Wednesday, January 4, 2012

All elected or appointed officials are required to be trained on Open Meetings Act

Open Meetings (HB 1670/PA 97-0504): Requires all current and future elected and appointed officials in Illinois to take Open Meetings Act training courses administered by the Public Access Counselor in the Attorney General’s office. Elected school board members are exempted from receiving their training through the AG’s office if they take an alternate course offered by an institution created under Article 23 of the School Code.

The actual act is available at:  http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=097-0504 and is shown below. The underline portions are the new or amended sections.

HB1670 Enrolled
LRB097 10495 JDS 50792 b

AN ACT concerning government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,

represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Open Meetings Act is amended by changing

Sections 1.05 and 4 as follows:

(5 ILCS 120/1.05)

Sec. 1.05. Training.

(a) Every public body shall designate employees, officers,

or members to receive training on compliance with this Act.

Each public body shall submit a list of designated employees,

officers, or members to the Public Access Counselor. Within 6

months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the

96th General Assembly, the designated employees, officers, and

members must successfully complete an electronic training

curriculum, developed and administered by the Public Access

Counselor, and thereafter must successfully complete an annual

training program. Thereafter, whenever a public body

designates an additional employee, officer, or member to

receive this training, that person must successfully complete

the electronic training curriculum within 30 days after that

designation.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this Section, each

elected or appointed member of a public body subject to this

Act who is such a member on the effective date of this

amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly must successfully

complete the electronic training curriculum developed and

administered by the Public Access Counselor. For these members,

the training must be completed within one year after the

effective date of this amendatory Act.

Except as otherwise provided in this Section, each elected

or appointed member of a public body subject to this Act who

becomes such a member after the effective date of this

amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly shall successfully

complete the electronic training curriculum developed and

administered by the Public Access Counselor. For these members,

the training must be completed not later than the 90th day

after the date the member:

(1) takes the oath of office, if the member is required

to take an oath of office to assume the person's duties as

a member of the public body; or

(2) otherwise assumes responsibilities as a member of

the public body, if the member is not required to take an

oath of office to assume the person's duties as a member of

the governmental body.

Each member successfully completing the electronic

training curriculum shall file a copy of the certificate of

completion with the public body.

Completing the required training as a member of the public

body satisfies the requirements of this Section with regard to

the member's service on a committee or subcommittee of the

public body and the member's ex officio service on any other

public body.

The failure of one or more members of a public body to

complete the training required by this Section does not affect

the validity of an action taken by the public body.

An elected or appointed member of a public body subject to

this Act who has successfully completed the training required

under this subsection (b) and filed a copy of the certificate

of completion with the public body is not required to

subsequently complete the training required under this

subsection (b).

(c) An elected school board member may satisfy the training

requirements of this Section by participating in a course of

training sponsored or conducted by an organization created

under Article 23 of the School Code. The course of training

shall include, but not be limited to, instruction in:

(1) the general background of the legal requirements

for open meetings;

(2) the applicability of this Act to public bodies;

(3) procedures and requirements regarding quorums,

notice, and record-keeping under this Act;

(4) procedures and requirements for holding an open

meeting and for holding a closed meeting under this Act;

and

(5) penalties and other consequences for failing to

comply with this Act.

If an organization created under Article 23 of the School

Code provides a course of training under this subsection (c),

it must provide a certificate of course completion to each

school board member who successfully completes that course of

training.

(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)

(5 ILCS 120/4) (from Ch. 102, par. 44)

Sec. 4. Any person violating any of the provisions of this

Act, except subsection (b) or (c) of Section 1.05, shall be

guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.

(Source: P. A. 77-2549.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2012