Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 097-0318
Illinois General Assembly

Previous General Assemblies

Public Act 097-0318


 

Public Act 0318 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  
  

 


 
Public Act 097-0318
 
HB1277 EnrolledLRB097 08384 JDS 48511 b

    AN ACT concerning 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 as follows:
 
    (5 ILCS 120/2)  (from Ch. 102, par. 42)
    Sec. 2. Open meetings.
    (a) Openness required. All meetings of public bodies shall
be open to the public unless excepted in subsection (c) and
closed in accordance with Section 2a.
    (b) Construction of exceptions. The exceptions contained
in subsection (c) are in derogation of the requirement that
public bodies meet in the open, and therefore, the exceptions
are to be strictly construed, extending only to subjects
clearly within their scope. The exceptions authorize but do not
require the holding of a closed meeting to discuss a subject
included within an enumerated exception.
    (c) Exceptions. A public body may hold closed meetings to
consider the following subjects:
        (1) The appointment, employment, compensation,
    discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific
    employees of the public body or legal counsel for the
    public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint
    lodged against an employee of the public body or against
    legal counsel for the public body to determine its
    validity.
        (2) Collective negotiating matters between the public
    body and its employees or their representatives, or
    deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more
    classes of employees.
        (3) The selection of a person to fill a public office,
    as defined in this Act, including a vacancy in a public
    office, when the public body is given power to appoint
    under law or ordinance, or the discipline, performance or
    removal of the occupant of a public office, when the public
    body is given power to remove the occupant under law or
    ordinance.
        (4) Evidence or testimony presented in open hearing, or
    in closed hearing where specifically authorized by law, to
    a quasi-adjudicative body, as defined in this Act, provided
    that the body prepares and makes available for public
    inspection a written decision setting forth its
    determinative reasoning.
        (5) The purchase or lease of real property for the use
    of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose
    of discussing whether a particular parcel should be
    acquired.
        (6) The setting of a price for sale or lease of
    property owned by the public body.
        (7) The sale or purchase of securities, investments, or
    investment contracts.
        (8) Security procedures and the use of personnel and
    equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a
    reasonably potential danger to the safety of employees,
    students, staff, the public, or public property.
        (9) Student disciplinary cases.
        (10) The placement of individual students in special
    education programs and other matters relating to
    individual students.
        (11) Litigation, when an action against, affecting or
    on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and
    is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or
    when the public body finds that an action is probable or
    imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be
    recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed
    meeting.
        (12) The establishment of reserves or settlement of
    claims as provided in the Local Governmental and
    Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, if otherwise the
    disposition of a claim or potential claim might be
    prejudiced, or the review or discussion of claims, loss or
    risk management information, records, data, advice or
    communications from or with respect to any insurer of the
    public body or any intergovernmental risk management
    association or self insurance pool of which the public body
    is a member.
        (13) Conciliation of complaints of discrimination in
    the sale or rental of housing, when closed meetings are
    authorized by the law or ordinance prescribing fair housing
    practices and creating a commission or administrative
    agency for their enforcement.
        (14) Informant sources, the hiring or assignment of
    undercover personnel or equipment, or ongoing, prior or
    future criminal investigations, when discussed by a public
    body with criminal investigatory responsibilities.
        (15) Professional ethics or performance when
    considered by an advisory body appointed to advise a
    licensing or regulatory agency on matters germane to the
    advisory body's field of competence.
        (16) Self evaluation, practices and procedures or
    professional ethics, when meeting with a representative of
    a statewide association of which the public body is a
    member.
        (17) The recruitment, credentialing, discipline or
    formal peer review of physicians or other health care
    professionals for a hospital, or other institution
    providing medical care, that is operated by the public
    body.
        (18) Deliberations for decisions of the Prisoner
    Review Board.
        (19) Review or discussion of applications received
    under the Experimental Organ Transplantation Procedures
    Act.
        (20) The classification and discussion of matters
    classified as confidential or continued confidential by
    the State Government Suggestion Award Board.
        (21) Discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed
    under this Act, whether for purposes of approval by the
    body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as
    mandated by Section 2.06.
        (22) Deliberations for decisions of the State
    Emergency Medical Services Disciplinary Review Board.
        (23) The operation by a municipality of a municipal
    utility or the operation of a municipal power agency or
    municipal natural gas agency when the discussion involves
    (i) contracts relating to the purchase, sale, or delivery
    of electricity or natural gas or (ii) the results or
    conclusions of load forecast studies.
        (24) Meetings of a residential health care facility
    resident sexual assault and death review team or the
    Executive Council under the Abuse Prevention Review Team
    Act.
        (25) Meetings of an independent team of experts under
    Brian's Law.
        (26) (25) Meetings of a mortality review team appointed
    under the Department of Juvenile Justice Mortality Review
    Team Act.
        (27) (25) Confidential information, when discussed by
    one or more members of an elder abuse fatality review team,
    designated under Section 15 of the Elder Abuse and Neglect
    Act, while participating in a review conducted by that team
    of the death of an elderly person in which abuse or neglect
    is suspected, alleged, or substantiated; provided that
    before the review team holds a closed meeting, or closes an
    open meeting, to discuss the confidential information,
    each participating review team member seeking to disclose
    the confidential information in the closed meeting or
    closed portion of the meeting must state on the record
    during an open meeting or the open portion of a meeting the
    nature of the information to be disclosed and the legal
    basis for otherwise holding that information confidential.
        (28) Meetings between internal or external auditors
    and governmental audit committees, finance committees, and
    their equivalents, when the discussion involves internal
    control weaknesses, identification of potential fraud risk
    areas, known or suspected frauds, and fraud interviews
    conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing
    standards of the United States of America.
    (d) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:
    "Employee" means a person employed by a public body whose
relationship with the public body constitutes an
employer-employee relationship under the usual common law
rules, and who is not an independent contractor.
    "Public office" means a position created by or under the
Constitution or laws of this State, the occupant of which is
charged with the exercise of some portion of the sovereign
power of this State. The term "public office" shall include
members of the public body, but it shall not include
organizational positions filled by members thereof, whether
established by law or by a public body itself, that exist to
assist the body in the conduct of its business.
    "Quasi-adjudicative body" means an administrative body
charged by law or ordinance with the responsibility to conduct
hearings, receive evidence or testimony and make
determinations based thereon, but does not include local
electoral boards when such bodies are considering petition
challenges.
    (e) Final action. No final action may be taken at a closed
meeting. Final action shall be preceded by a public recital of
the nature of the matter being considered and other information
that will inform the public of the business being conducted.
(Source: P.A. 95-185, eff. 1-1-08; 96-1235, eff. 1-1-11;
96-1378, eff. 7-29-10; 96-1428, eff. 8-11-10; revised 9-2-10.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2012