093_HB1597

 
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 1        AN ACT concerning public bodies.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section  5.  The Open Meetings Act is amended by changing
 5    Sections 1.02 and 2 as follows:

 6        (5 ILCS 120/1.02) (from Ch. 102, par. 41.02)
 7        Sec. 1.02.  For the purposes of this Act:
 8        "Meeting" means any gathering of a majority of  a  quorum
 9    of  the  members  of  a  public  body held for the purpose of
10    discussing public business.
11        "Public  body"  includes  all   legislative,   executive,
12    administrative  or  advisory  bodies  of the State, counties,
13    townships,  cities,  villages,  incorporated  towns,   school
14    districts  and  all  other  municipal  corporations,  boards,
15    bureaus,  committees  or  commissions  of this State, and any
16    subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including  but  not
17    limited  to  committees and subcommittees which are supported
18    in whole or in part by  tax  revenue,  or  which  expend  tax
19    revenue,  except  the  General  Assembly  and  committees  or
20    commissions  thereof.  "Public  body" includes tourism boards
21    and convention or civic center  boards  located  in  counties
22    that are contiguous to the Mississippi River with populations
23    of  more  than  250,000 but less than 300,000.  "Public body"
24    includes the Health Facilities Planning Board.  "Public body"
25    does not include a child death review team  or  the  Illinois
26    Child  Death Review Teams Executive Council established under
27    the Child Death Review Team  Act  or  an  ethics  commission,
28    ethics  officer,  or ultimate jurisdictional authority acting
29    under the State Gift Ban Act as provided  by  Section  80  of
30    that Act.
31    (Source: P.A. 91-782, eff. 6-9-00; 92-468, eff. 8-22-01.)
 
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 1        (5 ILCS 120/2) (from Ch. 102, par. 42)
 2        Sec. 2.  Open meetings.
 3        (a)  Openness  required.   All  meetings of public bodies
 4    shall be open to the public unless excepted in subsection (c)
 5    and closed in accordance with Section 2a.
 6        (b)  Construction   of   exceptions.    The    exceptions
 7    contained   in  subsection  (c)  are  in  derogation  of  the
 8    requirement  that  public  bodies  meet  in  the  open,   and
 9    therefore,  the  exceptions  are  to  be  strictly construed,
10    extending only to subjects clearly within their scope.    The
11    exceptions  authorize  but  do  not  require the holding of a
12    closed meeting  to  discuss  a  subject  included  within  an
13    enumerated exception.
14        (c)  Exceptions.   A public body may hold closed meetings
15    to consider the following subjects:
16             (1)  The  appointment,   employment,   compensation,
17        discipline,   performance,   or   dismissal  of  specific
18        employees of the public body, including hearing testimony
19        on a complaint lodged against an  employee  to  determine
20        its validity.
21             (2)  Collective   negotiating  matters  between  the
22        public body and its employees or  their  representatives,
23        or  deliberations  concerning salary schedules for one or
24        more classes of employees.
25             (3)  The selection of a  person  to  fill  a  public
26        office,  as defined in this Act, including a vacancy in a
27        public office, when the public body  is  given  power  to
28        appoint  under  law  or  ordinance,  or  the  discipline,
29        performance  or  removal  of  the  occupant  of  a public
30        office, when the public body is given power to remove the
31        occupant under law or ordinance.
32             (4)  Evidence  or  testimony   presented   in   open
33        hearing,   or   in   closed  hearing  where  specifically
34        authorized by  law,  to  a  quasi-adjudicative  body,  as
 
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 1        defined  in this Act, provided that the body prepares and
 2        makes available for public inspection a written  decision
 3        setting forth its determinative reasoning.
 4             (5)  The  purchase or lease of real property for the
 5        use of the public body, including meetings held  for  the
 6        purpose  of discussing whether a particular parcel should
 7        be acquired.
 8             (6)  The setting of a price for  sale  or  lease  of
 9        property owned by the public body.
10             (7)  The    sale    or   purchase   of   securities,
11        investments, or investment contracts.
12             (8)  Security procedures and the  use  of  personnel
13        and equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a
14        reasonably  potential  danger to the safety of employees,
15        students, staff or public property.
16             (9)  Student disciplinary cases.
17             (10)  The  placement  of  individual   students   in
18        special  education programs and other matters relating to
19        individual students.
20             (11)  Litigation, when an action against,  affecting
21        or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed
22        and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal,
23        or  when the public body finds that an action is probable
24        or imminent, in which case  the  basis  for  the  finding
25        shall  be  recorded  and  entered into the minutes of the
26        closed meeting.
27             (12)  The establishment of reserves or settlement of
28        claims  as  provided  in  the  Local   Governmental   and
29        Governmental  Employees  Tort  Immunity Act, if otherwise
30        the disposition of a claim or potential  claim  might  be
31        prejudiced,  or  the review or discussion of claims, loss
32        or risk management information, records, data, advice  or
33        communications from or with respect to any insurer of the
34        public  body  or  any  intergovernmental  risk management
 
