music studio to sue when a digital replica of the individual was disseminated or made available publicly without authorization of the artist or music studio.

SPRINGFIELD – Recording artists will soon have more protections from AI replicating their voice or work thanks to new legislation introduced by Senator Mary Edly-Allen.

“Musicians often spend years of their lives perfecting their craft. It is unfair that their hard-earned talents can be stolen for other purposes in a matter of seconds without compensation,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “We need strong regulations and protections in place to safeguard artists when people try to steal their work and pass it off as their own using artificial intelligence (AI).”

As an emerging technological platform, there are no current restrictions on AI models replicating a music artist’s voice. Without regulations, some organizations and even music studios have sought to establish a monopoly of control over their artists’ voices and melodies for AI projects.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Mary Edly-Allen passed an initiative through the Senate Insurance Committee to fill gaps in current breast cancer screening coverage and ensure that all Illinoisans are able to receive screening that accurately detects breast cancer.

“Standard mammograms aren’t always effective on patients with dense breasts. Unfortunately, insurance companies may deny having additional tests that are needed to detect cancer. This denial can lead to life-threatening situations for those who cannot afford additional tests,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “We must ensure that we do not put profit over people’s health, and require these insurance plans to cover all medically necessary tests, and not just the bare minimum.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Mary Edly-Allen passed an initiative through the Senate Insurance Committee to fill gaps in current breast cancer screening coverage and ensure that all Illinoisans are able to receive screening that accurately detects cancer.

“Standard mammograms aren’t always effective on patients with dense breasts. Unfortunately, insurance companies may deny having additional tests that are needed to detect cancer. This can lead to life-threatening situations for those who cannot afford additional tests,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “We must ensure that we do not put profit over people’s health and require these insurance plans to cover all medically necessary tests, and not just the bare minimum.”

House Bill 4180 would require any insurance plan in the state, including Medicaid, to cover molecular breast imaging (MBI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)  if a mammogram demonstrates heterogeneous or dense breast tissue or when determined medically necessary.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Mary Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville) advanced legislation through the Senate Special Committee on Criminal Law and Public Safety on Wednesday to create the Uniform Statewide Crime Statistics Task Force.

“This legislation is a public safety win for both residents and law enforcement,” said Edly-Allen. “By bringing law enforcement agencies, academics, and experts together, the task force members will work together to help respond to the needs of neighborhoods and communities across Lake County and our state.”

House Bill 2323 will create the Uniform Statewide Crime Statistics Task Force. The group would meet at least quarterly to assist the State Police in the development and implementation of an integrated software system for gathering and publishing crime data from all law enforcement agencies throughout the state.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Mary Edly-Allen introduced new legislation that would protect artists and music labels from situations where a third-party creates music using AI and replicates their voice without permission.

“Deepfakes can falsely and convincingly portray anyone saying anything, creating confusion and eroding public trust. This raises serious implications in a world already struggling with rampant misinformation and social media manipulation,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville).  “We need strong regulations and protections in place to protect artists from the ever-changing world of AI that intends to steal their work and pass it off as their own.”

Last year, a song, “Heart on My Sleeve,” purportedly by Drake and The Weeknd landed on TikTok and Spotify and quickly spread across the internet. The song was created using AI by a TikTok user, who had trained AI on Drake and The Weeknd’s works and generated the new song, which perfectly mimicked the artists’ voices, lyrics, and musical styles. Within days, his video, which had gained over 9 million views, was removed from TikTok, Spotify, and other platforms in response to claims by the artists’ record label, UMG. 

SPRINGFIELD – A bill passed by State Senator Mary Edly-Allen to lessen the use of plastic and Styrofoam was signed into law Friday.

“In order to reduce waste in our landfills and be more conscientious of our impact on the environment, we need alternatives such as using consumer-owned containers,” said Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville). “Not only will restaurants save money on packaging, grocery stores will also help the environment by allowing their customers to use their own items for bulk purchases.”

Edly-Allen’s measure will allow restaurants and retailers to fill and refill consumer-owned containers with bulk or ready-made food.

A restaurant or retailer has to take necessary precautions to prevent cross contamination and make those written procedures available to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“While we can't force people to be environmentally-friendly, we can encourage them and offer alternatives like using their own containers to help promote eco-friendly practices,” said Edly-Allen. “Our hope is that people will take the initiative to be more mindful of the daily waste attributed to disposable containers.”

Consumer-owned containers have to be clean and constructed for reuse and should be easily cleaned and sanitized when needed.

House Bill 2086 was signed into law Friday and goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024.