Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 094-0542
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Public Act 094-0542


 

Public Act 0542 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
Public Act 094-0542
 
SB1857 Enrolled LRB094 04298 JAM 34323 b

    AN ACT concerning government.
 
    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 2.06 as follows:
 
    (5 ILCS 120/2.06)  (from Ch. 102, par. 42.06)
    Sec. 2.06. (a) All public bodies shall keep written minutes
of all their meetings, whether open or closed, and a verbatim
record of all their closed meetings in the form of an audio or
video recording. Minutes shall include, but need not be limited
to:
        (1) the date, time and place of the meeting;
        (2) the members of the public body recorded as either
    present or absent; and
        (3) a summary of discussion on all matters proposed,
    deliberated, or decided, and a record of any votes taken.
    (b) The minutes of meetings open to the public shall be
available for public inspection within 7 days of the approval
of such minutes by the public body.
    (c) The verbatim record may be destroyed without
notification to or the approval of a records commission or the
State Archivist under the Local Records Act or the State
Records Act no less than 18 months after the completion of the
meeting recorded but only after:
        (1) the public body approves the destruction of a
    particular recording; and
        (2) the public body approves minutes of the closed
    meeting that meet the written minutes requirements of
    subsection (a) of this Section.
    (d) Each public body shall periodically, but no less than
semi-annually, meet to review minutes of all closed meetings.
At such meetings a determination shall be made, and reported in
an open session that (1) the need for confidentiality still
exists as to all or part of those minutes or (2) that the
minutes or portions thereof no longer require confidential
treatment and are available for public inspection. The failure
of a public body to strictly comply with the semi-annual review
of closed session written minutes, whether before or after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General
Assembly, shall not cause the written minutes or related
verbatim record to become public or available for inspection in
any judicial proceeding, other than a proceeding involving an
alleged violation of this Act, if the public body, within 60
days of discovering its failure to strictly comply with the
technical requirements of this subsection, reviews the closed
session minutes and determines and thereafter reports in open
session that either (1) the need for confidentiality still
exists as to all or part of the minutes or verbatim record, or
(2) that the minutes or recordings or portions thereof no
longer require confidential treatment and are available for
public inspection.
    (e) Unless the public body has made a determination that
the verbatim recording no longer requires confidential
treatment or otherwise consents to disclosure, the verbatim
record of a meeting closed to the public shall not be open for
public inspection or subject to discovery in any administrative
or judicial proceeding other than one brought to enforce this
Act. In the case of a civil action brought to enforce this Act,
the court, if the judge believes such an examination is
necessary, must conduct such in camera examination of the
verbatim record as it finds appropriate in order to determine
whether there has been a violation of this Act. In the case of
a criminal proceeding, the court may conduct an examination in
order to determine what portions, if any, must be made
available to the parties for use as evidence in the
prosecution. Any such initial inspection must be held in
camera. If the court determines that a complaint or suit
brought for noncompliance under this Act is valid it may, for
the purposes of discovery, redact from the minutes of the
meeting closed to the public any information deemed to qualify
under the attorney-client privilege. The provisions of this
subsection do not supersede the privacy or confidentiality
provisions of State or federal law.
    (f) Minutes of meetings closed to the public shall be
available only after the public body determines that it is no
longer necessary to protect the public interest or the privacy
of an individual by keeping them confidential.
(Source: P.A. 93-523, eff. 1-1-04; 93-974, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 8/10/2005