by Shawn P. Flaherty and John E. Motylinski The Decennial Committees on Local Government Efficiency Act (P.A. 102-1088; 50 ILCS 70/1 et seq.) became effective in June 2022. The Act requires fire protection districts, among other units of local government, to form a committee to study the topic of efficiency once every ten years. Below is a list of required …

by: Megan Lamb As we have previously shared, Illinois enacted the Decennial Committees on Local Government Efficiency Act in June of 2022. 50 ILCS 70/1, et. seq. The Act requires covered “governmental units” to create a committee every ten years that is tasked with (1) studying how efficiently the local government is operating, and (2) submitting a written report to …

by Maureen Anichini Lemon Under the School Administrator Reporting of Mental Health Clear and Present Danger Determinations Law, 430 ILCS 66/105, school principals and designees must notify the Illinois State Police Office of Firearms Safety (ISP) within 24 hours of determining that a student poses a clear and present danger to himself, herself, or others. This determination may be based …

On November 15, 2022, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Third Judicial District issued a decision in Robert Cammacho Jr., et al. v. City of Joliet, 2022 IL App (3d) 210591-U, and ruled that the City of Joliet lacked jurisdiction to enforce overweight vehicle ordinance through administrative adjudication. Background The City enacted Ordinance 19-21, which provides: “[u]nless authorized in this …

By James G. Wargo and Bradley Michalowski On July 12, 2022, Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2022-16, which removes EMS personnel from the Governor’s previously issued COVID-19 vaccination and testing mandate issued on September 3, 2021. This most recent executive order re-issued and modifies Executive Orders 2020-12 (issued March 24, 2020) and 2021-22 (issued September 3, 2021) and became effective …

By Meganne Trela Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois has been operating under a disaster proclamation from Governor J.B. Pritzker. The disaster proclamation has since served as the basis for local government entities to hold their public meetings entirely by remote means under the newly enacted Section 7(e) of the Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) (5 ILCS 120/7(e)). On …

by James G. Wargo The Illinois Governmental Ethics Act (the “Act”) requires certain local governmental office holders, candidates, appointed officials, and employees to file a “Statement of Economic Interests.” (5 ILCS 420/4A-101.5.) Following the passage of Public Act 102-0664 (effective January 1, 2022), significant changes have been made to the Statement of Financial Interests form. The following questions and answers …

By Maureen A. Lemon On Friday, September 17, 2021, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and Governor Pritzker each took emergency action to address several pandemic-related topics facing Illinois school districts. Late in the day, ISBE filed proposed Emergency Rules regarding Mandatory Vaccinations for School Personnel, https://www.isbe.net/Documents/18389_23-6RG-E.pdf. Later in the day, Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2021-24, https://coronavirus.illinois.gov/resources/executive-orders/display.executive-order-number-24.2021.html. requiring …

by Maureen A. Lemon On Thursday, August 26, 2021, Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2021-20 (COVID-19 Executive Order 87) mandating that all school district personnel are vaccinated against the virus. All school personnel are expected to have the first dose of a two-dose vaccine series or a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine by September 5, 2021 — 10 days after the Executive …

by Douglas S. Dorando The COVID-19 pandemic has placed fire & EMS personnel on the front lines of the response in providing care to patients impacted with the virus, resulting in thousands of documented cases among fire personnel around the country and directly resulted in the deaths of more than 200 fire personnel. Over the last several months, individual fire …