Public Act 93-0422
HB0954 Enrolled LRB093 05765 RCE 05858 b
AN ACT in relation to freedom of information.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Open Meetings Act is amended by changing
Section 2 as follows:
(5 ILCS 120/2) (from Ch. 102, par. 42)
Sec. 2. Open meetings.
(a) Openness required. All meetings of public bodies
shall be open to the public unless excepted in subsection (c)
and closed in accordance with Section 2a.
(b) Construction of exceptions. The exceptions
contained in subsection (c) are in derogation of the
requirement that public bodies meet in the open, and
therefore, the exceptions are to be strictly construed,
extending only to subjects clearly within their scope. The
exceptions authorize but do not require the holding of a
closed meeting to discuss a subject included within an
enumerated exception.
(c) Exceptions. A public body may hold closed meetings
to consider the following subjects:
(1) The appointment, employment, compensation,
discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific
employees of the public body, including hearing testimony
on a complaint lodged against an employee to determine
its validity.
(2) Collective negotiating matters between the
public body and its employees or their representatives,
or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or
more classes of employees.
(3) The selection of a person to fill a public
office, as defined in this Act, including a vacancy in a
public office, when the public body is given power to
appoint under law or ordinance, or the discipline,
performance or removal of the occupant of a public
office, when the public body is given power to remove the
occupant under law or ordinance.
(4) Evidence or testimony presented in open
hearing, or in closed hearing where specifically
authorized by law, to a quasi-adjudicative body, as
defined in this Act, provided that the body prepares and
makes available for public inspection a written decision
setting forth its determinative reasoning.
(5) The purchase or lease of real property for the
use of the public body, including meetings held for the
purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should
be acquired.
(6) The setting of a price for sale or lease of
property owned by the public body.
(7) The sale or purchase of securities,
investments, or investment contracts.
(8) Security procedures and the use of personnel
and equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a
reasonably potential danger to the safety of employees,
students, staff, the public, or public property.
(9) Student disciplinary cases.
(10) The placement of individual students in
special education programs and other matters relating to
individual students.
(11) Litigation, when an action against, affecting
or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed
and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal,
or when the public body finds that an action is probable
or imminent, in which case the basis for the finding
shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the
closed meeting.
(12) The establishment of reserves or settlement of
claims as provided in the Local Governmental and
Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, if otherwise
the disposition of a claim or potential claim might be
prejudiced, or the review or discussion of claims, loss
or risk management information, records, data, advice or
communications from or with respect to any insurer of the
public body or any intergovernmental risk management
association or self insurance pool of which the public
body is a member.
(13) Conciliation of complaints of discrimination
in the sale or rental of housing, when closed meetings
are authorized by the law or ordinance prescribing fair
housing practices and creating a commission or
administrative agency for their enforcement.
(14) Informant sources, the hiring or assignment of
undercover personnel or equipment, or ongoing, prior or
future criminal investigations, when discussed by a
public body with criminal investigatory responsibilities.
(15) Professional ethics or performance when
considered by an advisory body appointed to advise a
licensing or regulatory agency on matters germane to the
advisory body's field of competence.
(16) Self evaluation, practices and procedures or
professional ethics, when meeting with a representative
of a statewide association of which the public body is a
member.
(17) The recruitment, credentialing, discipline or
formal peer review of physicians or other health care
professionals for a hospital, or other institution
providing medical care, that is operated by the public
body.
(18) Deliberations for decisions of the Prisoner
Review Board.
(19) Review or discussion of applications received
under the Experimental Organ Transplantation Procedures
Act.
(20) The classification and discussion of matters
classified as confidential or continued confidential by
the State Employees Suggestion Award Board.
(21) Discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully
closed under this Act, whether for purposes of approval
by the body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the
minutes as mandated by Section 2.06.
(22) Deliberations for decisions of the State
Emergency Medical Services Disciplinary Review Board.
(23) The operation by a municipality of a municipal
utility or the operation of a municipal power agency or
municipal natural gas agency when the discussion involves
(i) contracts relating to the purchase, sale, or delivery
of electricity or natural gas or (ii) the results or
conclusions of load forecast studies.
