In Illinois, there are two laws that significantly impact the direct and indirect relationship between government and the people.
The Open Meetings Act governs over the processes public bodies design and implement as a part of their normal operating procedures, such as the 2.03 requirement of the OMA. If a public body does not approve the list(s) of regularly scheduled meeting dates on an annual basis, they are in violation of the OMA.
The Freedom of Information Act governs over the process public bodies design and implement as a part of their normal operating procedures, such as ensuring a state-certified FOIA Officer is handling all FOIA requests.
While our initial objective was directly tied into Section 2.03 of the OMA, it was understood other issues would likely arise that might extend the timeline that we hadn’t thought of when designing our approach that might be of value to the public in a timely manner.
We stumbled into an interpretation of the FOIA law that suggested the only way to file a complaint for a Section 4 violation would be after a FOIA request was submitted and responded to in some fashion.
It is the official position of My Civil Duty that this would be an incorrect interpretation of the law that forces a FOIA burden on a public body that would be entirely unnecessary if the information was properly published to their website in the first place as the law demands through mandate.
To be constructive with our position and supportive of all sides, we have developed a My Civil Duty Corrective Action FOIA Request.
Fundamentally, these FOIA requests are legally sound as it relates to the basics of the FOIA laws. They also give a public body the opportunity to take corrective actions as it relates to the information being requested, thus eliminating the need for the public to FOIA request the information once the public body takes corrective action and the public body doesn’t get registered with the PAC office for the initial violation.
We believe this type of FOIA requests should by applied only in a setting where information is already supposed to be accessible to the public through legal mandate, such as with Section 4 of the FOIA law and Section 2.03 of the OMA law.
Example 1
Dear FOIA Officer,
This FOIA request is being submitted to you in the form of a Corrective Action FOIA Request due to your current violation of Section 4 of the Freedom of Information Act 5 ILCS 140.
The text of Section 4* mandates the publication of very specific information to a public body’s website as well as posting the information at the physical location of the public body. While we are unaware of your postings at your physical location, your website is specifically missing the following information:
1. The total amount of your operating budget (4a)
2. A block diagram giving your functional subdivisions (4a) [an organizational chart]
3. A directory designating the Freedom of Information Officer or Officers (4b)
Therefore, we are FOIA requesting a document reflecting the total amount of your operating budget, your block diagram displaying your functional subdivisions, and a directory designating the state-certified Freedom of Information Officer or Officers with your public body.
This is a non-commercial request and since it will likely be less than 50 pages, no fee should apply to your releasing the information to us.
You may certainly deliver the information to us using the email address in this communication, however if these violations are not corrected by the time we receive the result, we will have no other choice but to report the violation to the Public Access Counselor’s Office and ask for their assistance with enforcement of Section 4 of the FOIA law here in Illinois.
Thank you in advance for your assistance with our request.
Sincerely yours,
My Civil Duty
* Sec. 4. Each public body shall prominently display at each of its administrative or regional offices, make available for inspection and copying, and send through the mail if requested, each of the following:
(a) A brief description of itself, which will include, but not be limited to, a short summary of its purpose, a block diagram giving its functional subdivisions, the total amount of its operating budget, the number and location of all of its separate offices, the approximate number of full and part-time employees, and the identification and membership of any board, commission, committee, or council which operates in an advisory capacity relative to the operation of the public body, or which exercises control over its policies or procedures, or to which the public body is required to report and be answerable for its operations; and
(b) A brief description of the methods whereby the public may request information and public records, a directory designating the Freedom of Information officer or officers, the address where requests for public records should be directed, and any fees allowable under Section 6 of this Act.
A public body that maintains a website shall also post this information on its website.
(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)