HB0691 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB100 04244 HEP 14250 b

100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HB0691

Introduced , by Rep. Bill Mitchell

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
5 ILCS 140/7.5

Creates the Public Safety Officer Privacy Act. Defines terms. Limits the disclosure of a public safety officer's personal information by a person, business, association, or government agency if the entity has received a written request to limit the disclosure. Provides that the public safety officer's personal information shall be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act unless a government agency has received consent from the public safety officer to make the personal information available to the public. Allows for injunctive or declaratory relief for violations. Prohibits a person, business, or association from soliciting, selling, or trading on the Internet a public safety officer's personal information with the intent to pose an imminent and serious threat to the health and safety of the public safety officer or the officer's immediate family. Amends the Freedom of Information Act to make a corresponding change.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Public Safety Officer Privacy Act.

Section 5. Purpose; scope. The purpose of this Act is to improve the safety and security of Illinois public safety officers to ensure they are able to uphold their duty to maintain public safety without fear of personal reprisal from individuals affected by the decisions they make in the course of carrying out their public function. This Act is not intended to restrain a public safety officer from independently making public his or her own personal information. Additionally, no government agency, person, business, or association has any obligation under this Act to protect the privacy of a public safety officer's personal information until the public safety officer makes a written request that his or her personal information not be publicly posted.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Correctional officer" means a person who is employed by or works for a government agency penal institution.

"Fire fighter" means any person appointed to a fire department or fire protection district or employed by a government agency and sworn or commissioned to perform fire fighter duties or paramedic duties, including part-time fire fighters, auxiliary fire fighters, reserve or voluntary fire fighters, and paid on-call fire fighters.

"Government agency" includes all agencies, authorities, boards, commissions, departments, institutions, offices, and any other bodies politic and corporate of this State, created by the constitution or statute, whether in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch; all units and corporate outgrowths created by executive order of the Governor or any constitutional officer, by the Supreme Court, or by resolution of the General Assembly; or agencies, authorities, boards, commissions, departments, institutions, offices, and any other bodies politic and corporate of a unit of local government or school district.

"Home address" includes a public safety officer's permanent residence and any secondary residences affirmatively identified by the public safety officer, but does not include a public safety officer's work address.

"Immediate family" includes a public safety officer's spouse, child, parent, or any blood relative of the public safety officer or the public safety officer's spouse who lives in the same residence as the public safety officer.

"Peace officer" or "officer" means a person defined under Section 2-13 of the Criminal Code of 2012.

"Penal institution" means an institution defined under Section 2-14 of the Criminal Code of 2012.

"Personal information" means a home address, home telephone number, mobile telephone number, pager number, personal email address, social security number, federal tax identification number, checking and savings account numbers, credit card numbers, marital status, and identity of children under the age of 18.

"Public safety officer" means a peace officer, fire fighter, or correctional officer.

"Publicly available content" means any written, printed, or electronic document or record that provides information or that serves as a document or record maintained, controlled, or in the possession of a government agency that may be obtained by any person or entity, from the Internet, from the government agency upon request either free of charge or for a fee, or in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

"Publicly post" or "publicly display" means to communicate to another or otherwise make available to the general public.

"Written request" means written notice signed by a public safety officer or a representative of the public safety officer's employer requesting a government agency, person, business, or association to refrain from posting or displaying publicly available content that includes the public safety officer's personal information.

Section 15. Publicly posting or displaying a public safety officer's personal information.

(a) A government agency shall not publicly post or display publicly available content that includes a public safety officer's personal information if the government agency has received a written request in accordance with Section 20 of this Act. After a government agency has received a written request, that agency shall remove the public safety officer's personal information from publicly available content within 5 business days. After the government agency has removed the public safety officer's personal information from publicly available content, the agency shall not publicly post or display the information and the public safety officer's personal information shall be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act unless the government agency has received consent from the public safety officer to make the personal information available to the public.

(b) A person, business, or association shall not publicly post or display on the Internet available content that includes a public safety officer's personal information if the public safety officer has made a written request in accordance with Section 20 of this Act to the person, business, or association. After a person, business, or association has received a written request from a public safety officer, the person, business, or association shall have 5 business days to remove the personal information from the Internet. The person, business, or association shall also ensure that the public safety officer's personal information is not made available on any website or subsidiary website controlled by the person, business, or association, nor transferred to any other person, business, or association through any medium. Regardless of whether a written request has been made, no person, business, or association shall solicit, sell, or trade on the Internet a public safety officer's personal information with the intent to pose an imminent and serious threat to the health and safety of the public safety officer or the public safety officer's immediate family.

(c) A public safety officer whose personal information is made public as a result of a violation of this Act may bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Section 20. Procedure for completing a written request.

(a) A government agency, person, business, or association shall not be found to have violated any provision of this Act if the public safety officer fails to submit a written request under this Section.

(b) A written request is valid if the public safety officer or representative acting in accordance with subsection (c) of this Section sends a written request directly to a government agency, person, business, or association.

(c) A representative from the public safety officer's employer may submit a written request on behalf of the public safety officer if the public safety officer gives written consent to the representative and the representative agrees to furnish a copy of the consent when a written request is made. The representative shall submit the written request as provided in this Section.

(d) A public safety officer's written request shall specify which personal information shall be maintained private. If a public safety officer wishes to identify a secondary residence as a home address, the designation shall be made in the written request. A public safety officer shall disclose the identity of the officer's immediate family and indicate that the personal information of these family members shall also be excluded to the extent that it could reasonably be expected to reveal the personal information of the public safety officer.

