Bill Text: IL SB1684 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: 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".

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-31 - Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB1684 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SB1684-Introduced.html


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".
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A BILL FOR

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1 AN ACT concerning State 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
5Sections 1.02 and 2.06 as follows:
6 (5 ILCS 120/1.02) (from Ch. 102, par. 41.02)
7 Sec. 1.02. For the purposes of this Act:
8 "Meeting" means any gathering, whether in person or by
9video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means
10(such as, without limitation, electronic mail, electronic
11chat, and instant messaging), or other means of
12contemporaneous interactive communication, of a majority of a
13quorum of the members of a public body held for the purpose of
14discussing public business or, for a 5-member public body, a
15quorum of the members of a public body held for the purpose of
16discussing public business.
17 Accordingly, for a 5-member public body, 3 members of the
18body constitute a quorum and the affirmative vote of 3 members
19is necessary to adopt any motion, resolution, or ordinance,
20unless a greater number is otherwise required.
21 "Public body" includes all legislative, executive,
22administrative or advisory bodies of the State, counties,
23townships, cities, villages, incorporated towns, school

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1districts and all other municipal corporations, boards,
2bureaus, committees or commissions of this State, and any
3subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including but not
4limited to committees and subcommittees which are supported in
5whole or in part by tax revenue, or which expend tax revenue,
6except the General Assembly and committees or commissions
7thereof. "Public body" includes tourism boards and convention
8or civic center boards located in counties that are contiguous
9to the Mississippi River with populations of more than 250,000
10but less than 300,000. "Public body" includes the Health
11Facilities and Services Review Board. "Public body" does not
12include a child death review team or the Illinois Child Death
13Review Teams Executive Council established under the Child
14Death Review Team Act, an ethics commission acting under the
15State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, a regional youth
16advisory board or the Statewide Youth Advisory Board
17established under the Department of Children and Family
18Services Statewide Youth Advisory Board Act, or the Illinois
19Independent Tax Tribunal.
20 "Public official" means any individual having been duly
21elected, appointed, or otherwise designated as a member of a
22public body.
23(Source: P.A. 97-1129, eff. 8-28-12; 98-806, eff. 1-1-15.)
24 (5 ILCS 120/2.06) (from Ch. 102, par. 42.06)
25 Sec. 2.06. Minutes; right to speak.

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1 (a) All public bodies shall keep written minutes of all
2their meetings, whether open or closed, and a verbatim record
3of all their closed meetings in the form of an audio or video
4recording. Minutes shall include, but need not be limited to:
5 (1) the date, time and place of the meeting;
6 (2) the members of the public body recorded as either
7 present or absent and whether the members were physically
8 present or present by means of video or audio conference;
9 and
10 (3) a summary of discussion on all matters proposed,
11 deliberated, or decided, and a record of any votes taken.
12 (b) A public body shall approve the minutes of its open
13meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public
14body's second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later.
15The minutes of meetings open to the public shall be available
16for public inspection within 10 days after the approval of
17such minutes by the public body. Beginning July 1, 2006, at the
18time it complies with the other requirements of this
19subsection, a public body that has a website that the
20full-time staff of the public body maintains shall post the
21minutes of a regular meeting of its governing body open to the
22public on the public body's website within 10 days after the
23approval of the minutes by the public body. Beginning July 1,
242006, any minutes of meetings open to the public posted on the
25public body's website shall remain posted on the website for
26at least 60 days after their initial posting.

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1 (c) The verbatim record may be destroyed without
2notification to or the approval of a records commission or the
3State Archivist under the Local Records Act or the State
4Records Act no less than 18 months after the completion of the
5meeting recorded but only after:
6 (1) the public body approves the destruction of a
7 particular recording; and
8 (2) the public body approves minutes of the closed
9 meeting that meet the written minutes requirements of
10 subsection (a) of this Section.
11 (d) Each public body shall periodically meet to review
12minutes of all closed meetings. Meetings to review minutes
13shall occur every 6 months, or as soon thereafter as is
14practicable, taking into account the nature and meeting
15schedule of the public body. Committees which are ad hoc in
16nature shall review closed session minutes at the later of (1)
176 months from the date of the last review of closed session
18minutes or (2) at the next scheduled meeting of the ad hoc
19committee. At such meetings a determination shall be made, and
20reported in an open session that (1) the need for
21confidentiality still exists as to all or part of those
22minutes or (2) that the minutes or portions thereof no longer
23require confidential treatment and are available for public
24inspection. The failure of a public body to strictly comply
25with the semi-annual review of closed session written minutes,
26whether before or after the effective date of this amendatory