(d) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:
"Employee" means a person employed by a public body whose
relationship with the public body constitutes an
employer-employee relationship under the usual common law
rules, and who is not an independent contractor.
"Public office" means a position created by or under the
Constitution or laws of this State, the occupant of which is
charged with the exercise of some portion of the sovereign
power of this State. The term "public office" shall include
members of the public body, but it shall not include
organizational positions filled by members thereof, whether
established by law or by a public body itself, that exist to
assist the body in the conduct of its business.
"Quasi-adjudicative body" means an administrative body
charged by law or ordinance with the responsibility to
conduct hearings, receive evidence or testimony and make
determinations based thereon, but does not include local
electoral boards when such bodies are considering petition
challenges.
(e) Final action. No final action may be taken at a
closed meeting. Final action shall be preceded by a public
recital of the nature of the matter being considered and
other information that will inform the public of the business
being conducted.
(Source: P.A. 90-144, eff. 7-23-97; 91-730, eff. 1-1-01.)
Section 10. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by
changing Section 7 as follows:
(5 ILCS 140/7) (from Ch. 116, par. 207)
Sec. 7. Exemptions.
(1) The following shall be exempt from inspection and
copying:
(a) Information specifically prohibited from
disclosure by federal or State law or rules and
regulations adopted under federal or State law.
(b) Information that, if disclosed, would
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
privacy, unless the disclosure is consented to in writing
by the individual subjects of the information. The
disclosure of information that bears on the public duties
of public employees and officials shall not be considered
an invasion of personal privacy. Information exempted
under this subsection (b) shall include but is not
limited to:
(i) files and personal information maintained
with respect to clients, patients, residents,
students or other individuals receiving social,
medical, educational, vocational, financial,
supervisory or custodial care or services directly
or indirectly from federal agencies or public
bodies;
(ii) personnel files and personal information
maintained with respect to employees, appointees or
elected officials of any public body or applicants
for those positions;
(iii) files and personal information
maintained with respect to any applicant, registrant
or licensee by any public body cooperating with or
engaged in professional or occupational
registration, licensure or discipline;
(iv) information required of any taxpayer in
connection with the assessment or collection of any
tax unless disclosure is otherwise required by State
statute; and
(v) information revealing the identity of
persons who file complaints with or provide
information to administrative, investigative, law
enforcement or penal agencies; provided, however,
that identification of witnesses to traffic
accidents, traffic accident reports, and rescue
reports may be provided by agencies of local
government, except in a case for which a criminal
investigation is ongoing, without constituting a
clearly unwarranted per se invasion of personal
privacy under this subsection.
(c) Records compiled by any public body for
administrative enforcement proceedings and any law
enforcement or correctional agency for law enforcement
purposes or for internal matters of a public body, but
only to the extent that disclosure would:
(i) interfere with pending or actually and
reasonably contemplated law enforcement proceedings
conducted by any law enforcement or correctional
agency;
(ii) interfere with pending administrative
enforcement proceedings conducted by any public
body;
(iii) deprive a person of a fair trial or an
impartial hearing;
(iv) unavoidably disclose the identity of a
confidential source or confidential information
furnished only by the confidential source;
(v) disclose unique or specialized
investigative techniques other than those generally
used and known or disclose internal documents of
correctional agencies related to detection,
observation or investigation of incidents of crime
or misconduct;
(vi) constitute an invasion of personal
privacy under subsection (b) of this Section;
(vii) endanger the life or physical safety of
law enforcement personnel or any other person; or
(viii) obstruct an ongoing criminal
investigation.
(d) Criminal history record information maintained
by State or local criminal justice agencies, except the
following which shall be open for public inspection and
copying:
(i) chronologically maintained arrest
information, such as traditional arrest logs or
blotters;
(ii) the name of a person in the custody of a
law enforcement agency and the charges for which
that person is being held;
(iii) court records that are public;
(iv) records that are otherwise available
under State or local law; or
(v) records in which the requesting party is
the individual identified, except as provided under
part (vii) of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of
this Section.
