Local Government Law Bulletin
Easier Path to Home Rule Status?
April 14, 2016 The Illinois Municipal League is promoting a bill that would significantly increase the number of home rule municipalities within the State of Illinois. Currently, there are two ways in which a municipality becomes “home rule”: when the municipality has...
New Bill Seeks to Redefine Municipal Authority to Regulate School Zoning
April 14, 2016 Last September, we reported on Gurba v. Community High School District No. 155, where the Illinois Supreme Court found that “school property is subject to municipal zoning laws.” Now, one state representative has taken the initiative to codify a...
New PAC Opinion Stands as a Valuable Reminder to All Public Bodies
March 30, 2016 On March 25, 2016, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office handed down Public Access Opinion 16-003 finding that Harvey School District 152 violated section 3(f) of FOIA (“Act”) by failing to respond to a FOIA request submitted to the District. While...
Illinois Supreme Court Overturns Appellate Court’s Finding of PSEBA Eligibility
March 30, 2016 Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court took a meaningful stride in limiting the application of PSEBA line-of-duty benefits for catastrophic injuries. We previously reported on the case of Vaughn v. City of Carbondale, in which the appellate court held...
Smoron Inks ISBA Article on Recapture Fees and Foreclosures
March 29, 2016 Michael J. Smoron of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois, has authored a March 2016 article in “Local Government Law,” the newsletter of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Section on Local Government...
Appellate Court Allows Arbitration for Police Grievance
March 17, 2016 Recently, an Illinois Appellate Court determined a case concerning mandatory arbitration in police grievance procedures. In Bartonville v. Lopez, the Village filed a motion in the trial court seeking a declaratory judgment and a permanent stay of...
Illinois Attorney General Determines Post-Mortem Photographs May Be Released Pursuant to FOIA
March 17, 2016 The Illinois Attorney General recently released a binding Public Access Counselor (PAC) Opinion regarding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The request at issue concerned a father’s inquiry for records relating to his daughter’s death....
MCCG Legislative Trip Sparks Optimism for Local Governments
The McHenry County Council of Governments (MCCG) visited legislators as well as Gov. Rauner, following the governor’s Feb. 17 budget address. A different tone surrounded most of the legislative meetings this year from last year. A year ago, the governor’s proposed 50%...
Recent Case Interprets Video Gaming Act
March 4, 2016 In the last few months, the First District Appellate Court has dealt with a variety of cases concerning video gaming. We previously reported on these emerging video gaming cases in December 2015. In one such case, Illinois Coin Machine Operators...