Illinois § 75

§ 75.

Confidentiality of regional review teams, information, and domestic violence fatality reviews. (a) Meetings in which regional review teams are engaged in a domestic violence fatality review or in which confidential information is shared or disclosed are closed to the public and not subject to Section 2 of the Open Meetings Act. (b) Unless otherwise available and lawfully obtained through another source pursuant to an applicable law that allows the disclosure and release of the information, confidential information in the possession of a regional review team is not: (1) subject to disclosure by the Board, Statewide Committee, or a regional review team under the Freedom of Information Act, and this exemption does not extend to other public bodies unless otherwise provided by law; (2) subject to subpoena and discovery under Section 2-402 of the Code of Civil Procedure, Article 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963, or Illinois Supreme Court Rule 412; and (3) admissible as evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding. (c) Confidential information in the possession of a regional review team shall not be disclosed, released, or shared except as follows: (1) among Statewide Committee members or Statewide Committee staff pursuant to the review of an eligible case; (2) among regional review team members to determine whether a case is eligible for review or whether an eligible case should be reviewed; (3) among regional review team members and participants during a domestic violence fatality review; or (4) a regional review team votes to share confidential information for solely educational or research purposes, consistent with State or federal law, as long as the information disclosed does not include the identities of victims, survivors, deceased, or offenders, or their family members or any information by which their identities can be determined by a reasonably diligent inquiry. (d) All Statewide Committee members, Statewide Committee subcommittee members, Statewide Committee staff, all members of each regional review team, and any other person who participates in any manner in a review of an eligible case by a regional review team shall execute a confidentiality agreement based upon a model confidentiality agreement developed by the Statewide Committee or a document substantially similar to the Statewide Committee's model document that acknowledges and agrees to comply with the responsibility not to disclose or release confidential information. All executed confidentiality agreements shall be maintained by the Statewide Committee and by each regional review team, respectively. (e) Members and staff of the Board, Statewide Committee, and members of a regional review team or participants of a domestic violence fatality review cannot be subject to examination or compelled to disclose or release confidential information in any administrative, civil or criminal proceeding, except for information that is otherwise available and lawfully obtained through another source pursuant to an applicable law that allows the disclosure and release of the information. (Source: P.A. 102-520, eff. 8-20-21.)