Full Text of HB4715 99th General Assembly
HB4715ham002 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Rep. Terri Bryant Filed: 4/6/2016
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4715
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4715 by replacing | 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
| 4 | | "Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by | 5 | | changing Sections 2 and 11 as follows:
| 6 | | (5 ILCS 140/2) (from Ch. 116, par. 202)
| 7 | | (Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 99-478 )
| 8 | | Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:
| 9 | | (a) "Public body" means all legislative,
executive, | 10 | | administrative, or advisory bodies of the State, state | 11 | | universities
and colleges, counties, townships, cities, | 12 | | villages, incorporated towns,
school districts and all other | 13 | | municipal corporations,
boards, bureaus, committees, or | 14 | | commissions of this State, any
subsidiary
bodies of any of the | 15 | | foregoing including but not limited to committees and
| 16 | | subcommittees thereof, and a School Finance Authority created |
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| 1 | | under
Article 1E of the School Code.
"Public body" does not | 2 | | include a child death review team
or the Illinois Child Death | 3 | | Review Teams
Executive Council
established under
the Child | 4 | | Death Review Team Act, or a regional youth advisory board or | 5 | | the Statewide Youth Advisory Board established under the | 6 | | Department of Children and Family Services Statewide Youth | 7 | | Advisory Board Act.
| 8 | | (b) "Person" means any individual, corporation, | 9 | | partnership, firm,
organization
or association, acting | 10 | | individually or as a group.
| 11 | | (c) "Public records" means all records, reports, forms, | 12 | | writings, letters,
memoranda, books, papers, maps, | 13 | | photographs, microfilms, cards, tapes,
recordings,
electronic | 14 | | data processing records, electronic communications, recorded | 15 | | information and all other
documentary
materials pertaining to | 16 | | the transaction of public business, regardless of physical form | 17 | | or characteristics, having been
prepared by or for, or having | 18 | | been or being used by, received by, in the possession of, or | 19 | | under the
control
of
any public body. | 20 | | (c-5) "Private information" means unique identifiers, | 21 | | including a person's social security number, driver's license | 22 | | number, employee identification number, biometric identifiers, | 23 | | personal financial information, passwords or other access | 24 | | codes, medical records, home or personal telephone numbers, and | 25 | | personal email addresses. Private information also includes | 26 | | home address and personal license plates, except as otherwise |
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| 1 | | provided by law or when compiled without possibility of | 2 | | attribution to any person. | 3 | | (c-10) "Commercial purpose" means the use of any part of a | 4 | | public record or records, or information derived from public | 5 | | records, in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or | 6 | | advertisement for sales or services. For purposes of this | 7 | | definition, requests made by news media and non-profit, | 8 | | scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered | 9 | | to be made for a "commercial purpose" when the principal | 10 | | purpose of the request is (i) to access and disseminate | 11 | | information concerning news and current or passing events, (ii) | 12 | | for articles of opinion or features of interest to the public, | 13 | | or (iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or public | 14 | | research or education.
| 15 | | (d) "Copying" means the reproduction of any public record | 16 | | by means of any
photographic, electronic, mechanical or other | 17 | | process, device or means now known or hereafter developed and | 18 | | available to the public body.
| 19 | | (e) "Head of the public body" means the president, mayor, | 20 | | chairman,
presiding
officer, director, superintendent, | 21 | | manager, supervisor or individual otherwise
holding primary | 22 | | executive and administrative authority for the public
body, or | 23 | | such person's duly authorized designee.
| 24 | | (f) "News media" means a newspaper or other periodical | 25 | | issued at regular
intervals whether in print or electronic | 26 | | format, a news service whether
in print or electronic format, a |
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| 1 | | radio
station, a television station, a television network, a | 2 | | community
antenna television service, or a person or | 3 | | corporation engaged in making news
reels or other motion | 4 | | picture news for public showing.
