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

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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

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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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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

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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.

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(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.

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(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

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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

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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

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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.)