SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Bill Cunningham’s measure that updates liability guidelines in the Biometric Information Privacy Act was signed into law on Friday.

“In order for Illinois to continue being a leader on biometric protections for consumers, these changes were necessary,” said Cunningham, a Democrat who represents portions of Chicago and the Southwest Suburbs. “Not only did we preserve protections in BIPA, we made sure to clarify damages so businesses in our state are not crushed by penalties for violation.”

Cunningham’s measure limits the number of claims accrued should an employee bring a lawsuit against a company for a violation of BIPA. If a certain biometric identifier is collected by the same employer in the same manner, only one violation would accrue. This is a change from the previous interpretation of BIPA, where claims were accrued on a per-collection basis, which resulted in hundreds of claims on a repeated violation.

The new law also modernizes the manner in which written consent can be granted to include the use of electronic signatures. The original BIPA legislation took effect in 2008 when electronic signatures were not widely used. Cunningham’s measure clarifies that, because using electronic signatures is a common practice to obtain consent, they can be used to comply with BIPA consent requirements. 

“Biometric privacy isn’t something that you think about in your everyday life, but it’s important that our laws ensure everyday people are protected,” said Cunningham.

Senate Bill 2979 is effective immediately.