Opinions & Determination Letters
843 documents. Public Access Opinions are binding; determination letters are persuasive but non-binding.
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843 of 843 documents
- A board's interruption of a citizen's public commentOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester, a resident, alleged that a village mayor improperly interrupted her public comment, cut off the microphone, and threatened to have her removed after she stated the names of trustees…
- A termination letter for a public employeeFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought communications regarding the employment status of a state's attorney's office employee, and the office withheld her termination letter as interfering with…
- Closed-session discussion of real property acquisitionOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester alleged that a city council improperly discussed the future of its existing City Hall building in closed sessions that were justified as covering the potential purchase of other real…
- A village board's closed-session discussion of overdue loansOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a village trustee, alleged that a village board's mayor cited a "personnel" closed-session exception but then discussed businesses' overdue tax-increment-financing loans instead. The…
- A village board's agenda description of an employee terminationOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester alleged that a village board voted to terminate a police officer's employment under a meeting agenda item that listed only "Personnel issues" without identifying the employee's category…
- Police investigative files from a January arrestFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter asked the Oak Lawn Police Department for records about a specific arrest. The police refused to provide them, and the Attorney General's office reviewed the case, concluding that the…
- Approval of new township employment positionsOMABinding opinionPartial violationOther
A local newspaper complained that the township board voted to create five new jobs without putting that item on the public meeting agenda. The Attorney General agreed that this was a violation of the…
- Agendas and meeting minutes from January to April 2026FOIABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Minutes
Mr. Kilbane asked the Village for meeting agendas and minutes, but the Village never replied. The Attorney General's office said this was a violation of FOIA because public bodies must respond to…
- Locations of surface water drainage infrastructureFOIABinding opinionNo violationOther
A citizen asked the City of Chicago for maps showing where storm drains and catch basins are located. The City refused, and the Attorney General's office agreed, saying that releasing this…
- A former official's correspondence with a contractor forwarded to an attorneyFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A reporter asked for emails between a former city official and a contractor. The city refused, saying the emails were private lawyer-client talks. The Attorney General said no, because the emails…
- Incident reports on restraint chair use at a county jailFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A public body must prove by clear and convincing evidence that an exemption applies, and exemptions are read narrowly. The sheriff's office denied a request for incident reports about restraint-chair…
- Closed-session discussion of an advisory opinionOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Chicago Board of Ethics held a private meeting to discuss a specific advisory opinion, which the citizen believed should have been public. The Attorney General's office…
- ALPR camera cost, lease period, and locationsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
Under FOIA, a public body must prove by clear and convincing evidence that an exemption applies. The Sheriff's Office claimed that ALPR camera location records were exempt under section 7(1)(d-7)…
- A school district's insurance policies and related recordsFOIADetermination letterNo violationRequester Status
Under FOIA, a public body may deny a repeated request under section 3(g) if it is unduly burdensome. A request is considered repeated if it seeks the same records as a prior request from the same…
- Police body-camera footage and transcripts of a parking-lot interactionFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
Section 7.5(cc) of FOIA exempts officer-worn body camera recordings except to the extent the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act allows disclosure. Under that Act, recordings generally may…
- Police body-camera footage of serving a restraining orderFOIADetermination letterNo violationOther
Under the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act (50 ILCS 706/10-20(b)), a requester may obtain body camera footage only if they are the subject of the encounter captured on the recording, or…
- DNA phenotype reports for an unsolved murder caseFOIADetermination letterNo violationOther
Under FOIA, a public body may withhold records if another statute specifically prohibits disclosure. Here, the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) sections 15(a) and 15(b) bar the Sheriff's Office…
- Whether a requester may verify personhood in writing or orallyFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionOther
Under section 3(j), a public body that reasonably believes a request was not submitted by a person may require the requester to verify personhood 'orally or in writing.' The request for review was…
- A board's advance-request rule for public commentOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
Section 2.06(g) gives the public a right to address a public body under that body's established and recorded rules. The university board argued this lets it adopt any rule it likes and refused a…
- A school board's letter signed by a majority of membersOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
Under OMA, a public body must conduct all final actions in an open meeting. The decisive fact here was that a majority of Board members signed a letter expressing support and responding to concerns,…
- Appointment of a park district board commissionerOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
Under OMA, a public body must describe the general subject matter of a final action on its agenda (section 2.02(c)). The park district board voted in open session in October to select a specific…
- A village board's fully remote meetingsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
Under OMA, public bodies must hold meetings with a quorum physically present unless a specific statutory exception applies. The only remote-meeting exceptions are for certain disaster declarations by…
- Restriction on public comment during a board meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
Under OMA section 2.06(g), a public body may not restrict public comment based on content or viewpoint, but brief interruptions that do not meaningfully interfere with a speaker's ability to complete…
- FY24 and FY25 budget Excel workbooks and supporting file linksFOIABinding opinionViolation foundSearch & Production
The requester sought Excel workbooks containing a housing authority's budget data, and the authority provided only password-protected, locked versions that hid formulas and prevented the unhiding of…
- Contractual agreements with a security firm and animal handling policiesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, an attorney and law professor, sought contracts, policies, and disciplinary and complaint records concerning a transit agency's use of a private security-canine vendor, and the agency…
- Resignation and termination paperwork for police officersFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought resignation and termination paperwork for police officers, which a police department withheld citing law-enforcement-proceeding, fair-trial, and…
- Police video of a former deputy chief's DUI arrestFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a nonprofit journalism organization, sought video of a former deputy police chief's out-of-state DUI arrest, which a police department withheld in full as relating to the adjudication…
- Internal communications about a mayor's salary increasesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a resident, sought internal communications, payroll and budget records, meeting minutes, and resident complaints concerning a village mayor's salary increases, and the village never…
- Records of a payment to an alderman and a settlement agreementFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester sought records showing an $87,500 city payment toward a settlement in a lawsuit against a named alderman, which a city department withheld in part as an attorney-client communication…
- Closed meetings of a municipal pool committeeOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a resident, alleged that a city's pool-building committee, composed of city officials and citizens appointed by the mayor, had been meeting privately without complying with the Open…
- Vote on an unidentified trustee appointeeOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a village resident, alleged that a village board violated the Open Meetings Act by voting on a mayoral appointment to fill a board vacancy without publicly naming the proposed…
- Email attachments between school board membersFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a reporter, sought an attachment to a school board president's email forwarding a former law firm's correspondence to board members, which a school district withheld citing…
- A police officer's separation recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a journalism student working with a nonprofit newsroom, sought records concerning a police officer's separation from the department, which a city public safety office withheld in full…
- Fees for electronic delivery of police reportsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought an emailed copy of his own police report, and a city charged him a flat per-report fee based on residency rather than providing the electronic copy at no cost. The Public Access…
- Construction documents for a solar facility permitFOIABinding opinionNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought a private solar-energy developer's application materials submitted to a county land use department, which withheld two engineering technical submissions in their entirety as…
- A county board's private informational meetingOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester alleged that a county board held an improper private meeting when a majority of a quorum of its members attended an informational presentation on a proposed energy project hosted by a…
- Police fee assessment for redacting camera footageFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought body-worn and dashboard camera footage of an incident involving himself, and a police department demanded pre-payment of a per-minute redaction fee before releasing the video.…
- A mayor's termination letter to a village clerkFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought an unredacted copy of a village clerk's termination letter, which the village withheld citing personnel-record and workplace-privacy statutes and FOIA's personal-privacy and…
- Records identifying officers flagged under Brady/Giglio protocolsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a journalist, sought police officer witness questionnaires used to identify potential Brady/Giglio disclosure obligations, which a county state's attorney's office redacted to remove…
- Closed-session recordings for a trustee's reviewOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A former village trustee complained that the village board blocked him from listening to recordings of closed-door meetings before a vote. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and found…
- Board deliberation on a censure resolution outside a public meetingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A citizen alleged that the Winnetka Park District Board violated the Open Meetings Act by secretly deliberating about censuring a board member before their April 25, 2024, meeting. The Illinois…
- Public comment rules at a school board meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Chicago Board of Education prevented him from speaking at a public meeting due to a lottery system and a rule barring people who had spoken at recent meetings. The…
- Informal gatherings of a village boardOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen alleged that a village president's informal public "Casual Conversation" event, attended by a majority of a quorum of village trustees, constituted an improper closed meeting under the Open…
- A county board's Zoom gathering of committee membersOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a Shelby County Board committee held a private Zoom meeting without giving the public notice as required by law. The Attorney General's office investigated and determined…
- Interruption of public comment at a board meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A resident complained that the Village of Westchester Board repeatedly interrupted him during public comment at a March 11, 2025, meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the meeting recording…
- City council meeting minutesOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that the City of Morris failed to post meeting minutes online and forced him to file a FOIA request to get copies. The Public Access Counselor determined that OMA does not…
- Trustees' Facebook comments as a public meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that Village of Hebron trustees were holding illegal meetings by discussing public business in the comments section of a Facebook post. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Closed-session discussion of pay raises and construction bidsOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a school board violated the Open Meetings Act by not providing enough detail in its public vote on non-certified staff raises and by discussing across-the-board pay raises…
- Agenda descriptions of a development agreement and a remote attendance voteOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Village of Cary's meeting agenda was misleading because it listed the wrong developer for a project and failed to list a vote on remote meeting attendance. The Attorney…
- Meeting agenda descriptions for final action itemsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a local park district board voted on items during meetings without properly listing those items as 'action items' on the public agenda. The Attorney General's office…
- Recording of a coal mine permit hearingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a state agency prevented them from recording a public hearing about a coal mine permit. The Attorney General's office reviewed the complaint and found that the hearing was…
- A board's meeting minutes and vote documentationOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that the Aurora Civic Center Authority Board's meeting minutes were too vague, failed to record votes on closed session, and that the board hadn't reviewed its closed session…
- Closed-session discussion of a board vacancy and disciplineOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Oak Brook Park District held a private meeting that should have been open to the public. The Attorney General's office agreed that the meeting was improperly closed.…
- Agenda descriptions for personnel action itemsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A school board was accused of not being clear enough on its meeting agendas about what specific actions it planned to vote on. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that vague terms like…
- A board's handling of post-meeting attendee behaviorOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained to the Attorney General that the Thornton Township Board failed to stop a hostile confrontation that occurred after a public meeting, arguing it discouraged public participation.…
- ALPR system user guide for in-car useFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
Under FOIA, records that contain administrative and technical information associated with automated data processing operations are per se exempt from disclosure under section 7(1)(o). The decisive…
- Employee salary and zip code dataFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
FOIA's private-information exemption (7(1)(b)) protects a person's home address and its component parts unless another law requires disclosure or the data cannot be attributed to any person. The…
- Financial records of a village mayor and credit card statementsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a television investigative producer, sought records showing payments to a village mayor, her vehicle lease, and village credit card statements, and the village failed to substantively…
- Settlement agreements for legal counsel paymentsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought invoices and documents underlying township payments to its law firm, and the township withheld a related settlement agreement based on a mutual nondisparagement clause it read as…
- Transit authority president's schedule and calendarFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester, a reporter, sought a transit agency president's public schedule and calendar for a six-month period, and the agency extended its response deadline but then never substantively…
- City council's closed-session authorization of a real estate contractOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a resident, alleged that a city council authorized an exclusive real estate brokerage agreement for city office space during closed session rather than voting on it in open session.…
- Video surveillance footage from an animal control facilityFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought video footage of an incident at a county animal control facility, which a sheriff's office withheld, first suggesting the investigation would soon close and then, on a renewed…
- Records of an individual and police employees over 14 yearsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, an attorney at a law firm, sought all records concerning a named individual and any village police employee over roughly fourteen years, and the village never substantively responded…
- Police reports on a missing person's deathFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, an investigative reporter, sought police reports concerning a man who went missing and was later found dead, which a sheriff's office withheld in full as an unwarranted invasion of…
- Remote trustee attendance and unlisted vehicle purchase voteOMABinding opinionPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a resident, alleged that a village board improperly let its president attend meetings remotely for work reasons and separately approved a truck purchase that was not disclosed on the…
- Excel file of scattered-site unit addresses and occupancy statusFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a fair housing organization, sought a dataset of scattered-site public housing units including their addresses and occupancy status, and the housing authority redacted most digits of…
- A police department's case/incident report and related recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought the police report and related records from an incident in which he was stopped, searched, and released while photographing nearby police activity, which the police department…
- Redaction of personal phone numbers from 911 audioFOIABinding opinionNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a law firm legal assistant, sought 911 call recordings related to a traffic crash and disputed a dispatch center's redaction of the callers' home or personal telephone numbers after it…
- A village board's public meeting accessibilityOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
Several residents alleged that a village board's meetings were not convenient and open to the public because of inadequate seating and an intimidating security presence, including street and…
- A village board's change of regular meeting datesOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a resident, alleged that a village board changed its regular meeting dates without providing the ten-day newspaper notice of that change required by the Open Meetings Act. The Public…
- IMRF FOIA request logs since December 2022FOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a member of the public, sought records concerning FOIA requests submitted to a public pension fund since December 2022, and the fund failed to substantively respond despite repeated…
- Policies and reports on police shootings and in-custody deathsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a reporter, sought a county state's attorney's policies on police-involved shootings and in-custody deaths and all related reports issued since 2019, and the office first claimed no…
- A letter requesting a vote of no confidenceFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a union counsel, sought a letter that current and former oversight agency employees had sent a city commission asking it to investigate the agency's chief administrator, which the…
- Board vote to appoint an executive director without agenda noticeOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A requester alleged that a transit agency board voted to fill its executive-director position without advance agenda notice. The PAC determined that the agency was a subsidiary body of a public…
- Meeting agendas, public comment periods, and COVID-19 meeting accessOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
Two individuals challenged a city electoral board's agenda notice, public-comment limits, and physical-access arrangements during a remote hearing. The PAC found that the Board violated OMA by…
- Closed-session discussion of a volunteer's performance and FOIA strategyOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A reporter alleged that a Village Board improperly discussed a volunteer firefighter and a FOIA response in closed session. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Counselor found that the…
- Meeting minutes approval and website postingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that the City of Urbana City Council and the Cunningham Township Board failed to timely approve meeting minutes as required by the Open Meetings Act. The Illinois Attorney…
- Closed-session discussion of financial statements, transit cards, and newslettersOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Chicago Board of Ethics discussed policy issues in a private meeting that should have been held in public. The Attorney General's office reviewed the meeting recording…
- A planning commission's closed-door discussion after a public hearingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
This determination addresses whether the Village of Bismarck Planning Commission violated Section 2(a) of the Open Meetings Act by restricting public attendance at a portion of its September 20, 2022…
- A campaign town hall attended by a school board quorumOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen alleged that the Board of Education of Stevenson High School District 125 held an improper private meeting on March 16, 2023, during a Zoom town hall event attended by five board members.…
- Refusal to read a written public comment aloudOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A resident complained that the Village of Wayne Board of Trustees failed to read her written public comment aloud during its July 5, 2023, meeting. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access…
- A city council's agenda description for a censure voteOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
An alderman alleged that a city council's meeting agenda item was too vague to give proper notice of a censure vote, and that several council members held an improper secret meeting to discuss…
- Closed-session discussions of school closures and budget cutsOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen alleged that a school board improperly discussed school closures and budget cuts in closed sessions on January 17, 2023, and March 7, 2023. The Public Access Bureau reviewed the board's…
- Hiring of a General Counsel and Chief Ethics OfficerOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Cook County Board of Review hired a new General Counsel without holding a public meeting or vote. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the Board reached a…
- A board's transit discussion of public businessOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that Metra board members held an illegal private meeting while traveling together on a train and bus to an official board meeting. The Attorney General's office investigated and…
- Restricted physical access and in-person comment at a township board meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A resident complained that Thornton Township officials blocked her from entering the meeting room and forced her to watch from an overflow room without sound. The resident also stated she was denied…
- A DEI subcommittee's failure to provide meeting noticeOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that subcommittees of a Township committee were meeting in private without public notice. The Attorney General's office agreed, ruling that these subcommittees are 'public…
- Proof-of-residency requirement for a public meetingOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that they were required to show ID and prove they lived in Harvey to attend a public meeting about a stormwater project. The Attorney General's office found that the City of…
- Swearing in public commenters at zoning meetingsOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A resident complained that a local zoning board required people to be sworn in before speaking during public hearings at two meetings in 2023. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau…
- Advance sign-up rule for public commentOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the McLean County Board's Executive Committee required people to sign up to speak at least 24 hours before a meeting. The Illinois Attorney General's office found this rule…
- Recording an open meeting of a village boardOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A resident complained that he was told by a police chief to stop recording a public village board meeting, and the board president did nothing to stop it. The Illinois Attorney General's office found…
- Restriction of public comment at a library board meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A library board limited a member of the public to three minutes of comment during a meeting, but the board's public comment policy, though adopted in 1998 and noted in meeting minutes, was not…
- Destruction of closed-session audio recordingsOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a village board voted to destroy audio recordings of closed meetings before officially approving the written minutes for those meetings. The Attorney General's office…
