The Illinois General
Assembly was in session last week, which brings with it newly
introduced legislation. Many of these bills are “shell bills” that will be
amended with substantive language later in session, but a number of these introduced bills propose
changes to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that would be relevant to local
governments if they ultimately pass.

A few of those bills (none of which have been voted
on yet) are summarized below:

HB 4395: If approved, this would amend various provisions of FOIA, including Section
2(a) of FOIA to add the “judicial branch and components to the judicial branch”
to the definition of “public body” and Section
7 to add a new FOIA exemption for all records pertaining
to the preparation of “judicial opinions and orders.” Section 9.5(a) would also be amended to state that if the judicial
branch and components deny a FOIA request, the requester cannot
request review from the Public Access Counselor of the Illinois Attorney General (PAC).

HB 4408: If approved, this would amend Section 7 of FOIA to add a new exemption for records created for administrative, correctional, or law enforcement purposes that include identifying or contact information of a minor who is a victim of secual abuse, sexual assault, or sexual violence.

HB 4409: If approved, this would amend the time for response to a FOIA request submitted to a law enforcement or correctional agency to 15
business days (rather than the current 5 business days). It would also allow an extension of 15 business days for requested records that require the agency to blur body camera footage or make other redactions because the records are partially
exempt from disclosure.

HB 4444: If approved, this would allow a public body to charge the
actual cost for each hour spent by government personnel searching for a requested
record or examining the record for redactions (current cost recovery is
capped at $10). The bill would also remove the
provision restricting the cost recovery
provision to commercial requests only.

HB 4445: If approved, this would add a new Section 10.5 to impose certain notice requirements on both the public body and the requester for requests for body worn camera recordings that are reasonably likely to be used for commercial purposes. These notice requirements would require notice to identifiable subjects in the recording prior to release of the records.

At this time, it is not clear how many of these bills (if any) will
move forward but if they do, we will keep you posted.

Post Authored by Natalie Cheung, Luigi Laudando & Julie Tappendorf, Ancel Glink