Ill. Admin. Code tit. 2, § 1127.405 - Requests for Review of Denials - Public Access Counselor
a) A person whose request to inspect or copy
arecord is denied by the Agency may file a request for review with the Public
Access Counselor established in the Office of the Attorney General not later
than 60 days after the date of the final denial. (Section 9.5(a) of
FOIA)
b) If the Agency asserts that
the records are exempt under Section
1127.202(a)(4)
or (a)(7) of this Part, it shall, within the
time periods provided for responding to a request, provide written notice to
the requester and the Public Access Counselor of its intent to deny the request
in whole or in part. The notice shall include:
1) A copy of the request for access to
records;
2) The proposed response
from the Agency; and
3) A detailed
summary of the Agency's basis for asserting the exemption. (Section 9.5(b) of
FOIA)
c) Upon receipt of
a notice of intent to deny from the Agency, the Public Access Counselor shall
determine whether further inquiry is warranted. The Public Access Counselor
shall process the notification of intent to deny as detailed in Section 9.5(b)
of FOIA. Times for response or compliance by the Agency under Section
1127.401
of this Part shall be tolled until the Public Access Counselor concludes his or
her inquiry. (Section 9.5(b) of FOIA)
d) Within 7 working days after the Agency
receives a request for review from the Public Access Counselor, the Agency
shall provide copies of records requested and shall otherwise fully cooperate
with the Public Access Counselor. (Section 9.5(c) of FOIA)
e) Within 7 working days after it receives a
copy of a request for review and request for production of records from the
Public Access Counselor, the Agency may, but is not required to, answer the
allegations of the request for review. The answer may take the form of a
letter, brief, or memorandum. The Public Access Counselor shall forward a copy
of the answer to the person submitting the request for review, with any alleged
confidential information to which the request pertainsredacted from the copy.
(Section 9.5(d) of FOIA)
f) The
requester may, but is not required to, respond in writing to the answer within
7 working days and shall provide a copy of the response to the Agency. (Section
9.5(d) of FOIA)
g) In addition to
the request for review, and the answer and response thereto, if any, a
requester or the Agency may furnish affidavits or records concerning any matter
germane to the review. (Section 9.5(e) of FOIA)
h) A binding opinion from the Attorney
Generalshall be binding upon both the requester and the Agency, subject to
administrative review under Section
1127.407 of
this Part. (Section 9.5(f) of FOIA)
i) If the Attorney General decides to
exercise his or her discretion to resolve a request for review by mediation or
by a means other than issuance of a binding opinion, the decision not to issue
a binding opinion shall not be reviewable. (Section 9.5(f) of FOIA)
j) Upon receipt of a binding opinion
concluding that a violation of FOIA has occurred, the Agency shall either take
necessary action immediately to comply with the directive of the opinion or
shall initiate administrative review under Section
1127.407 of
this Part. If the opinion concludes that no violation of FOIA has occurred, the
requester may initiate administrative review under Section
1127.407 of
this Part. (Section 9.5(f) of FOIA)
k) If the Agency discloses records in
accordance with an opinion of the Attorney General, the Agency is immune from
all liabilities by reason thereof and shall notbe liable for penalties under
FOIA. (Section 9.5(f) of FOIA)
l)
If the requester files suit under Section
1127.406 of
this Part with respect to the same denial that is the subject of a pending
request for review, the requester shall notify the Public Access Counselor, and
the Public Access Counselor shall sonotify the Agency. (Section 9.5(g) of
FOIA)
m) The Attorney General may
also issue advisory opinions to the Agency regardingcompliance with FOIA. A
review may be initiated upon receipt of a written request from the Director of
the Agency or the Agency's General Counsel, which shall contain sufficient
accurate facts from which a determination can be made.The Public Access
Counselor may request additional information from theAgency in order to assist
in the review. If the Agency relies in good faith on an advisoryopinion of the
Attorney General in responding to a request, the Agency isnot liable for
penalties under FOIA, so long as the facts upon which the opinion is based have
been fully and fairly disclosed to the Public Access Counselor. (Section 9.5(h)
of FOIA)
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.