Bill Text: IL SB1263 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Open Meetings Act. Specifies that at each regular or special meeting which is open to the public, any person shall have the opportunity to address public officials with comments or questions, subject to reasonable constraints. Provides that any answers to questions asked during the open meeting shall be provided by the public body within a reasonable amount of time not to exceed 45 days.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-09 - Session Sine Die [SB1263 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-SB1263-Introduced.html

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100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2017 and 2018 SB1263 Introduced 2/9/2017, by Sen. Michael Connelly SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
5 ILCS 120/2.06 from Ch. 102, par. 42.06
Amends the Open Meetings Act. Specifies that at each regular or special meeting which is open to the public, any person shall have the opportunity to address public officials with comments or questions, subject to reasonable constraints. Provides that any answers to questions asked during the open meeting shall be provided by the public body within a reasonable amount of time not to exceed 45 days.
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A BILL FOR
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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
Section 2.06 as follows:
(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

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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, 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

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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

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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

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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) At each regular or special meeting which is open to the
public, any Any person shall be permitted an opportunity to
address public officials with comments or questions, subject to
reasonable constraints, under the rules established and
recorded by the public body. Answers to the questions asked
during the meeting shall be provided by the public body within
a reasonable amount of time not to exceed 45 days.
(Source: P.A. 99-515, eff. 6-30-16.)