100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HB3242

 

Introduced , by Rep. Christine Winger

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
5 ILCS 140/3  from Ch. 116, par. 203
5 ILCS 140/4  from Ch. 116, par. 204
5 ILCS 140/6  from Ch. 116, par. 206

    Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that except as otherwise provided in the Act, the public body shall apply the Act in a uniform manner, regardless of who requests to inspect or copy a public record. Provides that all fees charged by a public body shall be according to a fee schedule that is part of a public record of the body. Effective immediately.


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A BILL FOR

 

HB3242LRB100 10327 HEP 20516 b

1    AN ACT concerning government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by
5changing Sections 3, 4, and 6 as follows:
 
6    (5 ILCS 140/3)  (from Ch. 116, par. 203)
7    Sec. 3. (a) Each public body shall make available to any
8person for inspection or copying all public records, except as
9otherwise provided in Sections 7 and 8.5 of this Act.
10Notwithstanding any other law, a public body may not grant to
11any person or entity, whether by contract, license, or
12otherwise, the exclusive right to access and disseminate any
13public record as defined in this Act. Except as otherwise
14provided in this Act, the public body shall apply this Act in a
15uniform manner, regardless of who requests to inspect or copy a
16public record.
17    (b) Subject to the fee provisions of Section 6 of this Act,
18each public body shall promptly provide, to any person who
19submits a request, a copy of any public record required to be
20disclosed by subsection (a) of this Section and shall certify
21such copy if so requested.
22    (c) Requests for inspection or copies shall be made in
23writing and directed to the public body. Written requests may

 

 

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1be submitted to a public body via personal delivery, mail,
2telefax, or other means available to the public body. A public
3body may honor oral requests for inspection or copying. A
4public body may not require that a request be submitted on a
5standard form or require the requester to specify the purpose
6for a request, except to determine whether the records are
7requested for a commercial purpose or whether to grant a
8request for a fee waiver. All requests for inspection and
9copying received by a public body shall immediately be
10forwarded to its Freedom of Information officer or designee.
11    (d) Each public body shall, promptly, either comply with or
12deny a request for public records within 5 business days after
13its receipt of the request, unless the time for response is
14properly extended under subsection (e) of this Section. Denial
15shall be in writing as provided in Section 9 of this Act.
16Failure to comply with a written request, extend the time for
17response, or deny a request within 5 business days after its
18receipt shall be considered a denial of the request. A public
19body that fails to respond to a request within the requisite
20periods in this Section but thereafter provides the requester
21with copies of the requested public records may not impose a
22fee for such copies. A public body that fails to respond to a
23request received may not treat the request as unduly burdensome
24under subsection (g).
25    (e) The time for response under this Section may be
26extended by the public body for not more than 5 business days

 

 

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1from the original due date for any of the following reasons:
2        (i) the requested records are stored in whole or in
3    part at other locations than the office having charge of
4    the requested records;
5        (ii) the request requires the collection of a
6    substantial number of specified records;
7        (iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and
8    requires an extensive search for the records responsive to
9    it;
10        (iv) the requested records have not been located in the
11    course of routine search and additional efforts are being
12    made to locate them;
13        (v) the requested records require examination and
14    evaluation by personnel having the necessary competence
15    and discretion to determine if they are exempt from
16    disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be
17    revealed only with appropriate deletions;
18        (vi) the request for records cannot be complied with by
19    the public body within the time limits prescribed by
20    paragraph (c) of this Section without unduly burdening or
21    interfering with the operations of the public body;
22        (vii) there is a need for consultation, which shall be
23    conducted with all practicable speed, with another public
24    body or among two or more components of a public body
25    having a substantial interest in the determination or in
26    the subject matter of the request.

