Press Releases

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Christopher Belt advanced a measure that would ban the use of AI tools in teacher evaluations.

“A teacher may get a bad performance review, just to find out that it was AI that gave them the bad review with no way to challenge the outcome,” said Belt (D-Swansea). “I think we can all agree that there’s nuance in the classroom, and we shouldn’t dehumanize it.”

Senate Bill 2909 would prevent school administrators from using AI to write teacher evaluations. A teacher evaluation is a formal process used to measure an educator's effectiveness, instructional skills and classroom performance. The use of AI while writing these evaluations brings up many transparency and privacy concerns for teachers.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Christopher Belt introduced a new measure to increase access to life-saving mental health resources and strengthen suicide prevention efforts across the state.

“What we’re doing is expanding suicide prevention education across the entire state,” said Belt (D-Swansea). “These are meaningful steps to address mental health proactively and compassionately.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Christopher Belt’s legislation that would require service providing companies to give consumers a two-hour service window for appointments advanced through the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

“People shouldn’t have to stay home from work all day waiting around for the cable guy to show up.” said Belt (D-Swansea). “This is about basic respect for families who have to balance jobs, child care and everything in between.” 

SPRINGFIELD – After hearing the governor’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2027, State Senator Christopher Belt (D-Swansea) released the following statement:

“Even though the federal government has put funding for many Illinois programs on the chopping block, Illinois families and small businesses cannot afford any new taxes. Democrats and Republicans have to work together over the next several months to pass a balanced budget, because at the end of the day, that’s what families in the Metro East care about.”