Full Text of HB0152 94th General Assembly
HB0152ham001 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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State Government Administration Committee
Filed: 2/17/2005
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| AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 152
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| AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 152 by replacing | 3 |
| everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| "Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by | 5 |
| changing Sections 3 and 11 as follows:
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| (5 ILCS 140/3) (from Ch. 116, par. 203)
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| Sec. 3. (a) Each public body shall make available to any | 8 |
| person for
inspection or copying all public records, except as | 9 |
| otherwise provided in
Section 7 of this Act.
Notwithstanding | 10 |
| any other law, a public body may not grant to any person
or | 11 |
| entity, whether by contract, license, or otherwise, the | 12 |
| exclusive right to
access and disseminate any public record as | 13 |
| defined in this Act.
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| (b) Subject to the fee provisions of Section 6 of this Act, | 15 |
| each public
body shall promptly provide, to any person who | 16 |
| submits a written request,
a copy of any public record required | 17 |
| to be disclosed
by subsection (a) of this Section and shall | 18 |
| certify such copy if so requested.
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| (c) Each public body shall, promptly, either comply with or | 20 |
| deny a written
request for public records within 7 working days | 21 |
| after its receipt. Denial
shall be by letter as provided in | 22 |
| Section 9 of this Act. Failure to respond to
a written request | 23 |
| within 7 working days after its receipt shall be considered a
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| denial of the request. The public body may be subject to |
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| sanctions pursuant to Section 11(j) of this Act if the court | 2 |
| determines that the denial was improper and unreasonable or was | 3 |
| invoked for the sole purpose of delaying, without good cause, | 4 |
| access to the public record.
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| (d) The time limits prescribed in paragraph (c) of this | 6 |
| Section may be
extended in each case for not more than 7 | 7 |
| additional working days for any
of the following reasons:
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| (i) the requested records are stored in whole or in | 9 |
| part at other
locations
than the office having charge of | 10 |
| the requested records;
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| (ii) the request requires the collection of a | 12 |
| substantial number of
specified records;
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| (iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and | 14 |
| requires an
extensive
search for the records responsive to | 15 |
| it;
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| (iv) the requested records have not been located in the | 17 |
| course of routine
search and additional efforts are being | 18 |
| made to locate them;
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| (v) the requested records require examination and | 20 |
| evaluation by personnel
having the necessary competence | 21 |
| and discretion to determine if they are
exempt from | 22 |
| disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be | 23 |
| revealed
only with appropriate deletions;
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| (vi) the request for records cannot be complied with by | 25 |
| the public body
within the time limits prescribed by | 26 |
| paragraph (c) of this Section without
unduly burdening or | 27 |
| interfering with the operations of the public body;
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| (vii) there is a need for consultation, which shall be | 29 |
| conducted with all
practicable speed, with another public | 30 |
| body or among two or more components
of a public body | 31 |
| having a substantial interest in the determination or in
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| the subject matter of the request.
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| (e) When additional time is required for any of the above | 34 |
| reasons, the
public body shall notify by letter the person |
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| making the written request within
the time limits specified by | 2 |
| paragraph (c) of this Section of the reasons
for the delay and | 3 |
| the date by which the records will be made available or
denial | 4 |
| will be forthcoming. In no instance, may the delay in | 5 |
| processing
last longer than 7 working days. A failure to render | 6 |
| a decision within
7 working days shall be considered a denial | 7 |
| of the request. The public body may be subject to sanctions | 8 |
| pursuant to Section 11(j) of this Act if the court determines | 9 |
| that the denial was improper and unreasonable or was invoked | 10 |
| for the sole purpose of delaying, without good cause, access to | 11 |
| the public record.
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| (f) Requests calling for all records falling within a | 13 |
| category shall be
complied with unless compliance with the | 14 |
| request would be unduly burdensome
for the complying public | 15 |
| body and there is no way to narrow the request and the
burden | 16 |
| on the public body outweighs the public interest in the | 17 |
| information.
Before invoking this exemption, the public body | 18 |
| shall extend to the person
making the request an opportunity to | 19 |
| confer with it in an attempt to reduce
the request to | 20 |
| manageable proportions. If any body responds to a categorical
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| request by stating that compliance would unduly burden its | 22 |
| operation and
the conditions described above are met, it shall | 23 |
| do so in writing, specifying
the reasons why it would be unduly | 24 |
| burdensome and the extent to which compliance
will so burden | 25 |
| the operations of the public body. Such a response shall
be | 26 |
| treated as a denial of the
request for information. Repeated | 27 |
| requests for the same public records by
the same person shall | 28 |
| be deemed unduly burdensome under this provision.