 

 

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1    The person making a request and the public body may agree
2in writing to extend the time for compliance for a period to be
3determined by the parties. If the requester and the public body
4agree to extend the period for compliance, a failure by the
5public body to comply with any previous deadlines shall not be
6treated as a denial of the request for the records.
7    (f) When additional time is required for any of the above
8reasons, the public body shall, within 5 business days after
9receipt of the request, notify the person making the request of
10the reasons for the extension and the date by which the
11response will be forthcoming. Failure to respond within the
12time permitted for extension shall be considered a denial of
13the request. A public body that fails to respond to a request
14within the time permitted for extension but thereafter provides
15the requester with copies of the requested public records may
16not impose a fee for those copies. A public body that requests
17an extension and subsequently fails to respond to the request
18may not treat the request as unduly burdensome under subsection
19(g).
20    (g) Requests calling for all records falling within a
21category shall be complied with unless compliance with the
22request would be unduly burdensome for the complying public
23body and there is no way to narrow the request and the burden
24on the public body outweighs the public interest in the
25information. Before invoking this exemption, the public body
26shall extend to the person making the request an opportunity to

 

 

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1confer with it in an attempt to reduce the request to
2manageable proportions. If any public body responds to a
3categorical request by stating that compliance would unduly
4burden its operation and the conditions described above are
5met, it shall do so in writing, specifying the reasons why it
6would be unduly burdensome and the extent to which compliance
7will so burden the operations of the public body. Such a
8response shall be treated as a denial of the request for
9information.
10    Repeated requests from the same person for the same records
11that are unchanged or identical to records previously provided
12or properly denied under this Act shall be deemed unduly
13burdensome under this provision.
14    (h) Each public body may promulgate rules and regulations
15in conformity with the provisions of this Section pertaining to
16the availability of records and procedures to be followed,
17including:
18        (i) the times and places where such records will be
19    made available, and
20        (ii) the persons from whom such records may be
21    obtained.
22    (i) The time periods for compliance or denial of a request
23to inspect or copy records set out in this Section shall not
24apply to requests for records made for a commercial purpose,
25requests by a recurrent requester, or voluminous requests. Such
26requests shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 3.1,

 

 

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13.2, and 3.6 of this Act, as applicable.
2(Source: P.A. 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14.)
 
3    (5 ILCS 140/4)  (from Ch. 116, par. 204)
4    Sec. 4. Each public body shall prominently display at each
5of its administrative or regional offices, make available for
6inspection and copying, and send through the mail if requested,
7each of the following:
8        (a) A brief description of itself, which will include,
9    but not be limited to, a short summary of its purpose, a
10    block diagram giving its functional subdivisions, the
11    total amount of its operating budget, the number and
12    location of all of its separate offices, the approximate
13    number of full and part-time employees, and the
14    identification and membership of any board, commission,
15    committee, or council which operates in an advisory
16    capacity relative to the operation of the public body, or
17    which exercises control over its policies or procedures, or
18    to which the public body is required to report and be
19    answerable for its operations; and
20        (b) A brief description of the methods whereby the
21    public may request information and public records, a
22    directory designating the Freedom of Information officer
23    or officers, the address where requests for public records
24    should be directed, and a schedule of any fees allowable
25    under Section 6 of this Act.

 

 

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1    A public body that maintains a website shall also post this
2information on its website.
3(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
 
4    (5 ILCS 140/6)  (from Ch. 116, par. 206)
5    Sec. 6. Authority to charge fees.
6    (a) When a person requests a copy of a record maintained in
7an electronic format, the public body shall furnish it in the
8electronic format specified by the requester, if feasible. If
9it is not feasible to furnish the public records in the
10specified electronic format, then the public body shall furnish
11it in the format in which it is maintained by the public body,
12or in paper format at the option of the requester. A public
13body may charge the requester for the actual cost of purchasing
14the recording medium, whether disc, diskette, tape, or other
15medium. If a request is not a request for a commercial purpose
16or a voluminous request, a public body may not charge the
17requester for the costs of any search for and review of the
18records or other personnel costs associated with reproducing
19the records. Except to the extent that the General Assembly
20expressly provides, statutory fees applicable to copies of
21public records when furnished in a paper format shall not be
22applicable to those records when furnished in an electronic
23format.
24    (a-5) If a voluminous request is for electronic records and
25those records are not in a portable document format (PDF), the

