Rauner signs bill strengthening OMA
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Open Meetings Act is getting some more teeth.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>On Friday, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed an amendment, House Bill 5683, that allows anyone to file a lawsuit for violations of OMA within 60 days of the Illinois Attorney General's office deciding to resolve an alleged violation through a means other than a binding opinion.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The amendment, which took effect as soon as it was signed, changes Section 3 of the Act to the following:</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"Where the provisions of this Act are not complied with, or where this is probable cause to believe that the provisions of this Act will not be complied with, any person, including the State's Attorney of the county in which such noncompliance may occur, may bring a civil action in the circuit court for the judicial circuit in which the alleged noncompliance has occurred or is about to occur, or in which the affected public body has in its principal office, prior to or within 60 days of the meeting alleged to be in violation of this Act, or if the facts concerning the meeting are not discovered within the 60-day period, within 60 days of discovery of a violation by the State's Attorney or, if the person timely files a request for review under Section 3.5, within 60 days of the decision by the Attorney General to resolve a request for review by a means other than an issuance of a binding opinion under subsection (e) of Section 3.5."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Previously, citizens had no remedy once the 60-day deadline had passed after the meeting in question and the Attorney General decided not to issue a binding opinion.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Chief sponsor of the legislation was State Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard), who is a constitutional attorney specializing in free speech and religious liberty rights. Senate sponsor was Chris Nybo (R-Elmhurst).</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The bill passed unanimously in the House and Senate. It was introduced February 10, nine days before the Herald Tribune filed its initial request for review.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Its signing comes after both the Perry County (Ill.) Board and Chester District 139 Board of Education were found in violation of OMA in separate cases investigated by the Public Access Bureau of the Attorney General's office.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In separate findings, the PAB later determined that the executive session of Perry County's November 2015 meeting was in violation of the act, as were Chester's January and February executive sessions.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>During its July meeting, the Chester BOE approved a resolution from the AG's office to release a segment of its May meeting to the media and the public.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The resolution was to resolve a dispute regarding whether or not a PAB investigation could be considered "pending litigation" and eligible to be discussed in executive session.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The segment, a 15-second .MP3 file, involved Superintendent Rick Goodman briefly mentioning that the PAB's decision was pending and the board had not heard anything about it recently.</span>