HB4370 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 16897 JRC 30308 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4370

Introduced 1/14/2026, by Rep. Anne Stava

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

735 ILCS 5/21-107 new

Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Creates a process for a petition for change of name on the basis of gender identity. Makes all of the proceedings and records confidential unless the petitioner waives otherwise. Makes limited exceptions to the confidentiality requirement. Creates a cause of action for knowingly violating the confidentiality provisions. Defines terms. Makes other changes.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning civil law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by adding Section 21-107 as follows:

(735 ILCS 5/21-107 new)

Sec. 21-107. Gender-related identity.

(a) Transgender people are experiencing a growing epidemic of discrimination, harassment, and violence across the country. Whether a transgender person's gender identity conforms with the person's assigned sex at birth is intimate personal information entitled to protection under the right to privacy. A transgender person has a privacy interest in concealing the person's transgender identity.

(b) As used in this Act:

"Transgender" means a person whose gender identity is different from the gender assigned at birth.

"Gender identity" means a person's deeply felt, inherent sense of who the person is as a particular gender, such as female.

(c) If a petition is filed alleging that the requested name change is on the basis of gender identity, all court records filed under this Section are confidential and may not be accessed by anyone other than the petitioner, an attorney representing the petitioner, and any agents acting under written authorization from those individuals or their attorneys. For a petition brought on behalf of a minor, the court shall limit access to the minor who is the subject of the petition, the minor's parents, guardians, and guardians ad litem, an attorney representing those individuals, and any agents acting under a written authorization from those individuals or their attorneys.

(d) The court must order that the records in the proceeding be kept confidential unless the petitioner waives that right. If the petitioner in a proceeding for a name change on the basis of gender identity was filed before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly seeks confidentiality under this Section, the court shall enter such an order. The petitioner may make this request ex parte and without paying a filing fee. The court shall make the request and all associated records confidential.

(e) If the petitioner discovers that court records in these proceedings are not being kept confidential as required under this Section, the petitioner may apply ex parte for that order without paying a filing fee, and the court shall enter an order making the records confidential. The court shall make the request and all associated records confidential.

(f) Other than the petitioner, a person or private entity may not publicly post a confidential record under this Section on the Internet or otherwise.

(g) Any violation of this Section is deemed to cause injury to the petitioner, including, but not limited to, emotional distress. A petitioner who has been harmed by a disclosure or continuing disclosure of records by a person or private entity with actual knowledge that those records were confidential or sealed by the court may bring a civil action against a person or private entity that caused the harm. A civil action under this Section may be brought by a petitioner or, if the petitioner is a minor, on behalf of a petitioner by the petitioner's parent, guardian, or guardian ad litem.

(h) If a person or private entity is found liable in an action brought under this Section, that person or private entity is liable to the petitioner for all of the following:

(1) actual damages that may not be less than $5,000;

(2) punitive damages; and

(3) reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

(i) The Supreme Court may issue rules to implement this Section. The petition to be used under this Section shall be a statewide standardized form approved by the Supreme Court and set forth the name then held, the name sought to be assumed, the residence of the petitioner, the length of time the petitioner has resided in this State, and the state or country of the petitioner's birth.

(j) If the petition is filed under this Section on behalf of a minor, the notice provisions of Section 21-103.5 apply, but the notice must contain a disclosure that proceedings under this Section are confidential in a form approved by the Supreme Court.

(k) Nothing in this Section precludes a court from granting a motion to seal all court records under this Section of a person's change of name on the basis of gender identity.