Full Text of HB2265 103rd General Assembly
HB2265 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024 HB2265 Introduced 2/14/2023, by Rep. Ryan Spain SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 5 ILCS 120/3 | from Ch. 102, par. 43 |
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Amends the Open Meetings Act. Provides that a civil action for violation of the Act may be brought within 60 days after the discovery of failure to comply with specified notice requirements.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning government.
| 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 | | Section 3 as follows:
| 6 | | (5 ILCS 120/3) (from Ch. 102, par. 43)
| 7 | | Sec. 3.
(a) Where the provisions of this Act are not | 8 | | complied with, or
where there is probable cause to believe | 9 | | that 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 . The civil | 15 | | action described in this Section must be brought (i) , prior to
| 16 | | or within 60 days of the meeting alleged to be in
violation of | 17 | | this Act ; (ii) or, if facts concerning the meeting are not | 18 | | discovered
within the 60-day period,
within 60 days of the | 19 | | discovery of a violation by the State's
Attorney if facts | 20 | | concerning the meeting are not discovered within the 60-day | 21 | | period described in item (i); (iii) or, if the person timely | 22 | | files a request for review under Section 3.5, within 60 days of | 23 | | the decision by the Attorney General to resolve a request for |
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| 1 | | review by a means other than the issuance of a binding opinion | 2 | | under subsection (e) of Section 3.5 if the person bringing the | 3 | | action has timely filed a request for review under that | 4 | | section; or (iv) within 60 days after the discovery of a | 5 | | violation of this Act by the person bringing the action if the | 6 | | public body against which the action is brought failed to | 7 | | provide notice of the meeting in accordance with Section 2.02 .
| 8 | | Records that are obtained by a State's Attorney from a | 9 | | public body for purposes of reviewing whether the public body | 10 | | has complied with this Act may not be disclosed to the public. | 11 | | Those records, while in the possession of the State's | 12 | | Attorney, are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of | 13 | | Information Act. | 14 | | (b) In deciding such a case the court may examine in camera | 15 | | any portion
of the minutes of a meeting at which a violation of | 16 | | the Act is alleged to
have occurred, and may take such | 17 | | additional evidence as it deems necessary.
| 18 | | (c) The court, having due regard for orderly | 19 | | administration and the public
interest, as well as for the | 20 | | interests of the parties, may grant such
relief as it deems | 21 | | appropriate, including granting a relief
by mandamus requiring | 22 | | that a meeting be open
to the public, granting an injunction | 23 | | against future violations of this
Act, ordering the public | 24 | | body to make available to the public such portion
of the | 25 | | minutes of a meeting as is not
authorized to be kept | 26 | | confidential under this Act, or declaring null and
void any |
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| 1 | | final action taken at a closed meeting in violation of this | 2 | | Act.
| 3 | | (d) The court may assess against any party, except a | 4 | | State's Attorney,
reasonable attorney's fees and other | 5 | | litigation costs reasonably incurred
by any other party who | 6 | | substantially prevails in any action brought in
accordance | 7 | | with this Section, provided that costs may be assessed against
| 8 | | any private party or parties bringing an action pursuant to | 9 | | this Section
only upon the court's determination that the | 10 | | action is malicious or frivolous
in nature.
| 11 | | (Source: P.A. 99-714, eff. 8-5-16.)
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