Bill Text: IL HB2887 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Reduces the number of record requests that must be made for a person to be considered a recurrent requester under the Act. Provides that public bodies must respond to requests from recurrent requesters with 30 (rather than 21) days after receipt of a request. Specifies that notice that requests are being treated as recurrent requests must be provided only once every 30 days. Provides that it is a violation of the Act for persons designated as recurrent requesters to knowingly obtain a public record without disclosing their status as recurrent requesters.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-06 - Referred to Rules Committee [HB2887 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB2887-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2887 Introduced , by Rep. Terra Costa Howard SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
5 ILCS 140/2 from Ch. 116, par. 202
5 ILCS 140/3.2
Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Reduces the number of record requests that must be made for a person to be considered a recurrent requester under the Act. Provides that public bodies must respond to requests from recurrent requesters with 30 (rather than 21) days after receipt of a request. Specifies that notice that requests are being treated as recurrent requests must be provided only once every 30 days. Provides that it is a violation of the Act for persons designated as recurrent requesters to knowingly obtain a public record without disclosing their status as recurrent requesters.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning government.
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 Sections 2 and 3.2 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. For a public body that is a
HIPAA-covered entity, "private information" includes
electronic medical records and all information, including
demographic information, contained within or extracted from an
electronic medical records system operated or maintained by
the public body in compliance with State and federal medical
privacy laws and regulations, including, but not limited to,

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the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and
its regulations, 45 CFR Parts 160 and 164. As used in this
subsection, "HIPAA-covered entity" has the meaning given to
the term "covered entity" in 45 CFR 160.103.
(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
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

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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 40 50 requests for records, (ii) a minimum of
10 15 requests for records within a 30-day period, or (iii) a
minimum of 5 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

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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
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

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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.
(Source: P.A. 103-554, eff. 1-1-24.)
(5 ILCS 140/3.2)
Sec. 3.2. Recurrent requesters.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the
contrary, a public body shall respond to a request from a
recurrent requester, as defined in subsection (g) of Section
2, within 21 business days after receipt. The response shall
(i) provide to the requester an estimate of the time required
by the public body to provide the records requested and an
estimate of the fees to be charged, which the public body may
require the person to pay in full before copying the requested
documents, (ii) deny the request pursuant to one or more of the
exemptions set out in this Act, (iii) notify the requester
that the request is unduly burdensome and extend an
opportunity to the requester to attempt to reduce the request
to manageable proportions, or (iv) provide the records
requested.
(b) Within 5 business days after receiving a request from
a recurrent requester, as defined in subsection (g) of Section
2, the public body shall notify the requester (i) that the
public body is treating the request as a request under

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subsection (g) of Section 2, (ii) of the reasons why the public
body is treating the request as a request under subsection (g)
of Section 2, and (iii) that the public body will send an
initial response within 30 21 business days after receipt in
accordance with subsection (a) of this Section, and (iv) that
any additional requests received from the requester within the
30-day response period shall also be treated as a request
under subsection (g) of Section 2. The public body shall also
notify the requester of the proposed responses that can be
asserted pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section. The
notification is required to be sent only once during the
30-day response period.
(c) Unless the records are exempt from disclosure, a
public body shall comply with a request within a reasonable
period considering the size and complexity of the request and
may reasonably determine the format of the records produced.
(d) It is a violation of this Act for a person designated
as a recurrent requester under subsection (g) of Section 2 to
knowingly obtain a public record without disclosing the
person's status as a recurrent requester.
(Source: P.A. 97-579, eff. 8-26-11; 98-756, eff. 7-16-14.)