Bill Amendment: IL HB5078 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: CIV PRO-GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Status: 2026-05-28 - Added as Alternate Co-Sponsor Sen. Karina Villa [HB5078 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB5078-House_Amendment_001.html

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Rep. Mary Beth Canty

Filed: 4/10/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 5078
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 5078 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 1. References to Act. This Act may be referred to
as the Protect Survivors Reporting Act.
Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
adding Article XXIV as follows:
(735 ILCS 5/Art. XXIV heading new)
ARTICLE XXIV. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
(735 ILCS 5/24-105 new)
Sec. 24-105. Declaration of public policy. Gender-based
violence is a pervasive societal problem, and only a small
percentage of incidents are reported, and of those reported an
even smaller percentage lead to an arrest or conviction.

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Survivors of gender-based violence are often silenced by fear
of retaliation, including the threat of being sued for
defamation, slander, libel, harassment, or other claims
related to speaking out. The fear of such lawsuits deters
survivors from reporting and allows perpetrators to avoid the
consequences of their actions. The use of the legal system to
silence survivors has a corrosive effect on survivors and does
not serve the public good. The General Assembly recognizes
that reporting gender-based violence is a right protected by
the Illinois Constitution and the United States Constitution.
(735 ILCS 5/24-110 new)
Sec. 24-110. Definitions. In this Article:
"Claim" means any lawsuit, action, claim, crossclaim,
counterclaim, or other judicial pleading or filing alleging
injury.
"Gender-based violence" means one or more acts of
violence, aggression, or abuse satisfying the elements of any
criminal or civil offense under the laws of this State that are
committed, at least in part, on the basis of a person's actual
or perceived sex or gender, regardless of whether the acts
were reported to law enforcement or resulted in legal action,
including, but not limited to, any act of domestic abuse as
defined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986, dating
violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, sexual abuse,
sexual harassment, or stalking.

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"Motion" includes any motion to dismiss, for summary
judgment, or to strike, or any other judicial pleading filed
to dispose of a judicial claim.
"Moving party" means any person on whose behalf a motion
described in Section 24-115 is filed seeking dismissal of a
claim.
"Person" includes any individual, corporation,
association, organization, partnership, 2 or more persons
having a joint or common interest, or other legal entity.
"Reporting gender-based violence" includes making a
disclosure of gender-based violence to authorities, an
employer, an educational institution, a public entity, or
nonprofit agency, to the press or media or at a public forum,
in print, electronically, or via social media, or to another
person verbally, in writing, or via electronic means.
"Responding party" means any person against whom a motion
described in Section 24-115 is filed.
(735 ILCS 5/24-115 new)
Sec. 24-115. Applicability. This Article applies to any
motion to dispose of a claim that is based on, relates to, or
is in response to the moving party's reporting gender-based
violence. This includes, but is not limited to, claims
alleging defamation, slander, libel, harassment, and actions
arising out of the alleged perpetrator of gender-based
violence being publicly named. If a court finds that the civil

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action is based on the moving party reporting gender-based
violence, it shall grant a motion to dismiss the claim unless
it finds that the responding party has established by a
preponderance of the evidence that the moving party's
reporting gender-based violence was done with knowledge that
the report was false or with reckless disregard of whether it
was false or not.
(735 ILCS 5/24-120 new)
Sec. 24-120. Motion procedure and standards.
(a) On the filing of any motion as described in Section
24-115, a hearing and decision on the motion must occur within
90 days after notice of the motion is given to the responding
party. An appellate court shall expedite any appeal or other
writ, whether interlocutory or not, from a trial court order
denying that motion or from a trial court's failure to rule on
that motion within 90 days after that trial court's order or
failure to rule.
(b) Discovery shall be suspended pending a decision on the
motion. However, discovery may be taken, upon leave of court
for good cause shown, on the issue of whether the moving
party's report was made with knowledge that it was false or
with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.
(735 ILCS 5/24-125 new)
Sec. 24-125. Attorney's fees, costs, and injunctive relief

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on the motion. The court shall award a moving party who
prevails in a motion under this Article reasonable attorney's
fees and costs incurred in connection with the motion, and
appropriate injunctive relief, if requested by the moving
party. The court may also award a moving party treble damages
for any harm caused to the moving party by the action against
them and punitive damages. This relief is only available to
the moving party.
(735 ILCS 5/24-130 new)
Sec. 24-130. Damages in the case. In any case in which the
moving party filed a motion under this Article, but the claim
is not dismissed under Section 24-115, at the conclusion of
the case, a prevailing defendant is entitled to reasonable
attorney's fees and costs for successfully defending the
litigation, plus treble damages for any harm caused by the
action, punitive damages, appropriate injunctive relief if
requested by the defendant, or any other relief otherwise
permitted by law.
(735 ILCS 5/24-135 new)
Sec. 24-135. Construction of Article.
(a) Nothing in this Article limits or precludes any rights
the moving party may have under any other constitutional,
statutory, case or common law, or rule provisions.
(b) This Article shall be construed liberally to

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effectuate its purposes and intent fully.
(c) The motion created under this Article shall be
available in all actions pending or commenced on or after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General
Assembly.
Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are
severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".