Full Text of HB2440 103rd General Assembly
HB2440 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024 HB2440 Introduced 2/15/2023, by Rep. Anne Stava-Murray SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 5 ILCS 140/6 | from Ch. 116, par. 206 |
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Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that a public body shall take all reasonable steps to provide records in a format that is readable by the requester if the format is available to the public body and requested by the requester. Effective immediately.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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| | | HB2440 | | LRB103 27218 AWJ 53588 b |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning government.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by | 5 | | changing Section 6 as follows:
| 6 | | (5 ILCS 140/6) (from Ch. 116, par. 206)
| 7 | | Sec. 6. Authority to charge fees.
| 8 | | (a) When a person requests a copy of a record maintained in | 9 | | an electronic format, the public body shall furnish it in the | 10 | | electronic format specified by the requester, if feasible. The | 11 | | public body shall take all reasonable steps to provide records | 12 | | in a format that is readable by the requester if the format is | 13 | | available to the public body and requested by the requester. | 14 | | If it is not feasible to furnish the public records in the | 15 | | specified electronic format, then the public body shall | 16 | | furnish it in the format in which it is maintained by the | 17 | | public body, or in paper format at the option of the requester. | 18 | | A public body may charge the requester for the actual cost of | 19 | | purchasing the recording medium, whether disc, diskette, tape, | 20 | | or other medium. If a request is not a request for a commercial | 21 | | purpose or a voluminous request, a public body may not charge | 22 | | the requester for the costs of any search for and review of the | 23 | | records or other personnel costs associated with reproducing |
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| 1 | | the records. Except to the extent that the General Assembly | 2 | | expressly provides, statutory fees applicable to copies of | 3 | | public records when furnished in a paper format shall not be | 4 | | applicable to those records when furnished in an electronic | 5 | | format. | 6 | | (a-5) If a voluminous request is for electronic records | 7 | | and those records are not in a portable document format (PDF), | 8 | | the public body may charge up to $20 for not more than 2 | 9 | | megabytes of data, up to $40 for more than 2 but not more than | 10 | | 4 megabytes of data, and up to $100 for more than 4 megabytes | 11 | | of data. If a voluminous request is for electronic records and | 12 | | those records are in a portable document format, the public | 13 | | body may charge up to $20 for not more than 80 megabytes of | 14 | | data, up to $40 for more than 80 megabytes but not more than | 15 | | 160 megabytes of data, and up to $100 for more than 160 | 16 | | megabytes of data. If the responsive electronic records are in | 17 | | both a portable document format and not in a portable document | 18 | | format, the public body may separate the fees and charge the | 19 | | requester under both fee scales. | 20 | | If a public body imposes a fee pursuant to this subsection | 21 | | (a-5), it must provide the requester with an accounting of all | 22 | | fees, costs, and personnel hours in connection with the | 23 | | request for public records. | 24 | | (b) Except when a fee is otherwise fixed by statute, each | 25 | | public body may charge fees
reasonably
calculated to
reimburse
| 26 | | its actual cost for reproducing and certifying public records |
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| 1 | | and for the
use, by any person, of the equipment of the public | 2 | | body to copy records. No fees shall be charged for the first 50 | 3 | | pages of black and white, letter or legal sized copies | 4 | | requested by a requester. The fee for black and white, letter | 5 | | or legal sized copies shall not exceed 15 cents per page. If a | 6 | | public body provides copies in color or in a size other than | 7 | | letter or legal, the public body may not charge more than its | 8 | | actual cost for reproducing the records.
In calculating its | 9 | | actual cost for reproducing records or for the use of the | 10 | | equipment of the public body to reproduce records, a public | 11 | | body shall not include the costs of any search for and review | 12 | | of the records or other personnel costs associated with | 13 | | reproducing the records, except for commercial requests as | 14 | | provided in subsection (f) of this Section. Such fees shall be | 15 | | imposed
according to a standard scale of fees, established and | 16 | | made public by the
body imposing them. The cost for certifying | 17 | | a record shall not exceed $1.
| 18 | | (c) Documents shall be furnished without charge or at a | 19 | | reduced
charge, as determined by the public body, if the | 20 | | person requesting the
documents states the specific purpose | 21 | | for the request and indicates that a
waiver or reduction of the | 22 | | fee is in the public interest. Waiver or
reduction of the fee | 23 | | is in the public interest if the principal purpose of
the | 24 | | request is to access and disseminate information regarding the | 25 | | health,
safety and welfare or the legal rights of the general | 26 | | public and is not for
the principal purpose of personal or |
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| 1 | | commercial benefit.
For purposes of this subsection, | 2 | | "commercial benefit" shall not apply to
requests
made by news | 3 | | media when the principal purpose of the request is to access | 4 | | and
disseminate information regarding the health, safety, and | 5 | | welfare or the legal
rights of the general public.
In setting | 6 | | the
amount of the waiver or reduction, the public body may take | 7 | | into
consideration the amount of materials requested and the | 8 | | cost of copying
them.
| 9 | | (d) The imposition of a fee not consistent with | 10 | | subsections
(6)(a) and (b) of this Act constitutes a denial of | 11 | | access to public
records for the purposes of judicial review.
| 12 | | (e) The fee for each abstract of a driver's record shall be | 13 | | as provided
in Section 6-118 of "The Illinois Vehicle Code", | 14 | | approved September 29,
1969, as amended, whether furnished as | 15 | | a paper copy or as an electronic copy.
| 16 | | (f) A public body may charge up to $10 for each hour spent | 17 | | by personnel in searching for and retrieving a requested | 18 | | record or examining the record for necessary redactions. No | 19 | | fees shall be charged for the first 8 hours spent by personnel | 20 | | in searching for or retrieving a requested record. A public | 21 | | body may charge the actual cost of retrieving and transporting | 22 | | public records from an off-site storage facility when the | 23 | | public records are maintained by a third-party storage company | 24 | | under contract with the public body. If a public body imposes a | 25 | | fee pursuant to this subsection (f), it must provide the | 26 | | requester with an accounting of all fees, costs, and personnel |
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| 1 | | hours in connection with the request for public records. The | 2 | | provisions of this subsection (f) apply only to commercial | 3 | | requests. | 4 | | (Source: P.A. 97-579, eff. 8-26-11; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14.)
| 5 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 6 | | becoming law.
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