| 5 | | (g) "Recurrent requester", as used in Section 3.2 of this | 6 | | Act, means a person that, in the 12 months immediately | 7 | | preceding the request, has submitted to the same public body | 8 | | (i) a minimum of 50 requests for records, (ii) a minimum of 15 | 9 | | requests for records within a 30-day period, or (iii) a minimum | 10 | | of 7 requests for records within a 7-day period. For purposes | 11 | | of this definition, requests made by news media and non-profit, | 12 | | scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered | 13 | | in calculating the number of requests made in the time periods | 14 | | in this definition when the principal purpose of the requests | 15 | | is (i) to access and disseminate information concerning news | 16 | | and current or passing events, (ii) for articles of opinion or | 17 | | features of interest to the public, or (iii) for the purpose of | 18 | | academic, scientific, or public research or education. | 19 | | For the purposes of this subsection (g), "request" means a | 20 | | written document (or oral request, if the public body chooses | 21 | | to honor oral requests) that is submitted to a public body via | 22 | | personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other | 23 | | means available to the public body and that identifies the | 24 | | particular public record the requester seeks. One request may | 25 | | identify multiple records to be inspected or copied. | 26 | | (h) "Voluminous request" means a request that: (i) includes |
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| 1 | | more than 5 individual requests for more than 5 different | 2 | | categories of records or a combination of individual requests | 3 | | that total requests for more than 5 different categories of | 4 | | records in a period of 20 business days; or (ii) requires the | 5 | | compilation of more than 500 letter or legal-sized pages of | 6 | | public records unless a single requested record exceeds 500 | 7 | | pages. "Single requested record" may include, but is not | 8 | | limited to, one report, form, e-mail, letter, memorandum, book, | 9 | | map, microfilm, tape, or recording. | 10 | | "Voluminous request" does not include a request made by | 11 | | news media and non-profit, scientific, or academic | 12 | | organizations if the principal purpose of the request is: (1) | 13 | | to access and disseminate information concerning news and | 14 | | current or passing events; (2) for articles of opinion or | 15 | | features of interest to the public; or (3) for the purpose of | 16 | | academic, scientific, or public research or education. | 17 | | For the purposes of this subsection (h), "request" means a | 18 | | written document, or oral request, if the public body chooses | 19 | | to honor oral requests, that is submitted to a public body via | 20 | | personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other | 21 | | means available to the public body and that identifies the | 22 | | particular public record or records the requester seeks. One | 23 | | request may identify multiple individual records to be | 24 | | inspected or copied. | 25 | | (Source: P.A. 98-806, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14; | 26 | | 99-78, eff. 7-20-15.)
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| 1 | | (Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 99-478 )
| 2 | | Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:
| 3 | | (a) "Public body" means all legislative,
executive, | 4 | | administrative, or advisory bodies of the State, state | 5 | | universities
and colleges, counties, townships, cities, | 6 | | villages, incorporated towns,
school districts and all other | 7 | | municipal corporations,
boards, bureaus, committees, or | 8 | | commissions of this State, any
subsidiary
bodies of any of the | 9 | | foregoing including but not limited to committees and
| 10 | | subcommittees thereof, and a School Finance Authority created | 11 | | under
Article 1E of the School Code.
"Public body" does not | 12 | | include a child death review team
or the Illinois Child Death | 13 | | Review Teams
Executive Council
established under
the Child | 14 | | Death Review Team Act, or a regional youth advisory board or | 15 | | the Statewide Youth Advisory Board established under the | 16 | | Department of Children and Family Services Statewide Youth | 17 | | Advisory Board Act.
| 18 | | (b) "Person" means any individual, corporation, | 19 | | partnership, firm,
organization
or association, acting | 20 | | individually or as a group.
| 21 | | (c) "Public records" means all records, reports, forms, | 22 | | writings, letters,
memoranda, books, papers, maps, | 23 | | photographs, microfilms, cards, tapes,
recordings,
electronic | 24 | | data processing records, electronic communications, recorded | 25 | | information and all other
documentary
materials pertaining to |
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| 1 | | the transaction of public business, regardless of physical form | 2 | | or characteristics, having been
prepared by or for, or having | 3 | | been or being used by, received by, in the possession of, or | 4 | | under the
control
of
any public body. | 5 | | (c-5) "Private information" means unique identifiers, | 6 | | including a person's social security number, driver's license | 7 | | number, employee identification number, biometric identifiers, | 8 | | personal financial information, passwords or other access | 9 | | codes, medical records, home or personal telephone numbers, and | 10 | | personal email addresses. Private information also includes | 11 | | home address and personal license plates, except as otherwise | 12 | | provided by law or when compiled without possibility of | 13 | | attribution to any person. | 14 | | (c-10) "Commercial purpose" means the use of any part of a | 15 | | public record or records, or information derived from public | 16 | | records, in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or | 17 | | advertisement for sales or services. For purposes of this | 18 | | definition, requests made by news media and non-profit, | 19 | | scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered | 20 | | to be made for a "commercial purpose" when the principal | 21 | | purpose of the request is (i) to access and disseminate | 22 | | information concerning news and current or passing events, (ii) | 23 | | for articles of opinion or features of interest to the public, | 24 | | or (iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or public | 25 | | research or education.