- A village board adjourning before public commentOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A resident alleged that a village board ended a meeting before members of the public could comment on matters not on the agenda. After reviewing the recording and the Board's procedures, the PAC…
- A village board's conduct during a public comment periodOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen group complained that the Village of Burr Ridge Board of Trustees violated the Open Meetings Act during public comment at an October 2023 meeting, alleging the board asked residents to sign…
- Removal of an employee from a public board meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A school district employee claimed he was improperly kicked out of a public board meeting. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that the board's actions were related to an internal…
- Closed-session discussion of a board member removalOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A Village Board member complained that the Board held a secret meeting to discuss removing another member from office. The Attorney General's office reviewed the matter and found that the topic did…
- Appointment of a new board member by a sub-quorumOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that the Maywood Park District Board held an illegal meeting because only two members were present to vote on a new appointment. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case…
- A village council's review of closed-session minutesOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Winnetka Village Council did not properly review its closed-session meeting minutes to see if they could be made public and pointed out errors in those minutes. The…
- Selective enforcement of public comment time limitsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that a library board was biased because it let some people speak longer than the rules allowed if they agreed with the board, while allegedly restricting others. The Attorney…
- Denial of entry to an open meetingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that they were blocked from attending an Illinois State Medical Board meeting. The PAC investigated and noted that while the public has a right to attend meetings and record…
- A city council's unannounced private gatheringOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination addresses whether a private gathering of the mayor, two City Council members, and two residents on February 8, 2024, to discuss a specific property constituted a 'meeting' under…
- Restriction of public comment at a village board meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
Several citizens complained that the Village of Glendale Heights Board of Trustees cut off public comments and ended a meeting before everyone could speak. The Attorney General's office found that…
- A board's vote on undisclosed censure motionsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A college board held a closed-door meeting to discuss a trustee's conduct and subsequently voted on thirteen motions to censure her. The Attorney General's office found that the board failed to…
- Two versions of a resolution on public comment rulesOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a Park District board meeting agenda was misleading because it didn't specify that two different versions of a public comment policy were being considered. The Attorney…
- A Community Advisory Group meeting under OMAOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A community group complained that a committee formed by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) held a meeting without following open meeting laws. The Attorney General's office investigated…
- Agenda notice for appointing legal counsel and special investigatorOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
The Mayor of Dolton complained that the Village Board voted on an appointment that wasn't clearly listed on their meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office reviewed the complaint and decided the…
- Final action on an unnoted agenda itemOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a park district board voted on an item that wasn't properly listed on their meeting agenda. However, because the citizen also filed a lawsuit against the board over the same…
- A public body's interference with recording an open meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen tried to record a public meeting of the Findlay Fire Protection District, but board members told her she could not record without permission or that it might be illegal. The Attorney…
- A police report of a DUI arrest and vehicle impoundmentFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A public body must prove by clear and convincing evidence that an exemption applies. The police department redacted a DUI arrest report under 7(1)(a) (information prohibited from disclosure by other…
- Transit authority dispatch records and service policiesFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionRequester Status
Under FOIA, a requester can avoid recurrent requester status if they are 'news media' and the request is for a news purpose. The requester here claimed to be a regular contributor to the Chicago…
- Teacher staffing records and communications for 2023FOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a member of the public, sought records relating to teacher staffing levels for the 2023 school year, and a school district failed to substantively respond to the request despite…
- A library board's unannounced private meetingOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a library board trustee, alleged that a majority of a quorum of library district trustees held an undisclosed "meet and greet" with staff that amounted to a closed meeting without…
- Employee survey responses for performance evaluationsFOIABinding opinionNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a faculty member joined by several colleagues, sought the raw written responses to an employee engagement survey, which a state academy provided in aggregate but withheld the…
- Closed-session discussion of property sale or lease pricingOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a resident, alleged that a school board's closed-session discussions about selling district-owned property exceeded the narrow exception for setting a sale price. The Public Access…
- Emails about a Supreme Court justice's library eventFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a reporter for the Associated Press, sought correspondence between a public library and a Supreme Court Justice's staff about a scheduled appearance, and the library repeatedly failed…
- Approval of a severance agreement on a school board agendaOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a member of the public, alleged that a school board approved a $183,000 severance agreement with an administrator under a vaguely labeled "Personnel Transaction Report" without…
- Emails about a former library branch propertyFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought city emails about a proposed sale of a former library building, which a city department denied in full as unduly burdensome because he had not supplied specific employee names or…
- Records of flood-related home buyout programsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester, an attorney for a nonprofit environmental organization, sought records about a flood-related home buyout program and was charged search-and-review fees applicable only to commercial…
- Email metadata from a transportation departmentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought email metadata containing specified keywords from department employees over a several-month period, and the department never substantively responded despite repeated follow-up…
- Police reports of a teacher's arrest for crimes against a studentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a television news producer, sought police records about a former teacher's arrest and prosecution for offenses against a student, which a police department withheld in full as an…
- Police reports of an incident at a high schoolFOIABinding opinionNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought police reports about an altercation at a high school in which both an adult and a minor were arrested, and a village disclosed only the adult's basic…
- Settlement records of a school districtFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a member of the public, sought records relating to legal settlements reached by a school district over a roughly two-and-a-half-year period, and the district failed to substantively…
- A board's final vote on closed session minutesOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a village trustee, alleged that a village board voted to approve closed-session minutes from an earlier meeting while still in closed session. The Public Access Counselor held that…
- A non-disclosure agreement for a commercial development projectFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought a non-disclosure agreement between a city and a company concerning a development project, which the city withheld as confidential commercial information.…
- Restriction of public comment at a school board meetingOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester, a resident, alleged that a school board improperly cut off her public comment about hiring policies because the board president believed she intended to discuss a personnel matter. The…
- Legal billing statements and real property acquisition recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a business owner, sought records showing amounts billed by two law firms and information about a city's efforts to acquire property through a county program, and the city never…
- Closed-session discussion of a book's removal from curriculumOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a resident, alleged that a school board improperly discussed removing a book from an English class curriculum in closed session after a parent's grievance about the book reached the…
- A township board's failure to allow public comment at a special meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the DuPage Township Board did not allow the public to speak during a special meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and found that the Board broke the law…
- Private board meetings to discuss appointing a village presidentOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A local official complained that members of the Village Board held secret, private meetings to discuss village business. The Attorney General's office investigated but found there wasn't enough…
- A school board's closed-session discussion of a book removal policyOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a school board improperly discussed removing a book from a curriculum during a closed session. The Attorney General's office found that the board discussed topics beyond the…
- A town council's closed-session discussion of litigation strategyOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A local official complained that the Town of Normal Town Council improperly discussed a lawsuit in closed session during its September 9, 2022, special meeting, arguing the pending litigation…
- Phone polls to vote on township businessOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
The question was whether the Township Board violated section 2(e) of the Open Meetings Act by taking final action on Township business through telephone polls conducted outside an open meeting. The…
- Remote attendance by board members without adopted rulesOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that two members of a local government board participated and voted in a meeting by phone without proper authorization. The Attorney General's office found that the board…
- Closed-session discussion of litigation and a resolutionOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Village of Winnetka improperly discussed a resolution behind closed doors instead of in a public meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed and found that the…
- A board of ethics' closed-session discussion of a query reportOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Chicago Board of Ethics held a private meeting to discuss a report that should have been discussed in public. The Attorney General's office reviewed the meeting…
- Posting of meeting agendas on a school district websiteOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board failed to post meeting agendas at least 48 hours before their meetings as required by the Open Meetings Act. The Attorney General's office found that the…
- School board member attending a meeting remotely by phoneOMADetermination letterInsufficient infoMeeting Conduct & Participation
A school board allowed a member to attend a meeting remotely by phone, but the Public Access Bureau (PAC) found it was unable to conclude that the board complied with the Open Meetings Act (OMA)…
- School committee meetings at a restaurantOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school committee held meetings at a restaurant without giving proper public notice and that the location was not appropriate for a public meeting. The Attorney General's…
- Closed-session discussion of audit status and rule changesOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Cook County Board of Ethics held closed-door meetings to discuss topics that should have been open to the public. The Attorney General's office investigated and agreed,…
- Meeting location notice on a hospital board agendaOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a hospital board meeting agenda did not clearly state where the meeting was being held, making it difficult for the public to attend. The Attorney General's office was…
- A library board's appointment of a trustee not on the agendaOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a library board appointed a new trustee during a meeting without listing that appointment on the meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office found that the board violated…
- An agenda item for a contract approvalOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a local water district board voted on a contract without properly warning the public on the meeting agenda that a vote would occur. The Attorney General's office reviewed…
- Closed-session discussion of a property tax appealOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A school board member complained that their board improperly held a private meeting to discuss a property tax appeal. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and found that the board was…
- A school board's closed-session personnel transfer of a principalOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A person alleged that the Community Consolidated School District 15 Board of Education violated the Open Meetings Act by removing a principal from her position and transferring her to a new role,…
- A village board's special meeting locationOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a Village of Dolton meeting was held at an inconvenient location. The Attorney General's office reviewed the complaint and decided to close the case because the citizen did…
- Closed-session discussions of a 2016 sewer projectOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A requester asked the Attorney General to investigate closed-door meetings held by the City of Washington back in 2016. The Attorney General's office refused to investigate because the request was…
- An unsworn official's attendance at a closed sessionOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a Village Board allowed a person who hadn't been officially sworn in yet to sit in on a private, closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the law and…
- Closed-session discussions of student disciplinary casesOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A school board held several closed-door meetings to discuss student disciplinary cases but cited the wrong legal reason for doing so in their meeting records. The Attorney General's office agreed…
- An emergency school board meeting for storm-damage fundingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board held an emergency meeting without a valid reason. The Attorney General's office reviewed the situation and found that the meeting was necessary due to urgent…
- Closed-session discussion of a pathway vacation ordinanceOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A citizen alleged that a village council held illegal closed sessions concerning a land transaction. The PAC concluded that the request for review was filed too late because the relevant information…
- Inaudible audio at a city council meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that they could not hear the proceedings at City of Washington council meetings due to poor audio quality in the meeting venues. The Attorney General's office provided guidance,…
- A library board's posting of meeting agendas and minutes onlineOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a public library failed to post meeting agendas and minutes online. The PAC determined that OMA's online-posting requirement applies only to public bodies whose websites are…
- Board members' presence at a committee budget hearingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that members of the Cook County Board of Review met improperly during a budget hearing. The Attorney General's office reviewed the video of the meeting and found no evidence that…
- A county board's removal of a public commenterOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that the Coles County Board unfairly limited their speaking time and kicked them out of a public meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the video of the meeting and…
- Virtual meeting registration and public comment rulesOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that the Cook County Board of Review made it too difficult to attend meetings online or provide public comments. The Attorney General's office explained that the Open Meetings…
- A school board's conduct of public comment and meeting venueOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that a school board meeting was overcrowded and that the board failed to stop offensive comments made by members of the public. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Adding an agenda item less than 24 hours before a meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
Alderman Lopez complained that the Chicago City Council improperly added an item to a meeting agenda less than 24 hours before the meeting took place. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- A county technology department's emails about a contractFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionOther
FOIA applies only to records of public bodies, and the judiciary is explicitly excluded from the definition of a public body. Even though the records were held by a FOIA-subject department, they were…
- Reports to county board on official's degree-fund useFOIABinding opinionNo violationLegal & Financial Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought reports a state's attorney gave county board members about an employee's alleged misuse of county funds for personal education expenses, which the state's…
- Police records of a sexual assault reportFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a legal-services organization representing a sexual-assault victim, sought the police report and investigative records concerning the victim's report to a police department, which…
- Remote city council meeting accessibility during a health emergencyOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester, a resident, alleged that a city council's remotely held meeting gave the public no way to access it, since no Zoom link or call-in number was posted in advance and the meeting was…
- An outgoing police chief's email to staff on policiesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought a retiring police chief's farewell email to department staff, which a village withheld and then largely redacted, arguing it was a personal communication…
- A village board's remote meetings without public accessOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester alleged that a village board of trustees held two regular meetings remotely without providing the public any way to access them, since the posted agendas said only that the meetings…
- A school board's final action on masking guidelinesOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester alleged that a school board changed its COVID-19 masking policy during a meeting without listing the topic on the agenda. The Public Access Counselor held that although the board never…
- Disciplinary records of a city employeeFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a television reporter, sought a city employee's disciplinary record and copies of racism, discrimination, and harassment complaints filed against that employee and others at a…
- Votes on agenda items not listedOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a resident, alleged that a county farm committee voted to hire someone to obtain crop insurance and to borrow money for crop expenses without listing either action on its meeting…
- A city's list of union-represented employeesFOIABinding opinionNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, on behalf of an advocacy organization, sought the names, job titles, and work contact information of city employees covered by a specific union's collective bargaining agreement, which…
- Closed-session discussion of transportation contract bidsOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a newspaper publisher, challenged three closed sessions held during a single school board meeting, alleging that discussion of the bidding process for the district's student…
- Applications for a village board vacancyFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought the application materials submitted by unsuccessful candidates for a vacant seat on a village board of trustees, which the village withheld, arguing the materials were not public…
- Closed-session discussion of a new school openingOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a resident, alleged that a school board secretly deliberated for months, across sixteen separate closed sessions, about building a new school funded by federal pandemic relief funds…
- Records of attorney's fees paid to an outside firmFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester, an attorney, sought a list of attorney's fees and litigation costs a county state's attorney's office paid to outside counsel in a specific lawsuit, and despite months of follow-up…
- A private attorney's letter to a city law departmentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought a letter a private attorney had sent a city department concerning a legal dispute, which the department withheld as protected by evidentiary and discovery…
- Agenda descriptions for property annexation ordinancesOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Alton City Council voted on two property annexation ordinances during its September 12, 2018, meeting, but the agenda only listed 'Comments or Resolutions from the City…
- Closed-session discussion of water rates and tax leviesOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Oglesby City Council held a private meeting to discuss public budget issues like water rates and taxes, which should have been discussed in public. The Attorney…
- Closed-session discussion of a mayor's salaryOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Oakbrook Terrace City Council improperly discussed the mayor's salary in closed session. The Attorney General's office reviewed the recording and determined that the…
- A village board's agenda description of trustee disciplineOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A Village Trustee complained that the Board held a vote to discipline him and two colleagues without properly listing the topic on the meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding…
- A school board's 30-minute public comment limitOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination addresses whether a school board's public comment rule imposing a 30-minute time limit per meeting violated section 2.06(g) of the Open Meetings Act. The Public Access Bureau…
- A city council's closed-session discussion of the city clerk positionOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the DeKalb City Council held a private meeting to discuss the City Clerk. The Illinois Attorney General's office reviewed the matter and found that the City Council did not…
- A school board's emergency meeting for a grant applicationOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
Two individuals complained that a school board held a meeting without giving the public the required 48 hours' notice. The Attorney General's office found that because the meeting was held to address…
- Commissioners' discussions on property tax code amendmentsOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A complainant alleged that two Cook County Board of Review commissioners held private discussions about a proposed amendment to the Property Tax Code, arguing these should have been discussed in a…
- A city council's closed-session discussion of a conditional use permitOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen filed a request for review with the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau, alleging that the Elmhurst City Council discussed matters in closed session during its November 23,…
- A board's closed-session discussion of policy recommendationsOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A staff member alleged that the Cook County Board of Review held a private meeting that should have been open to the public. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau determined that the…
- A housing authority's locked meeting room and delayed entryOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
This determination addresses whether the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the County of DeKalb violated OMA sections 2(a) and 2.01 by restricting public access to its November 16,…
- Closed-session discussion of a property saleOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen alleged that a park district board discussed the sale of one park district property during a closed session that had been authorized only to discuss the purchase of a different property.…
- Closed-session minutes and remote meeting noticeOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a city commission held a remote meeting without proper public notice and failed to keep required written records of their closed-door meetings. The Attorney General's office…
- A board member's conduct during public commentOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A student group complained that a university board member acted improperly by interrupting and changing the subject during a public comment session. The Attorney General's office reviewed the meeting…
- A county board's review of closed session minutes and recordingsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Madison County Board did not properly review its closed-door meeting minutes. The Attorney General's office found that the Board followed the law by reviewing the…
