Section 5-14-1.5-7.5 - Civil penalties imposed on public agency, officer, or management level employee(a) This section applies only to an individual who is:(1) an officer of a public agency; or(2) employed in a management level position with a public agency.(b) If an individual with the specific intent to violate the law fails to perform a duty imposed on the individual under this chapter by:(1) failing to give proper notice of a regular meeting, special meeting, or executive session;(2) taking final action outside a regular meeting or special meeting;(3) participating in a secret ballot during a meeting;(4) discussing in an executive session subjects not eligible for discussion in an executive session;(5) failing to prepare a memorandum of a meeting as required by section 4 of this chapter; or(6) participating in at least one (1) gathering of a series of gatherings under section 3.1 of this chapter; the individual and the public agency are subject to a civil penalty under subsection (f).
(c) A civil penalty may only be imposed as part of an action filed under section 7 of this chapter. A court may not impose a civil penalty under this section unless the public access counselor has issued an advisory opinion:(1) to the complainant and the public agency;(2) that finds that the individual or public agency violated this chapter; and(3) before the action under section 7 of this chapter is filed. Nothing in this section prevents both the complainant and the public agency from requesting an advisory opinion from the public access counselor.
(d) It is a defense to the imposition of a civil penalty under this section that the individual failed to perform a duty under subsection (b) in reliance on either of the following:(1) An opinion of the public agency's legal counsel.(2) An opinion of the attorney general.(e) Except as provided in subsection (i), in an action filed under section 7 of this chapter, a court may impose a civil penalty against one (1) or more of the following: (1) The individual named as a defendant in the action.(2) The public agency named as a defendant in the action.(f) The court may impose against each defendant listed in subsection (c) the following civil penalties: (1) Not more than one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation.(2) Not more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each additional violation. A civil penalty imposed under this section is in addition to any other civil or criminal penalty imposed. However, in any one (1) action brought under section 7 of this chapter, a court may impose only one (1) civil penalty against an individual, even if the court finds that the individual committed multiple violations. This subsection does not preclude a court from imposing another civil penalty against an individual in a separate action, but an individual may not be assessed more than one (1) civil penalty in any one (1) action brought under this section.
(g) A court shall distribute monthly to the state comptroller any penalties collected under this section for deposit in the education fund established by IC 5-14-4-14.(h) An individual is personally liable for a civil penalty imposed on the individual under this section. A civil penalty imposed against a public agency under this section shall be paid from the public agency's budget.(i) If an officer of a public agency directs an individual who is employed in a management level position to fail to give proper notice as described in subsection (b)(1), the management level employee is not subject to civil penalties under subsection (f).Amended by P.L. 9-2024,SEC. 145, eff. 7/1/2024.Added by P.L. 134-2012, SEC. 16, eff. 7/1/2012.