103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3272

 

Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Travis Weaver

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
5 ILCS 140/2  from Ch. 116, par. 202
50 ILCS 205/3  from Ch. 116, par. 43.103
50 ILCS 205/7  from Ch. 116, par. 43.107

    Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that public records include born-digital electronic material and digitized electronic material and defines both of those terms. Provides that "public inspection" or "inspection" means, as it relates to public records that are born-digital electronic material or digitized electronic material, inspection of public records on a public body's website or on a designated computer available at the official place of business of the public body. Amends the Local Records Act making similar changes to the definition of "public record". Further amends the Local Records Act providing that approval of the Commission is not needed for, and the Commission may not prohibit, destruction of an original record after it is converted into a digitized electronic format if the standards and procedures of the Commission relating to digitization are followed. Makes conforming changes.


LRB103 30157 AWJ 56581 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB3272LRB103 30157 AWJ 56581 b

1    AN ACT concerning government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by
5changing Section 2 as follows:
 
6    (5 ILCS 140/2)  (from Ch. 116, par. 202)
7    Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:
8    (a) "Public body" means all legislative, executive,
9administrative, or advisory bodies of the State, state
10universities and colleges, counties, townships, cities,
11villages, incorporated towns, school districts and all other
12municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees, or
13commissions of this State, any subsidiary bodies of any of the
14foregoing including but not limited to committees and
15subcommittees thereof, and a School Finance Authority created
16under Article 1E of the School Code. "Public body" does not
17include a child death review team or the Illinois Child Death
18Review Teams Executive Council established under the Child
19Death Review Team Act, or a regional youth advisory board or
20the Statewide Youth Advisory Board established under the
21Department of Children and Family Services Statewide Youth
22Advisory Board Act.
23    (b) "Person" means any individual, corporation,

 

 

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1partnership, firm, organization or association, acting
2individually or as a group.
3    (c) "Public records" means all records, reports, forms,
4writings, letters, memoranda, books, papers, maps,
5photographs, microfilms, cards, tapes, recordings, electronic
6data processing records, electronic communications,
7born-digital electronic material, digitized electronic
8material, recorded information and all other documentary
9materials pertaining to the transaction of public business,
10regardless of physical form or characteristics, having been
11prepared by or for, or having been or being used by, received
12by, in the possession of, or under the control of any public
13body. "Public records" includes born-digital electronic
14material or digitized electronic material even if the material
15is stored or maintained on a server, including a third-party
16server, not on the property of a public body.
17    (c-5) "Private information" means unique identifiers,
18including a person's social security number, driver's license
19number, employee identification number, biometric identifiers,
20personal financial information, passwords or other access
21codes, medical records, home or personal telephone numbers,
22and personal email addresses. Private information also
23includes home address and personal license plates, except as
24otherwise provided by law or when compiled without possibility
25of attribution to any person.
26    (c-10) "Commercial purpose" means the use of any part of a

 

 

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1public record or records, or information derived from public
2records, in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or
3advertisement for sales or services. For purposes of this
4definition, requests made by news media and non-profit,
5scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered
6to be made for a "commercial purpose" when the principal
7purpose of the request is (i) to access and disseminate
8information concerning news and current or passing events,
9(ii) for articles of opinion or features of interest to the
10public, or (iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or
11public research or education.
12    (d) "Copying" means the reproduction of any public record
13by means of any photographic, electronic, mechanical or other
14process, device or means now known or hereafter developed and
15available to the public body.
16    (e) "Head of the public body" means the president, mayor,
17chairman, presiding officer, director, superintendent,
18manager, supervisor or individual otherwise holding primary
19executive and administrative authority for the public body, or
20such person's duly authorized designee.
21    (f) "News media" means a newspaper or other periodical
22issued at regular intervals whether in print or electronic
23format, a news service whether in print or electronic format,
24a radio station, a television station, a television network, a
25community antenna television service, or a person or
26corporation engaged in making news reels or other motion

 

 

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1picture news for public showing.
2    (g) "Recurrent requester", as used in Section 3.2 of this
3Act, means a person that, in the 12 months immediately
4preceding the request, has submitted to the same public body
5(i) a minimum of 50 requests for records, (ii) a minimum of 15
6requests for records within a 30-day period, or (iii) a
7minimum of 7 requests for records within a 7-day period. For
8purposes of this definition, requests made by news media and
9non-profit, scientific, or academic organizations shall not be
10considered in calculating the number of requests made in the
11time periods in this definition when the principal purpose of
12the requests is (i) to access and disseminate information
13concerning news and current or passing events, (ii) for
14articles of opinion or features of interest to the public, or
15(iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or public
16research or education.
17    For the purposes of this subsection (g), "request" means a
18written document (or oral request, if the public body chooses
19to honor oral requests) that is submitted to a public body via
20personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other
21means available to the public body and that identifies the
22particular public record the requester seeks. One request may
23identify multiple records to be inspected or copied.
24    (h) "Voluminous request" means a request that: (i)
25includes more than 5 individual requests for more than 5
26different categories of records or a combination of individual

 

 

