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