- Closed-session discussion of personnel mattersOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a local school board discussed improper topics during a private, closed-door meeting. After reviewing the matter, the Illinois Attorney General's office found that the board…
- A school board member's remote attendance and access to documentsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A school board member complained that she was not allowed to attend a meeting remotely when she was sick and that the superintendent was unfairly limiting her access to information. The Attorney…
- A village board trustee's request to attend a closed session remotelyOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A village trustee complained to the Attorney General's office after he was not allowed to join a closed-door meeting remotely. The Attorney General's office reviewed the complaint and decided not to…
- A school board's remote special meetingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained to the Attorney General about a school board's plan to hold a remote meeting. The Attorney General's office closed the case because the complaint was filed before the meeting…
- Agenda-posting timing for regular meetingsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a local government board failed to post their meeting agenda early enough before a meeting. The Attorney General's office explained that the law requires agendas to be…
- A park district board's meeting agenda for releasing closed session minutesOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Chicago Park District Board voted to release private meeting minutes without properly listing that vote on their public meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office…
- Informal straw polls to set a board agendaOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A resident complained that the Village of Arlington Heights Board was using informal polls to decide on agenda items outside of public meetings. The Attorney General's office reviewed the claim and…
- A former board member's blog post with closed-session audioOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A request for review was submitted to the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau on behalf of the Firemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago, alleging that a former board member violated…
- A city council's public recital before a final voteOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The DeKalb County State's Attorney complained that the City of Sandwich voted on a matter without first explaining to the public what they were voting on in enough detail. The Attorney General's…
- Agenda descriptions for personnel hiring and firing actionsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination addresses whether agendas for two Thornton Township Board meetings satisfied the notice requirement of section 2.02(c) of the Open Meetings Act for personnel actions taken at those…
- Website posting of meeting agendas and minutesOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a local Veterans Assistance Commission wasn't posting its meeting agendas and minutes online as required by law. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that…
- A school board's closed-session discussions and failure to review minutesOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A complainant alleged multiple Open Meetings Act violations by a school board and its committees, including improper closed sessions and failures to post committee agendas and minutes. The PAC found…
- A village board's emergency meeting noticeOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Village of Maywood held an 'emergency' meeting without giving the public proper notice or having a real emergency. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the…
- A school board member's right to speak during public commentOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board member was unfairly silenced during the public comment portion of a meeting. The Attorney General's office determined that the law requiring public comment…
- Final action on unlisted fire department ordinance amendmentsOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A resident complained that he was removed from a Village Board meeting and that the Board voted on an ordinance that was not clearly described on the meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office…
- Agenda description of an acting highway engineer appointmentOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a county board's meeting agenda was too vague to properly notify the public about a vote to appoint a new official. The Attorney General's office reviewed the agenda and…
- A village board's exclusion of a trustee from closed sessionOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A Village Trustee complained to the Attorney General that she was unfairly barred from a closed-door meeting of the Village Board. The Attorney General's office declined to intervene, explaining that…
- A school district parent committee meetingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A parent complained that they were barred from attending a school district's LGBTQ+ parent committee meeting. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that the committee is an informal…
- Police reports and dashcam footage in a custody disputeFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
Under FOIA, section 7(1)(d)(iv) allows a public body to withhold information that would reveal the identity of a complainant, victim, or witness. Here, the Department redacted portions of the records…
- Communications about a zoning change with a private applicantFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a nearby resident, sought communications between a city and a funeral home concerning the funeral home's pending zoning application, which the city withheld as predecisional and…
- Police records of uncharged sexual offense allegations against minorsFOIABinding opinionNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought police records concerning an alleged sexual-offense complaint against a named adult connected to a church, and a police department withheld the records in…
- Closed-session discussion of sewer main issuesOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a resident with an ongoing property dispute involving a sewer easement, alleged that a city council improperly discussed the matter in closed session under the exception for probable…
- Subpoenas received by a police departmentFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought copies of federal subpoenas and search warrants served on a city police department in a given month, which the department denied as unduly burdensome…
- Failure to record a closed-session meetingOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a public transit district employee, alleged that a personnel committee failed to make a verbatim recording of its closed session. The Public Access Counselor held that the committee…
- Police employee attendance recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, on behalf of a community advocacy coalition, sought police officer attendance and scheduling records around the January 6, 2021, events in Washington, D.C., which a police department…
- Text messages between a mayor and hospital associatesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought text messages between a mayor and two hospital officials, which a mayor's office never substantively responded to despite months of follow-up from both the…
- Residential parking exception letters with namesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought copies of parking-exception letters issued in a city ward, including the recipients' names, amid public reporting that the alderman may have used the exception process to…
- A school board's failure to allow public commentOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester, a sports reporter, questioned whether a school board improperly required members of the public who wanted to address a coaching decision to do so only during closed session rather than…
- Names of employees in misconduct allegationsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought unredacted records about a workplace complaint alleging discrimination, harassment, and a hostile work environment at a city emergency-communications…
- A school board's remote meeting via videoconferenceOMABinding opinionNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester, a resident, alleged that a school board's decision to hold a meeting remotely via Zoom during the pandemic was really a pretext to avoid members of the public who had been disruptive…
- 911 call response time data from an emergency management officeFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought 911 call response-time data, which a city emergency-communications office withheld, arguing that revealing how quickly units arrived on scene could help…
- A city council's consent-agenda voting procedureOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Elmhurst City Council was voting on multiple items at once using a 'consent agenda' without reading each item out loud first. The Attorney General's office agreed,…
- Closed session discussion of an intergovernmental agreementOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a school board held a private meeting to discuss an agreement with the city, which the board claimed was allowed because of potential legal action. The Illinois Attorney…
- Limitations on public comment at a town council meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Town of Normal Council unfairly stopped him from speaking during a public meeting because his topic wasn't on the agenda. The Attorney General's office agreed that the…
- Appointment of an interim executive director off-agendaOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A former executive director complained that the Housing Authority board fired her and hired a replacement without properly listing those actions on the meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office…
- A park district board's discussion of a citizen's agenda motionOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a park district board must have held an illegal secret meeting because they decided not to put his requested topic on their agenda. The Attorney General's office…
- School board policy revision approval processOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board approved changes to 22 policies without showing the public what those changes were during their meetings. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- A school board's emergency meeting notice and closed-session discussionsOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A union representative challenged a remote school-board meeting's notice, closed-session discussion, final action, and public-comment procedures. The PAC found the shortened notice was justified by a…
- A board's private discussion of equipment purchasesOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A member of the Jefferson County Board complained that other board members held a private, pre-meeting discussion about voting on a sheriff's equipment purchase. The Attorney General's office…
- Muting speakers during public commentOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
Members of the public complained that the Urbana City Council unfairly muted them while they were trying to speak during public comment sessions at two meetings. The Illinois Attorney General's…
- Refusal to read a submitted public commentOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A member of the public submitted a comment by email to the Homewood-Flossmoor School District 233 Board of Education for its November 17, 2020, meeting. The board read aloud three of the four…
- An electoral board's continued hearing sessionsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the City of Champaign Electoral Board held meetings without proper notice and failed to allow public comment. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and found that…
- A violence prevention planning committee's meeting opennessOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A reporter requested that the Attorney General investigate whether a city committee was required to hold public meetings under the Open Meetings Act. The Attorney General's office concluded that the…
- A village board's public comment periodOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A resident alleged that a village board improperly cut off his public comment. The PAC found the parties' accounts of the speaker's conduct and the Board's response were conflicting and that the…
- Destruction of closed-session recordings by a university boardOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A complainant alleged that a university violated the Open Meetings Act by destroying verbatim recordings of past closed sessions before releasing the minutes from those sessions to the public. The…
- Police reports on juvenile suspects at a golf courseFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
Under FOIA, a public body must disclose records unless a specific exemption applies. Here, the Department claimed the entire report was exempt under section 7.5(bb) because it involved juvenile…
- Delayed approval of meeting minutesOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Minutes
The requester, a resident, sought review after a village board of trustees approved the minutes of three earlier meetings held between two and three months after those meetings took place. The Public…
- Agreements and ordinances with a fuel services companyFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, an attorney, sought copies of a county's agreements with a fuel services company and any authorizing ordinances or resolutions, but received no response despite months of follow-up.…
- Closed-session discussion of a principal evaluation processOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a member of a school's local school council, sought review after the council entered closed session, citing the exception for discussing specific employees, to discuss the general…
- Dashcam footage, dispatch audio, and internal reviews of a fatal police chaseFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought squad car video, dispatch audio, and a written critique concerning a fatal police chase, which a sheriff's office withheld on the ground that disclosure…
- Applications for cannabis cultivation center licensesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a newspaper, sought cannabis cultivation license applications from a state agency, which redacted the names and addresses of company principals and board members, citing…
- Aggregate inmate head injury data and evaluation policiesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester sought aggregate data on inmate head injuries and related medical-evaluation policies from a state prison agency, which said it did not possess the records and that its outside…
- Muting a public discussion during a remote board meetingOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester alleged that a village board of trustees muted part of the open-session discussion during a remotely held meeting without ever announcing it was entering closed session. The Public…
- A police report of a sexual assault of a minorFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, an attorney representing the father of a minor sexual-assault victim, sought a police report about the assault, which a sheriff's office withheld in full under the Juvenile Court Act…
- Police arrest reportsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a watchdog organization, sought police and incident reports about a man's arrest and death, which a police department withheld in full on the theory that disclosure could interfere…
- A county assessor's office's failure to respond to a FOIA requestFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought records showing who had applied to divide a parcel of real property and the related application materials from a county assessor's office, which never responded despite repeated…
- A bilingual parent advisory committee's OMA statusOMADetermination letterNo violationPublic Body Definition
A parent advocacy group alleged that a school district's Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee violated the Open Meetings Act by not allowing public comment at two 2017 meetings. The PAC determined…
- A board's failure to include personnel actions on a meeting agendaOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that an airport board accepted a manager's resignation and appointed an acting manager without listing those decisions on the meeting agenda as required by law. The Attorney…
- A city council's failure to adopt public comment rulesOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Blue Island City Council unfairly limited public comment during a meeting about a business license revocation. The Attorney General's office found that while the City…
- A city council's restriction of public comment timeOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that the Waukegan City Council cut him off during public comment periods at two different meetings. The Attorney General's office reviewed the evidence and found that the Council…
- A school board's agenda descriptions and meeting minutesOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Minutes
A reporter alleged that a school board's meeting agenda was too vague and that they voted on administrator raises without properly explaining the topic to the public first. The Attorney General's…
- Closed-session discussions of a potential real estate purchaseOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A reporter questioned whether a school board broke the law by discussing property purchases in private meetings. The Attorney General's office reviewed the secret recordings of those meetings and…
- An advisory committee's closed meetings and missing recordsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A requester alleged that the Chicago Crisis Intervention Advisory Committee and its subcommittees held meetings without public notice, agendas, or minutes, violating the Open Meetings Act. The…
- A public hearing scheduled on a legal holidayOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Village of Matteson held a public meeting on a legal holiday, arguing this was improper. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and concluded that the Village…
- A special city council meeting's agenda and member trainingOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen alleged that a city council violated OMA by discussing matters not on a special-meeting agenda, mishandling public comment, engaging in post-adjournment discussions, and failing to complete…
- Unannounced conference call among board membersOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A Village Trustee reported that the Village Board held a private conference call to discuss public business, which excluded the public and lacked proper notice. The Attorney General's office agreed…
- A school board's meeting room capacity and overflow accommodationsOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
The question was whether the Decatur Public School District No. 61 Board of Education violated section 2.01 of the Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120/2.01), which requires meetings to be held at a…
- Closed-session discussion of ethics complaint jurisdictionOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen alleged that a municipal ethics board improperly held closed session to consider its jurisdiction over ethics complaints. The PAC determined that the complaints and a complainant's argument…
- An emergency meeting with less than 48 hours' noticeOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the City of Champaign held a meeting without giving the public the required 48 hours' notice. The Attorney General's office reviewed the situation and decided that the…
- City council conference call gatherings without public noticeOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A reporter alleged that the Chicago City Council held private conference calls during the COVID-19 pandemic without notifying the public or allowing them to listen in. The Attorney General's office…
- A city council's final action on an unagendized itemOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Benld City Council voted to sell police equipment during a meeting without listing that topic on the public agenda beforehand. The Attorney General's office agreed that…
- Public comment rules at a city council meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the O'Fallon City Council cut off public speakers and unfairly limited their time to speak during a meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the video recording of…
- A school board's closed-session discussion of a property sale priceOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
This determination addresses whether a school board violated the Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120/2(c)(6)) by discussing a public property's sale price in closed session after the property's price had…
- A county board's allowance of public recording of meetingsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained to the Attorney General that they felt intimidated because a group was filming and broadcasting a public meeting. The PAC explained that Illinois law specifically allows members…
- Police body-camera footage of a motor vehicle accident investigationFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
Under FOIA section 7.5(cc), officer-worn body camera recordings are exempt from disclosure unless the requester falls within a specific category of persons authorized by the Body Camera Act to obtain…
- Village board and committee meeting recordings and newslettersFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a resident, sought more than two years of village board and committee meeting recordings, minutes, and newsletters, but the village never responded despite months of follow-up emails,…
- A school board's unrecorded 15-minute limit on public commentOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester, a member of the public, sought review of a school district's board of education after it limited the public comment portion of its meeting to a total of 15 minutes and refused to let…
- Police body-camera footage of a motor vehicle accidentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a law firm representing the subject of a police encounter, sought body-worn camera video related to a motor vehicle collision after the police department withheld it on the theory that…
- A village's seniority list, budget, financial reports, and employee reportFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a union representative, sought a range of labor-related records from a village, including bargaining unit seniority lists, budgets, collective bargaining agreements, and wage and…
- Board's vote on a "Notice to Remedy" resolutionOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a newspaper, sought review of a school board's vote to approve a resolution authorizing a formal disciplinary notice to a teacher after the board announced only the resolution's number…
- A police department's monthly extradition calendarFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought a copy of a police department's monthly extradition-unit staffing calendar, which the department withheld as predecisional and deliberative draft material. The Public Access…
- Public comment access at a city council meetingOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester, a member of the public who did not reside within the city, sought review after a mayor refused to let her speak during a city council's public comment period, telling her she had "no…
- Manganese throughput reports submitted to a public health departmentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester, an environmental law clinic, sought a company's manganese throughput reports filed with a city health department, which the department withheld as confidential commercial information…
- Permit applications and correspondence for five propertiesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, an attorney, sought decades of permit applications, denials, and related correspondence for several properties from a county assessor's office but received no response despite repeated…
- Redacted narrative sections of police arrest reportsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought police reports concerning two arrests, and the police department redacted nearly all of the narrative sections citing exemptions for private information,…
- Police body-camera and dash-camera recordings of an in-custody deathFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a community advocate, sought dashboard and body camera recordings of an in-custody death, which a city withheld citing multiple law-enforcement exemptions tied to open state police and…
- A city council's meeting agenda notice for a permit fee ordinanceOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a resident, sought review of a city council's meeting agenda after the council voted to raise permit application fees fivefold under an agenda item that listed only an ordinance number…
- A taped recording of a committee meetingFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester, a resident, sought a recording of a village committee gathering, but after the village attorney declared that the gathering had not been a valid meeting because it lacked a quorum, the…
- Private agency funding hearings and missing meeting agendasOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Maine Township Board of Trustees failed to post the agenda for a September 29, 2015 meeting on its website, and also held a series of 'agency funding hearings' without…
- A committee meeting with a quorum of the village boardOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination letter addresses whether attendance and participation by non-Committee Village Board members at a properly noticed Committee meeting converted it into an unnoticed full Board…
- Public comment restrictions at a village board meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Village of Wheeling improperly restricted public comments during two meetings in 2017. The Attorney General's office reviewed the complaint and concluded that the…
- A board's requirement for written topic and signature to speakOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that a township board refused to let him speak at a public meeting because he wouldn't fill out a form disclosing his topic and signature. The Attorney General's office agreed…
- Access to closed session verbatim recordingsOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A person filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau alleging that the Board of Education of Jasper County Community Unit School District No. 1 violated the Open…
- Board members' emails coordinating a public statementOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that school board members were secretly meeting via email to write a public statement, which would violate the Open Meetings Act. The Attorney General's office investigated and…
