Gov Pat Quinn's amendatory veto of a bill exempting performance evaluations from public disclosure is a marginal improvement, but the effort to weaken the state's new FOIA will continue.

Gov. Pat Quinn used an amendatory veto this week to soften a measure that would have exempted performance evaluations of all public employees from disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

Quinn amended House Bill 5154 to exempt only the performance evaluations of state and local law enforcement personnel from disclosure, joining public school teachers and principals who had been exempted earlier.

We would have preferred an outright veto of the bill, but his changes at least allow for performance evaluations of some public employees to be made public – for now. But the effort to gut the state's new FOIA continues.

Among other provisions, the new FOIA carries a presumption of openness with public records, shortens the period of compliance with requests and establishes the Illinois attorney general's office as the final arbiter in the event of a dispute, and for the first time imposes civil penalties for governments that willingly violate it.

The new Freedom of Information law was barely two weeks old when legislators amended it the first time in January, repealing a provision that made evaluations of public school employees available. Several other measures were introduced aimed at various FOIA provisions. The Legislature then passed House Bill 5154 in the spring session, which amended the state's Personnel Records Review Act to exempt all performance evaluations of public employees from disclosure under FOIA.

In announcing his changes, Quinn wrote that the bill was "a departure from the groundbreaking legislation that I approved just last year, making our State's open information laws among the most robust in the entire country."

But he said public safety officials need to have their evaluations exempt from disclosure. "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.

But in reality, the legislation contradicts the new FOIA, which states that information that bears on the public duties of public employees should be open and accessible to the public. Taxpayers should have the right to information about how public employees do their jobs, no matter what jobs they hold.

And concern over possible misuse of performance reviews may be more imagined than real. Cara Smith, public access counselor in the Illinois Attorney General's office, said that of the several thousand FOIA requests her office has reviewed this year, only about 25 involved performance reviews.

Quinn's changes go back to the Legislature for action in the fall veto session in November, where legislators can approve the changes or override them with a three-fifths vote in each chamber. It's a safe bet that legislators will be under considerable pressure to override the changes since House Bill 5154 was one of the top priorities for public employee unions and the Illinois Municipal League last spring.

Regardless of the outcome on H.B. 5154, there are powerful forces lined up in opposition to the tone of government transparency the FOIA tries to establish. At a time when government in Illinois desperately needs transparency, death by a thousand cuts of FOIA can be expected to continue.