Full Text of HB2930 98th General Assembly
HB2930 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014 HB2930 Introduced , by Rep. Michael Unes SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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5 ILCS 140/3 | from Ch. 116, par. 203 |
5 ILCS 140/9 | from Ch. 116, par. 209 |
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Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Authorizes and, in some circumstances requires, a public body to respond by electronic mail to requests for public records that it has received by electronic mail.
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| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning government.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by | 5 | | changing Sections 3 and 9 as follows:
| 6 | | (5 ILCS 140/3) (from Ch. 116, par. 203)
| 7 | | 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.
| 14 | | (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 request,
a copy of any public record required to be | 17 | | disclosed
by subsection (a) of this Section and shall certify | 18 | | such copy if so requested.
| 19 | | (c) Requests for inspection or copies shall be made in | 20 | | writing and directed to the public body. Written requests may | 21 | | be submitted to a public body via personal delivery, mail, | 22 | | telefax, or other means available to the public body. A public | 23 | | body may honor oral requests for inspection or copying. A |
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| 1 | | public body may not require that a request be submitted on a | 2 | | standard form or require the requester to specify the purpose | 3 | | for a request, except to determine whether the records are | 4 | | requested for a commercial purpose or whether to grant a | 5 | | request for a fee waiver. All requests for inspection and | 6 | | copying received by a public body shall immediately be | 7 | | forwarded to its Freedom of Information officer or designee. | 8 | | (d) Each public body shall, promptly, either comply with or | 9 | | deny a
request for public records within 5 business days after | 10 | | its receipt of the request, unless the time for response is | 11 | | properly extended under subsection (e) of this Section. A | 12 | | public body may comply with or deny a request for public | 13 | | records by electronic mail if the request was submitted by | 14 | | electronic mail. Denial
shall be sent pursuant to in writing as | 15 | | provided in Section 9 of this Act. Failure to comply with
a | 16 | | written request, extend the time for response, or deny a | 17 | | request within 5 business days after its receipt shall be | 18 | | considered a
denial of the request. A public body that fails to | 19 | | respond to a request within the requisite periods in this | 20 | | Section but thereafter provides the requester with copies of | 21 | | the requested public records may not impose a fee for such | 22 | | copies. A public body that fails to respond to a request | 23 | | received may not treat the request as unduly burdensome under | 24 | | subsection (g).
| 25 | | (e) The time for response under this Section may be
| 26 | | extended by the public body for not more than 5 business days |
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| 1 | | from the original due date for any
of the following reasons:
| 2 | | (i) the requested records are stored in whole or in | 3 | | part at other
locations
than the office having charge of | 4 | | the requested records;
| 5 | | (ii) the request requires the collection of a | 6 | | substantial number of
specified records;
| 7 | | (iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and | 8 | | requires an
extensive
search for the records responsive to | 9 | | it;
| 10 | | (iv) the requested records have not been located in the | 11 | | course of routine
search and additional efforts are being | 12 | | made to locate them;
| 13 | | (v) the requested records require examination and | 14 | | evaluation by personnel
having the necessary competence | 15 | | and discretion to determine if they are
exempt from | 16 | | disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be | 17 | | revealed
only with appropriate deletions;
| 18 | | (vi) the request for records cannot be complied with by | 19 | | the public body
within the time limits prescribed by | 20 | | paragraph (c) of this Section without
unduly burdening or | 21 | | interfering with the operations of the public body;
| 22 | | (vii) there is a need for consultation, which shall be | 23 | | conducted with all
practicable speed, with another public | 24 | | body or among two or more components
of a public body | 25 | | having a substantial interest in the determination or in
| 26 | | the subject matter of the request.