- Agenda descriptions for personnel actionsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A school board member complained that the board's meeting agendas were too vague, specifically using the term 'personnel items' without explaining what those items were. The Attorney General's office…
- Closed-session discussion of an executive director succession planOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Elmhurst Park District Board of Commissioners improperly closed a portion of its October 10, 2017, meeting to discuss a succession plan for the executive director, and…
- Remote attendance rules and public remote testimonyOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that a Village Board allowed a Trustee to participate in a meeting by phone but refused to let the citizen do the same for public comment. The Attorney General's office found…
- Meeting minutes describing an approved ordinanceOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that the Winnebago County Board's meeting minutes were too vague about an ordinance they passed. The Attorney General's office reviewed the records and found that because the…
- A committee's closed-session meeting at an undisclosed location without a recordingOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A reporter complained that a county committee held a meeting in a location not open to the public and failed to record a closed-door session. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the…
- Email votes on public businessOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A village board member complained that the board made official decisions by voting through email instead of holding a public meeting. The Attorney General's office agreed that this violated the Open…
- Closed-session discussion about a library branch relocationOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Aurora Public Library Board discussed moving a library branch behind closed doors, which is generally not allowed under the Open Meetings Act. The Attorney General's…
- A city council's meeting agenda postingsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen requested a review from the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau, alleging that the Chicago City Council failed to post a proper meeting agenda for its November 14, 2018,…
- Discussion of unlisted belief statements and resolutionsOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board discussed and voted on items during a meeting that were not listed on the public agenda. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that while the…
- Approval of closed session minutes in a closed sessionOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a local government board voted to approve private meeting minutes while behind closed doors. The Attorney General's office agreed, explaining that while boards can discuss…
- Public comment time limits at a committee meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Rules Committee of the City of Evanston City Council violated the Open Meetings Act by limiting public comment to one minute per speaker at its December 3, 2018,…
- A member participating by telephone at a meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that a member of the DuPage County Election Commission participated in a meeting by telephone, which is generally restricted under the Open Meetings Act. The Attorney General's…
- Closed meetings of a university president's staff committeeOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a university committee was holding private meetings without following open meeting laws. The Attorney General's office investigated and decided that this specific committee…
- A village board's closed-session discussion of personnel mattersOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Village of Lisbon Board of Trustees held an improper closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office found that the Board did not follow the correct legal steps to…
- A fire district board's vote on an unagendized referendumOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a local fire district board voted on a ballot referendum without listing that topic on their public meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office agreed that the board…
- A special meeting of a fire and police commission boardOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen tried to file a complaint against the Elmhurst Board of Fire and Police Commissioners for an alleged Open Meetings Act violation. The Attorney General's office rejected the complaint…
- Closed-session discussion of board member conduct and policy changesOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A reporter alleged that a school board improperly discussed topics in a private meeting that should have been held in public. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the board discussed…
- Private meetings of city council members at local establishmentsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that members of the Centralia City Council were meeting privately at local bars to discuss city business and election strategies. The Attorney General's office reviewed the claim…
- Procedures for approving and publishing committee meeting minutesOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that Chicago City Council committees were not voting on meeting minutes in public or posting them online. The Attorney General's office found that the committees' monthly reports…
- A community meeting attended by a council memberOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A resident complained that the Evanston City Council violated the Open Meetings Act by holding a community meeting on May 20, 2019, about the Robert Crown Community Center without posting an agenda…
- Approval of meeting minutes by a plan commissionOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that a local government board failed to approve its meeting minutes on time. The Attorney General's office found that the board didn't break the law because they hadn't held any…
- A board member's departure during public commentOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination letter addresses whether a township board violated OMA section 2.06(g), which guarantees the public an opportunity to address public officials under a body's established rules. The…
- A city council and water committee gathering during a job candidate's site visitOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that members of the Rushville City Council and Water Committee met privately during a job candidate's site visit without following public meeting rules. The Attorney General's…
- A board's failure to cite a closed-session exceptionOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Village of Sauk Village Board of Trustees did not properly announce why they were going into a private, closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office agreed,…
- A township board's prohibition of camping in a parkOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the township board banned camping at a local park without ever voting on the matter in a public meeting. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the board took…
- Final action on committee formation not on agendaOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A school board member complained that the Board voted on forming two committees at its May 3, 2019 meeting, even though that item was not listed on the public agenda. The Illinois Attorney General's…
- Discussion of items under "any other business"OMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a township board discussed topics during a meeting that weren't properly listed on the meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office reviewed the meeting and found that the…
- A city council's public recital on a legal settlementOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Kankakee City Council didn't explain a legal settlement clearly enough to the public before voting on it during a meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Closed-session vote citing pending litigationOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a local committee did not properly announce the legal reason for closing a meeting to the public. The Attorney General's office reviewed a video of the meeting and found…
- Informational update on an unlisted agenda itemOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a city committee discussed a topic during a meeting that wasn't listed on the official agenda. The Attorney General's office reviewed the matter and found that the committee…
- County board minutes of closed-session motionsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that the DuPage County Board's meeting minutes contained conflicting information about who made motions during a meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the complaint and…
- Police reports, video, body camera footage, and 9-1-1 calls about an accidentFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
Under FOIA, a public body must disclose requested records unless an exemption applies. Here, the Sheriff's Office denied the request for police reports, video, body camera footage, and 9-1-1 calls…
- A former village president's unredacted resignation letterFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a radio reporter, sought an unredacted copy of a departing village president's resignation email, and the village withheld several lines of the email, first citing the…
- A city official's meeting schedules and related correspondenceFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought records of a city official's meeting schedule over a four-month period, and although the city clerk forwarded the request to the city attorney and later to a new city attorney,…
- A school district's customer account information for water utilityFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a school district checking who lived at a particular address, sought a copy of a specific water bill, and the city provided it but redacted the customer's name along with the mailing…
- Personnel meeting minutes, audio recordings, and policiesFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester submitted three requests seeking minutes and a recording of a fire department personnel meeting, fire department policies on hiring and discipline, and months of fire department meeting…
- Developer cost records for a city-funded redevelopment projectFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought a private developer's project budget that the developer had submitted to the city to justify a public redevelopment-assistance payment, and the city…
- Employee salary and wage records for 2016-2017FOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, an attorney, sought a complete list of city employees' names, titles, wages, and salaries for two years, and the city denied the request in its entirety, arguing disclosure would be an…
- Records on the Illinois Impact Incarceration ProgramFOIABinding opinionViolation foundRequester Status
The requester, a reporter, sought records concerning a state prison agency's boot-camp-style incarceration program, and when she resubmitted the same request after her first request review was…
- Police reports for three named individuals and an addressFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought law enforcement records concerning several named individuals and an address from a village police department, which never responded despite repeated emails…
- A list of properties with Commissioner's Adjustments under a shared housing ordinanceFOIABinding opinionViolation foundProperty Records
The requester sought a list of properties granted an adjustment under a city's shared-housing ordinance, including each property's index number, but the city withheld the index numbers as private or…
- Settlement agreement claims with a former principalFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester, a union representative, sought a settlement agreement between a school district and a former principal, and the district redacted the description of the underlying claims as an…
- A contract amendment with a capitation rateFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester, a physician, sought a contract amendment showing the fixed monthly rate a county health system paid a mental health provider per enrollee, records she had previously been given in…
- Closed-session discussion of budget and layoff decisionsOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a faculty union president, sought review of a university board's closed session in which it discussed the university's budget and layoffs, arguing that the board improperly relied on…
- Property tax exemption records for a parcelFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought property tax exemption records, including completed exemption applications, for a specific parcel from a county assessor's office, which never responded despite the requester's…
- Records related to a July 2018 vehicle accidentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought seven categories of records concerning a specific vehicle accident from a police department, which acknowledged receipt but never issued a substantive response, citing body-worn…
- An accident report involving a minor passengerFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a law firm representing an injured driver, sought a traffic crash report that a police department withheld in full under the Juvenile Court Act because minor passengers were listed in…
- Emails about appointments to state boardsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester, a journalist, sought emails between several officials in the governor's office and outside advisors concerning nominations to state boards and commissions, and after the office called…
- A finance committee's closed-session discussion of elected officials' duties and salariesOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, an elected county auditor, sought review after a county board committee entered closed session, citing the exception for discussing specific employees, to discuss the salaries and…
- Misconduct complaints against a former district police officerFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a reporter, sought records of two misconduct complaints against a named former police officer from a water reclamation district, which first withheld the complaints as related to…
- A school board's closed-session discussion of staffing strategyOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a school board discussed staffing and retirement issues behind closed doors. The Attorney General's office found that the board broke the law because they discussed general…
- Locked school doors during a public meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that they were locked out of a school council meeting despite there being available space inside. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the Local School Council…
- A city task force's compliance with the Open Meetings ActOMADetermination letterViolation foundPublic Body Definition
A citizen complained that a City of Chicago task force was not following open meeting laws. The Attorney General's office agreed, ruling that the task force is a 'public body' and must follow rules…
- An enterprise zone advisory board's OMA complianceOMADetermination letterViolation foundPublic Body Definition
A news organization complained that the DeKalb County Enterprise Zone Advisory Board refused to allow the public to attend its meetings, claiming it wasn't a 'public body.' The Attorney General's…
- Private discussion of employee insurance coverageOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
This determination letter addresses whether a gathering of two of three Fire Protection District trustees on November 1, 2016 constituted an improper closed 'meeting' under OMA. The Public Access…
- A school board's regulation of public commentOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board unfairly silenced her father during a public meeting by cutting off his microphone and having security approach him. The Attorney General's office reviewed…
- A county board's denial of public comment over a speaker formOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen was blocked from speaking at a Winnebago County Board meeting on August 24, 2017, after the Board acknowledged he had submitted the required form but attributed the denial to an 'oversight…
- Closed-session discussion of potential litigationOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a hospital board held an illegal closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office found that while the board properly announced the closed session by citing the correct…
- Unannounced pre-meeting gatherings and a blocked board meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that Maine Township held secret gatherings before its official board meetings without proper notice, agendas, or minutes, and that the Township Hall doors were locked during a…
- Email correspondence between school board members about a referendum petitionOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A reporter alleged that a school board was illegally conducting public business through private emails. The Attorney General's office reviewed the emails and concluded they did not count as a…
- A county board's limit on public comment frequency per topicOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that the Winnebago County Board stopped him from speaking during public comment periods because he had already spoken about 'racial issues' three times that year. The Attorney…
- A board retreat at a remote locationOMADetermination letterInsufficient infoClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a water district held a private 'retreat' without following public meeting rules like posting agendas or allowing public attendance. The Attorney General's office…
- Agenda notice and approval of meeting minutesOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that the City of Lincoln's meeting agendas were too vague and that their meeting minutes were handled incorrectly. The Attorney General's office found that the agendas were…
- Maintenance and storage of open session minutes and closed session recordingsOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a local Veterans Assistance Commission failed to keep proper meeting minutes and mishandled confidential closed-session records. The Attorney General's office found that…
- Public comment restriction to a private roomOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A school board forced members of the public to speak to board members in a private room instead of allowing them to speak during the public meeting. The Attorney General's office found this violated…
- A city council's failure to post a meeting agendaOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Chicago City Council did not post its meeting agenda online 48 hours before the meeting as required by law. The Attorney General's office investigated and agreed that…
- Closed-session minutes for a school building bidOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Village of Altona could not provide proper minutes for a closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office found that the Village failed to keep a sufficient written…
- Agenda items added to a special meetingOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board failed to record closed meetings and improperly changed meeting agendas. The Attorney General's office found that the board broke the law by adding new topics…
- A board member ordering a technician to stop recording a closed sessionOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
Complainants alleged that a university board improperly stopped recording a closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office investigated but could not find sufficient evidence to prove that a…
- Public comment restrictions at a city council meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A resident complained that the Galena City Council stopped him from speaking during a public meeting and discussed topics that weren't on the agenda. The Attorney General's office found that the…
- A township board's destruction of a closed-session recordingOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Maine Township Board improperly destroyed a recording of a closed-door meeting because they didn't have enough votes to approve it. The Attorney General's office agreed,…
- School board's public comment policy and its enforcementOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained to the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau that the Jasper County School Board's public comment rules were unreasonable, specifically the two-minute time limit and…
- A township board's public comment rulesOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination addresses whether the Pecatonica Township Board violated section 2.06(g) of the Open Meetings Act by preventing a member of the public from speaking at its December 19, 2017…
- A public meeting on a legal holiday at a locked facilityOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a county committee held a special meeting on a legal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and that the courthouse was locked. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access…
- Village board members' attendance at public forumsOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A state representative complained that village board members held an illegal private meeting by attending public forums about a local referendum. The Attorney General's office investigated and found…
- Closed-session discussion of a bidding processOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Pekin City Council discussed bidding processes in a closed session, which should have been public. The Public Access Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General's Office…
- A library board's conduct during public commentOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a library board unfairly interrupted his public comments and called the police during a meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the meeting recording and found that…
- Closed-session self-evaluation of board proceduresOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A school board member complained that her board held a secret meeting to discuss her social media posts under the guise of a 'self-evaluation.' The Attorney General's office reviewed the matter and…
- Closed-session discussion of police service consolidationOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the City of Peru's Committee of the Whole held closed sessions to discuss merging police departments, which is not allowed under the Open Meetings Act. The Illinois Attorney…
- Closed-session discussion of committee appointmentsOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A school board member complained that their board held a private meeting to discuss appointing members to a negotiations committee. The Attorney General's office reviewed the recording and found that…
- A chamber of commerce breakfast with local officialsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
This determination addresses whether the Open Meetings Act's notice and access requirements applied to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast event where the Village of Wheeling Village President and the…
- A council's gathering with a reporterOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that members of a public advisory council held an illegal secret meeting with a newspaper reporter. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that simply talking to a…
- A tentative vote on dissolving a police departmentOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a village board voted to close the local police department without listing that topic on the meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and found that…
- A village trustee's right to address the boardOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
Two village trustees complained to the Attorney General that they were not allowed to speak during board meetings. The Attorney General's office explained that the Open Meetings Act only guarantees…
- Closed-session discussion of non-litigation mattersOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the DuPage County Election Commission held an illegal closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the recording and found that most of the meeting was legal,…
- A committee's failure to review closed session minutesOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that a city committee wasn't regularly reviewing its private (closed) meeting minutes as the law requires. The Attorney General's office agreed that the committee had failed to…
- A school council's failure to post a meeting agenda and closed-session discussion of candidate selectionOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A member of the Beasley Academic Center Local School Council complained that the Council failed to post the agenda for its April 2, 2018, special meeting 48 hours in advance, and also raised issues…
- A school board's special-meeting notice and agenda postingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
The question was whether a school board violated the Open Meetings Act's notice provisions (5 ILCS 120/2.02(a) and (b)) by not listing a special meeting on its posted annual meeting schedule and by…
- An agenda item on a malpractice insurance resolutionOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination letter addresses whether the Algonquin Township Board violated section 2.02(c) of the Open Meetings Act by failing to adequately describe on its meeting agenda a resolution…
- A school board's denial of public commentOMADetermination letterInsufficient infoMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board unfairly stopped her husband from speaking during a public meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case but could not determine if the board broke…
- A university board's selection of a presidentOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees held secret meetings to select a new university president. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and found that…
- A council's meeting notices and member OMA trainingOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a state advisory council failed to provide proper public notice for meetings and did not follow training rules. The Attorney General's office found that the council was late…
- A committee meeting and action taken without a quorumOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Conduct & Participation
This determination addresses whether the Chicago City Council's Committee on Housing and Real Estate violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) by voting on agenda items during a December 6, 2018 meeting…
- Law enforcement records of a minor's arrestFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
FOIA exempts records that are specifically prohibited from disclosure by other state or federal laws. Here, the Juvenile Court Act prohibits releasing law enforcement records concerning a minor who…
- Police reports concerning a December 13, 2016 pursuitFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a reporter, sought a police report concerning a vehicle pursuit that ended in a crash, and the city never responded to the request or to the Public Access Bureau's repeated inquiries,…
