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| | 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016 HB1323 Introduced 2/4/2015, by Rep. Sam Yingling SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 5 ILCS 120/2.02 | from Ch. 102, par. 42.02 | 5 ILCS 120/2.06 | from Ch. 102, par. 42.06 |
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Amends the Open Meetings Act. Removes requirements that a public body's website must be maintained by the public body's full-time staff in order to post public notice of meetings and minutes under the Act.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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1 | | AN ACT concerning government.
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2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | | Section 5. The Open Meetings Act is amended by changing |
5 | | Sections 2.02 and 2.06 as follows:
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6 | | (5 ILCS 120/2.02) (from Ch. 102, par. 42.02)
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7 | | Sec. 2.02. Public notice of all meetings, whether open or |
8 | | closed to
the public, shall be given as follows:
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9 | | (a) Every public body shall give public notice
of the |
10 | | schedule of regular meetings at the beginning of each calendar |
11 | | or fiscal
year and shall state the regular dates, times, and |
12 | | places of such meetings.
An agenda for each regular meeting |
13 | | shall be posted at the principal office of
the public body and |
14 | | at the location where the meeting is to be held at least 48 |
15 | | hours in
advance of the holding of the meeting. A public body |
16 | | that has a website that the full-time staff of the public body |
17 | | maintains shall also post on its website the agenda of any |
18 | | regular meetings of the governing body of that public body. Any |
19 | | agenda of a regular meeting that is posted on a public body's |
20 | | website shall remain posted on the website until the regular |
21 | | meeting is concluded. The requirement of a regular
meeting |
22 | | agenda shall not preclude the consideration of items not |
23 | | specifically
set forth in the agenda.
Public
notice of any |
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1 | | special meeting except a meeting held in the event of a
bona |
2 | | fide emergency, or of any rescheduled regular meeting, or of |
3 | | any
reconvened meeting, shall be given at least 48 hours before |
4 | | such
meeting, which notice shall also include the agenda for |
5 | | the special,
rescheduled,
or reconvened meeting, but the |
6 | | validity of any action taken by the public
body which is |
7 | | germane to a subject on the agenda shall not be affected by
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8 | | other errors or omissions in the agenda. The requirement
of |
9 | | public notice of reconvened meetings does
not apply to any case |
10 | | where the meeting was open to the public and (1)
it is to be |
11 | | reconvened within 24 hours, or (2) an announcement of
the time |
12 | | and place of the reconvened meeting was
made at the original |
13 | | meeting and there is no change in the agenda. Notice
of an |
14 | | emergency meeting shall be given as soon as practicable, but in |
15 | | any
event prior to the holding of such meeting, to any news |
16 | | medium which has
filed an annual request for notice under |
17 | | subsection (b) of this Section.
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18 | | (b) Public notice shall be given by posting a copy of the |
19 | | notice at the
principal office of the body holding the meeting |
20 | | or, if no such office exists,
at the building in which the |
21 | | meeting
is to be held. In addition, a public body that has a |
22 | | website that the full-time staff of the public body maintains |
23 | | shall post notice on its website of all meetings of the |
24 | | governing body of the public body. Any notice of an annual |
25 | | schedule of meetings shall remain on the website until a new |
26 | | public notice of the schedule of regular meetings is approved. |
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1 | | Any notice of a regular meeting that is posted on a public |
2 | | body's website shall remain posted on the website until the |
3 | | regular meeting is concluded. The body shall supply copies of |
4 | | the notice of its regular
meetings, and of the notice of any |
5 | | special,
emergency, rescheduled or reconvened meeting, to any |
6 | | news medium
that has filed an annual request for such notice. |
7 | | Any such news
medium shall also be given the same notice of all |
8 | | special,
emergency, rescheduled or reconvened meetings in the |
9 | | same manner as
is given to members of the body provided such |
10 | | news medium has given the
public body an address or telephone |
11 | | number within the territorial jurisdiction
of the public body |
12 | | at which such notice may be given. The failure of a public body |
13 | | to post on its website notice of any meeting or the agenda of |
14 | | any meeting shall not invalidate any meeting or any actions |
15 | | taken at a meeting.
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16 | | (c) Any agenda required under this Section shall set forth |
17 | | the general subject matter of any resolution or ordinance that |
18 | | will be the subject of final action at the meeting. The public |
19 | | body conducting a public meeting shall ensure that at least one |
20 | | copy of any requested notice and agenda for the meeting is |
21 | | continuously available for public review during the entire |
22 | | 48-hour period preceding the meeting. Posting of the notice and |
23 | | agenda on a website that is maintained by the public body |
24 | | satisfies the requirement for continuous posting under this |
25 | | subsection (c). If a notice or agenda is not continuously |
26 | | available for the full 48-hour period due to actions outside of |
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1 | | the control of the public body, then that lack of availability |
2 | | does not invalidate any meeting or action taken at a meeting. |
3 | | (Source: P.A. 97-827, eff. 1-1-13.)
