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 Public Access Counselor (PAC) issued a binding opinion, finding a school board violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) when it improperly discussed school curriculum during closed session....more
The Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) requires Ohio’s public entities to conduct all deliberations and make all decisions in meetings that are open to the public. However, a public body can meet in executive session to discuss...more
The Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC) recently issued a binding decision, PAC 22-012, regarding the Open Meetings Act (OMA), finding that a board of education’s closed session discussions violated the OMA at separate...more
Compliance with the Open Meetings Law is an ongoing, ever-present obligation for all North Carolina public boards. The advent of Governor Cooper’s COVID-19 State of Emergency declaration prompted additional open meetings...more
Public bodies across the state utilize consent agendas during their public meetings to streamline certain routine items. Typically, these items include approval of minutes, payment of bills, acknowledgement of staff reports...more
The concept of a virtual public meeting arose out of necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pursuant to Amended Substitute House Bill 197, Ohio’s General Assembly authorized emergency relief to the Open Meetings Act...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
After years of representing and advising various public boards subject to the Open Meetings Law (Article 33C of Chapter 143 of the North Carolina General Statutes), I have repeatedly witnessed a very common mistake – voting...more
On June 26, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker extended by 30 days, until July 26, 2020, the disaster proclamation relating to COVID-19. As a result, public bodies may continue to hold virtual board meetings pursuant to...more
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 discussed in previous alerts posted on March 16 and March 18, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker passed an Executive Order suspending certain Open Meetings Act (OMA) requirements in the wake of COVID-19. Since the issuance of...more
On May 23, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill 2135, which in part amended the Open Meetings Act to permit, and set conditions for, conducting board meetings by audio or video conference without the physical...more
As we discussed in alerts on March?16 and March 18, a recent Executive Order by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker suspended certain Open Meetings Act (OMA) requirements to allow flexibility on issues of quorum and remote...more
Two recent decisions from the Eleventh District Court of Appeals (Portage County), State ex rel. Ames v. Brimfield Township Board of Trustees, both decided in December 2019, serve as a reminder to public boards of education...more
In a recent decision, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (PAC), which enforces the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA), found that a school district violated the OMA when it limited the public comment period...more
Boards try their best to avoid it, but you hear about it time and again—a board goes into closed session and the conversation turns away from the subject matter the board identified in open session as the reason for the...more
• The Illinois Attorney General (the AG) has concluded in a binding opinion that Western Illinois University's Board of Trustees (WIU Board) violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA) by improperly discussing budget issues...more
On April 12, the Public Access Counselor (“PAC”) issued a determination finding that a School District did not violate the Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) by holding a closed session to discuss the actions and interactions with an...more
The Illinois Supreme Court recently affirmed the decisions of the lower courts, which had overturned a Public Access Counselor opinion, in Board of Education of Springfield School District No. 186 v. the Attorney General of...more
The Public Access Counselor (PAC) division of the Attorney General’s Office recently held that the reduction in force joint committee (the “Joint Committee”) was subject to the requirements of the Open Meetings Act (OMA)....more
Our friends over at the EdLawConnectBlog in California published a blog about an interesting case from the Golden State that school leaders from across the country may find interesting. The case addressed whether school...more
The PAC recently issued a binding opinion ruling against a local village board for failing to provide proper notice and state a valid exception to enter closed session in violation of the Open Meetings Act (OMA). In PAC...more
In June, the Public Access Counselor (PAC) issued a non-binding opinion holding that board members of a school district did not violate the Open Meetings Act (OMA) when partaking in intermittent private email exchanges...more