Is This Really Asking Too Much?

An opportunity to increase transparency and bring about more timely disclosure of public information.

by Kate Piercy

Rep. Renee Kosel introduced legislation (HB5483) which would amend the current Open Meetings Act and require “a public body to make proposed minutes of an open meeting available for public inspection within 8 business days after the meeting to which the minutes relate and make approved minutes of an open meeting available for public inspection within 5 business days after approval (now, make available within 7 business days after approval).”

The legislation has been sent to the Rules Committee, which to most people means “sent to die.”

This bill is not asking too much of our public bodies and would simply provide a better – not to mention very doable – and more timely level of openness from all government bodies.

Unless HB5483 gets more attention from the media, public and lawmakers, it will most likely die in Rules, which would be an unfortunate missed opportunity for raising the level of government transparency and bringing more timely disclosure of public information to Illinois’s people.