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| 1 | | The person making a request and the public body may agree | 2 | | in writing or, if the request was made by electronic mail, by | 3 | | electronic mail to extend the time for compliance for a period | 4 | | to be determined by the parties. If the requester and the | 5 | | public body agree to extend the period for compliance, a | 6 | | failure by the public body to comply with any previous | 7 | | deadlines shall not be treated as a denial of the request for | 8 | | the records. | 9 | | (f) When additional time is required for any of the above | 10 | | reasons, the
public body shall, within 5 business days after | 11 | | receipt of the request, notify the person making the request of | 12 | | the reasons
for the extension and the date by which the | 13 | | response will be forthcoming. Failure to respond within the | 14 | | time permitted for extension shall be considered a denial of | 15 | | the request. A public body that fails to respond to a request | 16 | | within the time permitted for extension but thereafter provides | 17 | | the requester with copies of the requested public records may | 18 | | not impose a fee for those copies. A public body that requests | 19 | | an extension and subsequently fails to respond to the request | 20 | | may not treat the request as unduly burdensome under subsection | 21 | | (g).
| 22 | | (g) Requests calling for all records falling within a | 23 | | category shall be
complied with unless compliance with the | 24 | | request would be unduly burdensome
for the complying public | 25 | | body and there is no way to narrow the request and the
burden | 26 | | on the public body outweighs the public interest in the |
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| 1 | | information.
Before invoking this exemption, the public body | 2 | | shall extend to the person
making the request an opportunity to | 3 | | confer with it in an attempt to reduce
the request to | 4 | | manageable proportions. If any body responds to a categorical
| 5 | | request by stating that compliance would unduly burden its | 6 | | operation and
the conditions described above are met, it shall | 7 | | do so in writing or, if the request was made by electronic | 8 | | mail, by electronic mail , specifying
the reasons why it would | 9 | | be unduly burdensome and the extent to which compliance
will so | 10 | | burden the operations of the public body. Such a response shall
| 11 | | be treated as a denial of the
request for information. | 12 | | Repeated requests from the same person for the same records | 13 | | that are unchanged or identical to records previously provided | 14 | | or properly denied under this Act shall be deemed unduly | 15 | | burdensome under this provision.
| 16 | | (h) Each public body may promulgate rules and regulations | 17 | | in conformity
with the provisions of this Section pertaining to | 18 | | the availability of records
and procedures to be followed, | 19 | | including:
| 20 | | (i) the times and places where such records will be | 21 | | made available, and
| 22 | | (ii) the persons from whom such records may be | 23 | | obtained.
| 24 | | (i) The time periods for compliance or denial of a request | 25 | | to inspect or copy records set out in this Section shall not | 26 | | apply to requests for records made for a commercial purpose. |
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| 1 | | Such requests shall be subject to the provisions of Section 3.1 | 2 | | of this Act. | 3 | | (Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
| 4 | | (5 ILCS 140/9) (from Ch. 116, par. 209)
| 5 | | Sec. 9.
(a) Each public body denying a request
for public | 6 | | records shall notify the requester in writing
or, if the | 7 | | request was made by electronic mail, by electronic mail of the | 8 | | decision to deny the request, the reasons for the denial, | 9 | | including a detailed factual basis for the application of any | 10 | | exemption claimed, and the names
and titles or positions
of | 11 | | each person responsible for the denial. Each notice of denial | 12 | | by a public
body shall also inform such person of the right to | 13 | | review by the Public Access Counselor and provide the address | 14 | | and phone number for the Public Access Counselor. Each notice | 15 | | of denial shall inform such person of his right to judicial | 16 | | review under
Section 11 of this Act.
| 17 | | (b) When a request for public records is denied on the | 18 | | grounds that the
records are exempt under Section 7 of this | 19 | | Act, the notice of denial shall
specify the exemption claimed | 20 | | to authorize the denial and the specific reasons for the | 21 | | denial, including a detailed factual basis and a citation to | 22 | | supporting legal authority.
Copies of
all notices of denial | 23 | | shall be retained by each public body in a single
central | 24 | | office file that is open to the public and indexed according to
| 25 | | the type of exemption asserted and, to the extent feasible, |
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| 1 | | according to
the types of records requested.
| 2 | | (c) Any person making a request for public records shall be | 3 | | deemed to have exhausted his or her administrative remedies | 4 | | with respect to that request if the public body fails to act | 5 | | within the time periods provided in Section 3 of this Act. | 6 | | (Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
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