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Frequently Asked Questions As the name of the office implies, the role of the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) is to inspect, meaning to investigate and report. The LIG is not a prosecutor or a judge and therefore lacks any enforcement authority. The Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) is an appointed body of eight commissioners who act as the quasi-judicial body that decides contested cases when complaints are filed with the LEC by the Attorney General’s office on behalf of the Legislative Inspector General (LIG). No. Not anymore. It is the Legislative Inspector General’s (LIG’s) duty and practice to open investigations based on the filing of a complaint. You may submit a complaint to the Legislative Inspector General by filling out and submitting the form available at this link: LIG Complaint Form. According to the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, the identity of any person providing information or reporting any possible or alleged misconduct to the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) shall be kept confidential and may not be disclosed without that person’s consent, unless the person consents to disclosure of his or her name or disclosure of the person’s identity is otherwise required by law. (5 ILCS 430/25-90(a)) Regardless of whether the person filing a complaint consents to disclosure of the person’s identity as the complainant, by law the complaint itself is nevertheless confidential and may not be publicly disclosed unless disclosed as part of publication of records made public by the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) in cases in which allegations of the complaint are determined to be well-founded. Even then, such records may be redacted to prevent disclosure of the identity of complainants and witnesses. (5 ILCS 430/25-52; 25-90(b);25-95(d)) Yes. However, if you as the complainant are an essential witness or the complaint fails to identify some other essential witness(es), it may be impossible to investigate the allegations raised in your complaint. Also, without your contact information the LIG will be unable to provide you with any updates about the investigation, including whether an investigation is opened or closed. Section 25-63 of the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430/25-63) sets forth the rights of a person who files a complaint (complainant) with the Legislative Inspector General: (1) within 5 business days of the Legislative Inspector General receiving a complaint in which the complainant is identified, to be notified by the Legislative Inspector General of the receipt of the complaint, the complainant's rights, and an explanation of the process, rules, and procedures related to the investigation of an allegation, and the duties of the Legislative Inspector General and the Legislative Ethics Commission; (2) within 5 business days after the Legislative Inspector General’s decision to open or close an investigation into the complaint or refer the complaint to another appropriate agency, to be notified of the Legislative Inspector General's decision; however, if the Legislative Inspector General reasonably determines that publicly acknowledging the existence of an investigation would interfere with the conduct or completion of that investigation, the notification may be withheld until public acknowledgment of the investigation would no longer interfere with that investigation; (3) after an investigation has been opened, to have any interviews of the complainant audio recorded by the Legislative Inspector General and to review, in person and in the presence of the Legislative Inspector General or his or her designee, any transcript or interview report created from that audio recorded interview. The complainant may provide any supplemental statements or evidence throughout the investigation; (4) to have a union representative, attorney, co-worker, or other support person who is not involved in the investigation, at the complainant’s expense, present at any interview or meeting, whether in person or by telephone or audio-visual communication, between the complainant and the Legislative Inspector General or Legislative Ethics Commission; (5) to submit a complainant impact statement that shall be included with the Legislative Inspector General's summary report to the Legislative Ethics Commission for its consideration; (6) to testify at a hearing [before the Legislative Ethics Commission], to the extent the hearing is based on an allegation of a violation of Section 5-65 of this Act [relating to sexual harassment] involving the complainant, and have a single union representative, attorney, co-worker, or other support person who is not involved in the investigation, at the complainant's expense, accompany him or her while testifying; (7) to review, within 5 business days prior to its release, any portion of a summary report of the investigation subject to public release under this Article related to the allegations concerning the complainant, after redactions made by the Legislative Ethics Commission, and offer suggestions for redaction or provide a response that shall be made public with the summary report; and (8) to file a complaint with the Legislative Ethics Commission for any violation of the complainant's rights under this Section by the Legislative Inspector General. The complainant shall have the sole discretion in determining whether or not to exercise those rights. Subjects of an investigation by the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) are obligated to cooperate in the investigation and subject to discipline if they fail to do so, as stated in Section 25-70 of the Ethics Act: The first thing the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) does after receiving a complaint is to determine whether, if true, the allegations stated in the complaint would constitute a violation within the LIG’s jurisdiction. Section 25-63 of the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430/25-63) sets forth the rights of a person who files a complaint (complainant) with the Legislative Inspector General: (1) A description of any allegations or other information received by the Legislative Inspector General pertinent to the investigation. (2) A description of any alleged misconduct discovered in the course of the investigation. (3) Recommendations for any corrective or disciplinary action to be taken in response to any alleged misconduct described in the report, including, but not limited to, discharge. (4) Other information the Legislative Inspector General deems relevant to the investigation or resulting recommendations. The summary report is delivered to the appropriate “ultimate jurisdictional authority” (for most legislative branch personnel, the member or employee’s legislative leader: President of the Senate, Minority Leader of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, or Minority Leader of the House of Representatives), and the member of the General Assembly, if any, who is the subject of the report. Pursuant to Section 25-52 of the Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430/25-52), investigative summary reports of the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) may only be released publicly by the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) – the LIG has no such authority. And, the LEC is authorized to publicly release such summary reports only in cases resulting in discipline in the form of suspension of at least three days or termination of employment (or if the summary report is part of the public record of a disciplinary hearing held before the LEC). Pursuant to the Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430/25-65 and 25-85), the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) is required to file two types of quarterly activity reports: a confidential report to the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) and a public report to the General Assembly that is published on the LIG’s website. (1) A summary of any investigation opened during the preceding quarter, the affected office, agency or agencies, the investigation's unique tracking number, and