Section 2950.40  Public Information Requests

a)         All files created or received in the execution of the Task Group's responsibilities under the Act shall be open to public inspection and copying as provided by the FOIA.

b)         Files shall be maintained by the Task Group containing all information submitted to or produced by the Task Group or any of its members relating to matter within the Task Group's authority.  Without limiting the foregoing, the files shall include:  notices, minutes, transcripts, exhibits, orders and opinions, proposed and adopted regulations, communications to or from the Task Group or any Task Group member, any documents created by or submitted to the Task Group, business records, public comments and requests, and any internal communications files, if so requested by any Task Group member and with consent of the author of that communication.  Files will be maintained at Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, 1035 Outer Park Drive, Springfield, Illinois 62704.

c)         All files maintained by the Task Group will be open to reasonable public inspection and copying, except those exempted by the FOIA.  The Task Group shall maintain a list of files open to public inspection.

d)         All requests made to the Task Group for public records shall be directed to the Chairman of the Task Group at the office of the Task Group's legal counsel, Robert E. Wagner and Associates, P.C., 133 South Fourth Street, Suite 306, Springfield, Illinois 62701.

e)         The Chairman may delegate the response to the person(s) familiar with, or having responsibility for, the information requested.

f)          The Chairman, or his designee, shall respond to a written request within seven working days from receipt of the request.  The time for response may be extended for up to seven additional working days for any of the responses provided in Section 3(d) of the FOIA.  Notice of any extension shall be provided within the original seven working days and shall state the reasons why the extension is necessary.

g)         Categorical requests creating an undue burden upon the Task Group shall be denied only after extending to the requestor an opportunity to narrow the request to manageable proportions in accordance with Section 3(f) of the FOIA, which reads as follows:  requests calling for all records falling within a category shall be complied with unless compliance with the request would be unduly burdensome for the complying Task Group and there is no way to narrow the request and the burden on the Task Group outweighs the public interest in the information.  Before invoking this exemption, the Task Group shall extend to the person making the request an opportunity to confer with it in an attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions.  If the Task Group responds to a categorical request by stating that compliance would unduly burden its operation and the conditions described above are met, it shall do so in writing, specifying the reasons why it would be unduly burdensome and the extent to which compliance will so burden the operations of the Task Group.  Such a response shall be treated as a denial of the request for information.  Repeated requests for the same public records by the same person shall be deemed unduly burdensome under this provision. [5 ILCS 140/3(f)]

h)         The Chairman may require payment of any fees due prior to providing copies of the public records.  Any fees collected pursuant to the FOIA for costs of copying shall be deposited into the General Revenue Fund.

i)          If a request, or part thereof, is denied, the denial shall be accompanied by, or include, notice of the requestor's right to appeal and an explanation for the procedures for appeal pursuant to Section 9 of the FOIA.  The requestor's right to appeal shall be to the Chairman of the Task Group. Failure to respond to a written request within seven working days may be considered by the requestor as a denial.

(Source:  Amended at 18 Ill. Reg. 8684, effective May 25, 1994)