This site is a research reference, not legal advice. See the FAQ disclaimer for details.
Illinois FOIA & OMA Reference

Issues decided by the Public Access Bureau

Every question the Bureau decided in its determination letters, grouped by the provision of FOIA or the Open Meetings Act involved. Pick a provision to see how the Bureau has ruled, the rule it applied, and the decisions to cite. To find a whole decision instead, use Opinions.

Built for drafting: each page has a copyable brief for an AI assistant and a JSON version. All issues: index.json. Determination letters are not binding precedent. Extraction is automated and checked on samples, so confirm against the source PDF.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

FOIA exemptions (section 7) · 358 issues

Responding to requests: deadlines, extensions, copies · 49 issues

Definitions (public body, public record, requesters) · 49 issues

Other statutory exemptions (section 7.5) · 48 issues

Fees and electronic formats · 33 issues

Review by the Public Access Counselor · 26 issues

Other FOIA provisions · 19 issues

Denials and notice requirements · 13 issues

General policy · 9 issues

Recurrent requesters and voluminous requests · 5 issues

Open Meetings Act (OMA)

Closed meetings and exceptions · 158 issues

Notice, agendas, and meeting access · 152 issues

Minutes and verbatim recordings · 131 issues

Definitions and scope · 62 issues

Review by the Public Access Counselor · 41 issues

Remote attendance · 19 issues

Other OMA provisions · 9 issues

Most-cited decisions

Opinions and letters that later Bureau letters rely on most.

  1. A county board's advance sign-up rule for public comment cited by 34 letters · 2014 PAC 30194 · McLean County Board · 2014
  2. A home address requirement for public comment cited by 33 letters · 2014 PAC 29739 · Lemont Village Board · 2014
  3. Closed-session discussion of employee pay raises cited by 14 letters · 2016 PAC 44249 · City of Lebanon City Hall · 2016
  4. Closed-session discussion of municipal budgetary matters cited by 12 letters · 2012 PAC 19265 · Village of Swansea Board of Trustees · 2012
  5. Information in a criminal complaint filed by a public figure cited by 10 letters · 2016 PAC 43168 · Village of Downers Grove · 2016
  6. A finance committee's closed meeting on a hiring freeze cited by 9 letters · 2015 PAC 35861 · Knox County Board Finance Committee · 2015
  7. Police body-camera recordings of a dispatch incident cited by 9 letters · Springfield Police Department
  8. A school board's unrecorded 15-minute limit on public comment cited by 7 letters · 2018 PAC 55462 · Board of Education Lyons Elementary School District · 2019
  9. Police incident reports and 911 call records of an arrest cited by 5 letters · 2011 PAC 18379 · Village of Hillside · 2012
  10. Police officers' personal emails about a case cited by 5 letters · 2016 PAC 41657 · Chicago Police Department · 2016