HB3272 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 30157 AWJ 56581 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3272

Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Travis Weaver

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

5 ILCS 140/2	from Ch. 116, par. 202
50 ILCS 205/3	from Ch. 116, par. 43.103
50 ILCS 205/7	from Ch. 116, par. 43.107

Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that public records include born-digital electronic material and digitized electronic material and defines both of those terms. Provides that "public inspection" or "inspection" means, as it relates to public records that are born-digital electronic material or digitized electronic material, inspection of public records on a public body's website or on a designated computer available at the official place of business of the public body. Amends the Local Records Act making similar changes to the definition of "public record". Further amends the Local Records Act providing that approval of the Commission is not needed for, and the Commission may not prohibit, destruction of an original record after it is converted into a digitized electronic format if the standards and procedures of the Commission relating to digitization are followed. Makes conforming changes.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning government.

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

Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by changing Section 2 as follows:

(5 ILCS 140/2) (from Ch. 116, par. 202)

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:

(a) "Public body" means all legislative, executive, administrative, or advisory bodies of the State, state universities and colleges, counties, townships, cities, villages, incorporated towns, school districts and all other municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees, or commissions of this State, any subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including but not limited to committees and subcommittees thereof, and a School Finance Authority created under Article 1E of the School Code. "Public body" does not include a child death review team or the Illinois Child Death Review Teams Executive Council established under the Child Death Review Team Act, or a regional youth advisory board or the Statewide Youth Advisory Board established under the Department of Children and Family Services Statewide Youth Advisory Board Act.

(b) "Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, organization or association, acting individually or as a group.

(c) "Public records" means all records, reports, forms, writings, letters, memoranda, books, papers, maps, photographs, microfilms, cards, tapes, recordings, electronic data processing records, electronic communications, born-digital electronic material, digitized electronic material, recorded information and all other documentary materials pertaining to the transaction of public business, regardless of physical form or characteristics, having been prepared by or for, or having been or being used by, received by, in the possession of, or under the control of any public body. "Public records" includes born-digital electronic material or digitized electronic material even if the material is stored or maintained on a server, including a third-party server, not on the property of a public body.

(c-5) "Private information" means unique identifiers, including a person's social security number, driver's license number, employee identification number, biometric identifiers, personal financial information, passwords or other access codes, medical records, home or personal telephone numbers, and personal email addresses. Private information also includes home address and personal license plates, except as otherwise provided by law or when compiled without possibility of attribution to any person.

(c-10) "Commercial purpose" means the use of any part of a public record or records, or information derived from public records, in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or advertisement for sales or services. For purposes of this definition, requests made by news media and non-profit, scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered to be made for a "commercial purpose" when the principal purpose of the request is (i) to access and disseminate information concerning news and current or passing events, (ii) for articles of opinion or features of interest to the public, or (iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or public research or education.

(d) "Copying" means the reproduction of any public record by means of any photographic, electronic, mechanical or other process, device or means now known or hereafter developed and available to the public body.

(e) "Head of the public body" means the president, mayor, chairman, presiding officer, director, superintendent, manager, supervisor or individual otherwise holding primary executive and administrative authority for the public body, or such person's duly authorized designee.

(f) "News media" means a newspaper or other periodical issued at regular intervals whether in print or electronic format, a news service whether in print or electronic format, a radio station, a television station, a television network, a community antenna television service, or a person or corporation engaged in making news reels or other motion picture news for public showing.

(g) "Recurrent requester", as used in Section 3.2 of this Act, means a person that, in the 12 months immediately preceding the request, has submitted to the same public body (i) a minimum of 50 requests for records, (ii) a minimum of 15 requests for records within a 30-day period, or (iii) a minimum of 7 requests for records within a 7-day period. For purposes of this definition, requests made by news media and non-profit, scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered in calculating the number of requests made in the time periods in this definition when the principal purpose of the requests is (i) to access and disseminate information concerning news and current or passing events, (ii) for articles of opinion or features of interest to the public, or (iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or public research or education.

For the purposes of this subsection (g), "request" means a written document (or oral request, if the public body chooses to honor oral requests) that is submitted to a public body via personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other means available to the public body and that identifies the particular public record the requester seeks. One request may identify multiple records to be inspected or copied.

(h) "Voluminous request" means a request that: (i) includes more than 5 individual requests for more than 5 different categories of records or a combination of individual requests that total requests for more than 5 different categories of records in a period of 20 business days; or (ii) requires the compilation of more than 500 letter or legal-sized pages of public records unless a single requested record exceeds 500 pages. "Single requested record" may include, but is not limited to, one report, form, e-mail, letter, memorandum, book, map, microfilm, tape, or recording.

