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Rep. Dwight Kay
Filed: 3/19/2015
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 248
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| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 248 by replacing |
| 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| 4 | | "Section 5. The Open Meetings Act is amended by changing |
| 5 | | Section 3 as follows:
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| 6 | | (5 ILCS 120/3) (from Ch. 102, par. 43)
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| 7 | | Sec. 3.
(a) Where the provisions of this Act are not |
| 8 | | complied with, or
where there is probable cause to believe that |
| 9 | | the provisions of this Act
will not be complied with, any |
| 10 | | person, including the State's Attorney
of the county in which |
| 11 | | such noncompliance
may occur, may bring a civil action in the |
| 12 | | circuit court for the judicial
circuit in which the alleged |
| 13 | | noncompliance has occurred or is about to occur,
or in which |
| 14 | | the affected public body has its principal office, prior to
or |
| 15 | | within 60 days of the meeting alleged to be in
violation of |
| 16 | | this Act or, if facts concerning the meeting are not discovered
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| 1 | | within the 60-day period,
within 60 days of the discovery of a |
| 2 | | violation by the State's
Attorney.
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| 3 | | Records that are obtained by a State's Attorney from a |
| 4 | | public body for purposes of reviewing whether the public body |
| 5 | | has complied with this Act may not be disclosed to the public. |
| 6 | | Those records, while in the possession of the State's Attorney, |
| 7 | | are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information |
| 8 | | Act. |
| 9 | | (b) In deciding such a case the court may examine in camera |
| 10 | | any portion
of the minutes of a meeting at which a violation of |
| 11 | | the Act is alleged to
have occurred, and may take such |
| 12 | | additional evidence as it deems necessary.
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| 13 | | (c) The court, having due regard for orderly administration |
| 14 | | and the public
interest, as well as for the interests of the |
| 15 | | parties, may grant such
relief as it deems appropriate, |
| 16 | | including granting a relief
by mandamus requiring that a |
| 17 | | meeting be open
to the public, granting an injunction against |
| 18 | | future violations of this
Act, ordering the public body to make |
| 19 | | available to the public such portion
of the minutes of a |
| 20 | | meeting as is not
authorized to be kept confidential under this |
| 21 | | Act, or declaring null and
void any final action taken at a |
| 22 | | closed meeting in violation of this Act, or declaring null and |
| 23 | | void a final action taken at an open meeting in violation of |
| 24 | | this Act, but only if a civil action alleging the violation is |
| 25 | | commenced within 60 days of that meeting and the alleged |
| 26 | | violation is directly and substantially related to that final |
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| 1 | | action.
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| 2 | | (d) The court may assess against any party, except a |
| 3 | | State's Attorney,
reasonable attorney's fees and other |
| 4 | | litigation costs reasonably incurred
by any other party who |
| 5 | | substantially prevails in any action brought in
accordance with |
| 6 | | this Section, provided that costs may be assessed against
any |
| 7 | | private party or parties bringing an action pursuant to this |
| 8 | | Section
only upon the court's determination that the action is |
| 9 | | malicious or frivolous
in nature.
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| 10 | | (Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
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| 11 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
| 12 | | becoming law.".
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