"Criminal history record information" means data
identifiable to an individual and consisting of
descriptions or notations of arrests, detentions,
indictments, informations, pre-trial proceedings, trials,
or other formal events in the criminal justice system or
descriptions or notations of criminal charges (including
criminal violations of local municipal ordinances) and
the nature of any disposition arising therefrom,
including sentencing, court or correctional supervision,
rehabilitation and release. The term does not apply to
statistical records and reports in which individuals are
not identified and from which their identities are not
ascertainable, or to information that is for criminal
investigative or intelligence purposes.
(e) Records that relate to or affect the security
of correctional institutions and detention facilities.
(f) Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations,
memoranda and other records in which opinions are
expressed, or policies or actions are formulated, except
that a specific record or relevant portion of a record
shall not be exempt when the record is publicly cited and
identified by the head of the public body. The exemption
provided in this paragraph (f) extends to all those
records of officers and agencies of the General Assembly
that pertain to the preparation of legislative documents.
(g) Trade secrets and commercial or financial
information obtained from a person or business where the
trade secrets or information are proprietary, privileged
or confidential, or where disclosure of the trade secrets
or information may cause competitive harm, including all
information determined to be confidential under Section
4002 of the Technology Advancement and Development Act.
Nothing contained in this paragraph (g) shall be
construed to prevent a person or business from consenting
to disclosure.
(h) Proposals and bids for any contract, grant, or
agreement, including information which if it were
disclosed would frustrate procurement or give an
advantage to any person proposing to enter into a
contractor agreement with the body, until an award or
final selection is made. Information prepared by or for
the body in preparation of a bid solicitation shall be
exempt until an award or final selection is made.
(i) Valuable formulae, computer geographic systems,
designs, drawings and research data obtained or produced
by any public body when disclosure could reasonably be
expected to produce private gain or public loss.
(j) Test questions, scoring keys and other
examination data used to administer an academic
examination or determined the qualifications of an
applicant for a license or employment.
(k) Architects' plans, and engineers' technical
submissions, and other construction related technical
documents for projects not constructed or developed in
whole or in part with public funds and the same for
projects constructed or developed with public funds, but
only to the extent that disclosure would compromise
security.
(l) Library circulation and order records
identifying library users with specific materials.
(m) Minutes of meetings of public bodies closed to
the public as provided in the Open Meetings Act until the
public body makes the minutes available to the public
under Section 2.06 of the Open Meetings Act.
(n) Communications between a public body and an
attorney or auditor representing the public body that
would not be subject to discovery in litigation, and
materials prepared or compiled by or for a public body in
anticipation of a criminal, civil or administrative
proceeding upon the request of an attorney advising the
public body, and materials prepared or compiled with
respect to internal audits of public bodies.
(o) Information received by a primary or secondary
school, college or university under its procedures for
the evaluation of faculty members by their academic
peers.
(p) Administrative or technical information
associated with automated data processing operations,
including but not limited to software, operating
protocols, computer program abstracts, file layouts,
source listings, object modules, load modules, user
guides, documentation pertaining to all logical and
physical design of computerized systems, employee
manuals, and any other information that, if disclosed,
would jeopardize the security of the system or its data
or the security of materials exempt under this Section.
(q) Documents or materials relating to collective
negotiating matters between public bodies and their
employees or representatives, except that any final
contract or agreement shall be subject to inspection and
copying.
(r) Drafts, notes, recommendations and memoranda
pertaining to the financing and marketing transactions of
the public body. The records of ownership, registration,
transfer, and exchange of municipal debt obligations, and
of persons to whom payment with respect to these
obligations is made.
(s) The records, documents and information relating
to real estate purchase negotiations until those
negotiations have been completed or otherwise terminated.
With regard to a parcel involved in a pending or actually
and reasonably contemplated eminent domain proceeding
under Article VII of the Code of Civil Procedure,
records, documents and information relating to that
parcel shall be exempt except as may be allowed under
discovery rules adopted by the Illinois Supreme Court.
The records, documents and information relating to a real
estate sale shall be exempt until a sale is consummated.
