Bill > HB2882

This bill amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to modify response time requirements for public records requests. Currently, public bodies must respond to a records request within 5 business days, but the bill extends this to 15 business days. Additionally, the time for extending a response is increased from 5 to 10 business days. The bill allows extensions for various reasons, such as records being stored in multiple locations, requiring extensive search efforts, needing review by specialized personnel, or requiring consultation with other public bodies. For commercial requests, the response time is extended from 21 to 30 business days. The bill maintains provisions that if a public body fails to respond within the specified timeframes, they cannot charge fees for providing the records and cannot claim the request is unduly burdensome. These changes aim to provide public bodies more flexibility in processing complex or voluminous records requests while still maintaining transparency and accountability in government record access.

Government Affairs

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2882&GAID=18&DocTypeID=HB&SessionID=114&GA=104