HB4270ham002 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

State Government Administration Committee

Adopted in House Comm. on Feb 27, 2008

09500HB4270ham002 LRB095 15190 JAM 46902 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4270

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4270, AS AMENDED, by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:

(5 ILCS 140/3) (from Ch. 116, par. 203)

Sec. 3. (a) Each public body shall make available to any person for inspection or copying all public records, except as otherwise provided in Section 7 of this Act. Notwithstanding any other law, a public body may not grant to any person or entity, whether by contract, license, or otherwise, the exclusive right to access and disseminate any public record as defined in this Act.

(b) Subject to the fee provisions of Section 6 of this Act, each public body shall promptly provide, to any person who submits a written request, a copy of any public record required to be disclosed by subsection (a) of this Section and shall certify such copy if so requested. The public body shall provide a record created after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly in any form or format requested, if the record is readily reproducible in that form or format. Each public body shall make reasonable efforts to maintain records, created after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly and subject to public inspection and copying, in forms or formats that are reproducible. Each public body shall make reasonable efforts to search for requested records, which are created after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly and subject to the public inspection and copying requirements, in an electronic format, unless those efforts would significantly interfere with the operations of the public body's automated information system. Notwithstanding any other rulemaking authority that may exist, neither the Governor nor any agency or agency head under the jurisdiction of the Governor has any authority to make or promulgate rules to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly. If, however, the Governor believes that rules are necessary to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Governor may suggest rules to the General Assembly by filing them with the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate and by requesting that the General Assembly authorize such rulemaking by law, enact those suggested rules into law, or take any other appropriate action in the General Assembly's discretion. Nothing contained in this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly shall be interpreted to grant rulemaking authority under any other Illinois statute where such authority is not otherwise explicitly given. For the purposes of this subsection, "rules" is given the meaning contained in Section 1-70 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, and "agency" and "agency head" are given the meanings contained in Sections 1-20 and 1-25 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act to the extent that such definitions apply to agencies or agency heads under the jurisdiction of the Governor.

(c) Each public body shall, promptly, either comply with or deny a written request for public records within 7 working days after its receipt. Denial shall be by letter as provided in Section 9 of this Act. Failure to respond to a written request within 7 working days after its receipt shall be considered a denial of the request.

(d) The time limits prescribed in paragraph (c) of this Section may be extended in each case for not more than 7 additional working days for any of the following reasons:

(i) the requested records are stored in whole or in part at other locations than the office having charge of the requested records;

(ii) the request requires the collection of a substantial number of specified records;

(iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and requires an extensive search for the records responsive to it;

(iv) the requested records have not been located in the course of routine search and additional efforts are being made to locate them;

(v) the requested records require examination and evaluation by personnel having the necessary competence and discretion to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be revealed only with appropriate deletions;

(vi) the request for records cannot be complied with by the public body within the time limits prescribed by paragraph (c) of this Section without unduly burdening or interfering with the operations of the public body;

(vii) there is a need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another public body or among two or more components of a public body having a substantial interest in the determination or in the subject matter of the request.

(e) When additional time is required for any of the above reasons, the public body shall notify by letter the person making the written request within the time limits specified by paragraph (c) of this Section of the reasons for the delay and the date by which the records will be made available or denial will be forthcoming. In no instance, may the delay in processing last longer than 7 working days. A failure to render a decision within 7 working days shall be considered a denial of the request.

(f) Requests calling for all records falling within a category shall be complied with unless compliance with the request would be unduly burdensome for the complying public body and there is no way to narrow the request and the burden on the public body outweighs the public interest in the information. Before invoking this exemption, the public body shall extend to the person making the request an opportunity to confer with it in an attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions. If any body responds to a categorical request by stating that compliance would unduly burden its operation and the conditions described above are met, it shall do so in writing, specifying the reasons why it would be unduly burdensome and the extent to which compliance will so burden the operations of the public body. Such a response shall be treated as a denial of the request for information. Repeated requests for the same public records by the same person shall be deemed unduly burdensome under this provision.

(g) Each public body may promulgate rules and regulations in conformity with the provisions of this Section pertaining to the availability of records and procedures to be followed, including:

(i) the times and places where such records will be made available, and

(ii) the persons from whom such records may be obtained.

(Source: P.A. 90-206, eff. 7-25-97.)".