FOIA bill passes Illinois House/Senate

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SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill changing the Illinois Freedom of Information Act Thursday, echoing the approval of their counterparts in the Illinois House, and sending the bill to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.

Senate Bill 189 amends the Freedom of Information Act in a number of ways. It presumes that all records are public, and if a public body asserts an exemption, it has the burden of proving that the record is exempt.

The bill also creates an easy process for submitting FOIA requests and requires that public bodies designate trained FOIA officers to ensure proper responses, and shortens the response time from seven to five business days.

The bill also ensures more significant consequences for failing to respond to FOIA requests, and establishes civil penalties between $2,500 and $5,000 for violations. The bill also requires a court to award attorneys’ fees to requesters who are forced to file lawsuits to obtain access to public records.

The bill, which was sponsored by Attorney General Lisa Madigan, had a strong supporter in Madigan’s father, Michael Madigan, speaker of the House and co-chair of the Joint Committee on Government Reform.

In a press release, Madigan said the bill was “part of the most significant and far-reaching ethics and campaign finance reform package that has been enacted in Illinois history,” and said the bill would “make it easier for citizens, watchdog groups and journalists to gain access to the documents that their tax dollars paid to produce.”

The Illinois Press Association also gave its approval of the bill, although it would have liked to see a slightly different final version.

“There are issues which we will continue to press in future sessions of the General Assembly,” said Don Craven, interim executive director of the IPA. “We suggested some amendments which were not adopted in this bill, but those small disappointments should not overshadow the major changes this bill will bring to Illinois law.”

The bill passed the House last week on a 116-0 vote, with local representatives Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley; Don Moffitt, R-Gilson; and David Leitch, R-Peoria all in favor.

Mautino said he became familiar with the problems of the FOIA while on the special committee investigating former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. During that investigation, he saw a lot of the abuses of FOIA.

“In order to get information from our own agencies, I’ve had to use FOIA,” he said. “When things are that tightly controlled, there’s a need for change.”

Mautino said he was generally pleased with the final version and said it was workable but would not overwork those who needed to comply with its requirements.

Early versions called for criminal penalties, which Mautino didn’t approve of, and said the previously proposed two-day timetable was unreasonable.

“By the time you would open your mail, you’re already a criminal,” he said.

On Thursday, the Senate approved the bill on a 58-1 vote, with only Sen. Gary Dahl, R-Granville, voting against the bill.

“I think this FOIA, the way it is written, is a real burden for small communities,” Dahl said Monday.

Dahl said he had problems with the language in the bill that gave communities only five days to reply, required special training for someone in each community, and allowed for fines if the information was late or incorrect.

Dahl said he represents 46 communities with fewer than 1,000 residents, and many of those communities don’t have any full-time staff who could be trained to follow the requirements of the law.

Dahl also said he wished the legislators had more time to hear from their constituents about what the bill would mean for them. Even considering the short amount of time, Dahl said he heard from many community leaders about the burden the legislation would put on them.

“I’m not against the idea of toughening of these laws, but we need to be careful about what we’re mandating,” he said. “Sometimes we forget about the little communities.”

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