Public Employee Evaluations Access

by Kate Piercy Gov. Quinn has made an amendatory veto to HB5141, which called for the exemption of all public employee performance evaluations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Institute argued against this bill, saying it would threaten transparency in government by prohibiting the release of public employee performance reviews under FOIA. The...

by Kate Piercy

Gov. Quinn has made an amendatory veto to HB5141, which called for the exemption of all public employee performance evaluations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The Institute argued against this bill, saying it would threaten transparency in government by prohibiting the release of public employee performance reviews under FOIA. The idea started with some lawmakers wanting to exempt teachers’ performance evaluations, and then it expanded to all public employees.

Fortunately, the State Journal Register reports, “Quinn’s change to House Bill 5154 would exempt only state and local law enforcement personnel from the requirement that performance evaluations be public information.”

This is definitely an improvement:

Quinn wrote in his veto message, “House Bill 5154 exempts all public employees’ performance evaluations from disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This exemption is a departure from groundbreaking legislation that I approved just last year, making our State’s open information laws among the most robust in the entire country.”

However, Quinn thinks public safety officials should have their evaluations kept from public view: “If disclosed, these evaluations could be used by criminal suspects or defendants to undermine a police investigation or attack the credibility and integrity of a police officer,” Quinn wrote.

Quinn has made a positive move regarding this bill. If it had received his signature as is, its passage would have been a major step backwards in the movement for more transparency and accountability in government.