FOIA Change Could Affect Segment of Public

Not even two years after sweeping changes streamlined and simplified parts of the state's rules for obtaining public information, a bill that some think throws a wrench in the system awaits a decision by Gov. Pat Quinn.

House Bill 1716, approved by stage legislators in the waning days of the spring session in May, most notably changes how government entities respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by private citizens who frequently ask for materials under the law.

The measure, which also adds fees to commercial requests involving research and retrieval of information in storage, came in response to claims by government agencies that said they had become bogged down by an increased number of requests since revised FOIA rules came to effect in 2010.

Mike Benard, executive director of the Wheaton Park District, said he's seen a slight increase in the workload associated with FOIA requests since 2010. The Wheaton Park District has two FOIA officers. Benard said the majority of FOIA requests the park district receives are related to certified payrolls during major projects.

Wheaton City Clerk Sharon Barrett-Hagen said that fees for commercial requests could be helpful to the city. The city charged per page before 2010, but has tried reducing the number of pages included in reports for requestors since the charges were eliminated, Barrett-Hagen said. This includes electronic responses, she added.

Currently, all government bodies must respond to FOIA requests within five business days, but under the changes approved by the state house (84-31) and senate (43-16), citizens who make more than 50 requests a year, 15 in 30 days or seven in seven days would have no guarantee as to when they might receive a response.

Those folks would be declared "recurrent requestors" by a government body. Instead of a firm deadline for officials to respond to the FOIA request, those deemed "recurrent" would only be guaranteed an estimate of when they might receive a response.

That has officials with the Better Government Association concerned.

"It's arbitrary," Emily Miller, BGA's policy and government affairs coordinator, said. "The problem is that this is the first step."

Barrett-Hagen said the city has not had many "recurrent requestors." However, she said that while there are multiple requests from the same people, the information requested changes.

While the "recurrent requestor" provision exempts the media, non-profit, academic and scientific organizations, the law doesn't specify whether citizen watchdogs—which help the BGA's efforts, Miller said—and freelance journalists could be subjected to the rule, and, as a result, face longer waits for information.

"It's possible for a public body to interpret that for themselves," Miller said, referring to use of the "recurrent" tag. "For some reason, public officials think FOIA is not part of their public duty."

Robert Rammer, assistant superintendent of operations for District 200, said that the district hasn't experienced requestors that meet the "recurrent" specifications, but that requests have recently become much more detailed. Gathering all of the information for one request in five days can be "really difficult" when it involves compiling historic information from various departments of the district, he said. 

For its part, the Illinois Attorney General's Office supported the bill because it included a provision lifting a pre-authorization requirement that had government bodies regularly asking for approval to issue denials citing two common FOIA exemptions.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan previously said removing pre-authorizations would give her office's public access counselor—the lone legal oversight on FOIA in Illinois—more time to focus on enforcement and education. Pre-authorization work accounted for 62 percent of the counselor's load in 2010, according to Madigan's office.

"By streamlining the FOIA review process and increasing our ability to enforce the law, we will help to ensure greater transparency at all levels of government in Illinois," Madigan said in a statement released last month.

That statement did not address the "recurrent requestors" declaration, which is seen by the BGA as an obstacle to timely release of information.

BGA has argued against HB1716—as well as preceding bills that featured even more FOIA rollbacks, including a provision that could have allowed school districts to delay responses to requests made during summer months—and is now calling on Quinn to veto the measure.

Miller said she and others have been unsuccessful in getting a response from the governor's office about his intentions with the bill. Annie Thompson, a spokesman for Quinn, said the governor has not yet received the bill from the General Assembly.

State law gives the Legislature 30 days to send an approved bill to the governor, who then has 60 days to review and either sign or veto it.