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| (g) Each public body may promulgate rules and regulations | 30 |
| in conformity
with the provisions of this Section pertaining to | 31 |
| the availability of records
and procedures to be followed, | 32 |
| including:
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| (i) the times and places where such records will be | 34 |
| made available, and
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| (ii) the persons from whom such records may be | 2 |
| obtained.
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| (Source: P.A. 90-206, eff. 7-25-97.)
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| (5 ILCS 140/11) (from Ch. 116, par. 211)
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| Sec. 11. (a) Any person denied access to inspect or copy | 6 |
| any public
record by the head of a public body
may file suit | 7 |
| for injunctive or
declaratory relief.
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| (b) Where the denial is from the head of a public body of | 9 |
| the State, suit
may be filed in the circuit court for the | 10 |
| county where the public body has
its principal office or where | 11 |
| the person denied access resides.
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| (c) Where the denial is from the head of a municipality or | 13 |
| other public
body, except as provided in subsection (b) of this | 14 |
| Section, suit may be filed
in the circuit court for the county | 15 |
| where the public body is located.
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| (d) The circuit court shall have the jurisdiction to enjoin | 17 |
| the public
body from withholding public records and to order | 18 |
| the production of any
public records improperly withheld from | 19 |
| the person seeking access. If the
public body can show that | 20 |
| exceptional circumstances exist, and that the
body is | 21 |
| exercising due diligence in responding to the request, the | 22 |
| court
may retain jurisdiction and allow the agency additional | 23 |
| time to complete
its review of the records.
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| (e) On motion of the plaintiff, prior to or after in camera
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| inspection, the court shall order the public body
to provide an | 26 |
| index of the records to which access has been denied. The
index | 27 |
| shall include the following:
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| (i) A description of the nature or contents of each | 29 |
| document
withheld, or each deletion from a released | 30 |
| document, provided, however,
that the public body shall not | 31 |
| be required to disclose the information
which it asserts is | 32 |
| exempt; and
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| (ii) A statement of the exemption or exemptions claimed |
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| for each such
deletion or withheld document.
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| (f) In any action considered by the court, the court shall | 3 |
| consider the
matter de novo, and shall conduct such in camera | 4 |
| examination of the requested
records as it finds appropriate to | 5 |
| determine if such records or any part
thereof may be withheld | 6 |
| under any provision of this Act. The burden shall
be on the | 7 |
| public body to establish that its refusal to permit public | 8 |
| inspection
or copying is in accordance with the provisions of | 9 |
| this Act.
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| (g) In the event of noncompliance with an order of the | 11 |
| court to disclose,
the court may enforce its order against any | 12 |
| public official or employee
so ordered or primarily responsible | 13 |
| for such noncompliance through the court's
contempt powers.
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| (h) Except as to causes the court considers to be of | 15 |
| greater importance,
proceedings arising under this Section | 16 |
| shall take precedence on the docket
over all other causes and | 17 |
| be assigned for hearing and trial at the earliest
practicable | 18 |
| date and expedited in every way.
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| (i) If a person seeking the right to inspect or receive a | 20 |
| copy of a public
record substantially prevails in a
proceeding | 21 |
| under this Section, the court may award such
person reasonable | 22 |
| attorneys' fees and costs. If, however, the court finds
that | 23 |
| the fundamental purpose of the request
was to further the | 24 |
| commercial interests of the requestor, the court may award
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| reasonable attorneys' fees and costs if the court finds that | 26 |
| the
record or records in question were of clearly significant | 27 |
| interest to the
general public and that the public body lacked | 28 |
| any reasonable
basis in law for withholding the record.
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| (j) If the court determines that the grounds for delay or | 30 |
| denial of access to a public record pursuant to Section 3(c) or | 31 |
| 3(e) of this Act were improper and unreasonable or were invoked | 32 |
| for the sole purpose of delay without good cause, the court may | 33 |
| award to the person reasonable attorneys' fees and costs and | 34 |
| may assess a fine not to exceed $1,000.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-466, eff. 1-1-04.)".
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