OMA Amended to Provide Elected and Appointed Officials Access to Closed Session Minutes and Verbatim Recordings

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OMA Amended to Provide Elected and Appointed Officials Access to Closed Session Minutes and Verbatim Recordings

Jul 6, 2016

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This question of accessibility to closed session records by members of a public body’s governing board has come up from time to time.  On June 30, 2016, Governor Rauner signed House Bill 4630 into law as Public Act 99-515 (the “Law”), which amends the Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) to provide elected and appointed officials with the right to access closed session minutes and verbatim recordings of the public body on which they serve. 

This Law grants access to elected and appointed officials as follows: (1) in the public body’s main office or official storage location; (2) in the presence of a records secretary, an administrative official or elected official of the public body; and (3) no removal from the public body’s main office or official storage location, except by vote of the public body or court order. 

This Law is effective immediately.