Bill Text: IL SB3767 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-21 - Referred to Assignments [SB3767 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-SB3767-Introduced.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning government.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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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 | |||||||||||||||||||
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 : (i) , prior | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | to
or within 60 days of the meeting alleged to be in
violation | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | of this Act ; (ii) or, if facts concerning the meeting are not | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | discovered
within the 60-day period,
within 60 days of the | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | discovery of a violation by the State's
Attorney ; (iii) or, if | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | the person timely files a request for review under Section | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | 3.5, within 60 days of the decision by the Attorney General to | |||||||||||||||||||
21 | resolve a request for review by a means other than the issuance | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | of a binding opinion under subsection (e) of Section 3.5 ; or | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | (iv) if the public body failed to provide notice of the meeting |
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1 | compliant with Section 2.02, within 60 days after the | ||||||
2 | discovery of a violation of this Act by the person .
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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 | ||||||
7 | Attorney, are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of | ||||||
8 | Information 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 | ||||||
14 | administration and the public
interest, as well as for the | ||||||
15 | interests of the parties, may grant such
relief as it deems | ||||||
16 | appropriate, including granting a relief
by mandamus requiring | ||||||
17 | that a meeting be open
to the public, granting an injunction | ||||||
18 | against future violations of this
Act, ordering the public | ||||||
19 | body to make available to the public such portion
of the | ||||||
20 | minutes of a meeting as is not
authorized to be kept | ||||||
21 | confidential under this Act, or declaring null and
void any | ||||||
22 | final action taken at a closed meeting in violation of this | ||||||
23 | Act.
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24 | (d) The court may assess against any party, except a | ||||||
25 | State's Attorney,
reasonable attorney's fees and other | ||||||
26 | litigation costs reasonably incurred
by any other party who |
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1 | substantially prevails in any action brought in
accordance | ||||||
2 | with this Section, provided that costs may be assessed against
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3 | any private party or parties bringing an action pursuant to | ||||||
4 | this Section
only upon the court's determination that the | ||||||
5 | action is malicious or frivolous
in nature.
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6 | (Source: P.A. 99-714, eff. 8-5-16.)
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