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(5 ILCS 140/1) (from Ch. 116, par. 201)
Sec. 1.
Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional
form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of
Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information
regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of
those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent
with the terms of this Act. Such access is necessary to enable the people
to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making
informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it
is being conducted in the public interest.
The General Assembly hereby declares that it is the public policy of the State of Illinois that access by all persons to public records promotes the transparency and accountability of public bodies at all levels of government. It is a fundamental obligation of government to operate openly and provide public records as expediently and efficiently as possible in compliance with this Act. This Act is not intended to cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, nor
to allow the requests of a commercial enterprise to unduly burden public resources, or to disrupt the
duly-undertaken work of any public body independent of the fulfillment of
any of the fore-mentioned rights of the people to access to information.
This Act is not intended to create an obligation on the part of any public
body to maintain or prepare any public record which was not maintained or
prepared by such public body at the time when this Act becomes effective,
except as otherwise required by applicable local, State or federal law.
Restraints on access to information, to the extent permitted by this Act, are limited exceptions
to the principle that the people of this State have a right to full disclosure of information relating to the decisions,
policies, procedures, rules, standards, and other aspects of government
activity that affect the conduct of government and the lives of any or all
of the people. The provisions of this Act shall be construed in accordance with this principle. This Act shall be construed to require disclosure of requested information as expediently and efficiently as possible and adherence to the deadlines established in this Act.
The General Assembly recognizes that this Act imposes fiscal obligations on public bodies to provide adequate staff and equipment to comply with its requirements. The General Assembly declares that providing records in compliance with the requirements of this Act is a primary duty of public bodies to the people of this State, and this Act should be construed to this end, fiscal obligations notwithstanding. The General Assembly further recognizes that technology may advance at a rate that outpaces its ability to address those advances legislatively. To the extent that this Act may not expressly apply to those technological advances, this Act should nonetheless be interpreted to further the declared policy of this Act that public records shall be made available upon request except when denial of access furthers the public policy underlying a specific exemption. This Act shall be the exclusive State statute on freedom of information,
except to the extent that other State statutes might create additional restrictions
on disclosure of information or other laws in Illinois might create additional
obligations for disclosure of information to the public.
(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
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