100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
SB1227

 

Introduced 2/7/2017, by Sen. Jil Tracy

 

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

    Amends the Open Meetings Act. Provides that a public body may hold closed meetings for issues involving communications between a public body and an attorney or auditor representing the public body that would not be subject to discovery in litigation.


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A BILL FOR

 

SB1227LRB100 09259 RJF 19416 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. However, a meeting to consider an increase in
4    compensation to a specific employee of a public body that
5    is subject to the Local Government Wage Increase
6    Transparency Act may not be closed and shall be open to the
7    public and posted and held in accordance with this Act.
8        (2) Collective negotiating matters between the public
9    body and its employees or their representatives, or
10    deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more
11    classes of employees.
12        (3) The selection of a person to fill a public office,
13    as defined in this Act, including a vacancy in a public
14    office, when the public body is given power to appoint
15    under law or ordinance, or the discipline, performance or
16    removal of the occupant of a public office, when the public
17    body is given power to remove the occupant under law or
18    ordinance.
19        (4) Evidence or testimony presented in open hearing, or
20    in closed hearing where specifically authorized by law, to
21    a quasi-adjudicative body, as defined in this Act, provided
22    that the body prepares and makes available for public
23    inspection a written decision setting forth its
24    determinative reasoning.
25        (5) The purchase or lease of real property for the use
26    of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose

 

 

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1    of discussing whether a particular parcel should be
2    acquired.
3        (6) The setting of a price for sale or lease of
4    property owned by the public body.
5        (7) The sale or purchase of securities, investments, or
6    investment contracts. This exception shall not apply to the
7    investment of assets or income of funds deposited into the
8    Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund.
9        (8) Security procedures, school building safety and
10    security, and the use of personnel and equipment to respond
11    to an actual, a threatened, or a reasonably potential
12    danger to the safety of employees, students, staff, the
13    public, or public property.
14        (9) Student disciplinary cases.
15        (10) The placement of individual students in special
16    education programs and other matters relating to
17    individual students.
18        (11) Litigation, when an action against, affecting or
19    on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and
20    is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or
21    when the public body finds that an action is probable or
22    imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be
23    recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed
24    meeting.
25        (12) The establishment of reserves or settlement of
26    claims as provided in the Local Governmental and

 

 

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1    Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, if otherwise the
2    disposition of a claim or potential claim might be
3    prejudiced, or the review or discussion of claims, loss or
4    risk management information, records, data, advice or
5    communications from or with respect to any insurer of the
6    public body or any intergovernmental risk management
7    association or self insurance pool of which the public body
8    is a member.
9        (13) Conciliation of complaints of discrimination in
10    the sale or rental of housing, when closed meetings are
11    authorized by the law or ordinance prescribing fair housing
12    practices and creating a commission or administrative
13    agency for their enforcement.
14        (14) Informant sources, the hiring or assignment of
15    undercover personnel or equipment, or ongoing, prior or
16    future criminal investigations, when discussed by a public
17    body with criminal investigatory responsibilities.
18        (15) Professional ethics or performance when
19    considered by an advisory body appointed to advise a
20    licensing or regulatory agency on matters germane to the
21    advisory body's field of competence.
22        (16) Self evaluation, practices and procedures or
23    professional ethics, when meeting with a representative of
24    a statewide association of which the public body is a
25    member.
26        (17) The recruitment, credentialing, discipline or

 

 

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1    formal peer review of physicians or other health care
2    professionals, or for the discussion of matters protected
3    under the federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
4    Act of 2005, and the regulations promulgated thereunder,
5    including 42 C.F.R. Part 3 (73 FR 70732), or the federal
6    Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
7    1996, and the regulations promulgated thereunder,
8    including 45 C.F.R. Parts 160, 162, and 164, by a hospital,
9    or other institution providing medical care, that is
10    operated by the public body.
11        (18) Deliberations for decisions of the Prisoner
12    Review Board.
13        (19) Review or discussion of applications received
14    under the Experimental Organ Transplantation Procedures
15    Act.
16        (20) The classification and discussion of matters
17    classified as confidential or continued confidential by
18    the State Government Suggestion Award Board.
19        (21) Discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed
20    under this Act, whether for purposes of approval by the
21    body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as
22    mandated by Section 2.06.
23        (22) Deliberations for decisions of the State
24    Emergency Medical Services Disciplinary Review Board.
25        (23) The operation by a municipality of a municipal
26    utility or the operation of a municipal power agency or

