Proposed Changes to FOIA for Noncompliance with PAC Binding Opinions
The Illinois legislature recently
passed House Bill 4715, which makes changes to the Freedom of Information
Act. The bill adds Section 11.6 to FOIA,
providing that a requester who files a lawsuit under Section 11 of FOIA seeking
to enforce a binding opinion of the PAC office of the Attorney General will
have a rebuttable presumption that the public body willfully and intentionally
failed to comply with FOIA if:
1. The PAC issues a binding opinion
under Section 9.5 of FOIA;
2. The public body does not file for
administrative review of the binding opinion within 35 days after it is served
on the public body; and
3. The public body does not comply
with the binding opinion within 35 days after it is served on the public
body.
The proposed legislation further
states that the public body may rebut the presumption by showing that it is
making a good-faith effort to comply with the binding opinion but that
compliance was not possible within 35 days.
The proposed legislation also
provides that a court may impose a penalty of up to $1,000 per day against the
public body if the violation continues if:
1. The public body fails to comply
with the court order after 30 days,
2. The court order is not appealed
or stayed, and
3. The court does not grant the
public body additional time to comply.
This new section would only apply
to binding opinions requested or issued on or after January 1, 2017.
If signed by the Governor, these
will impose pretty significant penalties on public bodies for noncompliance
with binding PAC opinions.
Post Authored by Erin Baker,
Ancel Glink
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