99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
HB1498

 

Introduced 2/6/2015, by Rep. Thomas Bennett

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
5 ILCS 120/2  from Ch. 102, par. 42

    Amends the Open Meetings Act. Provides that a school board may hold a closed meeting to discuss building safety and security.


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A BILL FOR

 

HB1498LRB099 07377 JLK 27493 b

1    AN ACT concerning government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Open Meetings Act is amended by changing
5Section 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 shall
9be open to the public unless excepted in subsection (c) and
10closed in accordance with Section 2a.
11    (b) Construction of exceptions. The exceptions contained
12in subsection (c) are in derogation of the requirement that
13public bodies meet in the open, and therefore, the exceptions
14are to be strictly construed, extending only to subjects
15clearly within their scope. The exceptions authorize but do not
16require the holding of a closed meeting to discuss a subject
17included within an enumerated exception.
18    (c) Exceptions. A public body may hold closed meetings to
19consider the following subjects:
20        (1) The appointment, employment, compensation,
21    discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific
22    employees of the public body or legal counsel for the
23    public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint

 

 

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1    lodged against an employee of the public body or against
2    legal counsel for the public body to determine its
3    validity.
4        (2) Collective negotiating matters between the public
5    body and its employees or their representatives, or
6    deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more
7    classes of employees.
8        (3) The selection of a person to fill a public office,
9    as defined in this Act, including a vacancy in a public
10    office, when the public body is given power to appoint
11    under law or ordinance, or the discipline, performance or
12    removal of the occupant of a public office, when the public
13    body is given power to remove the occupant under law or
14    ordinance.
15        (4) Evidence or testimony presented in open hearing, or
16    in closed hearing where specifically authorized by law, to
17    a quasi-adjudicative body, as defined in this Act, provided
18    that the body prepares and makes available for public
19    inspection a written decision setting forth its
20    determinative reasoning.
21        (5) The purchase or lease of real property for the use
22    of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose
23    of discussing whether a particular parcel should be
24    acquired.
25        (6) The setting of a price for sale or lease of
26    property owned by the public body.

 

 

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1        (7) The sale or purchase of securities, investments, or
2    investment contracts. This exception shall not apply to the
3    investment of assets or income of funds deposited into the
4    Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund.
5        (8) Security procedures and the use of personnel and
6    equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a
7    reasonably potential danger to the safety of employees,
8    students, staff, the public, or public property.
9        (9) Student disciplinary cases.
10        (10) The placement of individual students in special
11    education programs and other matters relating to
12    individual students.
13        (11) Litigation, when an action against, affecting or
14    on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and
15    is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or
16    when the public body finds that an action is probable or
17    imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be
18    recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed
19    meeting.
20        (12) The establishment of reserves or settlement of
21    claims as provided in the Local Governmental and
22    Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, if otherwise the
23    disposition of a claim or potential claim might be
24    prejudiced, or the review or discussion of claims, loss or
25    risk management information, records, data, advice or
26    communications from or with respect to any insurer of the

 

 

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1    public body or any intergovernmental risk management
2    association or self insurance pool of which the public body
3    is a member.
4        (13) Conciliation of complaints of discrimination in
5    the sale or rental of housing, when closed meetings are
6    authorized by the law or ordinance prescribing fair housing
7    practices and creating a commission or administrative
8    agency for their enforcement.
9        (14) Informant sources, the hiring or assignment of
10    undercover personnel or equipment, or ongoing, prior or
11    future criminal investigations, when discussed by a public
12    body with criminal investigatory responsibilities.
13        (15) Professional ethics or performance when
14    considered by an advisory body appointed to advise a
15    licensing or regulatory agency on matters germane to the
16    advisory body's field of competence.
17        (16) Self evaluation, practices and procedures or
18    professional ethics, when meeting with a representative of
19    a statewide association of which the public body is a
20    member.
21        (17) The recruitment, credentialing, discipline or
22    formal peer review of physicians or other health care
23    professionals for a hospital, or other institution
24    providing medical care, that is operated by the public
25    body.
26        (18) Deliberations for decisions of the Prisoner