- A state police field report referenced in a crash reportFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought a copy of a specific field report, and the state police agency withheld it in full, asserting that disclosure would interfere with a pending or contemplated law-enforcement…
- Traffic count data from roadway monitoringFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought raw traffic-count data collected during roadway monitoring, and the village withheld its entire preliminary traffic study as predecisional and deliberative. The Public Access…
- Financial terms of wastewater facility contracts and invoicesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester, a city clerk, sought contracts, invoices, and annual budgets involving the sanitary district's private wastewater-management contractor, and the district redacted substantial financial…
- A city council's closed-session discussion of a revenue-sharing agreementOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
A county state's attorney, relaying citizen concerns, alleged that a city council closed part of a meeting to discuss ending a decades-old revenue-sharing agreement with a neighboring town, citing…
- Essential employee designation recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a wire-service reporter, sought records showing the job titles, locations, and numbers of employees the department deems essential during a pay interruption, and the department denied…
- Emails concerning a Deputy GovernorFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a business journal reporter, sought a deputy governor's emails and a forward-looking schedule, and the governor's office acknowledged the request by phone but never provided a…
- Credit card and cell phone statements for elected officialsFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought city credit-card and cell-phone statements and proof of officials' Open Meetings Act and FOIA training, and although the city's attorney told the Public Access Bureau that…
- Agendas and meeting minutes for an airportFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought agendas and minutes for meetings of the city's municipal airport, and the city's FOIA officer told her the airport was a separate entity without its own FOIA officer and directed…
- Contractor employee names in certified payroll recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester, a construction-industry monitoring organization, sought certified payroll records for a public works contractor, and the city disclosed the records but redacted the contractor…
- 9-1-1 call recordings of a child's deathFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a radio reporter, sought two 9-1-1 call recordings connected to a widely reported child's death, and the sheriff's office withheld both as containing exempt biometric identifiers and…
- Audio recordings of a housing authority board's public meetingsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Minutes
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought audio recordings of the housing authority board's open meetings from a given year, and the housing authority withheld them as preliminary, deliberative…
- A governor's office log of FOIA requestsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought an electronic log of the FOIA requests the governor's office had received over roughly two months, including requester names, dates, and statuses, and the office never responded…
- Closed-session discussion of a board member's conductOMABinding opinionViolation foundclosed session
An advocacy organization alleged that a village board closed part of a meeting to discuss a board member's racially charged public comments, after an agenda item identified the matter for discussion,…
- Previous FOIA requests and responses from a county clerk's officeFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a local news outlet, sought a log of FOIA requests filed with the county clerk's office and the county's responses over an eight-week period, and the county denied the request in its…
- Regional trauma advisory committees' OMA statusOMADetermination letterViolation foundPublic Body Definition
A reporter challenged whether Regional Trauma Advisory Committees (RTACs) were required to follow the Open Meetings Act. The Attorney General's office decided that these committees are indeed public…
- A board's ad hoc limit on public comment time and questionsOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
This determination letter addresses whether the Oswego Township Board of Trustees complied with OMA's meeting notice requirements (5 ILCS 120/2.02) and public comment rules (5 ILCS 120/2.06(g)) at…
- A school district's website postings for meeting agendas and schedulesOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board failed to properly post meeting notices and an annual meeting schedule, and did not post required employee compensation information. The Attorney General's…
- Agenda descriptions and public recitals for final actions on resolutionsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the St. Clair County Board voted on eight resolutions without telling the public what those resolutions were about. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the…
- Final action on unagendaed items and OMA trainingOMADetermination letterInsufficient infoMeeting Notices & Agendas
Village officials alleged that the Board of Trustees voted on items that were not properly listed on the meeting agenda and that a specific trustee had not completed required legal training. The…
- Rescheduling a meeting without 48-hour agenda noticeOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the St. Clair Township Board of Trustees rescheduled a meeting without giving the public proper notice or making the agenda available as required by law. The Attorney…
- A gathering of three aldermen about city businessOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A local newspaper editor complained that three City Council members held a private gathering to discuss city business without public notice or minutes. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access…
- An advisory committee's special meeting notice and agendaOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The Village of Fox Lake complained that a local government committee held a meeting without telling the public, providing an agenda, or allowing public comment. The Public Access Bureau of the…
- A county boardOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Fulton County Board Health Committee did not allow some members of the public to speak for the full five minutes during meetings and that the meeting room was too small.…
- A separation agreement approved by a city councilOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the City of DeKalb approved an employee's separation agreement behind closed doors without telling the public. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that the…
- A town council's policy limiting public comment frequencyOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The Town of Normal had a rule that prevented people from speaking at town council meetings if they had already spoken within the previous 45 days. The Attorney General's office ruled that this policy…
- Superintendent's task force as a public bodyOMADetermination letterNo violationPublic Body Definition
A citizen complained that a school district task force held a private meeting that should have been open to the public. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that this specific task…
- A village's committee meeting scheduleOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
This determination addresses whether the Village of Princeville violated Section 2.01 of the Open Meetings Act by failing to state specified times and places for committee meetings. The Public Access…
- Posting of approved open meeting minutes on a school board's websiteOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board failed to post meeting minutes on its website within the 10-day deadline required by law. The Attorney General's office found that the complaint was filed too…
- Closed-session discussion of kindergarten programmingOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A school board held a closed-door meeting to discuss kindergarten programming, claiming it was related to potential litigation. The Attorney General's office found this was a violation because the…
- Closed-session discussion of a cell tower lease proposalOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Village of Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees held closed-door meetings to discuss a cell tower lease, going beyond the legal limit of only discussing the price of the…
- A township board's failure to approve meeting minutesOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Minutes
A citizen complained that a local township board hadn't approved the minutes from a meeting held months earlier. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and agreed that the board failed to…
- A county board's meeting agenda and final action itemsOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Coles County Board did not properly post its meeting agenda or make it available to the public 48 hours in advance. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that…
- Emergency board meeting on personnel and litigationOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
Parkland College held an 'emergency' meeting without giving the public the required 48 hours' notice. The Attorney General's office found that the situation did not qualify as a true emergency,…
- Notice and agenda posting for a cemetery board meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A reporter alleged that a local cemetery board held a meeting without properly posting the agenda where the public could actually see it. The Attorney General's office agreed that the board failed to…
- Joint sessions of a university board with affiliated foundation membersOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained to the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau that two members of the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees' Executive Committee violated the Open Meetings Act…
- Notice of a school board meeting's relocated locationOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board meeting was moved to a different location without proper public notice. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that the board followed the law…
- Discrepancy between posted compensation and IMRF payroll recordsOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen complained that the Village of Wheeling's posted employee compensation information did not match the payroll reports submitted to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. The Attorney…
- A school board’s failure to post a meeting agendaOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board did not make its meeting agenda publicly accessible at the building where the meeting was held. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that…
- A board's public recital before a termination voteOMADetermination letterPartial violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Village of Swansea Board of Trustees voted to fire an employee without first telling the public what they were voting on, which is required by law. The Attorney…
- Failure to provide notice of amended meeting scheduleOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Village of Chatham changed its meeting schedule without following the legal requirements for public notice. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that the…
- School board meetings without a physical quorumOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen complained that the Rich Township High School District Board held meetings that did not follow proper Open Meetings Act procedures. The Attorney General's office reviewed the claims but…
- A library board's public recital before voting on a treasurer's reportOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a library board didn't explain clearly enough what they were voting on when they approved a Treasurer's Report during a meeting. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- A village committee's gathering at a private residenceOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A resident complained that village committee members met at his home to discuss public business without following open meeting rules like posting an agenda or taking minutes. The Attorney General's…
- An ad-hoc committee evaluating redevelopment RFQsOMADetermination letterNo violationPublic Body Definition
A citizen complained that a city committee evaluating redevelopment bids held private meetings in violation of the Open Meetings Act. The Attorney General's office investigated and determined that…
- Closed-session termination of an employeeOMADetermination letterPartial violationClosed Sessions
A news reporter alleged that the City of Sandwich City Council improperly terminated an employee during a closed session. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau determined that the…
- An unannounced council gathering to discuss water businessOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that members of the Carlinville City Council met privately to discuss public business without telling the public, which is against the law. The Attorney General's office…
- A city council's campaign fundraiser gatheringOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A reporter complained that a group of city aldermen held an illegal private meeting at a restaurant to collect campaign donations. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that while the…
- First Amendment worksheets from a police departmentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a journalist, sought worksheets and communications concerning police intelligence-gathering on First Amendment-related activities and groups including Black Lives Matter and…
- School district emails, cell records, and employment documentsFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought a range of personnel-related records, including a principal and social worker's emails and phone/text records, hiring-system data, and old interview reports, and the school…
- Crime scene and autopsy photographs of a death investigationFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, the father and estate executor of a woman who had died, sought crime-scene and autopsy photographs related to her death, and a state police agency withheld the photographs entirely,…
- Police staffing levels by district and rankFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a journalist, sought current and historical police staffing levels by district and all personnel transfer orders since an earlier request, and the police department sent an extension…
- Employee positions, salaries, and contractor recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought a range of village financial records, including employee and elected officials' salaries, contractor payments, legal fees, and money owed to the village by elected officials, and…
- Closed-session discussion of possible litigationOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester challenged a village government's board for closing part of a meeting to discuss "pending/imminent litigation" over a bond sale, after she had publicly stated during the same meeting…
- Police officers' personal emails about a caseFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a news organization, sought emails from named police officers' work and personal accounts relating to a fatal police shooting, and the police department produced dozens of…
- Emails between a city official and planning consultantsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought emails between the city manager and a private planning firm over a one-month period, and the city government responded by asking her to narrow the request so that responding…
- A school district's failure to respond to a FOIA request for financial recordsFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a journalist, sought invoices, payment records, and a contract concerning a specific consulting firm, and the school district's automated system acknowledged the request and claimed a…
- Correspondence and property applications involving a specific entityFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought correspondence and application records concerning a specific developer and project, and the housing authority contacted him to clarify the scope of his request but then never…
- Closed-session discussion of employee pay raisesOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a newspaper publisher, alleged that a city council closed part of a meeting to discuss and then approved an across-the-board cost-of-living raise for city employees under the exception…
- Staff bonus amounts after a fund re-allocationFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought the names, titles, and dollar amounts of employee bonuses funded by a reallocation of a raise the housing authority's board had approved, and the housing authority denied the…
- A vote on an unlisted settlement agreementOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester, a board member, alleged that the village board voted to amend and approve a settlement agreement under a generic 'Old Business' agenda item that gave no notice the matter would be…
- Recording of an open school board meetingOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester was barred from recording the open portion of a school board meeting because he asked permission roughly ten minutes beforehand rather than complying with the board's policy requiring…
- Information in a criminal complaint filed by a public figureFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
Five journalists sought police reports and related records concerning threats, hacking, and extortion attempts against a then-sitting state legislator, and the village withheld or redacted…
- A village board's restrictive public comment policiesOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen at a Village of Cahokia board meeting requested to make a comment but was told she had to submit a form before noon that day. When she persisted, the mayor ordered her removed. The Illinois…
- Public comment restrictions at a council meetingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that a city council meeting restricted public comments to only city residents and only to topics already on the meeting agenda. The Attorney General's office ruled that these…
- Board members' emails on a board seat and contractOMADetermination letterInsufficient infoClosed Sessions
A board member complained that the Park District board was conducting public business through private emails, which would violate the Open Meetings Act's requirement for public discussion. The…
- Advisory committee meeting minutes posted onlineOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that the Village of Brookfield was not posting meeting minutes for its advisory committees online. The Attorney General's office reviewed the law and explained that the…
- A TIF joint review board's 10:00 a.m. meeting timeOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
Citizens complained that a local government board held a meeting at 10:00 a.m. on a Wednesday, arguing that this time was inconvenient for working residents. The Attorney General's office reviewed…
- Restriction of recording location at a school board meetingOMADetermination letterInsufficient infoMeeting Conduct & Participation
A citizen complained that a school board forced them to record a meeting from a spot where they couldn't see or hear the board members properly. The board denied this, and because the PAC could not…
- A school board's public comment restrictions and closed-session justificationOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a school board cut off his public comments and failed to explain why they were going into a private closed-door meeting. The Attorney General's office agreed, finding that…
- Records of a professional complaint filed with a state licensing boardFOIABinding opinionViolation foundOther
The requester sought records related to a professional licensing complaint investigation, including correspondence, meeting minutes, and recommendations from the licensing department, but the…
- A board's closed-session discussion of property sale or leaseOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
A requester alleged that a community college's board improperly closed part of a special meeting to discuss the college's financial condition, tuition, and possible sale or lease of college-owned…
- A settlement agreement in a federal lawsuitFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester asked the city government for a copy of a settlement agreement resolving a lawsuit against the city, along with related records and documents about the city council's vote to approve…
- Contracts and correspondence for a concert at a public arenaFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a journalist, sought records related to a touring musician's concerts at a village-owned entertainment venue, including contracts, correspondence, and financial terms with the concert…
- Closed-session discussion of a police services contractOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester alleged that a village government's board voted in closed session to disband its police department and enter into a new policing contract without properly noticing the topic. The Public…
- Physician employment contracts with compensation detailsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought a hospital district's physician employment agreements, including compensation, incentive, and bonus information, and the hospital district redacted this financial information,…
- A finance committee's closed meeting on a hiring freezeOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester challenged a county board's finance committee for closing part of a meeting to discuss a hiring freeze and the elimination of an employee's position after citing only "personnel" as its…
- Surveillance video of a fatal rest-area accidentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a paralegal for the law firm representing a party in a fatal accident case, sought surveillance video from a state highway rest area showing the area near where a pedestrian was…
- A list of outside legal counsel and their representationFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester, a journalist, sought lists showing which outside law firms the state had retained and the general nature of their work, and the governor's office withheld the lists, asserting…
- The Governor's calendar with meeting detailsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester, a journalist, sought the governor's daily appointment calendar showing meetings and attendees, and the governor's office redacted the names of meeting attendees, arguing the calendar…
- Certified payroll records for county construction projectsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought certified payroll records for state highway construction projects in a county, and the state transportation department denied the request as unduly burdensome, citing the labor…
- A university's failure to respond to a FOIA requestFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a labor union representative, sought records concerning which employment positions were included in or excluded from collective bargaining agreements, and the university neither…
- A university's FOIA compliance procedures recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a university professor, sought certain records the university is required to maintain, and the university never responded at all, ignoring the Public Access Bureau's follow-up letters…
- Records of the Danville Housing Task ForceFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester sought minutes, notes, and communications from a city-organized housing task force, and the city government refused to produce them, arguing the task force itself was not a public body…
- Budget presentation for staff trainingFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a labor union representative, sought records concerning services provided by an outside budget consultant to a state budget agency, and the agency withheld a PowerPoint presentation…
- School board members' emails about appointmentsOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A citizen alleged that a school board president's e-mails to board members about committee assignments constituted an improper private deliberation and final action under the Open Meetings Act. The…
- An unannounced meeting on collective bargainingOMADetermination letterViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A school board held a private meeting to discuss teacher contract negotiations without telling the public or posting an agenda. The Attorney General's office ruled this was illegal because even if a…
- A trustee's audio-conference participation in a meetingOMADetermination letterNo violationMeeting Conduct & Participation
A village trustee complained that another board member was improperly allowed to attend a meeting by phone. The Attorney General's office reviewed the situation and found that the board followed its…
- A political party precinct committeemen meetingOMADetermination letterClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
A citizen complained that a political party meeting failed to follow Open Meetings Act rules regarding agendas and public participation. The Attorney General's office investigated and concluded that…
- Closed-session self-evaluation of board proceduresOMADetermination letterNo violationClosed Sessions
A school board member complained that their board held a private meeting that was supposed to be about improving board procedures but was actually used to attack political opponents. The Attorney…
- A school board's agenda item on a separation agreementOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A journalist filed a request for review after a school district's board voted, during an open meeting, to approve a separation agreement with its former superintendent. The dispute centered on…
- Invoices for legal services to a cityFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought copies of a law firm's legal billing invoices from the city government for the past calendar year, but the city withheld them entirely, citing exemptions for attorney-client…
- Agenda amendments removing items within 48 hoursOMABinding opinionNo violationMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester alleged that the township board violated the Open Meetings Act by amending its meeting agenda less than 48 hours before a scheduled meeting, removing two action items and moving them to…
- Settlement agreements under the personal privacy exemptionFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought copies of settlement agreements from the county board, but the county board withheld some of them, citing confidentiality provisions within the agreements and arguing that…
