Public Act 93-0057
SB1204 Enrolled LRB093 07252 JAM 07410 b
AN ACT concerning public bodies.
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 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 Employees 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.
(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. 90-144, eff. 7-23-97; 91-730, eff. 1-1-01.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July
1, 2003.