Bill Text: IL HB2617 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that "document", when used in reference to a public body, includes, but is not limited to, documents maintained by the clerk of the circuit court and otherwise available to the public. Amends the Judicial Privacy Act. Provides that "judicial officer" includes actively employed and former or deceased State's Attorneys.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-10 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB2617 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB2617-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB2617 Introduced , by Rep. Patrick Windhorst SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
5 ILCS 140/2 from Ch. 116, par. 202
705 ILCS 90/1-10
Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that "document", when used in reference to a public body, includes, but is not limited to, documents maintained by the clerk of the circuit court and otherwise available to the public. Amends the Judicial Privacy Act. Provides that "judicial officer" includes actively employed and former or deceased State's Attorneys.
LRB103 28107 LNS 54486 b
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning courts.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by
changing Section 2 as follows:
(5 ILCS 140/2) (from Ch. 116, par. 202)
Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:
(a) "Public body" means all legislative, executive,
administrative, or advisory bodies of the State, state
universities and colleges, counties, townships, cities,
villages, incorporated towns, school districts and all other
municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees, or
commissions of this State, any subsidiary bodies of any of the
foregoing including but not limited to committees and
subcommittees thereof, and a School Finance Authority created
under Article 1E of the School Code. "Public body" does not
include a child death review team or the Illinois Child Death
Review Teams Executive Council established under the Child
Death Review Team Act, or a regional youth advisory board or
the Statewide Youth Advisory Board established under the
Department of Children and Family Services Statewide Youth
Advisory Board Act.
(b) "Person" means any individual, corporation,

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partnership, firm, organization or association, acting
individually or as a group.
(c) "Public records" means all records, reports, forms,
writings, letters, memoranda, books, papers, maps,
photographs, microfilms, cards, tapes, recordings, electronic
data processing records, electronic communications, recorded
information and all other documentary materials pertaining to
the transaction of public business, regardless of physical
form or characteristics, having been prepared by or for, or
having been or being used by, received by, in the possession
of, or under the control of any public body.
(c-5) "Private information" means unique identifiers,
including a person's social security number, driver's license
number, employee identification number, biometric identifiers,
personal financial information, passwords or other access
codes, medical records, home or personal telephone numbers,
and personal email addresses. Private information also
includes home address and personal license plates, except as
otherwise provided by law or when compiled without possibility
of attribution to any person.
(c-10) "Commercial purpose" means the use of any part of a
public record or records, or information derived from public
records, in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or
advertisement for sales or services. For purposes of this
definition, requests made by news media and non-profit,
scientific, or academic organizations shall not be considered

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to be made for a "commercial purpose" when the principal
purpose of the request is (i) to access and disseminate
information concerning news and current or passing events,
(ii) for articles of opinion or features of interest to the
public, or (iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or
public research or education.
(d) "Copying" means the reproduction of any public record
by means of any photographic, electronic, mechanical or other
process, device or means now known or hereafter developed and
available to the public body.
(e) "Head of the public body" means the president, mayor,
chairman, presiding officer, director, superintendent,
manager, supervisor or individual otherwise holding primary
executive and administrative authority for the public body, or
such person's duly authorized designee.
(f) "News media" means a newspaper or other periodical
issued at regular intervals whether in print or electronic
format, a news service whether in print or electronic format,
a radio station, a television station, a television network, a
community antenna television service, or a person or
corporation engaged in making news reels or other motion
picture news for public showing.
(g) "Recurrent requester", as used in Section 3.2 of this
Act, means a person that, in the 12 months immediately
preceding the request, has submitted to the same public body
(i) a minimum of 50 requests for records, (ii) a minimum of 15

