Section 1540.390  Freedom of Information Act

a)         Purpose.  This Section establishes policies and procedures specific to SERS concerning requests for information made under FOIA [5 ILCS 140].

b)         Freedom of Information Officer.  The Freedom of Information Officer is the staff member at SERS responsible for responding to all requests for information on behalf of SERS as the "public body" under FOIA and is also responsible for maintaining all records required to be kept under FOIA and this Section.  The Freedom of Information Officer shall be the SERS Executive Secretary or a designee of the SERS Executive Secretary. Denials issued by the Freedom of Information Officer shall inform the requester of the right of review by the Public Access Counselor under Section 9.5 of FOIA or by a court under Section 11 of FOIA.

c)         Time and Place for Requests or Inspection. Records subject to FOIA shall be made available for inspection and copying at SERS principal office on weekdays between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., excluding days during which the office is closed to the public.  Written requests shall be mailed to the Freedom of Information Officer or a designee in the SERS Executive Department at 2101 S. Veterans Pkwy., P.O. Box 19255, Springfield IL 62794-9255. FOIA requests may also be submitted by facsimile (217-557-3943) or by email (SERS@srs.illinois.gov).  Oral requests for inspection or copying may be made in person or by phone at 217-785-7016.

d)         Fees.  Unless a fee is waived or reduced under Section 6 of FOIA, fees may be imposed on the requester to recover costs of document production or reproduction according to the following schedule:

1)         Photostatic copying of paper documents:

A)        Black and white copies shall be charged after the first 50 pages at $0.05 per page;

B)        Color copies shall be charged at $0.13 per page.

2)         Printing of electronic documents or microfilmed/microfiched documents shall be charged at $0.05 per page.

3)         Physical storage on electronic, tape or other media, shipping and facsimile transmission costs shall be charged to the extent those costs are incurred. Electronic transmission via e-mail shall be provided at no charge.

e)         Exemptions.  Records exempted under Section 7 or 7.5 of FOIA shall be exempt from inspection and copying.

(Source:  Added at 41 Ill. Reg. 4217, effective March 22, 2017)