(e) A public safety officer's written request is valid until he or she provides the government agency, person, business, or association with written permission to release the private information. A public safety officer's written request expires upon the death of the officer.

Section 105. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by changing Section 7.5 as follows:

(5 ILCS 140/7.5)

Sec. 7.5. Statutory exemptions. To the extent provided for by the statutes referenced below, the following shall be exempt from inspection and copying:

(a) All information determined to be confidential under Section 4002 of the Technology Advancement and Development Act.

(b) Library circulation and order records identifying library users with specific materials under the Library Records Confidentiality Act.

(c) Applications, related documents, and medical records received by the Experimental Organ Transplantation Procedures Board and any and all documents or other records prepared by the Experimental Organ Transplantation Procedures Board or its staff relating to applications it has received.

(d) Information and records held by the Department of Public Health and its authorized representatives relating to known or suspected cases of sexually transmissible disease or any information the disclosure of which is restricted under the Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act.

(e) Information the disclosure of which is exempted under Section 30 of the Radon Industry Licensing Act.

(f) Firm performance evaluations under Section 55 of the Architectural, Engineering, and Land Surveying Qualifications Based Selection Act.

(g) Information the disclosure of which is restricted and exempted under Section 50 of the Illinois Prepaid Tuition Act.

(h) Information the disclosure of which is exempted under the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, and records of any lawfully created State or local inspector general's office that would be exempt if created or obtained by an Executive Inspector General's office under that Act.

(i) Information contained in a local emergency energy plan submitted to a municipality in accordance with a local emergency energy plan ordinance that is adopted under Section 11-21.5-5 of the Illinois Municipal Code.

(j) Information and data concerning the distribution of surcharge moneys collected and remitted by wireless carriers under the Wireless Emergency Telephone Safety Act.

(k) Law enforcement officer identification information or driver identification information compiled by a law enforcement agency or the Department of Transportation under Section 11-212 of the Illinois Vehicle Code.

(l) Records and information provided to a residential health care facility resident sexual assault and death review team or the Executive Council under the Abuse Prevention Review Team Act.

(m) Information provided to the predatory lending database created pursuant to Article 3 of the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act, except to the extent authorized under that Article.

(n) Defense budgets and petitions for certification of compensation and expenses for court appointed trial counsel as provided under Sections 10 and 15 of the Capital Crimes Litigation Act. This subsection (n) shall apply until the conclusion of the trial of the case, even if the prosecution chooses not to pursue the death penalty prior to trial or sentencing.

(o) Information that is prohibited from being disclosed under Section 4 of the Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances Registry Act.

(p) Security portions of system safety program plans, investigation reports, surveys, schedules, lists, data, or information compiled, collected, or prepared by or for the Regional Transportation Authority under Section 2.11 of the Regional Transportation Authority Act or the St. Clair County Transit District under the Bi-State Transit Safety Act.

(q) Information prohibited from being disclosed by the Personnel Records Review Act.

(r) Information prohibited from being disclosed by the Illinois School Student Records Act.

(s) Information the disclosure of which is restricted under Section 5-108 of the Public Utilities Act.

(t) All identified or deidentified health information in the form of health data or medical records contained in, stored in, submitted to, transferred by, or released from the Illinois Health Information Exchange, and identified or deidentified health information in the form of health data and medical records of the Illinois Health Information Exchange in the possession of the Illinois Health Information Exchange Authority due to its administration of the Illinois Health Information Exchange. The terms "identified" and "deidentified" shall be given the same meaning as in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191, or any subsequent amendments thereto, and any regulations promulgated thereunder.

(u) Records and information provided to an independent team of experts under Brian's Law.

(v) Names and information of people who have applied for or received Firearm Owner's Identification Cards under the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act or applied for or received a concealed carry license under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act, unless otherwise authorized by the Firearm Concealed Carry Act; and databases under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act, records of the Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act, and law enforcement agency objections under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act.

(w) Personally identifiable information which is exempted from disclosure under subsection (g) of Section 19.1 of the Toll Highway Act.

(x) Information which is exempted from disclosure under Section 5-1014.3 of the Counties Code or Section 8-11-21 of the Illinois Municipal Code.

(y) Confidential information under the Adult Protective Services Act and its predecessor enabling statute, the Elder Abuse and Neglect Act, including information about the identity and administrative finding against any caregiver of a verified and substantiated decision of abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of an eligible adult maintained in the Registry established under Section 7.5 of the Adult Protective Services Act.

(z) Records and information provided to a fatality review team or the Illinois Fatality Review Team Advisory Council under Section 15 of the Adult Protective Services Act.

(aa) Information which is exempted from disclosure under Section 2.37 of the Wildlife Code.

(bb) Information which is or was prohibited from disclosure by the Juvenile Court Act of 1987.

(cc) Recordings made under the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act, except to the extent authorized under that Act.

(dd) Information that is prohibited from being disclosed under Section 45 of the Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson Act.

(ee) (dd) Information that is exempted from disclosure under Section 30.1 of the Pharmacy Practice Act.

(ff) Information that is exempt from disclosure under the Public Safety Officer Privacy Act.

(Source: P.A. 98-49, eff. 7-1-13; 98-63, eff. 7-9-13; 98-756, eff. 7-16-14; 98-1039, eff. 8-25-14; 98-1045, eff. 8-25-14; 99-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-298, eff. 8-6-15; 99-352, eff. 1-1-16; 99-642, eff. 7-28-16; 99-776, eff. 8-12-16; 99-863, eff. 8-19-16; revised 9-1-16.)