{"data":{"id":"us-in/ic-5-14-1.5-7.5","jurisdiction":"us-in","citation":"IC 5-14-1.5-7.5","heading":"Civil penalties imposed on public agency, officer, or management level employee","body":"Sec. 7.5. (a) This section applies only to an individual who is:\n(1) an officer of a public agency; or\n(2) employed in a management level position with a public agency.\n(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:\n(1) failing to give proper notice of a regular meeting, special meeting, or executive session;\n(2) taking final action outside a regular meeting or special meeting;\n(3) participating in a secret ballot during a meeting;\n(4) discussing in an executive session subjects not eligible for discussion in an executive session;\n(5) failing to prepare a memorandum of a meeting as required by section 4 of this chapter; or\n(6) participating in at least one (1) gathering of a series of gatherings under section 3.1 of this chapter;\nthe individual and the public agency are subject to a civil penalty under subsection (f).\n(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:\n(1) to the complainant and the public agency;\n(2) that finds that the individual or public agency violated this chapter; and\n(3) before the action under section 7 of this chapter is filed.\nNothing in this section prevents both the complainant and the public agency from requesting an advisory opinion from the public access counselor.\n(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:\n(1) An opinion of the public agency's legal counsel.\n(2) An opinion of the attorney general.\n(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:\n(1) The individual named as a defendant in the action.\n(2) The public agency named as a defendant in the action.\n(f) The court may impose against each defendant listed in subsection (c) the following civil penalties:\n(1) Not more than one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation.\n(2) Not more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each additional violation.\nA 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.\n(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.\n(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.\n(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).","path":["TITLE 5. STATE AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATION","ARTICLE 14. PUBLIC RECORDS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS","Chapter 1.5. Public Meetings (Open Door Law)"],"source_url":"https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_5.html#5-14-1.5-7.5","current_through":"2026","vintage":"2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-02T16:11:39Z","sha256":"700b4ba5ca4d1237fb0368100a310186239a5713f95def8d4b9ba4610894df28","source_id":"us-in","stale":false,"prev":"us-in/ic-5-14-1.5-7","next":"us-in/ic-5-14-1.5-8"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}