The new, improved Illinois Freedom of Information Act

In the latest ISBA Corporate Lawyer, Frank Grenard nicely summarizes the much ballyhooed beefing-up of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The changes take effect January 1. As Frank notes, excuses for noncompliance will be harder to come by. "[T]he Act provides that irrespective of added cost to comply and technological advances, public records 'shall' be made available upon request except when denial of access furthers the public policy underlying 'a specific exception.'” And the new process will be more requester friendly, he reports. "The Act will prohibit public agencies from requiring the use of individualized FOIA forms, nor can the public agency require the requester to disclose the purpose for the request." Read all about these and other elements of the new FOIA law.