Local officials urge FOIA bill amendments
From Sunshine Review
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August 3, 2009 Prosecutors and local government officials want Gov. Pat Quinn to remove parts a amendment bill that passed in the Illinois General Assembly. The bill moves to amend the state's Freedom of Information act.[1]
[edit] Opposition
The Illinois State’s Attorneys Association and the Illinois Municipal League are also pushing for changes. They are all worried about excessive access to public records that would produce a need to hire more people to attend to the records retrieval and would result in having to fire someone else in the state's payroll.
The organizations "would scuttle provisions" for a counselor assigned to records access disputes and would have subpoena power. The counselor would issue decisions infallible except by a judge. Those opposing the amendment bill think that it's going to cause more trouble for the state.
Prosecutors and the municipal league officials say the bill on the governor’s desk would give too much power to one person in addition to making too much work for the receivers of FOIA requests. They oppose criminalizing FOIA violations.
"With this new law, providing paperwork about governments' activities becomes more important than the activities themselves," Frang writes. "It is regrettable that there may be cases where municipalities will be forced to lay off firefighters and police officers so that they can afford more FOIA lawyers and other responders to help comply with this 'primary duty.'"
The state's attorney association is concerned that undercover operatives and informants will be in danger of exposure.
Don Craven is the acting director of the Illinois Press Association and a Springfield lawyer who concentrates on public-records law and he says this claim is nonsense because the bill already has clauses protecting these situations.[1]
[edit] Bill
Supporters say that complying with the law and keeping government transparent should not be an issue.
"For municipalities that have been complying (with the law), this isn’t extra work," said Cara Smith, deputy chief of staff for Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Thomas Brown, Livingston County state’s attorney and president of the state’s attorneys association wrote a letter to Quinn saying FOIA violations should be considered criminal offenses to be handled by local prosecutors. This bill changes the law that states that information siting privacy concerns so the counselor would review every case in which public bodies cite either reason for withholding a record
A counselor-led FOIA training program emerges from the bill in addition to the option that the public can ask the counselor for rulings in cases that don’t involve those two exemptions.
"The burden on the office will be enormous, and given the broad powers that the office enjoys, there is little or no margin for error," writes Larry Frang, municipal league executive director, in a July 9 letter to Quinn.
Local governments would forward their FOIA requests to the counselor and follow the decision he or she makes, which only a judge may overturn. Citizens may also go directly to the counselor.
"In fact, this bill makes your life easier," Smith said. "We are here and in need of this law because public bodies and municipalities and the state has thumbed its nose at FOIA on the backs of citizens for years and years and years and years. I think public bodies have gotten very comfortable with a toothless law."[1]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Local officials urge changes to FOIA bill," The State Journal-Register, 3 August 2009
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