Section 1600.110  Freedom of Information Act

a)         Purpose.  This Section establishes policies and procedures specific to SURS concerning requests for information made under FOIA.

b)         Freedom of Information Officer.  The Freedom of Information Officer is the staff member at SURS responsible for responding to all requests for information on behalf of SURS 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 SURS General Counsel or a designee of the SURS Executive Director.  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 SURS principal office (see Section 1600.100) 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 directed to the Freedom of Information Officer or a designee in the SURS Legal Department by mail that is addressed to the SURS principal office by facsimile at (217)378-9801, or by email to FOIA_Officers@surs.org.  Oral requests for inspection or copying may be made in person or by phone at 217-378-8800.

d)         Fees.  Subject to a waiver or reduction of the fee if warranted 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.  Consistent with Section 7 of FOIA, the following public records shall be exempt from inspection and copying:  personal information that includes any personally identifying or identifiable information other than names or benefit amounts, including, but not necessarily limited to, Social Security numbers and addresses of participants and annuitants, and names and Social Security numbers and addresses of beneficiaries.

(Source:  Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 8562, effective July 26, 2019)