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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 3.5 as follows: | ||||||
| 6 | (5 ILCS 140/3.5) | ||||||
| 7 | Sec. 3.5. Freedom of Information officers. | ||||||
| 8 | (a) Each public body shall designate one or more public | ||||||
| 9 | officials or employees of the public body to act as its Freedom | ||||||
| 10 | of Information officer or officers. Except in instances when | ||||||
| 11 | records are furnished immediately, Freedom of Information | ||||||
| 12 | officers, or their designees, shall receive requests submitted | ||||||
| 13 | to the public body under this Act, ensure that the public body | ||||||
| 14 | responds to requests in a timely fashion, and issue responses | ||||||
| 15 | under this Act. Freedom of Information officers shall develop a | ||||||
| 16 | list of documents or categories of records that the public body | ||||||
| 17 | shall immediately disclose upon request. | ||||||
| 18 | Upon receiving a request for a public record, the Freedom | ||||||
| 19 | of Information officer shall: | ||||||
| 20 | (1) note the date the public body receives the written | ||||||
| 21 | request; | ||||||
| 22 | (2) compute the day on which the period for response | ||||||
| 23 | will expire and make a notation of that date on the written | ||||||
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| 1 | request; | ||||||
| 2 | (3) maintain an electronic or paper copy of a written | ||||||
| 3 | request, including all documents submitted with the | ||||||
| 4 | request until the request has been complied with or denied; | ||||||
| 5 | and | ||||||
| 6 | (4) create a file for the retention of the original | ||||||
| 7 | request, a copy of the response, a record of written | ||||||
| 8 | communications with the requester, and a copy of other | ||||||
| 9 | communications. | ||||||
| 10 | (b) All Freedom of Information officers shall, within 6 | ||||||
| 11 | months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the | ||||||
| 12 | 96th General Assembly, successfully complete an electronic | ||||||
| 13 | training curriculum to be developed by the Public Access | ||||||
| 14 | Counselor and thereafter successfully complete an annual | ||||||
| 15 | training program. Thereafter, whenever a new Freedom of | ||||||
| 16 | Information officer is designated by a public body, that person | ||||||
| 17 | shall successfully complete the electronic training curriculum | ||||||
| 18 | within 30 days after assuming the position. Successful | ||||||
| 19 | completion of the required training curriculum within the | ||||||
| 20 | periods provided shall be a prerequisite to continue serving as | ||||||
| 21 | a Freedom of Information officer.
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| 22 | (Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
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