| 26 | | (d) "Copying" means the reproduction of any public record |
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| 1 | | by means of any
photographic, electronic, mechanical or other | 2 | | process, device or means now known or hereafter developed and | 3 | | available to the public body.
| 4 | | (e) "Head of the public body" means the president, mayor, | 5 | | chairman,
presiding
officer, director, superintendent, | 6 | | manager, supervisor or individual otherwise
holding primary | 7 | | executive and administrative authority for the public
body, or | 8 | | such person's duly authorized designee.
| 9 | | (f) "News media" means a newspaper or other periodical | 10 | | issued at regular
intervals whether in print or electronic | 11 | | format, a news service whether
in print or electronic format, a | 12 | | radio
station, a television station, a television network, a | 13 | | community
antenna television service, or a person or | 14 | | corporation engaged in making news
reels or other motion | 15 | | picture news for public showing.
| 16 | | (g) "Recurrent requester", as used in Section 3.2 of this | 17 | | Act, means a person that, in the 12 months immediately | 18 | | preceding the request, has submitted to the same public body | 19 | | (i) a minimum of 50 requests for records, (ii) a minimum of 15 | 20 | | requests for records within a 30-day period, or (iii) a minimum | 21 | | of 7 requests for records within a 7-day period. For purposes | 22 | | of this definition, requests made by news media and non-profit, | 23 | | scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered | 24 | | in calculating the number of requests made in the time periods | 25 | | in this definition when the principal purpose of the requests | 26 | | is (i) to access and disseminate information concerning news |
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| 1 | | and current or passing events, (ii) for articles of opinion or | 2 | | features of interest to the public, or (iii) for the purpose of | 3 | | academic, scientific, or public research or education. | 4 | | For the purposes of this subsection (g), "request" means a | 5 | | written document (or oral request, if the public body chooses | 6 | | to honor oral requests) that is submitted to a public body via | 7 | | personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other | 8 | | means available to the public body and that identifies the | 9 | | particular public record the requester seeks. One request may | 10 | | identify multiple records to be inspected or copied. | 11 | | (h) "Voluminous request" means a request that: (i) includes | 12 | | more than 5 individual requests for more than 5 different | 13 | | categories of records or a combination of individual requests | 14 | | that total requests for more than 5 different categories of | 15 | | records in a period of 20 business days; or (ii) requires the | 16 | | compilation of more than 500 letter or legal-sized pages of | 17 | | public records unless a single requested record exceeds 500 | 18 | | pages. "Single requested record" may include, but is not | 19 | | limited to, one report, form, e-mail, letter, memorandum, book, | 20 | | map, microfilm, tape, or recording. | 21 | | "Voluminous request" does not include a request made by | 22 | | news media and non-profit, scientific, or academic | 23 | | organizations if the principal purpose of the request is: (1) | 24 | | to access and disseminate information concerning news and | 25 | | current or passing events; (2) for articles of opinion or | 26 | | features of interest to the public; or (3) for the purpose of |
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| 1 | | academic, scientific, or public research or education. | 2 | | For the purposes of this subsection (h), "request" means a | 3 | | written document, or oral request, if the public body chooses | 4 | | to honor oral requests, that is submitted to a public body via | 5 | | personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other | 6 | | means available to the public body and that identifies the | 7 | | particular public record or records the requester seeks. One | 8 | | request may identify multiple individual records to be | 9 | | inspected or copied. | 10 | | (i) "Severance agreement" means a mutual agreement between | 11 | | any public body and its employee for the employee's resignation | 12 | | in exchange for payment by the public body. | 13 | | (j) "Prevails" means the plaintiff achieves his or her | 14 | | desired outcome through a court order or production of all | 15 | | requested documents. | 16 | | (Source: P.A. 98-806, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14; | 17 | | 99-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-478, eff. 6-1-16.)
| 18 | | (5 ILCS 140/11) (from Ch. 116, par. 211)
| 19 | | Sec. 11.
