The Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC) issued its seventh binding opinion of the year, finding a Village Board of Trustees violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) by taking improper action to authorize the purchase of a...more
The Illinois Appellate Court recently ruled that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not obligate a public body to produce records that it does not already maintain in response to a FOIA request. Further, the Court...more
The Illinois Appellate Court recently issued a new decision regarding the FOIA. In Kraft v. Chicago Police Department, the Court ruled in favor of the police department, finding it properly exempted records as unduly...more
The PAC recently released its second binding opinion of 2022, which provides helpful analysis and guidance regarding the personal and pre-decisional exemptions under the FOIA. The PAC determined that the City of Chicago...more
In Houston Community College System v. Wilson, the United States Supreme Court held that a public body’s verbal censure of a fellow board member did not violate the board member’s First Amendment rights. The censure followed...more
4/6/2022
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Board of Trustees ,
Censures ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Open Meetings Act ,
Public Entities ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
Standing
Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision regarding the FOIA, upholding a public body’s redaction of traffic accident reports pursuant to Sections 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(c) of the FOIA....more
On Friday, June 25, 2021, Governor Pritzker extended the Disaster Declaration related to COVID-19 for another 30 days. Pursuant to the declaration, public bodies may continue to hold virtual meetings in accordance with the...more
On Friday, June 25, 2021, Governor Pritzker extended the Disaster Declaration related to COVID-19 for another 30 days. Pursuant to the declaration, public bodies may continue to hold virtual meetings in accordance with the...more
The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor recently issued a binding opinion holding that the Illinois Freedom of Information Act exemption for predecisional records does not apply to communications from a public...more
In a recent decision, the Illinois Supreme Court reviewed commonly used contract language regarding the Prevailing Wage Act. This decision should put public bodies on notice to carefully review bid, purchase order, and other...more
PRE-DECISIONAL & DELIBERATIVE PROCESS UPDATES U.S. -
SUPREME COURT DECISION -
On March 4, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in United States Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club addressing the “deliberative...more
4/20/2021
/ Attorney's Fees ,
FOIA ,
Open Meetings Act ,
Police Reports ,
Public Access Laws ,
Public Entities ,
Public Meetings ,
Public Records ,
Public Schools ,
Reasonableness Factors ,
Sexual Assault
On Friday, June 12, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Public Act 101-640,?which, among other things, amends the Open Meetings Act to allow public bodies to hold virtual board meetings without the physical presence of a...more
As with most issues relating to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), expectations regarding the holding of public meetings have been evolving rapidly over the past few days. ...more
The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor was once again busy during 2019, issuing binding decisions of interest to public entities governed by the Illinois Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act....more
12/11/2019
/ Best Practices ,
Binding Precedent ,
FOIA ,
Non-Residents ,
Open Meetings Act ,
Public Access Laws ,
Public Entities ,
Public Meetings ,
Request For Information ,
School Boards ,
State and Local Government
Effective August 26, 2019, the Illinois Open Meetings Act has been amended, expanding the closed meeting exception to include discussion of personnel matters of independent contractors or volunteers in a closed meeting. ...more
In a recent decision, the Illinois Appellate Court held that the nonexistence of requested documents is an affirmative defense to a complaint grounded in the Freedom of Information Act. The court also clarified that public...more
Since a 2013 Illinois Appellate Court decision, City of Champaign v. Madigan, Illinois public bodies have known that three categories of emails and text messages sent to or from personal technology devices are “public...more
In a recent nonbinding letter, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor reportedly requested that public boards allow members of the public to speak about concerns with the conduct of specific board members. ...more
Effective immediately, the General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto to approve new amendments to the FOIA, which are designed to reduce the burden on public bodies. Public Act 98-1129 provides the following: 1) a...more