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1requests that total requests for more than 5 different
2categories of records in a period of 20 business days; or (ii)
3requires the compilation of more than 500 letter or
4legal-sized pages of public records unless a single requested
5record exceeds 500 pages. "Single requested record" may
6include, but is not limited to, one report, form, e-mail,
7letter, memorandum, book, map, microfilm, tape, or recording.
8    "Voluminous request" does not include a request made by
9news media and non-profit, scientific, or academic
10organizations if the principal purpose of the request is: (1)
11to access and disseminate information concerning news and
12current or passing events; (2) for articles of opinion or
13features of interest to the public; or (3) for the purpose of
14academic, scientific, or public research or education.
15    For the purposes of this subsection (h), "request" means a
16written document, or oral request, if the public body chooses
17to honor oral requests, that is submitted to a public body via
18personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other
19means available to the public body and that identifies the
20particular public record or records the requester seeks. One
21request may identify multiple individual records to be
22inspected or copied.
23    (i) "Severance agreement" means a mutual agreement between
24any public body and its employee for the employee's
25resignation in exchange for payment by the public body.
26    (j) "Born-digital electronic material" and "digitized

 

 

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1electronic material" have the meanings ascribed to those terms
2in Section 3 of the Local Records Act.
3    (k) "Public inspection" or "inspection" means, as it
4relates to public records that are born-digital electronic
5material or digitized electronic material, inspection of
6public records on a public body's website or on a designated
7computer available at the official place of business of the
8public body.
9(Source: P.A. 98-806, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14;
1099-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-478, eff. 6-1-16.)
 
11    Section 10. The Local Records Act is amended by changing
12Sections 3 and 7 as follows:
 
13    (50 ILCS 205/3)  (from Ch. 116, par. 43.103)
14    Sec. 3. Except where the context indicates otherwise, the
15terms used in this Act are defined as follows:
16    "Agency" means any court, and all parts, boards,
17departments, bureaus and commissions of any county, municipal
18corporation or political subdivision.
19    "Archivist" means the Secretary of State.
20    "Born-digital electronic material" means electronic
21material created in digital form rather than converted from
22print or analog form to digital form.
23    "Commission" means a Local Records Commission.
24    "Court" means a court, other than the Supreme Court.

 

 

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1    "Digitized electronic material" means electronic material
2converted from print or analog form to digital form.
3    "Officer" means any elected or appointed official of a
4court, county, municipal corporation or political subdivision.
5    "Public record" means any book, paper, map, photograph,
6born-digital electronic material, digitized electronic
7material, electronic material with a combination of digitized
8and born-digital material, or other official documentary
9material, regardless of physical form or characteristics,
10made, produced, executed or received by any agency or officer
11pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of
12public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation
13by such agency or officer, or any successor thereof, as
14evidence of the organization, function, policies, decisions,
15procedures, or other activities thereof, or because of the
16informational data contained therein. Library and museum
17material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference
18or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved
19only for convenience of reference, and stocks of publications
20and of processed documents are not included within the
21definition of public record. Paper copies of registration
22records, as defined in Section 1 of the Library Records
23Confidentiality Act (75 ILCS 70/1), shall not be considered
24public records once the information contained in the paper
25registration records is transferred into a secure electronic
26format and checked for accuracy. "Public record" includes

 

 

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1born-digital electronic material or digitized electronic
2material even if the material is stored or maintained on a
3server, including a third-party server, not on the property of
4an agency.
5(Source: P.A. 99-147, eff. 1-1-16.)
 
6    (50 ILCS 205/7)  (from Ch. 116, par. 43.107)
7    Sec. 7. Disposition rules. Except as otherwise provided by
8law and this Section, no public record shall be disposed of by
9any officer or agency unless the written approval of the
10appropriate Local Records Commission is first obtained.
11    The Commission shall issue regulations which shall be
12binding on all such officers. Such regulations shall establish
13procedures for compiling and submitting to the Commission
14lists and schedules of public records proposed for disposal;
15procedures for the physical destruction or other disposition
16of such public records; procedures for the management and
17preservation of electronically generated and maintained
18records; and standards for the reproduction of such public
19records by photography, microphotographic processes, or
20digitized electronic format. Such standards and procedures
21shall relate to the quality of the film to be used, preparation
22of the public records for filming or electronic conversion,
23proper identification matter on such records so that an
24individual document or series of documents can be located on
25the film or digitized electronic form with reasonable

 

 

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1facility, and that the copies contain all significant record
2detail, to the end that the copies will be adequate. Any public
3record may be reproduced in a microfilm or digitized
4electronic format. The agency may dispose of the original of
5any reproduced record providing: (i) the reproduction process
6forms a durable medium that accurately and legibly reproduces
7the original record in all details, that does not permit
8additions, deletions, or changes to the original document
9images, and, if electronic, that are retained in a trustworthy
10manner so that the records, and the information contained in
11the records, are accessible and usable for subsequent
12reference at all times while the information must be retained,
13(ii) the reproduction is retained for the prescribed retention
14period, and (iii) the Commission is notified when the original
15record is disposed of and also when the reproduced record is
16disposed of. Authorization of the Commission is not needed
17for, and the Commission may not prohibit, destruction of an
18original record after it is converted into a digitized
19electronic format if the standards and procedures of the
20Commission relating to digitization are followed.
21    Such regulations shall also provide that the State
22archivist may retain any records which the Commission has
23authorized to be destroyed, where they have a historical
24value, and that the State archivist may deposit them in the
25State Archives, State Historical Library, or a university
26library, or with a historical society, museum, or library.

 

 

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1(Source: P.A. 99-147, eff. 1-1-16.)