Newsflash: Rockweed Not a Fish
The Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC) recently issued two new binding opinions concerning the FOIA—one upholding a public body’s denial of a FOIA request for union records and another finding application materials for...more
The PAC recently released its second binding opinion of 2022, which provides helpful analysis and guidance regarding the personal and pre-decisional exemptions under the FOIA. The PAC determined that the City of Chicago...more
The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor recently issued a binding opinion holding that the Illinois Freedom of Information Act exemption for predecisional records does not apply to communications from a public...more
In a rare binding opinion, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (PAC) opined that certain information in the sole possession of a vendor that had contracted with the Illinois Department of Corrections...more
A recent informal Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor decision interpreting the Freedom of Information Act is an important reminder that redacting student names from public records is not always sufficient to...more
A recent Cook County court decision addressed a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request to Governor Bruce Rauner’s office, and shed some light on what “final” means for purposes of the “preliminary records” FOIA...more
Recently, an Illinois Court of Appeals issued a decision mandating disclosure of assessment records from the Cook County Assessor’s Office to the Chicago Tribune under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”)....more
The Public Access Counselor (PAC) of the Illinois Attorney General’s office recently issued two binding opinions addressing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Specifically, the opinions found two public bodies in...more
A recent Chicago Tribune editorial, “The burden of transparency” asks a provocative question: does the unduly burdensome exemption in the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allow an unfair loophole for public bodies...more