093_SB1204

 
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 1        AN ACT concerning public bodies.

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

 4        Section 5.  The Open Meetings Act is amended by  changing
 5    Section 2 as follows:

 6        (5 ILCS 120/2) (from Ch. 102, par. 42)
 7        Sec. 2.  Open meetings.
 8        (a)  Openness  required.   All  meetings of public bodies
 9    shall be open to the public unless excepted in subsection (c)
10    and closed in accordance with Section 2a.
11        (b)  Construction   of   exceptions.    The    exceptions
12    contained   in  subsection  (c)  are  in  derogation  of  the
13    requirement  that  public  bodies  meet  in  the  open,   and
14    therefore,  the  exceptions  are  to  be  strictly construed,
15    extending only to subjects clearly within their scope.    The
16    exceptions  authorize  but  do  not  require the holding of a
17    closed meeting  to  discuss  a  subject  included  within  an
18    enumerated exception.
19        (c)  Exceptions.   A public body may hold closed meetings
20    to consider the following subjects:
21             (1)  The  appointment,   employment,   compensation,
22        discipline,   performance,   or   dismissal  of  specific
23        employees of the public body, including hearing testimony
24        on a complaint lodged against an  employee  to  determine
25        its validity.
26             (2)  Collective   negotiating  matters  between  the
27        public body and its employees or  their  representatives,
28        or  deliberations  concerning salary schedules for one or
29        more classes of employees.
30             (3)  The selection of a  person  to  fill  a  public
31        office,  as defined in this Act, including a vacancy in a
 
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 1        public office, when the public body  is  given  power  to
 2        appoint  under  law  or  ordinance,  or  the  discipline,
 3        performance  or  removal  of  the  occupant  of  a public
 4        office, when the public body is given power to remove the
 5        occupant under law or ordinance.
 6             (4)  Evidence  or  testimony   presented   in   open
 7        hearing,   or   in   closed  hearing  where  specifically
 8        authorized by  law,  to  a  quasi-adjudicative  body,  as
 9        defined  in this Act, provided that the body prepares and
10        makes available for public inspection a written  decision
11        setting forth its determinative reasoning.
12             (5)  The  purchase or lease of real property for the
13        use of the public body, including meetings held  for  the
14        purpose  of discussing whether a particular parcel should
15        be acquired.
16             (6)  The setting of a price for  sale  or  lease  of
17        property owned by the public body.
18             (7)  The    sale    or   purchase   of   securities,
19        investments, or investment contracts.
20             (8)  Security procedures and the  use  of  personnel
21        and equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a
22        reasonably  potential  danger to the safety of employees,
23        students, staff or public property.
24             (9)  Student disciplinary cases.
25             (10)  The  placement  of  individual   students   in
26        special  education programs and other matters relating to
27        individual students.
28             (11)  Litigation, when an action against,  affecting
29        or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed
30        and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal,
31        or  when the public body finds that an action is probable
32        or imminent, in which case  the  basis  for  the  finding
33        shall  be  recorded  and  entered into the minutes of the
34        closed meeting.
 
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 1             (12)  The establishment of reserves or settlement of
 2        claims  as  provided  in  the  Local   Governmental   and
 3        Governmental  Employees  Tort  Immunity Act, if otherwise
 4        the disposition of a claim or potential  claim  might  be
 5        prejudiced,  or  the review or discussion of claims, loss
 6        or risk management information, records, data, advice  or
 7        communications from or with respect to any insurer of the
 8        public  body  or  any  intergovernmental  risk management
 9        association or self insurance pool of  which  the  public
10        body is a member.
11             (13)  Conciliation  of  complaints of discrimination
12        in the sale or rental of housing,  when  closed  meetings
13        are  authorized  by the law or ordinance prescribing fair
14        housing  practices   and   creating   a   commission   or
15        administrative agency for their enforcement.
16             (14)  Informant sources, the hiring or assignment of
17        undercover  personnel  or equipment, or ongoing, prior or
18        future  criminal  investigations,  when  discussed  by  a
19        public body with criminal investigatory responsibilities.
20             (15)  Professional  ethics   or   performance   when
21        considered  by  an  advisory  body  appointed to advise a
22        licensing or regulatory agency on matters germane to  the
23        advisory body's field of competence.
24             (16)  Self  evaluation,  practices and procedures or
25        professional ethics, when meeting with  a  representative
26        of  a statewide association of which the public body is a
27        member.
28             (17)  The recruitment, credentialing, discipline  or
29        formal  peer  review  of  physicians or other health care
30        professionals  for  a  hospital,  or  other   institution
31        providing  medical  care,  that is operated by the public
32        body.
33             (18)  Deliberations for decisions  of  the  Prisoner
34        Review Board.
 
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 1             (19)  Review  or discussion of applications received
 2        under the Experimental Organ  Transplantation  Procedures
 3        Act.
 4             (20)  The  classification  and discussion of matters
 5        classified as confidential or continued  confidential  by
 6        the State Employees Suggestion Award Board.
 7             (21)  Discussion  of  minutes  of  meetings lawfully
 8        closed under this Act, whether for purposes  of  approval
 9        by  the  body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the
10        minutes as mandated by Section 2.06.
11             (22)  Deliberations  for  decisions  of  the   State
12        Emergency Medical Services Disciplinary Review Board.
13             (23)  The operation by a municipality of a municipal
14        utility  or  the operation of a municipal power agency or
15        municipal natural gas agency when the discussion involves
16        (i) contracts relating to the purchase, sale, or delivery
17        of electricity or natural gas  or  (ii)  the  results  or
18        conclusions of load forecast studies.
19             (24)  The appointment, performance, compensation, or
20        dismissal of legal counsel of the public body.
21        (d)  Definitions.  For purposes of this Section:
22        "Employee" means a person employed by a public body whose
23    relationship    with   the   public   body   constitutes   an
24    employer-employee relationship under  the  usual  common  law
25    rules, and who is not an independent contractor.
26        "Public  office" means a position created by or under the
27    Constitution or laws of this State, the occupant of which  is
28    charged  with  the  exercise of some portion of the sovereign
29    power of this State. The term "public office"  shall  include
30    members  of  the  public  body,  but  it  shall  not  include
31    organizational  positions  filled by members thereof, whether
32    established by law or by a public body itself, that exist  to
33    assist the body in the conduct of its business.
34        "Quasi-adjudicative  body"  means  an administrative body
 
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 1    charged by  law  or  ordinance  with  the  responsibility  to
 2    conduct  hearings,  receive  evidence  or  testimony and make
 3    determinations based thereon,  but  does  not  include  local
 4    electoral  boards  when  such bodies are considering petition
 5    challenges.
 6        (e)  Final action.  No final action may  be  taken  at  a
 7    closed  meeting.  Final  action shall be preceded by a public
 8    recital of the nature of  the  matter  being  considered  and
 9    other information that will inform the public of the business
10    being conducted.
11    (Source: P.A. 90-144, eff. 7-23-97; 91-730, eff. 1-1-01.)

12        Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect July
13    1, 2003.