 

 

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1public body may charge up to $20 for not more than 2 megabytes
2of data, up to $40 for more than 2 but not more than 4 megabytes
3of data, and up to $100 for more than 4 megabytes of data. If a
4voluminous request is for electronic records and those records
5are in a portable document format, the public body may charge
6up to $20 for not more than 80 megabytes of data, up to $40 for
7more than 80 megabytes but not more than 160 megabytes of data,
8and up to $100 for more than 160 megabytes of data. If the
9responsive electronic records are in both a portable document
10format and not in a portable document format, the public body
11may separate the fees and charge the requester under both fee
12scales.
13    If a public body imposes a fee pursuant to this subsection
14(a-5), it must provide the requester with an accounting of all
15fees, costs, and personnel hours in connection with the request
16for public records.
17    (b) Except when a fee is otherwise fixed by statute, each
18public body may charge fees reasonably calculated to reimburse
19its actual cost for reproducing and certifying public records
20and for the use, by any person, of the equipment of the public
21body to copy records. No fees shall be charged for the first 50
22pages of black and white, letter or legal sized copies
23requested by a requester. The fee for black and white, letter
24or legal sized copies shall not exceed 15 cents per page. If a
25public body provides copies in color or in a size other than
26letter or legal, the public body may not charge more than its

 

 

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1actual cost for reproducing the records. In calculating its
2actual cost for reproducing records or for the use of the
3equipment of the public body to reproduce records, a public
4body shall not include the costs of any search for and review
5of the records or other personnel costs associated with
6reproducing the records, except for commercial requests as
7provided in subsection (f) of this Section. Such fees shall be
8imposed according to a standard scale of fees, established and
9made public by the body imposing them. The cost for certifying
10a record shall not exceed $1.
11    (c) Documents shall be furnished without charge or at a
12reduced charge, as determined by the public body, if the person
13requesting the documents states the specific purpose for the
14request and indicates that a waiver or reduction of the fee is
15in the public interest. Waiver or reduction of the fee is in
16the public interest if the principal purpose of the request is
17to access and disseminate information regarding the health,
18safety and welfare or the legal rights of the general public
19and is not for the principal purpose of personal or commercial
20benefit. For purposes of this subsection, "commercial benefit"
21shall not apply to requests made by news media when the
22principal purpose of the request is to access and disseminate
23information regarding the health, safety, and welfare or the
24legal rights of the general public. In setting the amount of
25the waiver or reduction, the public body may take into
26consideration the amount of materials requested and the cost of

 

 

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1copying them.
2    (d) The imposition of a fee not consistent with subsections
3(6)(a) and (b) of this Act constitutes a denial of access to
4public records for the purposes of judicial review.
5    (e) The fee for each abstract of a driver's record shall be
6as provided in Section 6-118 of "The Illinois Vehicle Code",
7approved September 29, 1969, as amended, whether furnished as a
8paper copy or as an electronic copy.
9    (f) A public body may charge up to $10 for each hour spent
10by personnel in searching for and retrieving a requested record
11or examining the record for necessary redactions. No fees shall
12be charged for the first 8 hours spent by personnel in
13searching for or retrieving a requested record. A public body
14may charge the actual cost of retrieving and transporting
15public records from an off-site storage facility when the
16public records are maintained by a third-party storage company
17under contract with the public body. If a public body imposes a
18fee pursuant to this subsection (f), it must provide the
19requester with an accounting of all fees, costs, and personnel
20hours in connection with the request for public records. The
21provisions of this subsection (f) apply only to commercial
22requests.
23    (g) All fees charged by a public body shall be according to
24a fee schedule that is part of the public record of the body
25required under Section 4 of this Act.
26(Source: P.A. 97-579, eff. 8-26-11; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14.)
 

 

 

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1    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
2becoming law.