"Voluminous request" does not include a request made by news media and non-profit, scientific, or academic organizations if the principal purpose of the request is: (1) to access and disseminate information concerning news and current or passing events; (2) for articles of opinion or features of interest to the public; or (3) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or public research or education.

For the purposes of this subsection (h), "request" means a written document, or oral request, if the public body chooses to honor oral requests, that is submitted to a public body via personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other means available to the public body and that identifies the particular public record or records the requester seeks. One request may identify multiple individual records to be inspected or copied.

(i) "Severance agreement" means a mutual agreement between any public body and its employee for the employee's resignation in exchange for payment by the public body.

(j) "Born-digital electronic material" and "digitized electronic material" have the meanings ascribed to those terms in Section 3 of the Local Records Act.

(k) "Public inspection" or "inspection" means, as it relates to public records that are born-digital electronic material or digitized electronic material, inspection of public records on a public body's website or on a designated computer available at the official place of business of the public body.

(Source: P.A. 98-806, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14; 99-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-478, eff. 6-1-16.)

Section 10. The Local Records Act is amended by changing Sections 3 and 7 as follows:

(50 ILCS 205/3) (from Ch. 116, par. 43.103)

Sec. 3. Except where the context indicates otherwise, the terms used in this Act are defined as follows:

"Agency" means any court, and all parts, boards, departments, bureaus and commissions of any county, municipal corporation or political subdivision.

"Archivist" means the Secretary of State.

"Born-digital electronic material" means electronic material created in digital form rather than converted from print or analog form to digital form.

"Commission" means a Local Records Commission.

"Court" means a court, other than the Supreme Court.

"Digitized electronic material" means electronic material converted from print or analog form to digital form.

"Officer" means any elected or appointed official of a court, county, municipal corporation or political subdivision.

"Public record" means any book, paper, map, photograph, born-digital electronic material, digitized electronic material, electronic material with a combination of digitized and born-digital material, or other official documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made, produced, executed or received by any agency or officer pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by such agency or officer, or any successor thereof, as evidence of the organization, function, policies, decisions, procedures, or other activities thereof, or because of the informational data contained therein. Library and museum material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference, and stocks of publications and of processed documents are not included within the definition of public record. Paper copies of registration records, as defined in Section 1 of the Library Records Confidentiality Act (75 ILCS 70/1), shall not be considered public records once the information contained in the paper registration records is transferred into a secure electronic format and checked for accuracy. "Public record" includes born-digital electronic material or digitized electronic material even if the material is stored or maintained on a server, including a third-party server, not on the property of an agency.

(Source: P.A. 99-147, eff. 1-1-16.)

(50 ILCS 205/7) (from Ch. 116, par. 43.107)

Sec. 7. Disposition rules. Except as otherwise provided by law and this Section, no public record shall be disposed of by any officer or agency unless the written approval of the appropriate Local Records Commission is first obtained.

The Commission shall issue regulations which shall be binding on all such officers. Such regulations shall establish procedures for compiling and submitting to the Commission lists and schedules of public records proposed for disposal; procedures for the physical destruction or other disposition of such public records; procedures for the management and preservation of electronically generated and maintained records; and standards for the reproduction of such public records by photography, microphotographic processes, or digitized electronic format. Such standards and procedures shall relate to the quality of the film to be used, preparation of the public records for filming or electronic conversion, proper identification matter on such records so that an individual document or series of documents can be located on the film or digitized electronic form with reasonable facility, and that the copies contain all significant record detail, to the end that the copies will be adequate. Any public record may be reproduced in a microfilm or digitized electronic format. The agency may dispose of the original of any reproduced record providing: (i) the reproduction process forms a durable medium that accurately and legibly reproduces the original record in all details, that does not permit additions, deletions, or changes to the original document images, and, if electronic, that are retained in a trustworthy manner so that the records, and the information contained in the records, are accessible and usable for subsequent reference at all times while the information must be retained, (ii) the reproduction is retained for the prescribed retention period, and (iii) the Commission is notified when the original record is disposed of and also when the reproduced record is disposed of. Authorization of the Commission is not needed for, and the Commission may not prohibit, destruction of an original record after it is converted into a digitized electronic format if the standards and procedures of the Commission relating to digitization are followed.

Such regulations shall also provide that the State archivist may retain any records which the Commission has authorized to be destroyed, where they have a historical value, and that the State archivist may deposit them in the State Archives, State Historical Library, or a university library, or with a historical society, museum, or library.

(Source: P.A. 99-147, eff. 1-1-16.)