Topic:
FOIA
(Currie, D-Chicago; Harmon, D-Oak Park) creates separate FOIA guidelines for “recurrent requestors” to be answered within a reasonable period of time considering the size and complexity if the request. “Recurrent requestors” means a person that in the 12 months immediately preceding a request has submitted to the same public body any of the following: (1) a minimum of 50 requests for records; (2) a minimum of 15 requests for records within a 30-day period; or a minimum of seven requests within a seven-day period. News media and non-profit, scientific or academic organizations are exempt if the principal purpose of the request is academic, scientific, or public research or education. Within five business days the public body must notify the requestor that (1) the requestor is being treated as a recurrent requestor and why it is being treated as such; and (2) the requestor will get an initial response within 21 days with the four different authorized responses. Within 21 business days the public body must (1) estimate the time and estimated fees required to comply with the request; (2) deny the request citing the authority to do so; (3) notify the requestor that the request is unduly burdensome and give the requestor an opportunity to reduce it to manageable proportions; or (4) provide the records. A public body may charge a commercial request up to $10 for each hour spent by personnel in searching for and retrieving a requested record, except that no fees may be charged or the first eight hours. If the public records are maintained by contract with a third-party storage company in an off-site storage facility, the public body may charge for the actual cost of retrieving and transporting those public records. A requestor for commercial purposes may not appeal to the Public Access Counselor except for the limited purpose of reviewing whether the public body properly determined that the request was made for a commercial purpose. Passed both chambers.