Bill Text: IL SB3183 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes. Specifies that inspections of the premises and records and interviews with the employees of an employer may be conducted during normal business or working hours or at other reasonable times (rather than during normal business or working hours). Sets forth a procedure for a person who has received a subpoena to file a petition with the circuit court for an order to modify or set aside the subpoena. Sets forth procedures for the issuance and execution of administrative inspection warrants. Exempts all information and documentary materials that are obtained by the Attorney General under the provisions from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Provides for the inspection of the documentary materials by law enforcement under specified conditions. Amends the Freedom of Information Act to make conforming changes. Makes other changes.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2026-05-08 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB3183 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB3183-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026SB3183 Introduced 2/2/2026, by Sen. Omar Aquino SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
15 ILCS 205/6.3
Amends the Attorney General Act. Provides that, prior to initiating an action, the Attorney General shall conduct an investigation and, in addition to other powers, may: (1) issue subpoenas for documents; (2) require written answers under oath to written interrogatories; (3) inspect the premises of an employer and inspect and make copies of employment-related records kept at the premises; and (4) conduct interviews with workers at an employer's premises during normal business or working hours. Sets forth additional provisions concerning investigations; interviews; subpoenas; obstruction; and search warrants.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning State government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Attorney General Act is amended by changing
Section 6.3 as follows:
(15 ILCS 205/6.3)
Sec. 6.3. Worker Protection Unit.
(a) The General Assembly finds that the welfare and
prosperity of all Illinois citizens and businesses requires
the establishment of a Unit within the Attorney General's
Office dedicated to combatting businesses that underpay their
employees, force their employees to work in unsafe conditions,
and gain an unfair economic advantage by avoiding their tax
and labor responsibilities. The Worker Protection Unit shall
be focused on protecting the State's workforce to ensure
workers are paid properly, guarantee safe workplaces, and
allow law-abiding business owners to thrive through healthy
and fair competition. Businesses that violate the State's
worker protection laws put a greater burden on taxpayers by
hurting the State's ability to provide critical services;
compliant businesses cannot compete against those who gain an
unfair advantage by evading their responsibilities.
(b) There is created within the Office of the Attorney

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General a Worker Protection Unit, consisting of Assistant
Attorneys General appointed by the Attorney General, who,
together with other staff as deemed necessary by the Attorney
General, shall have the power and duty on behalf of persons
within this State, to intervene in, initiate, and enforce all
legal proceedings on matters related to the payment of wages,
the safety of the workplace, and fair employment practices,
including, without limitation, the provisions of the
Prevailing Wage Act, the Employee Classification Act, the
Minimum Wage Law, the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, or
the Wage Payment and Collection Act, and any other law
regarding labor or employment in this State, whenever the
Attorney General determines that such action is necessary to
protect the rights and interests of Illinois workers and
Illinois businesses.
(c) Prior to initiating an action, the Attorney General
shall conduct an investigation and may: (1) require an
individual or entity to file a statement or report in writing
under oath or otherwise, as to all information the Attorney
General may consider necessary; (2) examine under oath any
person alleged to have participated in or with knowledge of
the alleged violation; or (3) issue subpoenas for documents;
(4) require written answers under oath to written
interrogatories; (5) or conduct hearings in aid of any
investigation; (6) inspect the premises of an employer and
inspect and make copies of employment-related records kept at

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the premises; and (7) conduct interviews with workers at an
employer's premises during normal business or working hours.
(c-5) An employer who is subject to an investigation by
the Attorney General, and any agents of the employer, shall
make all reasonable efforts to cooperate with the
investigation, including, without limitation, by making the
employer's premises and records available for inspection and
by permitting the employer's employees to participate in
interviews conducted by the Attorney General.
(c-10) Any individual, including an employee, who
voluntarily participates in an interview conducted by the
Attorney General or otherwise provides information to the
Attorney General related to an investigation conducted by the
Worker Protection Unit is a confidential government informer
for purposes of asserting the government informer's privilege.
(c-15) The production of documentary material in response
to a subpoena served in accordance with this Section shall be
made under a sworn certificate, in such form as the subpoena
designates, by the person, if a natural person, to whom the
demand is directed or, if not a natural person, by a person or
persons having knowledge of the facts and circumstances
relating to such production, to the effect that all of the
documentary material required by the demand and in the
possession, custody, or control of the person to whom the
demand is directed has been produced and made available to the
custodian. Answers to interrogatories and statements or