a brief statement of the general nature of the allegation or allegations; (2) A summary of any investigation closed during the preceding quarter, the affected office, agency or agencies, the investigation's unique tracking number, and a brief statement of the general nature of the allegation or allegations. (3) The status of an ongoing investigation that remained open at the end of the quarter, the affected office, agency or agencies, the investigation's unique tracking number, and a brief statement of the general nature of the investigation. If any investigation is not concluded within six months after its initiation, the LIG must also file a confidential six-month report with the LEC disclosing: (1) the general nature of the allegation or information giving rise to the investigation, the title or job duties of the subjects of the investigation, and the investigation's unique tracking number. (2) the date of the last alleged violation giving rise to the investigation; (3) whether the LIG has found credible the allegations of criminal conduct; (4) whether the allegation has been referred to an appropriate law enforcement agency and the identity of the law enforcement agency to which those allegations were referred; (5) if an allegation has not been referred to an appropriate law enforcement agency, the reasons for the failure to complete the investigation within six months, a summary of the investigative steps taken, additional investigative steps contemplated at the time of the report, and an estimate of additional time necessary to complete the investigation; and (6) any other information deemed necessary by the LEC in determining whether to appoint a Special Inspector General. If the LIG has referred an allegation to an appropriate law enforcement agency and continues to investigate the matter, future reporting requirements are suspended. The public quarterly reports submitted by the LIG to both the General Assembly and LEC and published on the LIG’s website are required to include: (1) the total number of allegations received since the date of the last report and the total number of allegations received since the date of the last report by category of claim; (2) the total number of investigations initiated since the date of the last report and the total number of investigations initiated since the date of the last report by category of claim; (3) the total number of investigations concluded since the date of the last report and the total number of investigations concluded since the date of the last report by category of claim; (4) the total number of investigations pending as of the reporting date and the total number of investigations pending as of the reporting date by category of claim; (5) the total number of summary reports forwarded to the Attorney General pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 25-50 since the date of the last report; (6) the total number of actions filed with the Legislative Ethics Commission since the date of the last report, the total number of actions pending before the Legislative Ethics Commission as of the reporting date, the total number of actions filed with the Legislative Ethics Commission since the date of the last report by category of claim, and the total number of actions pending before the Legislative Ethics Commission as of the reporting date by category of claim; (7) the number of allegations referred to any law enforcement agency since the date of the last report; (8) the total number of allegations referred to another investigatory body since the date of the last report; and (9) the cumulative number of each of the foregoing for the current calendar year. For the purposes of such public reports, “category of claim” includes discrimination claims, harassment claims, sexual harassment claims, retaliation claims, gift ban claims, prohibited political activity claims, revolving door prohibition claims, and other, miscellaneous, or uncharacterized claims. Pursuant to Section 25-63 of the Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430/25-63) persons who file a complaint with the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) as a victim of discrimination, harassment, or sexual harassment in violation of Section 5-65 of the Ethics Act or Article 2 of the Illinois Human Rights Act (“complainant”), regardless of whether the complaint is filed by the person, shall have the following rights: (1) within 5 business days of the LIG receiving a complaint in which the complainant is identified, to be notified by the LIG of the receipt of the complaint, the complainant’s rights, and an explanation of the process, rules, and procedures related to the investigation of an allegation, and the duties of the LIG and the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC); (2) within 5 business days after the LIG’s decision to open or close an investigation into the complaint or refer the complaint to another appropriate agency, to be notified of the LIG’s decision; however, if the LIG reasonably determines that publicly acknowledging the existence of an investigation would interfere with the conduct or completion of that investigation, the notification may be withheld until public acknowledgment of the investigation would no longer interfere with that investigation; (3) after an investigation has been opened, to have any interviews of the complainant audio recorded by the LIG and to review, in person and in the presence of the LIG or the LIG’s designee, any transcript or interview report created from that audio recorded interview. The complainant may provide any supplemental statements or evidence throughout the investigation; (4) to have a union representative, attorney, co-worker, or other support person who is not involved in the investigation, at the complainant’s expense, present at any interview or meeting, whether in person or by telephone or audio-visual communication, between the complainant and the LIG or LEC; (5) to submit a complainant impact statement that shall be included with the LIG’s summary report to the LEC for its consideration; (6) to testify at a hearing held under subsection (g) of Section 25-50 of the Ethics Act, to the extent the hearing is based on an allegation of a violation of Section 5-65 of that Act involving the complainant, and have a single union representative, attorney, co-worker, or other support person who is not involved in the investigation, at the complainant’s expense, accompany the complainant while testifying; (7) to review, within 5 business days prior to its release, any portion of a summary report of the investigation subject to public release related to the allegations concerning the complainant, after redactions made by the LEC, and offer suggestions for redaction or provide a response that shall be made public with the summary report; and (8) to file a complaint with the LEC for any violation of the complainant’s rights under this Section by the LIG. The complainant shall have the sole discretion in determining whether or not to exercise those rights. All such rights shall be waived if the complainant fails to cooperate with the LIG’s investigation of the complaint. The Ethics Act states in 5 ILCS 430/25-70: “It is the duty of every officer and employee under the jurisdiction of the Legislative Inspector General, including any inspector general serving in any State agency under the jurisdiction of the Legislative Inspector General, to cooperate with the Legislative Inspector General and the Attorney General in any investigation undertaken pursuant to this Act. Failure to cooperate includes, but is not limited to, intentional omissions and knowing false statements. Failure to cooperate with an investigation of the Legislative Inspector General or the Attorney General is grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal. Nothing in this Section limits or alters a person's existing rights or privileges under State or federal law.” Yes. The Ethics Act prohibits public disclosure of requests made to the Legislative Inspector General (or ethics officers) for guidance about Ethics Act issues and guidance provided in response to such requests. (5 ILCS 430/25-90(b) and 25-95(a-5))
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