Public Act 90-0206 of the 90th General Assembly
Public Act 90-0206
HB0800 Enrolled LRB9003572RCks
AN ACT in relation to public records, amending named
Acts.
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 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.
(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. 83-1013.)
Section 10. The Clerks of Courts Act is amended by
changing Section 13 as follows:
(705 ILCS 105/13) (from Ch. 25, par. 13)
Sec. 13. The clerks shall attend the sessions of their
respective courts, preserve all the files and papers thereof,
make, keep and preserve complete records of all the
proceedings and determinations thereof, except in cases
otherwise provided by law, and do and perform all other
duties pertaining to their offices, as may be required by law
or the rules and orders of their courts respectively.
Notwithstanding any other law, the right to access and
disseminate any court record as defined in this Act may not
be subject to an exclusive contract with another person or
entity. This Section is subject to the provisions of "The
Local Records Act", approved August 18, 1961, as amended.
(Source: P.A. 83-346.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.