 

 

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1    Review Board.
2        (19) Review or discussion of applications received
3    under the Experimental Organ Transplantation Procedures
4    Act.
5        (20) The classification and discussion of matters
6    classified as confidential or continued confidential by
7    the State Government Suggestion Award Board.
8        (21) Discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed
9    under this Act, whether for purposes of approval by the
10    body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as
11    mandated by Section 2.06.
12        (22) Deliberations for decisions of the State
13    Emergency Medical Services Disciplinary Review Board.
14        (23) The operation by a municipality of a municipal
15    utility or the operation of a municipal power agency or
16    municipal natural gas agency when the discussion involves
17    (i) contracts relating to the purchase, sale, or delivery
18    of electricity or natural gas or (ii) the results or
19    conclusions of load forecast studies.
20        (24) Meetings of a residential health care facility
21    resident sexual assault and death review team or the
22    Executive Council under the Abuse Prevention Review Team
23    Act.
24        (25) Meetings of an independent team of experts under
25    Brian's Law.
26        (26) Meetings of a mortality review team appointed

 

 

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1    under the Department of Juvenile Justice Mortality Review
2    Team Act.
3        (27) (Blank).
4        (28) Correspondence and records (i) that may not be
5    disclosed under Section 11-9 of the Public Aid Code or (ii)
6    that pertain to appeals under Section 11-8 of the Public
7    Aid Code.
8        (29) Meetings between internal or external auditors
9    and governmental audit committees, finance committees, and
10    their equivalents, when the discussion involves internal
11    control weaknesses, identification of potential fraud risk
12    areas, known or suspected frauds, and fraud interviews
13    conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing
14    standards of the United States of America.
15        (30) Those meetings or portions of meetings of a
16    fatality review team or the Illinois Fatality Review Team
17    Advisory Council during which a review of the death of an
18    eligible adult in which abuse or neglect is suspected,
19    alleged, or substantiated is conducted pursuant to Section
20    15 of the Adult Protective Services Act.
21        (31) Meetings and deliberations for decisions of the
22    Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board under the Firearm
23    Concealed Carry Act.
24        (32) Meetings between the Regional Transportation
25    Authority Board and its Service Boards when the discussion
26    involves review by the Regional Transportation Authority

 

 

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1    Board of employment contracts under Section 28d of the
2    Metropolitan Transit Authority Act and Sections 3A.18 and
3    3B.26 of the Regional Transportation Authority Act.
4        (33) School board meetings to discuss building safety
5    and security.
6    (d) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:
7    "Employee" means a person employed by a public body whose
8relationship with the public body constitutes an
9employer-employee relationship under the usual common law
10rules, and who is not an independent contractor.
11    "Public office" means a position created by or under the
12Constitution or laws of this State, the occupant of which is
13charged with the exercise of some portion of the sovereign
14power of this State. The term "public office" shall include
15members of the public body, but it shall not include
16organizational positions filled by members thereof, whether
17established by law or by a public body itself, that exist to
18assist the body in the conduct of its business.
19    "Quasi-adjudicative body" means an administrative body
20charged by law or ordinance with the responsibility to conduct
21hearings, receive evidence or testimony and make
22determinations based thereon, but does not include local
23electoral boards when such bodies are considering petition
24challenges.
25    (e) Final action. No final action may be taken at a closed
26meeting. Final action shall be preceded by a public recital of

 

 

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1the nature of the matter being considered and other information
2that will inform the public of the business being conducted.
3(Source: P.A. 97-318, eff. 1-1-12; 97-333, eff. 8-12-11;
497-452, eff. 8-19-11; 97-813, eff. 7-13-12; 97-876, eff.
58-1-12; 98-49, eff. 7-1-13; 98-63, eff. 7-9-13; 98-756, eff.
67-16-14; 98-1027, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1039, eff. 8-25-14; revised
710-1-14.)