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Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

The Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows any person to request in writing, a record or document from a federal agency, and requires that agency to give out the record. Since the FOIA applies only to federal agencies, there are no federally controlled rights to records of the Congress, state and local government agencies, or the courts. Each individual state has its own laws about access to these records.1

These requests for information must be made in writing, and at every agency there is a special office to receive them, assign a tracking number to each, and respond within 20 business days by granting or denying the request (although in practice the agencies face no punishment for not responding within that time frame). If there is an urgent need for information, and that need can be shown, there is an “expedited processing” option. The agency may also charge a fee for finding the documents. If the agency does not respond within 20 days, the complaint may be brought to the FOIA Appeals Officer, and if that does not get a response within 20 days, a lawsuit may be filed in the nearest federal court, and the judge may order the agency to release the information.2

In Chicago, records are available through the FOIA from agencies including Budgets and Management, Finance, and the Chicago Police Department. As each agency maintains its own records, information requests must be directed to the specific agency with the name, mailing address, and daytime phone number of the requester, as well as a description of the records requested. Each agency also may have its own FOIA form, and the City of Chicago has a general form available here.3 For each individual department’s contact person for FOIA requests and other requirements, see this site.

Effective January 1, 2010, Senate Bill 189 improved the FOIA in Chicago by reducing the number of days that agencies have to respond to the request, from seven to five. It will give the Public Access Counselor within the Attorney General’s office a permanent position, with the power to resolve FOIA disputes. The bill also requires that government employees complete FOIA training every year, and strengthens enforcement of FOIA by allowing courts to use civil penalties.4

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Community Tips from Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR)
  1. Being as specific as possible in the FOIA request letter is helpful. A valid response from a government agency is that the request is over-broad, but make sure not to make the request so narrow that it does not provide the information needed.
  2. Ask if the agencies have records in electronic format, especially if asking for data, as it will usually already be in a spreadsheet that can then be used easily for further research.
  3. Past FOIA law mandated that the government would charge for a “reasonable” number of copies, but would not charge for staff time to assemble the copies. The new FOIA law, effective in January 2010, includes the first 25 pages free and has a set copying rate per page for all government agencies. Copying and postage costs can also be waived for non-profits.
  4. Certain government units in the state insist the FOIA request be filled out on their own forms, and at times will ignore the request if it is not on their specific form. This should change with the new FOIA law
  5. The University of Illinois website listing all FOIA requests and their responses has been a valuable resource for ICPR, to see what others have sent in requests for and to learn from successful requests.
  6. The Citizen Advocacy Center, located in Elmhurst, has experience working with FOIA requests and helped ICPR craft its FOIA letter.
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1: “Freedom of Information Act.” United States Department of Justice. 6 Oct 2009.
2: “The Federal Freedom of Information Act.” Federal Open Government Guide. The Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press. 2009. Corinna J. Zarek (ed.). 6 Oct 2009.
3: “Freedom of Information Requests.” City of Chicago. 6 Oct 2009.
4: “A Victory for Reform: Freedom of Information Act Improvements Signed into Law.” 17 Aug 2009. The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. 6 Oct 2009.