- Financial records of a university homecoming danceFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester sought records showing how much money was collected during a university's homecoming dance and how those funds were handled. The university denied the request, arguing the records…
- Financial terms of a lottery marketing contractFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester sought copies of the state lottery agency's marketing and advertising contracts, specifically the pricing structure and hourly rates, but the agency's private lottery manager redacted…
- Athletic event ticket proceeds recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundSearch & Production
The requester sought records from the school district showing proceeds from ticket sales at athletic events during the 2013-2014 school year, along with contracts and eligibility sheets that were…
- Personnel photographs of a former auxiliary deputy sheriffFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought photographs of a former auxiliary deputy from the sheriff's department. The sheriff's department denied the request, arguing the photographs were exempt "private information"…
- A home address requirement for public commentOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester attended an open meeting of the village board and, during the public comment period, was repeatedly asked by the mayor to state her complete home address before she would be permitted…
- City contracts, payments, permits, and licensesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester submitted four separate FOIA requests to the city government seeking records about contracts, permits, payments, and licenses connected to certain individuals and businesses, as well as…
- A village clerk's and trustee's event participation recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundSearch & Production
The requester sought records concerning a village clerk's participation in a conference, including communications, billing records, contribution documentation, and expense records. The village…
- Administrative directives available for inspection in a prison libraryFOIABinding opinionNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
An incarcerated requester asked the corrections department for photocopies of certain administrative directives that were already available for inspection in the correctional facility's library. The…
- Records about Comprehensive Health Agency Nurturing Guest EnervationFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a newspaper reporter, submitted a records request to the city government seeking permit, licensing, and inspection records related to a specific business entity. The city government…
- A county board's advance sign-up rule for public commentOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester was denied the opportunity to speak during public comment at a county board meeting because he did not submit a written request at least five working days in advance, as required by the…
- A public employee's résumé and job applicationFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought a copy of an employee's résumé and job application from the village government, which denied the request by claiming the records were exempt as private personal information, as…
- Lease agreements for convention space at McCormick PlaceFOIABinding opinionViolation foundProperty Records
The requester asked a public authority that operates a large convention center for copies of lease agreements covering convention and trade show space, including the rental prices and square footage…
- Emergency management plans from a school districtFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a journalist, sought a school district's emergency management plans and related records, and the school district never responded at all, either to comply, deny, or extend the deadline…
- A university board's closed-session vote to terminate a tenured faculty memberFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester challenged a public university's governing board for voting, during a closed session, to terminate a tenured faculty member's employment. The Public Access Counselor's review of the…
- A board's final action on unagendized admission feesOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester challenged a park district's governing board for voting to raise museum admission fees at a public meeting without listing that topic on the board's own agenda, even though a…
- Video surveillance, police policies, and meeting minutesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought village hall surveillance footage, police department records, meeting minutes, and building access logs, and the village government never responded at all, ignoring repeated…
- A village's failure to respond to a FOIA request for financial recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought a village government's financial records, including its checkbook register, treasurer's reports, and attorney invoices, and the village never responded at all, despite the Public…
- Secret-ballot vote for a candidate recommendationOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester challenged a county advisory board for using a secret paper ballot to select which candidate to recommend for a vacant board seat, with votes cast anonymously and dropped in a container…
- Closed-session discussion of litigation without recording basisOMABinding opinionPartial violationClosed Sessions
The requester challenged a library board for closing part of a meeting to discuss a payment dispute with an employee benefit plan, arguing no litigation was actually threatened. The Public Access…
- A school board's final action on a separation agreement in closed sessionOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a journalist, challenged a school district for having most of its board members sign a superintendent's separation agreement during a closed session before later ratifying it with a…
- Travel records of university board members and presidentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a journalist, sought several years of travel and credit-card expense records for a public university's board members and president, later amending the request to broaden its scope, and…
- A school board's closed-session appointment of an interim superintendentOMABinding opinionNo violationClosed Sessions
The requester, a journalist, challenged the same school district's process for appointing an interim superintendent, arguing the board had effectively decided the appointment behind closed doors…
- Internal investigation records of an assistant police chief's accidentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a journalist, sought police and internal-investigation records concerning an off-duty car accident involving a police department's assistant chief, and the city government withheld the…
- Records of a defunct property development projectFOIABinding opinionViolation foundSearch & Production
The requester, a journalist, submitted five detailed requests to a city government for records concerning a defunct development project, including financial records, contracts, and loan documents,…
- A fire protection district board's meeting location 26 miles awayOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
The requester alleged that the fire protection district's board violated the Open Meetings Act by holding a special meeting at a location far outside the district's boundaries. The board's attorney…
- A charter school's records of public businessFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
A requester with a news organization asked a charter school network for records about school construction contracts, invoices, and board minutes, including some records held by the network's closely…
- Monthly Uniform Crime Report statisticsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought monthly Uniform Crime Report statistics that a city's police department had submitted to a state police agency for 2012 and 2013. The state police agency withheld the records…
- A school board's final action on an employee dismissalFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Notices & Agendas
A requester alleged that the school district's board violated the Open Meetings Act by voting in open session to dismiss an employee identified only as "Employee A," without naming the employee,…
- A police reportFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester asked the police department for a copy of a specific police report, but the department denied the request, claiming disclosure would interfere with law enforcement proceedings and could…
- A contractor's records of a governmental functionFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought records related to a sidewalk/curb improvement project from the village government, including bid documents, payroll reports, and correspondence with the project's engineering…
- Statistical data on student suspensions and enrollmentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester, a journalist, sought several years of school-level statistics on student discipline and police involvement from a school district, which acknowledged the request but never issued a…
- A village's classification of a requester as recurrentFOIABinding opinionViolation foundRequester Status
A village government classified the requester and her spouse as "recurrent requesters" under FOIA's newly enacted volume-based thresholds, based on the combined number of records requests the two had…
- Legal invoices for attorney billing from a school districtFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester sought copies of legal invoices reflecting a school district's expenses in several lawsuits, and the school district withheld the invoices in full, asserting attorney-client privilege.…
- Police incident reports and 911 call records of an arrestFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a journalist, sought police incident reports and related records concerning an arrest of a local public official, which a police department withheld entirely, citing a personal-privacy…
- A school board meeting at a private residenceOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester challenged a school district's decision to hold a special meeting to adopt its tax levy at the superintendent's private residence rather than a public location. The Public Access…
- Redacted portions of letters deemed outside scopeFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFOIA Response Process
The requester sought copies of FOIA denial letters that a forest preserve district had issued citing a particular law-enforcement exemption, and the district produced heavily redacted copies,…
- An investigative file on a real estate agentFOIA + OMABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought a state licensing agency's complete investigative file on a real estate licensee, after the agency had previously been directed, in response to an earlier related request, to…
- Closed-session discussion of municipal budgetary mattersOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester, a journalist, challenged a village government's practice of discussing its budget during personnel- and finance-committee sessions closed to the public under the Open Meetings Act's…
- Denial of permission to record a property tax hearingOMABinding opinionViolation foundMeeting Conduct & Participation
The requester was denied permission to audio-record his own hearing before a county board because he had not given advance notice to the board's clerk, as a board rule required. The Public Access…
- Investigatory records on a minor's shooting deathFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a journalist, sought investigative records concerning the police shooting of a minor, which a state agency withheld in full, primarily citing juvenile-confidentiality provisions of the…
- Unrecorded closed-session landfill ordinance discussionOMABinding opinionViolation foundClosed Sessions
The requester challenged a county board's finance committee for discussing a proposed landfill ordinance in a closed session under the Open Meetings Act's litigation exception. The Public Access…
- Records regarding a judge's removal and complaintsFOIA + OMABinding opinionNo violationPublic Body Definition
The requester sought records from a state judicial oversight board concerning the circumstances of a former judge's removal from the bench, and the board declined to respond, asserting it was not…
- De-identified student test scoresFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought de-identified fourth-grade math test scores from a school district, and the school district refused, first claiming the underlying student-privacy law made the data exempt…
- A committee's private discussion of a redistricting mapOMADetermination letterViolation foundClosed Sessions
A reporter alleged that county board members held a private meeting to discuss redistricting maps before an official committee meeting. The Attorney General's office found that this gathering met the…
- Recording rights at open meetings and unjustified closed sessionsOMADetermination letterOthermeeting recording
A state's attorney asked whether a new statutory provision expressly allowing news media to record open meetings limited any other individual's pre-existing right to record, and separately asked to…
- School board closed session on bargaining rightsOMADetermination letterOtherclosed session
A state's attorney asked whether a school board's closed session to decide whether to extend collective bargaining rights to its employees fell within the Open Meetings Act's exception for collective…
- Spending or lapsing a line-item appropriation on intellectual propertyDetermination letterOthernot FOIA/OMA (state appropriations)
A state education official asked the Attorney General whether his agency was required to spend, or could instead let lapse, a line-item appropriation earmarked for developing agency-owned…
- Private citizens taping open county board meetingsOMADetermination letterOthermeeting recording
A state's attorney asked whether private citizens who are not participants may tape-record open county board meetings without the board members' consent, given the state's separate eavesdropping law.…
- County board ban on taping open meetingsOMADetermination letterOthermeeting recording
A state's attorney asked whether a county board could prohibit individuals from bringing a tape recorder to its public meetings. The Attorney General held that a governmental body may not prevent the…
- Energy Resources Commission exemption from the Open Meetings ActOMADetermination letterOtherpublic body definition
A state representative asked whether the Illinois Energy Resources Commission, made up of legislators and public members, was subject to the Open Meetings Act, and, if not, whether it could go into…
- Merit Board advisory committee under the Open Meetings ActOMADetermination letterOtherclosed session
A state Board of Higher Education official asked whether the Personnel Directors Advisory Committee of the University Civil Service Merit Board was exempt from the Open Meetings Act, and, if part of…
- 1962 policy on who may request Attorney General opinionsDetermination letterOtherAG opinion-request procedure (not a FOIA/OMA ruling)
This document is not a case decided by the Attorney General, but the office's 1962 internal policy statement describing who may request formal written legal opinions (the Governor, other state…
- Index of PAC binding opinions on the Open Meetings ActOMABinding opinionClosed no further actionMeeting Notices & Agendas
This document is not a legal opinion itself, but rather a reference list (index) provided by the Illinois Attorney General's office to help the public find past binding decisions regarding the Open…
- Index of PAC binding opinions on FOIA since 2010FOIABinding opinionOtherFOIA Response Process
This document is not a legal decision, but rather a master list or index of all binding opinions issued by the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Counselor since 2010. It is intended to help…
- A village's water meter recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester, a member of the public, sought copies of his water meter readings, and a village refused to provide copies at all, insisting it was only obligated to make records available for…
- A city's charge for duplicate copies for its own retentionFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought copies of certified payroll and contract records for numerous city contractors, and the city charged him for a second, duplicate set of copies it said it needed to retain in its…
- Number of sworn officers per police districtFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought the current total number of sworn police officers assigned to each police district, which a police department withheld in full as a vulnerability…
- A settlement agreement in an employment discrimination lawsuitFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought a settlement agreement resolving an employment discrimination lawsuit against a village, which the village claimed it did not possess because its insurer…
- Arrest records and a gunshot residue test reportFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester, a member of the public, sought the arrest records of four named individuals and a gunshot residue test report, which a police department denied in full as protected criminal history…
- Autopsy reports for high-profile suicide deathsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requesters, newspaper reporters, sought the county medical examiner's autopsy reports, records, and photographs concerning the suicides of two prominent public figures, and the county sought to…
- Medical test results for workers' compensation claimsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought a sample of de-identified nerve-conduction-velocity test results submitted in support of state employees' workers' compensation claims, which a state…
- Unredacted settlement agreements with former employeesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
The requester, a newspaper editor, sought copies of settlement agreements resolving two employee lawsuits against a city, and the city disclosed the agreements but redacted the specific settlement…
- City council members' electronic communications during meetingsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought electronic communications sent and received by city council members and the mayor during meetings, and the city withheld all messages generated on…
- A reclamation plan for a mine siteFOIABinding opinionViolation foundSearch & Production
The requester sought paper and electronic copies of a mine reclamation plan, and a state agency responded only by offering to let him inspect the microfiche records at its office rather than…
- A village's mail-only FOIA submission policyFOIA + OMABinding opinionFOIA Response Process
The requester attempted to hand-deliver a FOIA request to a village president at a public board meeting, but the president refused to accept it, citing the village's mail-only submission policy. The…
- Presidential search committee recordsFOIABinding opinionViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
The requesters, several news organizations, sought records concerning a university's presidential search, including departure airports, travel-agency names, and a search firm's fee, which the…
- Names of first-time freshmen and graduation statusesFOIABinding opinionViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought the names of an incoming freshman class and of students who graduated or had not yet graduated years later, and a university withheld the names as…
- Internal audit manual sections for tax enforcementFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A law firm requested internal audit manuals from the Illinois Department of Revenue to understand how the state determines corporate income and sales taxes. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Retroactive application of recurrent requester statusFOIADetermination letterViolation foundRequester Status
The requester's employer submitted a FOIA request that the public body treated as coming from a "recurrent requester," counting requests submitted before the recurrent-requester provision took…
- Records on animal use in a medical residency programFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine requested records from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine about animal use in medical training. The school withheld some emails,…
- Construction cost projections for parking garagesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested documents from the City of Elmhurst regarding construction costs for city parking garages. The City refused to release the records, claiming they were internal drafts and opinions…
- A fire department's fee for search and retrieval of a fire reportFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked the City of Rockford Fire Department for a fire report, marking the request as not for a commercial purpose. The City charged a $10 fee for one hour of staff time, claiming the…
- In-car traffic stop video footage on DVDFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen requested video records from the Illinois State Police and was charged $20 for a DVD copy. The Attorney General's office ruled that the police department improperly assessed the fee because…
- Audit data on railcar component originsFOIADetermination letterPartial violationLegal & Financial Records
A requester sought detailed audit information about the manufacturing origins of railcar components for a Chicago Transit Authority project. The Attorney General's office determined that the CTA…
- Website usage data from office computersFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
The requester sought the number of page views and time spent on two websites by computers in the treasurer's office. The PAC determined that the request sought general data scattered across computers…
- Police video of a hit-and-run incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
The question was whether the Village of Forest Park properly withheld surveillance videos of a hit-and-run under FOIA Section 7(1)(d) exemptions, including an unargued but implicated Section…
- Dash-cam video and police reports of a fatal pursuitFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested dashcam footage and police records from the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office regarding a fatal crash. The Sheriff's Office denied the request, citing a pending post-sentencing…
- PTAX-203 real estate transfer declaration formsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
Mr. Vertin requested real estate records from the Illinois Department of Revenue for his business. Because the request was for a commercial purpose, the Attorney General's office stated it does not…
- A budget comparison document presented to a boardFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A citizen requested a budget document that was presented during a public fire district meeting. The district refused to release it, claiming it was a 'preliminary draft' that might confuse the…
- Prescription drug order records held by a contractorFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A reporter requested records of prescription drug orders made by the Illinois Department of Corrections through private vendors. The Attorney General's office ruled that the Department must get these…
- A data-aggregation website's classification for daily crime data requestsFOIADetermination letterNo violationRequester Status
SpotCrime.com requested daily crime data from the Cook County Sheriff's Office, which the Sheriff's Office denied by classifying the requester as 'commercial and recurrent.' The Attorney General's…
- Engineering plans for water reclamation facilitiesFOIADetermination letterNo violationLegal & Financial Records
A requester asked for detailed facility plans from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, but the District refused to provide them, citing security concerns. The Attorney General's office…
- Animal research protocol and medical recordsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought an animal's medical and research records from a public university, which withheld the animal's medical records entirely and redacted portions of the related research protocol.…
- Correspondence between a governor's office and a former agency directorFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The requester sought correspondence between the governor's office and a former state agency director, portions of which the office withheld as deliberative material, attorney-client communications,…
- Training materials for the Illinois Health Insurance MarketplaceFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked the University of Illinois for training materials to help his company win a government contract. The Attorney General's office decided it could not help him challenge the…
- Emails about an investigation into a school district's financesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought e-mails between a state's attorney's office investigator and a school district official concerning an investigation into the district's finances, which the office withheld as…
- Technical specifications for a waste water treatment plantFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
This determination addressed whether the City of Monticello properly withheld wastewater treatment plant design specifications under FOIA's preliminary-drafts exemption, 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(f). The…
- Correspondence about state hiring sent to a revenue departmentFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought communications the department's personnel office received regarding hiring and staffing matters, which the department withheld as deliberative material. The PAC determined that…
- Budget reports by a state budget office consultantFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A reporter requested budget-related documents from the Governor's budget office, but the office refused to release a PowerPoint presentation, claiming it was part of internal policy discussions. The…
- Investigation reports and complaints referenced in a prior communicationFOIADetermination letterNo violationSearch & Production
A requester asked a school district for copies of specific complaints and investigation reports mentioned in an old letter. The Attorney General's office found that the district did not have these…
- A settlement agreement and remedial warning for a tenured teacherFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A reporter requested records regarding a teacher's disciplinary settlement, but the school district blacked out too much information. The Attorney General's office ruled that the district must…
- University records claimed exempt under personal privacyFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought a copy of an internal audit report about a contractor's compliance with contract-timeline requirements, which a public college withheld as an internal-audit record. The requester…
- Public aid assistance recordsFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested their own public aid records from the Illinois Department of Human Services to verify that proper procedures were followed. The Department denied the request, citing laws that…