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4 | | (5 ILCS 120/2.06) (from Ch. 102, par. 42.06) |
5 | | Sec. 2.06. Minutes; right to speak. |
6 | | (a) All public bodies shall keep written minutes of all |
7 | | their
meetings, whether open or closed,
and a verbatim
record |
8 | | of all their closed meetings in the form of an audio or video |
9 | | recording.
Minutes
shall include, but need not be limited to: |
10 | | (1) the date, time and place of the meeting; |
11 | | (2) the members of the public body recorded as either |
12 | | present or absent and whether the members were physically |
13 | | present or present by means of video or audio conference;
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14 | | and |
15 | | (3) a summary of discussion on all matters proposed, |
16 | | deliberated,
or decided, and a record of any votes taken. |
17 | | (b) A public body shall approve the minutes of its open |
18 | | meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public |
19 | | body's second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later. |
20 | | The minutes of meetings open to the public shall be available |
21 | | for
public inspection within 10 days after the approval of such |
22 | | minutes by the public
body. Beginning July 1, 2006, at the time |
23 | | it complies with the other requirements of this subsection, a |
24 | | public body that has a website that the full-time staff of the |
25 | | public body maintains shall post the minutes of a regular |
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1 | | meeting of its governing body open to the public on the public |
2 | | body's website within 10 days after the approval of the minutes |
3 | | by the public body. Beginning July 1, 2006, any minutes of |
4 | | meetings open to the public posted on the public body's website |
5 | | shall remain posted on the website for at least 60 days after |
6 | | their initial posting.
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7 | | (c) The verbatim record may be destroyed without |
8 | | notification to or the
approval of a records commission or the |
9 | | State Archivist under the Local Records
Act or the State |
10 | | Records Act no less than 18 months after the completion of the
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11 | | meeting recorded but only after: |
12 | | (1) the public body
approves the destruction of a |
13 | | particular recording; and |
14 | | (2) the public body approves minutes of the closed |
15 | | meeting that meet the
written minutes requirements of |
16 | | subsection (a) of this Section. |
17 | | (d) Each public body shall periodically, but no less than
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18 | | semi-annually,
meet to review minutes of all closed meetings. |
19 | | At such
meetings a determination shall be made, and reported in |
20 | | an open session that
(1) the need for confidentiality still |
21 | | exists as to all or part of those
minutes or (2) that the |
22 | | minutes or portions thereof no
longer require
confidential
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23 | | treatment and are available for public inspection. The failure |
24 | | of a public body to strictly comply with the semi-annual review |
25 | | of closed session written minutes, whether before or after the |
26 | | effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General |
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1 | | Assembly, shall not cause the written minutes or related |
2 | | verbatim record to become public or available for inspection in |
3 | | any judicial proceeding, other than a proceeding involving an |
4 | | alleged violation of this Act, if the public body, within 60 |
5 | | days of discovering its failure to strictly comply with the |
6 | | technical requirements of this subsection, reviews the closed |
7 | | session minutes and determines and thereafter reports in open |
8 | | session that either (1) the need for confidentiality still |
9 | | exists as to all or part of the minutes or verbatim record, or |
10 | | (2) that the minutes or recordings or portions thereof no |
11 | | longer require confidential treatment and are available for |
12 | | public inspection. |
13 | | (e) Unless the public body has made a determination that |
14 | | the verbatim
recording no longer requires confidential |
15 | | treatment or otherwise consents to
disclosure, the verbatim |
16 | | record of a meeting closed to the public shall not be
open for |
17 | | public inspection or subject to discovery in any administrative
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18 | | or judicial proceeding other than one brought to enforce this |
19 | | Act. In the case of a civil
action brought to enforce this Act, |
20 | | the court, if the judge believes such an examination is |
21 | | necessary, must conduct such in camera
examination of the |
22 | | verbatim record as it finds appropriate in order to
determine |
23 | | whether there has been a violation of this Act. In the case of |
24 | | a
criminal proceeding, the court may conduct an
examination in |
25 | | order to
determine what portions, if any, must be made |
26 | | available to the parties for use
as evidence in the |
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1 | | prosecution. Any such initial inspection must be held in |
2 | | camera. If the court
determines that a complaint or suit |
3 | | brought for noncompliance under this Act
is valid it may, for |
4 | | the purposes of discovery, redact from the minutes of the
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5 | | meeting closed to the public any information deemed to qualify |
6 | | under the
attorney-client privilege. The provisions of this |
7 | | subsection do not supersede
the privacy or confidentiality |
8 | | provisions of State or federal law. |
9 | | (f) Minutes of meetings closed to the public shall be |
10 | | available only after
the public body determines that it is no |
11 | | longer necessary to protect the public
interest or the privacy |
12 | | of an individual by keeping them confidential. |
13 | | (g) Any person shall be permitted an opportunity to address |
14 | | public officials under the rules established and recorded by |
15 | | the public body. |
16 | | (Source: P.A. 96-1473, eff. 1-1-11.)
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