 

 

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1    municipal natural gas agency when the discussion involves
2    (i) contracts relating to the purchase, sale, or delivery
3    of electricity or natural gas or (ii) the results or
4    conclusions of load forecast studies.
5        (24) Meetings of a residential health care facility
6    resident sexual assault and death review team or the
7    Executive Council under the Abuse Prevention Review Team
8    Act.
9        (25) Meetings of an independent team of experts under
10    Brian's Law.
11        (26) Meetings of a mortality review team appointed
12    under the Department of Juvenile Justice Mortality Review
13    Team Act.
14        (27) (Blank).
15        (28) Correspondence and records (i) that may not be
16    disclosed under Section 11-9 of the Illinois Public Aid
17    Code or (ii) that pertain to appeals under Section 11-8 of
18    the Illinois Public Aid Code.
19        (29) Meetings between internal or external auditors
20    and governmental audit committees, finance committees, and
21    their equivalents, when the discussion involves internal
22    control weaknesses, identification of potential fraud risk
23    areas, known or suspected frauds, and fraud interviews
24    conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing
25    standards of the United States of America.
26        (30) Those meetings or portions of meetings of a

 

 

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1    fatality review team or the Illinois Fatality Review Team
2    Advisory Council during which a review of the death of an
3    eligible adult in which abuse or neglect is suspected,
4    alleged, or substantiated is conducted pursuant to Section
5    15 of the Adult Protective Services Act.
6        (31) Meetings and deliberations for decisions of the
7    Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board under the Firearm
8    Concealed Carry Act.
9        (32) Meetings between the Regional Transportation
10    Authority Board and its Service Boards when the discussion
11    involves review by the Regional Transportation Authority
12    Board of employment contracts under Section 28d of the
13    Metropolitan Transit Authority Act and Sections 3A.18 and
14    3B.26 of the Regional Transportation Authority Act.
15        (33) Those meetings or portions of meetings of the
16    advisory committee and peer review subcommittee created
17    under Section 320 of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act
18    during which specific controlled substance prescriber,
19    dispenser, or patient information is discussed.
20        (34) Meetings involving communications between a
21    public body and an attorney or auditor representing the
22    public body that would not be subject to discovery in
23    litigation.
24    (d) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:
25    "Employee" means a person employed by a public body whose
26relationship with the public body constitutes an

 

 

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1employer-employee relationship under the usual common law
2rules, and who is not an independent contractor.
3    "Public office" means a position created by or under the
4Constitution or laws of this State, the occupant of which is
5charged with the exercise of some portion of the sovereign
6power of this State. The term "public office" shall include
7members of the public body, but it shall not include
8organizational positions filled by members thereof, whether
9established by law or by a public body itself, that exist to
10assist the body in the conduct of its business.
11    "Quasi-adjudicative body" means an administrative body
12charged by law or ordinance with the responsibility to conduct
13hearings, receive evidence or testimony and make
14determinations based thereon, but does not include local
15electoral boards when such bodies are considering petition
16challenges.
17    (e) Final action. No final action may be taken at a closed
18meeting. Final action shall be preceded by a public recital of
19the nature of the matter being considered and other information
20that will inform the public of the business being conducted.
21(Source: P.A. 98-49, eff. 7-1-13; 98-63, eff. 7-9-13; 98-756,
22eff. 7-16-14; 98-1027, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1039, eff. 8-25-14;
2399-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-235, eff. 1-1-16; 99-480, eff. 9-9-15;
2499-642, eff. 7-28-16; 99-646, eff. 7-28-16; 99-687, eff.
251-1-17; revised 9-21-16.)