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1 | AN ACT concerning government.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | changing Section 3 as follows:
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6 | (5 ILCS 140/3) (from Ch. 116, par. 203)
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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.
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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.
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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. Denial
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12 | shall be in writing as provided in Section 9 of this Act. | ||||||
13 | Failure to comply with
a written request, extend the time for | ||||||
14 | response, or deny a request within 5 business days after its | ||||||
15 | receipt shall be considered a
denial of the request. A public | ||||||
16 | body that fails to respond to a request within the requisite | ||||||
17 | periods in this Section but thereafter provides the requester | ||||||
18 | with copies of the requested public records may not impose a | ||||||
19 | fee for such copies. A public body that fails to respond to a | ||||||
20 | request received may not treat the request as unduly burdensome | ||||||
21 | under subsection (g).
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22 | (e) The time for response under this Section may be
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23 | extended by the public body for not more than 5 business days | ||||||
24 | from the original due date for any
of the following reasons:
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25 | (i) the requested records are stored in whole or in | ||||||
26 | part at other
locations
than the office having charge of |
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1 | the requested records;
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2 | (ii) the request requires the collection of a | ||||||
3 | substantial number of
specified records;
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4 | (iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and | ||||||
5 | requires an
extensive
search for the records responsive to | ||||||
6 | it;
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7 | (iv) the requested records have not been located in the | ||||||
8 | course of routine
search and additional efforts are being | ||||||
9 | made to locate them;
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10 | (v) the requested records require examination and | ||||||
11 | evaluation by personnel
having the necessary competence | ||||||
12 | and discretion to determine if they are
exempt from | ||||||
13 | disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be | ||||||
14 | revealed
only with appropriate deletions;
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15 | (vi) the request for records cannot be complied with by | ||||||
16 | the public body
within the time limits prescribed by | ||||||
17 | paragraph (d) (c) of this Section without
unduly burdening | ||||||
18 | or interfering with the operations of the public body;
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19 | (vii) there is a need for consultation, which shall be | ||||||
20 | conducted with all
practicable speed, with another public | ||||||
21 | body or among two or more components
of a public body | ||||||
22 | having a substantial interest in the determination or in
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23 | the subject matter of the request.
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24 | The person making a request and the public body may agree | ||||||
25 | in writing to extend the time for compliance for a period to be | ||||||
26 | determined by the parties. If the requester and the public body |
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1 | agree to extend the period for compliance, a failure by the | ||||||
2 | public body to comply with any previous deadlines shall not be | ||||||
3 | treated as a denial of the request for the records. | ||||||
4 | (f) When additional time is required for any of the above | ||||||
5 | reasons, the
public body shall, within 5 business days after | ||||||
6 | receipt of the request, notify the person making the request of | ||||||
7 | the reasons
for the extension and the date by which the | ||||||
8 | response will be forthcoming. Failure to respond within the | ||||||
9 | time permitted for extension shall be considered a denial of | ||||||
10 | the request. A public body that fails to respond to a request | ||||||
11 | within the time permitted for extension but thereafter provides | ||||||
12 | the requester with copies of the requested public records may | ||||||
13 | not impose a fee for those copies. A public body that requests | ||||||
14 | an extension and subsequently fails to respond to the request | ||||||
15 | may not treat the request as unduly burdensome under subsection | ||||||
16 | (g).
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17 | (g) Requests calling for all records falling within a | ||||||
18 | category shall be
complied with unless compliance with the | ||||||
19 | request would be unduly burdensome
for the complying public | ||||||
20 | body and there is no way to narrow the request and the
burden | ||||||
21 | on the public body outweighs the public interest in the | ||||||
22 | information.
Before invoking this exemption, the public body | ||||||
23 | shall extend to the person
making the request an opportunity to | ||||||
24 | confer with it in an attempt to reduce
the request to | ||||||
25 | manageable proportions. If any body responds to a categorical
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26 | request by stating that compliance would unduly burden its |
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1 | operation and
the conditions described above are met, it shall | ||||||
2 | do so in writing, specifying
the reasons why it would be unduly | ||||||
3 | burdensome and the extent to which compliance
will so burden | ||||||
4 | the operations of the public body. Such a response shall
be | ||||||
5 | treated as a denial of the
request for information. | ||||||
6 | Repeated requests from the same person for the same records | ||||||
7 | that are unchanged or identical to records previously provided | ||||||
8 | or properly denied under this Act shall be deemed unduly | ||||||
9 | burdensome under this provision.
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10 | (h) Each public body may promulgate rules and regulations | ||||||
11 | in conformity
with the provisions of this Section pertaining to | ||||||
12 | the availability of records
and procedures to be followed, | ||||||
13 | including:
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14 | (i) the times and places where such records will be | ||||||
15 | made available, and
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16 | (ii) the persons from whom such records may be | ||||||
17 | obtained.
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18 | (i) The time periods for compliance or denial of a request | ||||||
19 | to inspect or copy records set out in this Section shall not | ||||||
20 | apply to requests for records made for a commercial purpose. | ||||||
21 | Such requests shall be subject to the provisions of Section 3.1 | ||||||
22 | of this Act. | ||||||
23 | (Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
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24 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
25 | becoming law.
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