Illinois Closed-Session Minutes and Recordings: How to Find the Record and Understand a Denial
Sources checked October 16, 2026.
If an Illinois public body held a closed meeting, there should generally be written minutes and an audio or video recording. That does not mean either record is automatically public. The Open Meetings Act (OMA) sets different access rules for the minutes and the recording. This guide helps you identify the record, ask whether it has been released, and understand the response. 5 ILCS 120/2.06(a), (d)–(f).
Start with the meeting and the record you want
Write down the public body’s exact name and the meeting date. If you know the agenda item or the part of the meeting that was closed, include it. Decide whether you want the closed-session minutes, the verbatim audio or video recording, the open-session minutes, or more than one of these. They are distinct records. The open-session minutes may help you identify when the body voted to enter closed session and how it described the reason.
Illinois law requires public bodies to keep written minutes of both open and closed meetings and a verbatim audio or video record of closed meetings. Written minutes summarize discussion and record votes; the recording captures the session itself. 5 ILCS 120/2.06(a). The 2026 Public Access Counselor report likewise distinguishes these records. It says the body must approve closed-session minutes in open session.
If you are unsure which office holds the records, use the Illinois FOIA officer directory as a starting point and confirm the contact on the public body’s official site. Your written request can name the body, meeting date, and each record separately. The site’s request builder can help you organize the request; it does not send it for you.
Please provide the approved written minutes and any audio or video recording of the closed portion of the [public body] meeting held on [date]. Please also provide the open-session minutes and any open-session report or determination about whether the closed-session minutes for that meeting remain confidential or have been released. If you withhold any requested record, please identify the applicable provision and explain your decision in writing.
Keep a copy of what you sent and any delivery confirmation. If the recording you seek may be old, ask the body whether it still maintains it rather than assuming its absence from a website means it was destroyed.
What the body may release
The body must periodically review its closed-session minutes, generally every six months or as soon thereafter as practicable, and report in open session whether all or part still needs confidential treatment. When the body determines that confidentiality is no longer necessary, the minutes or released portions become available for public inspection. A missed review does not by itself make every closed-session record public. 5 ILCS 120/2.06(d), (f); 2026 PAC report, closed-meeting FAQ.
The recording has its own rule. Unless the body has determined that the verbatim recording no longer requires confidential treatment or otherwise consents to disclosure, OMA generally keeps it closed to public inspection. The statute also describes limited access for officials and in proceedings brought to enforce OMA; those provisions do not turn the recording into a routinely public file. 5 ILCS 120/2.06(e).
If the body denies a FOIA request for closed-session minutes, ask which portion of the minutes remains confidential and whether the body has made and reported a release determination. The Attorney General’s 2026 report explains that closed-session minutes are exempt from FOIA under section 7(1)(l) until the body decides otherwise. For a recording, ask whether the body has made a release determination under section 2.06(e). A claim that the body has not released either record is different from a claim that the record does not exist. 2026 PAC report, closed-meeting FAQ; 5 ILCS 120/2.06(e)–(f).
If you think the response is wrong
First identify the dispute. If the body denied your records request, retain that response and review the site’s guide to challenging an Illinois FOIA denial. The Request for Review builder can help prepare a letter to the Public Access Counselor (PAC), but it does not submit one. The Attorney General’s FOIA review instructions explain what to include and the filing method. A FOIA review concerns the response to the records request; it does not automatically decide whether the meeting itself was lawfully closed.
If instead you believe the body improperly held a closed meeting, failed to keep required records, or failed to conduct the required review, that may be an OMA issue. The OMA review process has its own allegations and timing. Section 3.5 generally gives 60 days after the alleged OMA violation to seek PAC review, with a limited later-discovery provision. Use the Attorney General’s OMA review instructions and 5 ILCS 120/3.5 for that separate route. Do not assume that asking for the minutes pauses an OMA deadline.
Keep the request, response, open-session minutes, dates, and any notice about release or continued confidentiality together. Whether a particular record should be disclosed depends on the body’s actual determinations and the governing law. This is general information, not legal advice.
For related tasks, see requesting school-board records, handling an unanswered FOIA request, and the site’s closed-sessions topic collection.