SB1684 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 29114 DTM 55500 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB1684

Introduced 2/8/2023, by Sen. Laura M. Murphy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

5 ILCS 120/1.02	from Ch. 102, par. 41.02
5 ILCS 120/2.06	from Ch. 102, par. 42.06

Amends the Open Meetings Act. Provides that, under rules established and recorded by the public body, any person shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials individually or to address the public body as a whole (now, under the rules established and recorded by the public body, a person must be permitted an opportunity to address public officials). Provides that the right to address individual public officials may not be restricted by the rules of the public body. Defines "public official".

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning State 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 Sections 1.02 and 2.06 as follows:

(5 ILCS 120/1.02) (from Ch. 102, par. 41.02)

Sec. 1.02. For the purposes of this Act:

"Meeting" means any gathering, whether in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means (such as, without limitation, electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging), or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication, of a majority of a quorum of the members of a public body held for the purpose of discussing public business or, for a 5-member public body, a quorum of the members of a public body held for the purpose of discussing public business.

Accordingly, for a 5-member public body, 3 members of the body constitute a quorum and the affirmative vote of 3 members is necessary to adopt any motion, resolution, or ordinance, unless a greater number is otherwise required.

"Public body" includes all legislative, executive, administrative or advisory bodies of the State, counties, townships, cities, villages, incorporated towns, school districts and all other municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees or commissions of this State, and any subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including but not limited to committees and subcommittees which are supported in whole or in part by tax revenue, or which expend tax revenue, except the General Assembly and committees or commissions thereof. "Public body" includes tourism boards and convention or civic center boards located in counties that are contiguous to the Mississippi River with populations of more than 250,000 but less than 300,000. "Public body" includes the Health Facilities and Services Review Board. "Public body" does not include a child death review team or the Illinois Child Death Review Teams Executive Council established under the Child Death Review Team Act, an ethics commission acting under the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, a regional youth advisory board or the Statewide Youth Advisory Board established under the Department of Children and Family Services Statewide Youth Advisory Board Act, or the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal.

"Public official" means any individual having been duly elected, appointed, or otherwise designated as a member of a public body.

(Source: P.A. 97-1129, eff. 8-28-12; 98-806, eff. 1-1-15.)

(5 ILCS 120/2.06) (from Ch. 102, par. 42.06)

Sec. 2.06. Minutes; right to speak.

(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 whether the members were physically present or present by means of video or audio conference; and

(3) a summary of discussion on all matters proposed, deliberated, or decided, and a record of any votes taken.

(b) A public body shall approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public body's second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later. The minutes of meetings open to the public shall be available for public inspection within 10 days after the approval of such minutes by the public body. Beginning July 1, 2006, at the time it complies with the other requirements of this subsection, a public body that has a website that the full-time staff of the public body maintains shall post the minutes of a regular meeting of its governing body open to the public on the public body's website within 10 days after the approval of the minutes by the public body. Beginning July 1, 2006, any minutes of meetings open to the public posted on the public body's website shall remain posted on the website for at least 60 days after their initial posting.

(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 meet to review minutes of all closed meetings. Meetings to review minutes shall occur every 6 months, or as soon thereafter as is practicable, taking into account the nature and meeting schedule of the public body. Committees which are ad hoc in nature shall review closed session minutes at the later of (1) 6 months from the date of the last review of closed session minutes or (2) at the next scheduled meeting of the ad hoc committee. 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. Access to verbatim recordings shall be provided to duly elected officials or appointed officials filling a vacancy of an elected office in a public body, and access shall be granted in the public body's main office or official storage location, in the presence of a records secretary, an administrative official of the public body, or any elected official of the public body. No verbatim recordings shall be recorded or removed from the public body's main office or official storage location, except by vote of the public body or by court order. Nothing in this subsection (e) is intended to limit the Public Access Counselor's access to those records necessary to address a request for administrative review under Section 7.5 of this Act.

(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, except that duly elected officials or appointed officials filling a vacancy of an elected office in a public body shall be provided access to minutes of meetings closed to the public. Access to minutes shall be granted in the public body's main office or official storage location, in the presence of a records secretary, an administrative official of the public body, or any elected official of the public body. No minutes of meetings closed to the public shall be removed from the public body's main office or official storage location, except by vote of the public body or by court order. Nothing in this subsection (f) is intended to limit the Public Access Counselor's access to those records necessary to address a request for administrative review under Section 7.5 of this Act.

(g) Any person shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials individually, or to address the public body as a whole, under the rules established and recorded by the public body. The right to address individual public officials may not be restricted by the rules of the public body.

(h) When a public body is dissolved, disbanded, eliminated, or consolidated by executive action, legislative action, or referendum, and its functions and responsibilities are assumed by a unit of local government, the unit of local government which assumes the functions of the prior public body shall review the closed session minutes of that public body pursuant to subsection (d).

(Source: P.A. 102-653, eff. 1-1-22.)