- Blueprints for condominium unitsFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A resident requested building blueprints from the Village of Arlington Heights, but the Village refused to provide them, citing a law that protects construction documents for private projects. The…
- A school official's emails about morning announcementsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought emails between the school district superintendent and a high school principal, and between the district and a parent, concerning complaints about morning announcements, which the…
- Records concerning fourteen specific propertiesFOIADetermination letterPartial violationFOIA Response Process
A requester asked the Village of Lemont for a large volume of property records, but the Village only provided a website link and claimed the rest of the request was too burdensome. The Attorney…
- Disciplinary records and citizen complaints for three police officersFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked for 10 years of disciplinary records and citizen complaints for three specific police officers. The City of Bloomington refused to provide some of these records, claiming they were…
- Attorneys' emails with factual updates to clientsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
This determination addresses whether the City of Chicago Department of Law properly withheld the text of an email between two of its attorneys under FOIA's section 7(1)(m) exemption for…
- An employee survey from 2015FOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A reporter requested an employee survey from the Village of Oak Park, but the Village refused to release it, claiming it was part of their internal decision-making process. The Attorney General's…
- Employment, termination, and reinstatement records for a university employeeFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought an employee's termination and reinstatement records from the university, which withheld them as records relating to an employee disciplinary adjudication. Based on confidential…
- Office of Professional Review reports and security camera footage of grievancesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester sought reports and security-camera footage relating to numerous grievances from a county sheriff's office. The PAC determined that the office properly treated the request as voluminous…
- A police department's fingerprints and DNA recordsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A man requested his own fingerprint and DNA records from the Joliet Police Department, but the department refused to release them, citing privacy laws. The Attorney General's office agreed with the…
- A transit district's bus driver personnel fileFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked for a bus driver's personnel file following an incident, but the transit district refused to provide it, citing privacy exemptions. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Sheriff's office denial of a repeated FOIA requestFOIADetermination letterNo violationRequester Status
Mr. John Kraft argued that he should not be considered the same person as his colleague when submitting FOIA requests, which would have prevented the Sheriff's Office from denying his request as a…
- Draft contract language and salary schedules from union negotiationsFOIADetermination letterNo violationLegal & Financial Records
A reporter requested draft contract documents and salary information from a school district after the school board approved the general terms of a teachers' contract. The PAC concluded that draft…
- Correspondence between state attorneys general on environmental policyFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
Two legal groups, the Energy & Environment Legal Institute and the Free Market Environmental Law Clinic, jointly requested emails and correspondence between the Illinois and New York Attorney General…
- A proposed biogas production agreementFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
Mr. Archey requested a copy of a proposed 'offtake' agreement between the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and BP. The District refused to provide it, claiming it was exempt…
- Historical inquest files from 1912 and 1914FOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked to inspect old inquest files at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office and wanted to photograph them without paying a fee. The Public Access Bureau concluded that the Medical…
- Audit reports on a board's real estate and investment activitiesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A journalist requested nine categories of investment records from a public pension investment board, three of which he sought review of after the board denied or redacted them. The PAC found the…
- Cellular phone bills and credit card expendituresFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionRequester Status
A citizen requested public records from the City of Collinsville, but the City treated them as a 'recurrent requester,' which allows for longer response times. The citizen argued they should be…
- A village official's electronic calendar appointmentsFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen requested three years of calendar records from a village official. The village argued that reviewing nearly 7,000 appointments was too burdensome, and the Attorney General's office agreed,…
- A corrections department's gang renunciation program recordsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A legal clinic requested general information about the Illinois Department of Corrections' Gang Renunciation program, but the agency denied the request, claiming the information was confidential…
- Copying fees for crime scene photographsFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for numerous complaint records and crime scene photos. The Department initially denied the request as too large but later offered to provide the photos…
- Municipal financial reports, budgets, and ordinancesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen requested several years of financial and administrative documents from the Village of Cambridge. The Attorney General's office found that the Village violated FOIA by failing to provide…
- Investigative files and schedules of a former deputy sheriffFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen requested records about a former deputy, including private text messages and emails. The Attorney General's office found that the Sheriff's Office did not break the law because they…
- A police department's recurrent requester designationFOIADetermination letterNo violationRequester Status
A requester challenged the Elgin Police Department for labeling him a 'recurrent requester,' which allows a public body more time to respond to FOIA requests. The Attorney General's office found that…
- An exhibit to a teacher's notice to remedy resolutionFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A newspaper requested a notice to remedy that was attached to a school board resolution, but the district withheld it, claiming it was a confidential performance evaluation. The Illinois Attorney…
- Student enrollment counts by feeder grammar schoolFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A reporter asked Chicago Public Schools for data showing which grammar schools students came from to attend selective high schools. The school district hid some of the numbers, claiming that showing…
- Police body-camera recordings of a dispatch incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested police body camera footage, but the City of Springfield denied the request. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and agreed with the City, finding that the requester…
- Police reports and 9-1-1 recordings in a retail theft and homicide caseFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested police records and 9-1-1 calls related to a high-profile crime, but the Village of Skokie denied the request entirely, citing exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act. The…
- Jail inspection reports and security-round logsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A former employee of the Macoupin County Sheriff's Department requested copies of the department's annual jail inspection report for 2017 and electronic records of security rounds from 2015 to…
- Records on gating Griffith Cave and Natural Heritage Database accessFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
A requester asked the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for records about the gating of Griffith Cave from 2013 to 2014. The Department provided some records but withheld others, and offered…
- Emails from a professor's university accountFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
The question was whether emails sent to and from a University of Illinois professor's university email account, concerning his outside consulting work for a cryptocurrency venture, were "public…
- A FOIA request sent to a township clerk's personal emailFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A citizen sent a public records request to a Township Clerk's personal email address instead of using the official Township email. The Attorney General's office ruled that because the request wasn't…
- Consultant's review of university athletics operations and contractFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A student newspaper requested a consultant's report regarding university athletics operations. The university refused to release the report, claiming it was exempt from disclosure. The Attorney…
- Internal policies and incident reporting procedures for a mental health centerFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked the Illinois Department of Human Services for policies from the Elgin Mental Health Center. The Department provided some policies but blacked out parts of three, claiming they…
- Communications and performance reports on mental health centersFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked the Chicago Department of Public Health for records about mental health center operations, but the City claimed the request was too broad and burdensome to fulfill. The Attorney…
- Police case reports and an internal software manualFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for case reports and a copy of the AIRA user manual. The Attorney General's office found that the police department improperly responded to the request…
- A city's bid proposal for a corporate headquartersFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
Reporters asked the City of Chicago for its bid proposal to host Amazon's second headquarters. The City refused to release the document, and the Attorney General's office agreed, stating that state…
- Police records of a past burglary investigationFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
The requester sought police reports concerning an old break-in, which the department produced with extensive redactions under FOIA's private-information, personal-privacy, and law-enforcement-source…
- Emails between a finance director and a village administratorFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A state representative asked the Village of East Dundee for emails from the Finance Director to the Village Administrator during a specific month. The Village denied the request, claiming it was…
- An investigation of police officersFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested records from the Illinois State Police about an investigation into local police officers. The State Police refused to release any of the documents, claiming it would prevent a…
- Staff Intensity Scale scores for intermediate care facilitiesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A facility requested oversight records from the Illinois Department of Public Health, but the Department redacted scoring information from a Staff Intensity Scale, claiming it was a valuable formula…
- Demolition contract details and account payable transactions from business district tax fundsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen requested detailed financial and contract records from the Village of Matteson. The Attorney General's office reviewed the matter and decided that no further action was necessary,…
- Emails between a township and its legal counselFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A resident requested emails between Wesley Township and its law firm, but the Township refused to release them, claiming they were protected by attorney-client privilege. The Attorney General's…
- Police body-camera footage of a courthouse incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked for police body camera footage of an incident at a courthouse. The Sheriff's Office refused to release the video, and the Attorney General's office agreed that the refusal was…
- An internal investigation into a professor's research and IRB processFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested records from the University of Illinois regarding an investigation into a professor's research. The University redacted or withheld portions of the records, citing exemptions…
- Surveillance video of minors in a school gymnasiumFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A parent requested school surveillance videos involving his child, but the school district refused to release them to protect the privacy of other students. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Documents about a city's property acquisition for a Dollar General storeFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester challenged the fees charged by the City of Peru for paper copies of public records. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau concluded that the City did not violate FOIA by…
- Correspondence about classroom observations and integrationFOIADetermination letterPartial violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester sought emails from a school district concerning classroom observations and integration. The PAC found that emails withheld under section 7(1)(f) were properly protected as predecisional,…
- Autopsy and toxicology report feesFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A reporter requested autopsy and toxicology reports and was charged specific fees by the Coroner's Office. She argued these fees were too high under FOIA rules. The Attorney General's office…
- Police use-of-force reports for 2017FOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested use of force reports from the Quincy Police Department, which initially provided a summary and then denied the full request citing privacy exemptions. The Attorney General's…
- Campus safety incident reports and crime logsFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked City Colleges of Chicago for campus crime reports and records about specific meetings. The Attorney General's office found that the college did not properly provide the requested…
- Corporate franchise tax refund records and rule-amendment correspondenceFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester's FOIA request to the agency sought correspondence, and the agency provided some records for a fee, charging for paper copies of the remainder. When the requester later argued that any…
- Audio and video recordings of a special board meetingFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
A citizen requested recordings of a Township meeting, but the Township only provided a link to a website and failed to confirm if other recordings existed. The Attorney General's office found the…
- A fee waiver request for medical and classification recordsFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked for copies of their own medical and classification records from the Will County Sheriff's Office and requested that the copying fees be waived due to financial hardship. The…
- A letter about workplace harassment allegationsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen requested a letter from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) regarding workplace harassment allegations. IDOT refused to release the letter, claiming it was part of an ongoing…
- A village's legal invoice redactions and copying feesFOIADetermination letterPartial violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A resident requested records from the Village of Waterman and was charged a copying fee, which he disputed. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau concluded that the Village did not…
- Police reports naming the requesterFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested police reports mentioning his name, but the police department denied the request, claiming various privacy and law enforcement exemptions. The Attorney General's office reviewed…
- Settlement agreements with a paramedic services contractorFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPublic Records Definition
A journalist requested settlement agreements involving a company hired by the Village of Lincolnwood to provide emergency services. The Village claimed it didn't have to provide them because the…
- Training presentation on sexual harassmentFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked for a school district's sexual harassment training presentation, but the district refused to release it, arguing it contained confidential trade secrets. The Attorney General's…
- Complaints and disciplinary records of school staffFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked a school district for complaints and disciplinary records involving staff members. The district refused to provide them, claiming they were protected by law. The Attorney General's…
- Investment banking pitchbooks for pension bond salesFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought investment-bank marketing materials (pitchbooks) submitted to the mayor's office about potential municipal bond sales, which the office withheld as confidential commercial…
- Quarterly cost reports for Medicaid managed care organizationsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A consultant requested financial cost reports from the state's Medicaid managed care organizations, but the Department of Healthcare and Family Services refused to release them, claiming they were…
- A legislative reference bureau's denial letterFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFOIA Response Process
A requester asked for records from the City of Chicago's Legislative Reference Bureau, but the Bureau denied the request without listing the name and title of the person who made the decision. The…
- Death investigation records and police-federal communicationsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested police records about a death investigation from the Park Ridge Police Department, which refused to provide them, citing federal FOIA exemptions. The Illinois Attorney General's…
- Police body-camera recordings of a traffic crashFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
An attorney sought body-camera recordings of a traffic accident on behalf of a client, which the police department withheld under the Body Camera Act. The PAC determined the client did not appear on…
- A university's five-day extension to respond to a FOIA requestFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester complained to the Attorney General because the University of Illinois used a legal extension to delay answering their FOIA request. The Attorney General's office closed the case,…
- Traffic stop data with driver and officer identificationsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Illinois State Police for detailed records of traffic stops in Boone County, including information that could identify drivers and officers. The Attorney General's office found…
- Records on environmental and zoning violations at a freight siteFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked for documents related to a specific freight site that had received violations. The District denied the request, claiming the records were part of an ongoing investigation. The…
- A school district's settlement agreement with a student's familyFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPersonnel & Student Records
A reporter asked a school district for a copy of a legal settlement agreement involving a student. The school district blacked out large portions, claiming they were protected student records under…
- Police reports on a fatal motor vehicle accidentFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested records about a fatal crash from a police department. The PAC found that witness statements and information identifying an unarrested suspect could be withheld under the…
- Police reports and complaints about an individualFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested police reports from the City of Joliet, but the City redacted portions of the records, citing several FOIA exemptions. The Illinois Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Communications about scheduling make-up school daysFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked for emails and records from community members about making up school days lost during a strike. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau determined that the school…
- Park district officials' communications about district businessFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
Mr. Patton requested text messages from a commissioner's phone from the Calumet Memorial Park District. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau determined that the District failed to…
- Paper-only records requested in electronic formatFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionSearch & Production
A requester asked the Village of Cambridge to scan paper documents and send them as electronic files. The Attorney General's office ruled that FOIA does not force public bodies to convert paper…
- Disciplinary records for school security personnelFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for five years of disciplinary records for ten different security guards. Because the requester was classified as a 'recurrent requester,' the school district…
- Police body-camera footage of a search warrant executionFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A journalist requested police body camera footage from a search warrant execution at a private home. The Chicago Police Department denied the request, citing law enforcement exemptions. The Attorney…
- Documents on four vaping-related deathsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
A journalist requested records from the Illinois Department of Public Health about specific vaping-related deaths. The PAC found that the Department did not do enough to look for these records and…
- Police incident report for case 2019-48357FOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A law firm requested a police incident report from the City of Waukegan, but the City refused to provide it, claiming it was part of an active investigation. The Attorney General's office reviewed…
- Teacher anecdotal notes on student behaviorsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked a school district for teachers' notes about student behavior. The school district refused, arguing that the request was too broad and that the records contained private student…
- Closed complaint records about police employeesFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
The question was whether the Town of Cicero improperly withheld police disciplinary-file records under FOIA when a federal court's confidentiality order barred their disclosure. The Public Access…
- Fees for corporate records from a secretary of stateFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked for corporate records from the Secretary of State and was charged a fee based on specific corporate laws. The requester argued these fees were too high under FOIA rules. The…
- Misconduct complaint records involving two city employeesFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked the City of Peoria for records regarding misconduct complaints against two employees. The City withheld some information, claiming it was private or exempt, but the Attorney…
- Police reports and dash-camera footage of an arrestFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The question was whether the Lockport Police Department properly withheld arrest narratives and video footage under FOIA's law-enforcement exemption for records that would obstruct an ongoing…
- Selective enrollment test data and phone call logsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for specific test data and phone call logs. The Attorney General's office found that the school district followed the law because FOIA only requires agencies…
- A recorded village board meeting videoFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
A citizen asked the Village of Tinley Park for a copy of a recorded board meeting, but the Village only provided a link to the video on YouTube. The citizen complained that this did not provide…
- Investigative records and photos of a 1992 murder caseFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked for police records from a 1992 murder case, but the police department blacked out several names. The Attorney General's office reviewed the records and decided that while the police…
- Employee work-from-home policies and remote-work approval listsFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen requested information from the Village of Orland Park about which employees were allowed to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Attorney General's office found that the Village…
- Audio and video recordings of a police photo arrayFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested audio and video recordings of a police photo lineup, as well as the photo array and lineup report, from the Homewood Police Department. The department denied the audio and video…
- Complaints and investigative files about a school district's general counselFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for legal records and complaints involving their General Counsel. The school district refused to release the documents, arguing that a specific Illinois…
- Personnel records of police, fire, and water department employeesFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked the Village of Elmwood Park for employee records including names, salaries, and badge numbers. The Village denied the request, citing a FOIA exemption for account-related…
- Security camera footage from a school eventFOIADetermination letterPartial violationGeneral Records Exemptions
This determination addresses whether Chicago Public Schools (CPS) properly withheld security video footage under FOIA sections 7.5(r) (incorporating the Illinois School Student Records Act),…
- A consultant's study of a fire department's operationsFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested a consultant's study about the local fire department, but the Village refused to release it, claiming the study was exempt as a preliminary draft. The Attorney General's office…
- Consumer fraud forms and rules on a public body's websiteFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Records Definition
An incarcerated person asked for paper copies of documents that were available on the Attorney General's website. The Attorney General's office told the requester to look online, but the requester…