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requests for records within a 30-day period, or (iii) a
minimum of 7 requests for records within a 7-day period. For
purposes of this definition, requests made by news media and
non-profit, scientific, or academic organizations shall not be
considered in calculating the number of requests made in the
time periods in this definition when the principal purpose of
the requests is (i) to access and disseminate information
concerning news and current or passing events, (ii) for
articles of opinion or features of interest to the public, or
(iii) for the purpose of academic, scientific, or public
research or education.
For the purposes of this subsection (g), "request" means a
written document (or oral request, if the public body chooses
to honor oral requests) that is submitted to a public body via
personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other
means available to the public body and that identifies the
particular public record the requester seeks. One request may
identify multiple records to be inspected or copied.
(h) "Voluminous request" means a request that: (i)
includes more than 5 individual requests for more than 5
different categories of records or a combination of individual
requests that total requests for more than 5 different
categories of records in a period of 20 business days; or (ii)
requires the compilation of more than 500 letter or
legal-sized pages of public records unless a single requested
record exceeds 500 pages. "Single requested record" may

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include, but is not limited to, one report, form, e-mail,
letter, memorandum, book, map, microfilm, tape, or recording.
"Voluminous request" does not include a request made by
news media and non-profit, scientific, or academic
organizations if the principal purpose of the request is: (1)
to access and disseminate information concerning news and
current or passing events; (2) for articles of opinion or
features of interest to the public; or (3) for the purpose of
academic, scientific, or public research or education.
For the purposes of this subsection (h), "request" means a
written document, or oral request, if the public body chooses
to honor oral requests, that is submitted to a public body via
personal delivery, mail, telefax, electronic mail, or other
means available to the public body and that identifies the
particular public record or records the requester seeks. One
request may identify multiple individual records to be
inspected or copied.
(i) "Severance agreement" means a mutual agreement between
any public body and its employee for the employee's
resignation in exchange for payment by the public body.
(j) "Document", when used in reference to a public body,
includes, but is not limited to, documents maintained by the
clerk of the circuit court and otherwise available to the
public.
(Source: P.A. 98-806, eff. 1-1-15; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14;
99-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-478, eff. 6-1-16.)

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Section 10. The Judicial Privacy Act is amended by
changing Section 1-10 as follows:
(705 ILCS 90/1-10)
Sec. 1-10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Government agency" includes all agencies, authorities,
boards, commissions, departments, institutions, offices, and
any other bodies politic and corporate of the State created by
the constitution or statute, whether in the executive,
judicial, or legislative branch; all units and corporate
outgrowths created by executive order of the Governor or any
constitutional officer, by the Supreme Court, or by resolution
of the General Assembly; or agencies, authorities, boards,
commissions, departments, institutions, offices, and any other
bodies politic and corporate of a unit of local government, or
school district.
"Home address" includes a judicial officer's permanent
residence and any secondary residences affirmatively
identified by the judicial officer, but does not include a
judicial officer's work address.
"Immediate family" includes a judicial officer's spouse,
child, parent, or any blood relative of the judicial officer
or the judicial officer's spouse who lives in the same
residence.
"Judicial officer" includes actively employed and former

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or deceased:
(1) Justices of the United States Supreme Court and
the Illinois Supreme Court;
(2) Judges of the United States Court of Appeals;
(3) Judges and magistrate judges of the United States
District Court;
(4) Judges of the United States Bankruptcy Court;
(5) Judges of the Illinois Appellate Court; and
(6) Judges and associate judges of the Illinois
Circuit Courts; and
(7) State's Attorneys as designated under Article VI,
Section 19 of the Illinois Constitution..
"Personal information" means a home address, home
telephone number, mobile telephone number, pager number,
personal email address, social security number, federal tax
identification number, checking and savings account numbers,
credit card numbers, marital status, and identity of children
under the age of 18.
"Publicly available content" means any written, printed,
or electronic document or record that provides information or
that serves as a document or record maintained, controlled, or
in the possession of a government agency that may be obtained
by any person or entity, from the Internet, from the
government agency upon request either free of charge or for a
fee, or in response to a request under the Freedom of
Information Act.

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"Publicly post" or "publicly display" means to communicate
to another or otherwise make available to the general public.
"Written request" means written notice signed by a
judicial officer or a representative of the judicial officer's
employer requesting a government agency, person, business, or
association to refrain from posting or displaying publicly
available content that includes the judicial officer's
personal information.
(Source: P.A. 100-98, eff. 8-11-17.)