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 1        association or self insurance pool of  which  the  public
 2        body is a member.
 3             (13)  Conciliation  of  complaints of discrimination
 4        in the sale or rental of housing,  when  closed  meetings
 5        are  authorized  by the law or ordinance prescribing fair
 6        housing  practices   and   creating   a   commission   or
 7        administrative agency for their enforcement.
 8             (14)  Informant sources, the hiring or assignment of
 9        undercover  personnel  or equipment, or ongoing, prior or
10        future  criminal  investigations,  when  discussed  by  a
11        public body with criminal investigatory responsibilities.
12             (15)  Professional  ethics   or   performance   when
13        considered  by  an  advisory  body  appointed to advise a
14        licensing or regulatory agency on matters germane to  the
15        advisory body's field of competence.
16             (16)  Self  evaluation,  practices and procedures or
17        professional ethics, when meeting with  a  representative
18        of  a statewide association of which the public body is a
19        member.
20             (17)  The recruitment, credentialing, discipline  or
21        formal  peer  review  of  physicians or other health care
22        professionals  for  a  hospital,  or  other   institution
23        providing  medical  care,  that is operated by the public
24        body.
25             (18)  Deliberations for decisions  of  the  Prisoner
26        Review Board.
27             (19)  Review  or discussion of applications received
28        under the Experimental Organ  Transplantation  Procedures
29        Act.
30             (20)  The  classification  and discussion of matters
31        classified as confidential or continued  confidential  by
32        the State Employees Suggestion Award Board.
33             (21)  Discussion  of  minutes  of  meetings lawfully
34        closed under this Act, whether for purposes  of  approval
 
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 1        by  the  body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the
 2        minutes as mandated by Section 2.06.
 3             (22)  Deliberations  for  decisions  of  the   State
 4        Emergency Medical Services Disciplinary Review Board.
 5             (23)  The operation by a municipality of a municipal
 6        utility  or  the operation of a municipal power agency or
 7        municipal natural gas agency when the discussion involves
 8        (i) contracts relating to the purchase, sale, or delivery
 9        of electricity or natural gas  or  (ii)  the  results  or
10        conclusions of load forecast studies.
11             (24)  Discussion  by a tourism board or a convention
12        or civic center board concerning convention contracts  or
13        convention contract proposals.
14        (d)  Definitions.  For purposes of this Section:
15        "Employee" means a person employed by a public body whose
16    relationship    with   the   public   body   constitutes   an
17    employer-employee relationship under  the  usual  common  law
18    rules, and who is not an independent contractor.
19        "Public  office" means a position created by or under the
20    Constitution or laws of this State, the occupant of which  is
21    charged  with  the  exercise of some portion of the sovereign
22    power of this State. The term "public office"  shall  include
23    members  of  the  public  body,  but  it  shall  not  include
24    organizational  positions  filled by members thereof, whether
25    established by law or by a public body itself, that exist  to
26    assist the body in the conduct of its business.
27        "Quasi-adjudicative  body"  means  an administrative body
28    charged by  law  or  ordinance  with  the  responsibility  to
29    conduct  hearings,  receive  evidence  or  testimony and make
30    determinations based thereon,  but  does  not  include  local
31    electoral  boards  when  such bodies are considering petition
32    challenges.
33        (e)  Final action.  No final action may  be  taken  at  a
34    closed  meeting.  Final  action shall be preceded by a public
 
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 1    recital of the nature of  the  matter  being  considered  and
 2    other information that will inform the public of the business
 3    being conducted.
 4    (Source: P.A. 90-144, eff. 7-23-97; 91-730, eff. 1-1-01.)