North Cook News

Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz introduced HB2873 in the Illinois House on Feb. 5, 2025, during the general assembly session 104, according to the Illinois General Assembly.

According to the Illinois General Assembly site, the legislature summarized the bill's official text as follows: "Amends the Stalking No Contact Order Act. Adds to the definition of "stalking" to include harassment that is conduct that is not necessary to accomplish a purpose that is reasonable under the circumstances, would cause a reasonable person emotional distress, and causes emotional distress to the petitioner. Creates a rebuttable presumption that the following conduct is presumed to cause emotional distress: (i) creating a disturbance at the petitioner's place of employment or school; (ii) repeatedly telephoning the petitioner's place of employment, home, or residence; (iii) repeatedly following the petitioner about in a public place or places; (iv) repeatedly keeping the petitioner under surveillance by remaining present outside his or her home, school, place of employment, vehicle, or other place occupied by the petitioner or by peering in the petitioner's windows; (v) threatening the safety of the petitioner's minor child or family member; or (vi) threatening physical force, confinement, or restraint on one or more occasions. Effective immediately."

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, the bill amends the Stalking No Contact Order Act by redefining terms related to stalking, such as "course of conduct," "emotional distress," "contact," and "stalking." It specifies that a "course of conduct" includes at least two acts that can involve following, monitoring, or threatening a person, workplace, school, or place of worship, and can include electronic tracking or communications. The bill outlines behaviors presumed to cause emotional distress, such as creating workplace disturbances or repeatedly following a person. It clarifies the definition of "stalking" to include engagement in conduct that a reasonable person would perceive as a threat to safety or causing emotional distress, excluding lawful expressions of free speech or assembly. The bill becomes effective upon becoming law.

Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz has proposed another five bills since the beginning of the 104th session.

Gong-Gershowitz graduated from Indiana University in 1991 with a BA and again in 1996 from Loyola University School of Law at Chicago with a JD.

Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz is currently serving in the Illinois State House, representing the state's 17th House District. She replaced previous state representative Laura Fine in 2019.

Bills in Illinois follow a multi-step legislative process, beginning with introduction in either the House or Senate, followed by committee review, floor debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, and while typically thousands of bills are introduced each session, only a fraction successfully pass through the process to become law.

You can read more about bills and other measures here.

Bill Number	Date Introduced	Short Description
HB2873	02/05/2025	Amends the Stalking No Contact Order Act. Adds to the definition of "stalking" to include harassment that is conduct that is not necessary to accomplish a purpose that is reasonable under the circumstances, would cause a reasonable person emotional distress, and causes emotional distress to the petitioner. Creates a rebuttable presumption that the following conduct is presumed to cause emotional distress: (i) creating a disturbance at the petitioner's place of employment or school; (ii) repeatedly telephoning the petitioner's place of employment, home, or residence; (iii) repeatedly following the petitioner about in a public place or places; (iv) repeatedly keeping the petitioner under surveillance by remaining present outside his or her home, school, place of employment, vehicle, or other place occupied by the petitioner or by peering in the petitioner's windows; (v) threatening the safety of the petitioner's minor child or family member; or (vi) threatening physical force, confinement, or restraint on one or more occasions. Effective immediately.
HB2436	02/03/2025	Amends the Counties Code. Provides that, in counties with a population over 3,000,000, representation by the public defender in immigration cases shall be limited to those arising or being heard within the geographical boundaries of the county where the public defender has been appointed to office and to those of county residents with immigration cases outside of the county unless the county board authorizes the public defender to provide representation beyond those limits (rather than limited to those arising in immigration courts located within the geographical boundaries of the county where the public defender has been appointed to office unless the county board authorizes the public defender to provide representation outside the county).
HB2334	01/30/2025	Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that electronic requests for public records must appear in their entirety within the body of the electronic submission and that no public body shall be required to open electronically attached files or hyperlinks to view or access the details of such a request. Effective immediately.
HB1738	01/24/2025	Amends the Liquor Control Act of 1934. Requires a bar to offer for sale or provide to the bar's customers drug testing devices at a cost not to exceed a reasonable amount based on the wholesale cost of the devices or free of charge. Provides that the owner or owners of a bar shall not be held liable, either criminally or civilly, for a defective test or inaccurate test result, including a false positive or false negative test result. Requires the owner or owners of a bar to ensure that all testing devices offered to customers have not exceeded their expiration date or recommended period of use, according to the product label or product packaging or as otherwise recommended by the manufacturer. Requires the Illinois Liquor Control Commission to post on its website information about the requirements, including, but not limited to, the signage that is required to be posted and the types of drug testing devices that are required to be available. Authorizes rulemaking.
HB1600	01/22/2025	Amends the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Provides that a full-service restaurant or quick-service restaurant shall not provide single-use plastic disposable foodware items to a consumer ordering or purchasing dine-in food unless requested by the consumer and that plastic drinking straws must be provided when specifically requested. Provides that single-use plastic disposable foodware items that are provided may not be packaged in plastic. Provides that a food dispensing establishment or takeout food delivery service must provide options for a customer to request disposable foodware items separate from the customer's order, with certain requirements. Provides that a full-service restaurant or quick-service restaurant offering condiments may use dispensers rather than prepackaged disposable condiment packets. Provides that a full-service restaurant or quick-service restaurant must post a sign indicating that single-use plastic disposable foodware will be made available upon request or at a self serve station. Provides that a full-service restaurant or quick-service restaurant may make single-use plastic straws available to customers ordering or purchasing dine-in food by making available dispensers or certain other means if a sign is posted encouraging the reduction of the use single-use plastics. Provides for a civil penalty of $25, after a first notice of violation, for each day a full-service restaurant or quick-service restaurant is in violation, paid to the Department of Public Health. Defines terms. Effective January 1, 2026.
HB1374	01/15/2025	Amends the School Code. In provisions concerning health examinations and immunizations, requires questions on the safe storage of firearms in a child's home to be included as a part of each health examination. Requires the Department of Public Health to develop rules and appropriate revisions to the child health examination form to implement this requirement.