Local Government Law Bulletin
Federal Appeals Court Issues Decision Regarding Jail Underwear Policy
March 20, 2017 In Mulvania v. Sheriff of Rock Island County, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit was asked by the named plaintiff and ten additional female detainees to review the Rock Island Sheriff’s policy requiring female detainees to wear...
Illinois Appellate Court Issues Opinion Concerning Candidates Signing Nominating Petitions
March 9, 2017 Thanks to a recent appellate court decision, candidates for local office can be sure that their nomination papers will not be invalidated if the candidate later signs petitions for members of another political party. In this recent case, the Fourth...
Proposed Changes to Illinois’s Freedom of Information Act
March 9, 2017 Earlier this week, a bill was introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives concerning a municipality’s ability to deny Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The bill, if passed, would amend Section 3.1 of the FOIA, Requests for Commercial...
MCCG Annual Legislative Trip
February 23, 2017 The McHenry County Council of Governments (MCCG) conducted its annual legislative trip to Springfield last week. The MCCG constituents met with State Representatives Durkin, Flynn, McSweeney, Reick, Skillicorn, and Wheeler, as well as State Senators...
Proposed Legislation Concerning FOIA and the Open Meetings Act
February 23, 2017 With Illinois’s 100th General Assembly in full motion, legislators have been quick to introduce new laws, which if passed would amend Illinois’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Meetings Act. It is doubtful that these bills will ever become...
Proposed Law Amends Local Records Act to Include Personal Emails
Last week, a bill was introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives concerning personal emails and the Local Records Act. House Bill 2385, which would take immediate effect if passed, proposes to amend the Local Records Act to include personal emails as public...
Illinois Appellate Court Determines PSEBA Case
February 9, 2017 An Illinois appellate court recently decided a case concerning what constitutes an "emergency" under the Public Safety Employee Benefits Act (PSEBA). At issue was whether a firefighter’s injury, which occurred while he was lifting a disabled resident...
Illinois Supreme Court Rules on Open Meetings Act
January 24, 2017 Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court’s rejection of a problematic opinion from the Public Access Counselor (PAC) which found a board of education committed four violations of the Open Meetings Act (OMA). We reported on...
Federal Court Strikes Down Right-to-Work Ordinance
January 19, 2017 Earlier this month, a Federal District Court in Chicago struck down the Village of Lincolnshire’s “right-to-work” ordinance. We previously reported on this ordinance and how it affects employees governed by the NLRA. The Village’s right-to-work...