Concerns voiced by public bodies from across the State regarding the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") led to the passage of House Bill 1716, sponsored by Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park). This legislation makes several changes to the system of processing FOIA requests while still protecting the core purpose of this widely used transparency tool.

Major changes contained in House Bill 1716 include giving public bodies additional time to process FOIA requests made by "recurrent requesters", people who have made more than 50 total requests in the last 12 months, 15 requests within a 30-day period or 7 requests in a 7-day period. "Recurrent requestors" will receive notification within 5 business days stating that their requested information will be delivered in a reasonable amount of time.

Additional changes to the FOIA system include giving local bodies the ability to charge a $10 dollar per hour fee to satisfy commercial requests for information, exempting the first 8 hours of work. Commercial requestors are businesses that use FOIA information to further their business goals, for example, marketing purposes. Non-profits and the media are exempted.

These changes take into account suggestions from many government bodies from across the state that have been struggling to meet requests for information in the mandated amount of time. With these reforms, individuals and organizations seeking information can trust that their requests will be granted while ensuring that our local governments are able to fulfill the requests without undue financial burden. It also ensures that the FOIA requests of infrequent requestors receive priority, giving everyday citizens the access to vital local government information.