Public Act 099-0646
 
HB5684 EnrolledLRB099 19522 EFG 43916 b

    AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Local
Government Wage Increase Transparency Act.
 
    Section 5. Disclosure of certain wage increases made to
employees under Article 7 of the Illinois Pension Code.
    (a) This Section applies only to a participating employee
under Article 7 of the Illinois Pension Code (IMRF) who began
participation before January 1, 2011 and who is not subject to
a collective bargaining agreement with respect to the
employment upon which the participation is based.
    (b) The definitions in Article 7 of the Illinois Pension
Code also apply to this Section.
    As used in this Section, "disclosable payment" means a
payment, whether in the form of an increase in the rate of
earnings or a lump-sum payment, that:
        (1) would be made by a participating employer to a
    participating employee after the employee has expressed to
    the employer his or her intent to retire or withdraw from
    service;
        (2) would have the effect of increasing the employee's
    reportable monthly earnings from that employer by more than
    6% compared to the previous month; and
        (3) would be made between 12 months and 90 days prior
    to the employee's expected termination of service.
    However, "disclosable payment" does not include a refund of
contributions or any payment required to be paid by State or
federal law.
    (c) A disclosable payment shall not be made or payable
unless the governing body of that participating employer has
first discussed the specific payment to be made at a meeting
open to the public and posted and held in accordance with the
requirements of the Open Meetings Act. At the meeting, the
governing body shall, at a minimum, disclose (1) the identity
of the employee, (2) the purpose and amount of the increase or
payment, (3) the proposed retirement date, (4) the effect of
the payment upon the expected retirement annuity of the
employee, and (5) the effect of the payment upon the liability
of the employer to the Article 7 Fund.
    (d) The determination of whether the disclosable payment is
permissible under this Section shall rest exclusively with the
employer.
    (e) A participating employer may not make a disclosable
payment to an employee in a manner inconsistent with this
Section. This Section is a denial and limitation of home rule
powers and functions under subsection (h) of Section 6 of
Article VII of the Illinois Constitution.
 
    Section 90. 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 or legal counsel for the
    public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint
    lodged against an employee of the public body or against
    legal counsel for the public body to determine its
    validity. However, a meeting to consider an increase in
    compensation to a specific employee of a public body that
    is subject to the Local Government Wage Increase
    Transparency Act may not be closed and shall be open to the
    public and posted and held in accordance with this Act.
        (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. This exception shall not apply to the
    investment of assets or income of funds deposited into the
    Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund.
        (8) Security procedures, school building safety and
    security, 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 Government 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.
        (24) Meetings of a residential health care facility
    resident sexual assault and death review team or the
    Executive Council under the Abuse Prevention Review Team
    Act.
        (25) Meetings of an independent team of experts under
    Brian's Law.
        (26) Meetings of a mortality review team appointed
    under the Department of Juvenile Justice Mortality Review
    Team Act.
        (27) (Blank).
        (28) Correspondence and records (i) that may not be
    disclosed under Section 11-9 of the Public Aid Code or (ii)
    that pertain to appeals under Section 11-8 of the Public
    Aid Code.
        (29) Meetings between internal or external auditors
    and governmental audit committees, finance committees, and
    their equivalents, when the discussion involves internal
    control weaknesses, identification of potential fraud risk
    areas, known or suspected frauds, and fraud interviews
    conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing
    standards of the United States of America.
        (30) Those meetings or portions of meetings of a
    fatality review team or the Illinois Fatality Review Team
    Advisory Council during which a review of the death of an
    eligible adult in which abuse or neglect is suspected,
    alleged, or substantiated is conducted pursuant to Section
    15 of the Adult Protective Services Act.
        (31) Meetings and deliberations for decisions of the
    Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board under the Firearm
    Concealed Carry Act.
        (32) Meetings between the Regional Transportation
    Authority Board and its Service Boards when the discussion
    involves review by the Regional Transportation Authority
    Board of employment contracts under Section 28d of the
    Metropolitan Transit Authority Act and Sections 3A.18 and
    3B.26 of the Regional Transportation Authority Act.
        (33) Those meetings meeting or portions of meetings of
    the advisory committee and peer review subcommittee
    created under Section 320 of the Illinois Controlled
    Substances Act during which specific controlled substance
    prescriber, dispenser, or patient information is
    discussed.
    (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. 98-49, eff. 7-1-13; 98-63, eff. 7-9-13; 98-756,
eff. 7-16-14; 98-1027, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1039, eff. 8-25-14;
99-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-235, eff. 1-1-16; 99-480, eff. 9-9-15;
revised 10-14-15.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 7/28/2016