 In 2009, the General Assembly revamped Illinois' Freedom of
Information Act to give the public greater access to government
information.But in the last year, the General Assembly has taken
steps to reduce the amount of information that is available.
Lawmakers amended the FOIA law last January to exempt performance
reviews of teachers, superintendents and administrators.
This past spring, lawmakers again amended the law, through
House Bill 5154, to make the performance reviews of all
government employees off-limits.
Quinn used his amendatory veto power on the bill this summer and
changed the law to allow only the evaluations of law enforcement to
be exempt.
On Tuesday, the Illinois House took up the issue again and voted
overwhelmingly to overturn Quinn's veto. The vote in the House was
77-36 in favor of the original bill.
State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, brought up the measure
during Tuesday's veto session.
"I'd like to override the governor's veto on House Bill 5154,"
Chapa La Via said.
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Melissa Hahn, president of Illinois News Broadcasters
Association, said she is disappointed by the Illinois House's
decision to override the governor's veto.
"We are opposed to the bill in its entirety, as it was originally
proposed and after it was tinkered with by Gov. Pat Quinn and made
to only affect law enforcement positions and their evaluations,"
Hahn said. "We sincerely hope that the Illinois Senate chooses to
literally ignore the bill and let it die."
The bill is expected to come before the Senate in the next few
weeks.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By JENNIFER WESSNER]
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