(a) Any person denied access to inspect or copy | 20 | | any public
record by a public body
may , after seeking and | 21 | | obtaining an opinion from the Public Access Counselor under | 22 | | Section 9.5 of this Act, file suit for injunctive or
| 23 | | declaratory relief.
| 24 | | (b) Where the denial is from a public body of the State, | 25 | | suit
may be filed in the circuit court for the county where the |
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| 1 | | public body has
its principal office or where the person denied | 2 | | access resides.
| 3 | | (c) Where the denial is from a municipality or other public
| 4 | | body, except as provided in subsection (b) of this Section, | 5 | | suit may be filed
in the circuit court for the county where the | 6 | | public body is located.
| 7 | | (d) The circuit court shall have the jurisdiction to enjoin | 8 | | the public
body from withholding public records and to order | 9 | | the production of any
public records improperly withheld from | 10 | | the person seeking access. If the
public body can show that | 11 | | exceptional circumstances exist, and that the
body is | 12 | | exercising due diligence in responding to the request, the | 13 | | court
may retain jurisdiction and allow the agency additional | 14 | | time to complete
its review of the records.
| 15 | | (e) On motion of the plaintiff, prior to or after in camera
| 16 | | inspection, the court shall order the public body
to provide an | 17 | | index of the records to which access has been denied. The
index | 18 | | shall include the following:
| 19 | | (i) A description of the nature or contents of each | 20 | | document
withheld, or each deletion from a released | 21 | | document, provided, however,
that the public body shall not | 22 | | be required to disclose the information
which it asserts is | 23 | | exempt; and
| 24 | | (ii) A statement of the exemption or exemptions claimed | 25 | | for each such
deletion or withheld document.
| 26 | | (f) In any action considered by the court, the court shall |
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| 1 | | consider the
matter de novo, and shall conduct such in camera | 2 | | examination of the requested
records as it finds appropriate to | 3 | | determine if such records or any part
thereof may be withheld | 4 | | under any provision of this Act. The burden shall
be on the | 5 | | public body to establish that its refusal to permit public | 6 | | inspection
or copying is in accordance with the provisions of | 7 | | this Act. Any public body that asserts that a record is exempt | 8 | | from disclosure has the burden of proving that it is exempt by | 9 | | clear and convincing evidence.
| 10 | | (g) In the event of noncompliance with an order of the | 11 | | court to disclose,
the court may enforce its order against any | 12 | | public official or employee
so ordered or primarily responsible | 13 | | for such noncompliance through the court's
contempt powers.
| 14 | | (h) Except as to causes the court considers to be of | 15 | | greater importance,
proceedings arising under this Section | 16 | | shall take precedence on the docket
over all other causes and | 17 | | be assigned for hearing and trial at the earliest
practicable | 18 | | date and expedited in every way.
| 19 | | (i) If a person seeking the right to inspect or receive a | 20 | | copy of a public
record prevails in a
proceeding under this | 21 | | Section, the court shall award such
person reasonable | 22 | | attorney's attorneys' fees and costs. In determining what | 23 | | amount of attorney's fees is reasonable, the court shall | 24 | | consider the degree to which the relief obtained relates to the | 25 | | relief sought. The changes contained in this subsection apply | 26 | | to an action filed on or after January 1, 2010 ( the effective |
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| 1 | | date of Public Act 96-542) this amendatory Act of the 96th | 2 | | General Assembly .
| 3 | | (j) If the court determines that a public body willfully | 4 | | and intentionally failed to comply with this Act, or otherwise | 5 | | acted in bad faith, the court shall also impose upon the public | 6 | | body a civil penalty of not less than $2,500 nor more than | 7 | | $10,000 $5,000 for each occurrence. In assessing the civil | 8 | | penalty, the court shall consider in aggravation or mitigation | 9 | | the budget of the public body and whether the public body has | 10 | | previously been assessed penalties for violations of this Act. | 11 | | If the public body fails to comply with the court's order after | 12 | | 30 days, the court may impose an additional penalty of up to | 13 | | $1,000 for each day the violation continues. The changes | 14 | | contained in this subsection that are made by Public Act 96-542 | 15 | | apply to an action filed on or after January 1, 2010 ( the | 16 | | effective date of Public Act 96-542) this amendatory Act of the | 17 | | 96th General Assembly . | 18 | | (Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10; 97-813, eff. 7-13-12; | 19 | | revised 10-14-15.)
| 20 | | Section 95. No acceleration or delay. Where this Act makes | 21 | | changes in a statute that is represented in this Act by text | 22 | | that is not yet or no longer in effect (for example, a Section | 23 | | represented by multiple versions), the use of that text does | 24 | | not accelerate or delay the taking effect of (i) the changes | 25 | | made by this Act or (ii) provisions derived from any other |
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| 1 | | Public Act.".
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