(t) Any and all proprietary information and records
related to the operation of an intergovernmental risk
management association or self-insurance pool or jointly
self-administered health and accident cooperative or
pool.
(u) Information concerning a university's
adjudication of student or employee grievance or
disciplinary cases, to the extent that disclosure would
reveal the identity of the student or employee and
information concerning any public body's adjudication of
student or employee grievances or disciplinary cases,
except for the final outcome of the cases.
(v) Course materials or research materials used by
faculty members.
(w) Information related solely to the internal
personnel rules and practices of a public body.
(x) Information contained in or related to
examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by,
on behalf of, or for the use of a public body responsible
for the regulation or supervision of financial
institutions or insurance companies, unless disclosure is
otherwise required by State law.
(y) Information the disclosure of which is
restricted under Section 5-108 of the Public Utilities
Act.
(z) Manuals or instruction to staff that relate to
establishment or collection of liability for any State
tax or that relate to investigations by a public body to
determine violation of any criminal law.
(aa) Applications, related documents, and medical
records received by the Experimental Organ
Transplantation Procedures Board and any and all
documents or other records prepared by the Experimental
Organ Transplantation Procedures Board or its staff
relating to applications it has received.
(bb) Insurance or self insurance (including any
intergovernmental risk management association or self
insurance pool) claims, loss or risk management
information, records, data, advice or communications.
(cc) Information and records held by the Department
of Public Health and its authorized representatives
relating to known or suspected cases of sexually
transmissible disease or any information the disclosure
of which is restricted under the Illinois Sexually
Transmissible Disease Control Act.
(dd) Information the disclosure of which is
exempted under Section 30 of the Radon Industry Licensing
Act.
(ee) Firm performance evaluations under Section 55
of the Architectural, Engineering, and Land Surveying
Qualifications Based Selection Act.
(ff) Security portions of system safety program
plans, investigation reports, surveys, schedules, lists,
data, or information compiled, collected, or prepared by
or for the Regional Transportation Authority under
Section 2.11 of the Regional Transportation Authority Act
or the St. Clair County Transit District under the
Bi-State Transit Safety Act.
(gg) Information the disclosure of which is
restricted and exempted under Section 50 of the Illinois
Prepaid Tuition Act.
(hh) Information the disclosure of which is
exempted under Section 80 of the State Gift Ban Act.
(ii) Beginning July 1, 1999, information that would
disclose or might lead to the disclosure of secret or
confidential information, codes, algorithms, programs, or
private keys intended to be used to create electronic or
digital signatures under the Electronic Commerce Security
Act.
(jj) Information contained in a local emergency
energy plan submitted to a municipality in accordance
with a local emergency energy plan ordinance that is
adopted under Section 11-21.5-5 of the Illinois Municipal
Code.
(kk) Information and data concerning the
distribution of surcharge moneys collected and remitted
by wireless carriers under the Wireless Emergency
Telephone Safety Act.
(ll) Vulnerability assessments, security measures,
and response policies or plans that are designed to
identify, prevent, or respond to potential attacks upon a
community's population or systems, facilities, or
installations, the destruction or contamination of which
would constitute a clear and present danger to the health
or safety of the community, but only to the extent that
disclosure could reasonably be expected to jeopardize the
effectiveness of the measures or the safety of the
personnel who implement them or the public. Information
exempt under this item may include such things as details
pertaining to the mobilization or deployment of personnel
or equipment, to the operation of communication systems
or protocols, or to tactical operations.
(mm) Maps and other records regarding the location
or security of a utility's generation, transmission,
distribution, storage, gathering, treatment, or switching
facilities.
(2) This Section does not authorize withholding of
information or limit the availability of records to the
public, except as stated in this Section or otherwise
provided in this Act.
(Source: P.A. 91-137, eff. 7-16-99; 91-357, eff. 7-29-99;
91-660, eff. 12-22-99; 92-16, eff. 6-28-01; 92-241, eff.
8-3-01; 92-281, eff. 8-7-01; 92-645, eff. 7-11-02; 92-651,
eff. 7-11-02.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.