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reports in writing shall be accompanied by a statement under
oath attesting to the accuracy of the answers.
(c-20) If a witness served with a subpoena by the Attorney
General under this Act fails or refuses to obey the subpoena,
produce documentary material or interrogatory answers, give
testimony in the investigation being conducted, or deny the
Attorney General reasonable access to their premises, records,
or employees, the Attorney General may petition the Circuit
Court of Sangamon County, Cook County, or the county in which
the witness resides for an order requiring the witness to
attend and testify or produce the documentary material or
interrogatory answers demanded, or grant access to the
premises, records, and employees, or otherwise comply with the
subpoena. The court's order shall require the witness to
attend and testify or produce the documentary material or
interrogatory answers, or a combination thereof, or grant
access to their premises, records, or employees, by a
specified date, and shall further provide a date on which the
witness shall show cause in court why he or she should not be
held in contempt of court if the witness fails to comply. If
the witness is held in contempt of court, the Attorney General
may seek a writ of attachment, a monetary fine, or an
equivalent order from the circuit court having jurisdiction
over the witness.
(c-25) No person shall, with intent to avoid, evade,
prevent, or obstruct compliance in whole or in part by any

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person with any duly served subpoena of the Attorney General
under this Section, knowingly remove from any place, conceal,
withhold, destroy, mutilate, alter, or by any other means
falsify any documentary material that is the subject of such
subpoena. A violation of this subsection is a Class A
misdemeanor. The Attorney General, with such assistance as he
may from time to time require of the State's Attorneys in the
several counties, shall investigate suspected violations of
this subsection and shall commence and try all prosecutions
under this subsection.
(c-30) If, in the course of an investigation conducted in
accordance with subsection (c), the Attorney General believes
that relevant evidence of a violation of a law enforced by the
Worker Protection Unit as set forth in subsection (b) of this
Section is located at the premises of an employer, and (i) the
employer has refused to allow the Attorney General to inspect
the premises, or (ii) the Attorney General has reasonable
cause to believe that an immediate inspection of the premises
is necessary to carry out its investigation, the Attorney
General may file or cause to be filed an application in
writing, verified by affidavit, with any court within whose
jurisdiction the premises to be searched is situated, stating
the facts upon which the belief is founded, the premises to be
searched, and the property, records, or other evidence to be
seized, and procure a search warrant and execute that warrant.
Upon the execution of the search warrant, the Attorney General

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shall make due return of the warrant to the court issuing the
warrant, together with an inventory of the property, records,
or other evidence taken under the warrant.
(d) In an action brought under this Section, the Attorney
General may obtain, as a remedy, monetary damages to the
State, restitution, and equitable relief, including any
permanent or preliminary injunction, temporary restraining
order, or other order, including an order enjoining the
defendant from engaging in a violation, or order any action as
may be appropriate. In addition, the Attorney General may
request and the court may impose a civil penalty against any
person or entity found by the court to have violated any law
regarding labor or employment in this State, including the
Prevailing Wage Act, the Employee Classification Act, the
Minimum Wage Law, the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act,
the Wage Payment and Collection Act, or any other law related
to the payment of wages, the safety of the workplace, or fair
employment practices, in a sum not to exceed the maximum
amount of any civil penalty prescribed by law. Neither the
State nor an aggrieved individual may recover monetary relief,
including civil penalties, in more than one proceeding related
to the same violation.
(e) Upon the Attorney General's request, the Illinois
Department of Labor shall provide any materials or documents
already in the Department's possession pertaining to the
enforcement of this Section. The Office of the Attorney

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General may use information obtained under this Section,
including information that is designated as and that qualifies
for confidential treatment, which information the Attorney
General's Office shall maintain as confidential, for law
enforcement purposes only, which information may be shared
with other law enforcement officials. Nothing in this Section
is intended to take away or limit any powers of the Attorney
General under common law or other statutory law.
(Source: P.A. 101-527, eff. 1-1-20.)