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1Act of the 94th General Assembly, shall not cause the written
2minutes or related verbatim record to become public or
3available for inspection in any judicial proceeding, other
4than a proceeding involving an alleged violation of this Act,
5if the public body, within 60 days of discovering its failure
6to strictly comply with the technical requirements of this
7subsection, reviews the closed session minutes and determines
8and thereafter reports in open session that either (1) the
9need for confidentiality still exists as to all or part of the
10minutes or verbatim record, or (2) that the minutes or
11recordings or portions thereof no longer require confidential
12treatment and are available for public inspection.
13 (e) Unless the public body has made a determination that
14the verbatim recording no longer requires confidential
15treatment or otherwise consents to disclosure, the verbatim
16record of a meeting closed to the public shall not be open for
17public inspection or subject to discovery in any
18administrative or judicial proceeding other than one brought
19to enforce this Act. In the case of a civil action brought to
20enforce this Act, the court, if the judge believes such an
21examination is necessary, must conduct such in camera
22examination of the verbatim record as it finds appropriate in
23order to determine whether there has been a violation of this
24Act. In the case of a criminal proceeding, the court may
25conduct an examination in order to determine what portions, if
26any, must be made available to the parties for use as evidence

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1in the prosecution. Any such initial inspection must be held
2in camera. If the court determines that a complaint or suit
3brought for noncompliance under this Act is valid it may, for
4the purposes of discovery, redact from the minutes of the
5meeting closed to the public any information deemed to qualify
6under the attorney-client privilege. The provisions of this
7subsection do not supersede the privacy or confidentiality
8provisions of State or federal law. Access to verbatim
9recordings shall be provided to duly elected officials or
10appointed officials filling a vacancy of an elected office in
11a public body, and access shall be granted in the public body's
12main office or official storage location, in the presence of a
13records secretary, an administrative official of the public
14body, or any elected official of the public body. No verbatim
15recordings shall be recorded or removed from the public body's
16main office or official storage location, except by vote of
17the public body or by court order. Nothing in this subsection
18(e) is intended to limit the Public Access Counselor's access
19to those records necessary to address a request for
20administrative review under Section 7.5 of this Act.
21 (f) Minutes of meetings closed to the public shall be
22available only after the public body determines that it is no
23longer necessary to protect the public interest or the privacy
24of an individual by keeping them confidential, except that
25duly elected officials or appointed officials filling a
26vacancy of an elected office in a public body shall be provided

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1access to minutes of meetings closed to the public. Access to
2minutes shall be granted in the public body's main office or
3official storage location, in the presence of a records
4secretary, an administrative official of the public body, or
5any elected official of the public body. No minutes of
6meetings closed to the public shall be removed from the public
7body's main office or official storage location, except by
8vote of the public body or by court order. Nothing in this
9subsection (f) is intended to limit the Public Access
10Counselor's access to those records necessary to address a
11request for administrative review under Section 7.5 of this
12Act.
13 (g) Any person shall be permitted an opportunity to
14address public officials individually, or to address the
15public body as a whole, under the rules established and
16recorded by the public body. The right to address individual
17public officials may not be restricted by the rules of the
18public body.
19 (h) When a public body is dissolved, disbanded,
20eliminated, or consolidated by executive action, legislative
21action, or referendum, and its functions and responsibilities
22are assumed by a unit of local government, the unit of local
23government which assumes the functions of the prior public
24body shall review the closed session minutes of that public
25body pursuant to subsection (d).
26(Source: P.A. 102-653, eff. 1-1-22.)
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