- Invoices and purchase orders for legal servicesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A citizen requested records of payments the City of Centralia made to a law firm. The City provided the records but blacked out names of clients and attorneys, claiming legal privilege. The Attorney…
- Police reports redacted for attorney-client privilegeFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested police records, which the City of Joliet provided with redactions, claiming the information was protected by attorney-client privilege. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- A public official's personal political Facebook pageFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Records Definition
A citizen requested social media data from a Will County Board member's Facebook page, believing it to be a public record. The Attorney General's office determined that because the page is used for…
- Disciplinary reports from a community collegeFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPersonnel & Student Records
An individual requested unredacted RADAR reports and related records from Oakton Community College. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau concluded that the college did not improperly…
- An employee roster and job titles for an office locationFOIADetermination letterNo violationRequester Status
A citizen requested a list of employees and job titles from the Secretary of State's office. The office denied the request because they had already provided the exact same information to the…
- Emails about a city-owned parking lot saleFOIADetermination letterViolation foundProperty Records
This determination addressed whether the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development properly redacted emails about a parking-lot sale under FOIA exemptions 7(1)(f) (deliberative process)…
- Building permits and inspection records for commercial structuresFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A reporter requested building plans and permit records from the City of Edwardsville for commercial warehouses, including an Amazon facility. The City denied the building plans under FOIA exemption…
- Complaints and investigatory findings about a public employeeFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A person requested records of complaints and investigations regarding a specific public employee from the DeKalb County Housing Authority, but the Authority denied the request. The Illinois Attorney…
- A mayor's text messages with city officialsFOIADetermination letterPartial violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A reporter requested text messages from the Mayor of Chicago, but the City blacked out parts of the messages claiming they were private or not related to public business. The Attorney General's…
- Emails between four individuals over three monthsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
The requester sought e-mails between four specified individuals, which the state's attorney's office partially withheld to protect a former employee's name and negotiations with the public defender's…
- An applicant's background check and polygraph recordsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A job applicant requested her own background check and polygraph results from the Romeoville Police Department, but the department refused to release them. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Police misconduct reports in a cold case investigationFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
The requester asked the Town of Normal a series of questions about police misconduct files rather than requesting specific documents. The Attorney General's office explained that FOIA is designed to…
- An email about an incident logFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A journalist requested an email from the Cook County Sheriff's Office, which the office refused to release by claiming it was exempt from disclosure. The Attorney General's Public Access Counselor…
- A slide deck on civil unrest emergency response strategiesFOIADetermination letterPartial violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A reporter requested a presentation about the City's response to civil unrest, but the City blacked out large portions of the document claiming they were exempt from disclosure. The Attorney…
- Library trustees' communications via personal accountsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
A citizen requested emails and communications regarding library business, but the library failed to search the personal accounts of its trustees. The Attorney General's office ruled that public…
- Parking ticket data fields from 2015 to 2022FOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A journalist asked the City of Chicago for details on parking tickets, including where they were issued and the license plate numbers of the vehicles. The City refused to provide this information,…
- Metadata compilation of electronic monitoring call recordingsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
Mr. Chapman asked the Cook County Sheriff's Office for a list of metadata related to phone calls made by people on electronic monitoring. The Sheriff's Office refused, arguing that the information…
- Employee information covered by a collective bargaining agreementFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
The Freedom Foundation asked Cook County School District 130 for a list of employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement with SEIU Local 73, including their names and job details. The school…
- Disability claim evaluation records for SURS membersFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked for disability claim records from the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) with personal information removed. SURS denied the request, stating the documents were medical…
- Police call records for a residenceFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A resident requested police call records for their address, but the police department redacted certain names and dates of birth from the documents provided. The resident complained to the Attorney…
- Emails from non-city accounts used by the mayorFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A reporter sought e-mails from the mayor's personal account concerning public business, one of which the mayor's office redacted as containing personal information about a grieving crime victim's…
- A mayor's text messages with public officialsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
A reporter requested text messages between the Mayor and other officials. The City provided the messages but redacted parts they claimed were private. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Personnel files of three housing authority employeesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked the DeKalb County Housing Authority for personnel files of three employees, and later submitted requests for the same records for six other employees. The Housing Authority released…
- An administrative law judge bench book on vehicle enforcementFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPublic Records Definition
The ACLU requested records from the City of Chicago regarding vehicle ticketing and impoundment policies. The City refused to release parts of a 'Bench Book' used by administrative judges, claiming…
- Records on two individuals under the Adult Protective Services ActFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
The requester sought Department of Aging records concerning two named individuals without submitting the written authorization, evidence of guardianship or agency, and sworn statement of purpose that…
- Fee calculation for a voluminous electronic records requestFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester challenged a $20 fee a city charged in response to a request the city had already determined was voluminous under FOIA's fee provisions for large requests. The PAC determined that…
- Communications about maintenance agreements for plantingsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
A person requested documents, including emails and text messages, from the Chicago Department of Transportation regarding maintenance agreements for plantings on Milwaukee Avenue. The Department…
- Spreadsheet of firearms restraining order dataFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter asked the Illinois State Police for specific details about firearms restraining orders. The police denied the request, explaining that this information is stored in a restricted law…
- Legal invoices and attorney summariesFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
The question was whether a public body properly denied a FOIA request as an unduly burdensome repeated request under 5 ILCS 140/3(g) where the request came from one of three individuals who routinely…
- A village superintendent's and zoning administrator's emailsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
A resident requested emails from two Village of Caseyville employees, but the Village failed to provide them, claiming they were exempt. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and found that…
- A drainage district's maintenance assessment rolls and collector's booksFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested financial records from the Hunt Lima Drainage District regarding maintenance taxes, but the District refused, citing privacy concerns. The Illinois Attorney General's Public…
- Records on a student's medical homebound instruction grievanceFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A parent asked a school district for records related to an investigation into her son's homebound education services. The district refused to provide the documents, claiming they were exempt from…
- Emails between police officials about traffic stopsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for emails about traffic stops, but the Department refused, claiming it would be too much work to find them. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Body-camera footage and 911 recordings of a YMCA incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested body camera footage from a police incident at a YMCA, but the City redacted parts of the audio. The Attorney General's office reviewed the request and found that the City was…
- Redacted witness information in a police crash reportFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Rantoul Police Department for a crash report, but the Department redacted witness contact information and birth dates. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau found…
- Election packets filed with a village clerkFOIADetermination letterNo violationSearch & Production
A citizen asked the Village of Wayne for electronic copies of election documents. The Village refused, stating they only keep these records on paper. The Attorney General's office agreed with the…
- A police incident report involving a juvenileFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A mother requested a police report regarding an incident involving her son, but the City denied the request because the records involved juvenile suspects. The Attorney General's office agreed with…
- Police body-camera footage of a public encounterFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested body camera footage from a police encounter, but the City of Bloomington blurred out much of the video, claiming privacy exemptions. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- A summary of responses to an Invitation for ProposalsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked the City of Chicago for a summary of proposals submitted for the 'LaSalle Street Reimagined' project. The City provided the document but blacked out parts of it, claiming they were…
- Lottery prize payment records and ticket submission proceduresFOIADetermination letterNo violationSearch & Production
A requester asked the Illinois Lottery for records from 2012 regarding prize payments and ticket submission processes. The Lottery could not find all the requested documents because they were held by…
- A university's media rights contract with a conferenceFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPublic Records Definition
A professor requested the Big Ten media rights contract from the University of Illinois. The University said it didn't have the contract because the Conference holds the rights. The Public Access…
- Records concerning a specific property addressFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen requested government documents regarding a specific property, and the Village of Hillside charged a fee to provide them. The Attorney General's office found that the Village incorrectly…
- Disciplinary case files of a state regulatory agencyFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) for records regarding two specific disciplinary cases. The IDFPR refused to provide the records, arguing…
- Application materials for a police chief finalistFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked for records related to a police chief candidate, including a letter of interest and resume, but the City of Urbana withheld them citing a privacy exemption. The Attorney General's…
- An email about cannabis licensing between a department's deputy director and two othersFOIADetermination letterViolation foundOther
A citizen requested an email from the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR), but the agency refused to release it, claiming the information was protected by…
- Police dashcam and body-camera footage of a traffic stopFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested squad camera and body worn camera footage of a traffic stop from the Illinois State Police. The police placed the request on a waitlist, required the requester to fill out a form,…
- A private hospitality company's financial pro formaFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked the Village of Glenview for a pro forma document that Ballyhoo Hospitality had prepared in connection with a request for a 15-year loan repayment period. The Village denied the…
- Records on removal of homeless individuals from O'Hare AirportFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A requester complained to the Attorney General that the City of Chicago was late in responding to a FOIA request. The Attorney General found that the City had correctly calculated its legal deadline,…
- Pension fund's redacted Real Estate Strategic PlanFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A reporter requested documents from the Cook County Pension Fund, but the Fund blacked out certain parts of a real estate plan. The Attorney General's office reviewed the request and decided the Fund…
- A city's email correspondence with union addressesFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked the City of Springfield for a large volume of emails over a multi-year period. The City claimed the request was too broad and burdensome to fulfill, and the PAC agreed, finding that…
- A forensic interview report in a child sexual abuse investigationFOIADetermination letterPartial violationRequester Status
A requester sought a written forensic-interview report and video from the State Police. The PAC found that the written investigative records had been provided and that the video was exempt under…
- Records about removal of homeless individuals from an airportFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen requested records from the City of Chicago regarding the removal of homeless individuals from O'Hare Airport. The City denied the request as unduly burdensome after finding over 3,000…
- A school district's credit card statements and bill listFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked the East Aurora School District 131 for credit card statements and a list of bills. The requester complained that the district did not use black ink for redactions as requested and…
- A police department's designation of a recurrent requesterFOIADetermination letterNo violationRequester Status
A requester complained that the police department didn't answer his records request on time. The Attorney General's office found that the department correctly labeled him a 'recurrent requester,'…
- A township's recurrent requester designationFOIADetermination letterViolation foundRequester Status
An individual requested public records from Mahomet Township, but the Township refused to process the requests normally by labeling the individual a 'recurrent requester.' The Attorney General's…
- GIS shapefiles of Combined Sewer Outfall pointsFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
This determination addresses whether a public body properly withheld precise location data for Combined Sewer Outfall (CSO) points under section 7(1)(x) of FOIA, which exempts maps and records…
- A police report withheld by a villageFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested a police report from the Village of Glenview, but the Village denied the request in its entirety, citing exemptions for personal privacy and confidential information. The…
- Lease agreements for business or remodeling licensesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A resident requested copies of business leases submitted to the Village of Hanover Park, but the Village refused to provide them, claiming they were exempt from disclosure. The Attorney General's…
- Personal information of state home care workersFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
The Freedom Foundation asked the Illinois Department of Human Services for a list of personal details about home care workers, including their names, ages, and hire dates. The Department refused to…
- Communications with a judge about a wrongful death lawsuitFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFOIA Response Process
A reporter sought communications between the state's attorney's office and a judge in a high-profile case, which the office denied citing court orders it said prohibited disclosure. The PAC…
- Emails about a school employee's compensationFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for emails about an employee's pay. The school district refused to release them, claiming they were part of a legal grievance process. The Attorney General's…
- Curriculum materials on gender and sexuality education from a third-party vendorFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for educational materials used in gender and sexuality sessions provided by an outside vendor. The school district refused to release the documents, arguing…
- Citywide truck driver employee listsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked for lists of city motor truck drivers, but the City denied the request, arguing that state law prohibits the release of this specific information. The Attorney General's office…
- Personal case file records of a state human services agencyFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen requested their own case file and related communications from the Illinois Department of Human Services. The Department denied the request, citing state laws that protect public assistance…
- Police reports, body camera footage, and dispatch calls involving a juvenileFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Will County Sheriff's Office for police records and video footage related to a specific case. The Sheriff's Office refused to release the files, and the Attorney General's…
- Statistical data on FOID card issuance by year and areaFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A journalist requested state-wide data on Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) card holders broken down by location and year. The Illinois State Police denied the request, arguing that state law…
- Aggregated student survey data by instructor and courseFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Records Definition
A requester asked the University of Illinois for specific statistical summaries of student survey results. The University denied parts of the request, and the PAC found that since the University did…
- A custom data report from a school district's software vendorFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for a specific 'Backlog Trend Report' generated by their FOIA software. The school district denied the request, stating that such a report does not exist as a…
- Police department video and audio recordingsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester complained that the Village of Woodridge took too long to respond to their FOIA request. The Attorney General's office explained that because the requester is classified as a 'recurrent…
- Definitions of abbreviations and memo entries in a documentFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
Mr. Hunley asked the Illinois Department of Human Rights to explain abbreviations found in a document created by a different agency. The Attorney General's office concluded that FOIA is for…
- Records of a Title IX investigationFOIADetermination letterNo violationSearch & Production
A requester asked the University of Illinois for records regarding a 2016 sexual assault investigation, but the University claimed it had no such records. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Application materials for a housing development assessmentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
A citizen requested documents regarding a housing project application, but the Illinois Housing Development Authority refused to release them. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and…
- Police interview records of a private citizenFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested records of a specific police interview, but the City of Peoria refused to release them, claiming they were exempt from disclosure. The Attorney General's Public Access Counselor…
- Police body and dash camera footage of a traffic accidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested body and dash camera footage from a September 2023 accident from the Galesburg Police Department. The department initially said the footage was unavailable due to a system issue,…
- Communications about a police background investigation for employmentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen requested records from the Matteson Police Department regarding his own background check and employment history. The Department refused to release the documents, claiming they were part of…
- Ten years of communications with a developerFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester sought ten years of communications between the village and a developer, and the village excluded records from a period already produced in response to the requester's earlier request…
- A broad request for judicial and law enforcement recordsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A citizen requested general information about various judicial and law enforcement agencies from the Illinois Department of Human Rights. The Department stated it did not have any such records, and…
- Amendment of requester identity to avoid recurrent statusFOIADetermination letterNo violationRequester Status
A requester asked the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to change their status as a 'recurrent requester' by claiming one of their previous requests was actually made on behalf of a non-profit group.…
- Emails withheld under attorney-client privilege and insurance exemptionsFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested emails from a Village, but the Village withheld some of them, claiming they were protected by legal and insurance-related exemptions. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Property assessment documentation and calculationsFOIADetermination letterPartial violationProperty Records
A resident made two FOIA requests for property-assessment records and calculation data. The PAC found that the assessor's office had to provide the existing Audit Trail and Hot Sheet data, but did…
- Train platform video of a fall onto the tracksFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) for video footage of a fatal incident at a train station. The CTA refused to release the video, arguing that it could reveal sensitive security…
- Athletic department correspondence with an NIL groupFOIADetermination letterPartial violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A reporter requested emails between the University of Illinois athletic department and the Illini Guardians NIL group from January to August 2023. The University redacted some information, citing…
- Redacted qualification test questions from emailsFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked for emails regarding a specific questionnaire used by the Will County Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office provided the emails but redacted the actual test questions to prevent…
- Questions about police background-search practicesFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A citizen asked the Chicago Police Department questions about background searches performed on them, but the department and another agency referred the requester back and forth. The Attorney…
- Applications, scores, and evaluation notes for cultural districts programFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked for application scores and evaluation notes from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity’s state cultural district program. The agency released some records but…
- Surveillance video footage of a shooting incidentFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested surveillance video of a shooting from the City of Kankakee, but the City refused to release it, claiming it would interfere with an ongoing legal case. The Attorney General's…
- A FOID card application and status recordsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested their own FOID card records from the Illinois State Police, but the agency denied the request citing a privacy exemption. The Attorney General's office closed the case, finding no…
- A police report with redacted personal identifiersFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested a police report, but the Mokena Police Department redacted certain personal details before releasing it. The citizen complained to the Attorney General's office, which reviewed…
- List of adult library cardholdersFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked for a list of all adult library cardholders at the Hinsdale Public Library. The Library refused to provide the list, citing a state law that keeps library registration records…
- A list of cross-designated sheriff's deputiesFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A reporter requested a list of local sheriff's deputies who also serve as U.S. Marshals. The Sheriff's Office refused to release the names, claiming it would put the officers in danger. The Attorney…
- Jail surveillance video footageFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Illinois State Police for jail surveillance videos following a death in custody. The police provided some footage but withheld other parts, arguing that releasing them would…
- Maps of residential water shutoff valve locationsFOIADetermination letterNo violationLegal & Financial Records
A resident asked the Village of Woodridge for maps showing the exact locations of water shutoff valves for several streets. The Village refused to provide the maps, and the Attorney General's office…
- Investigative reports on sexual harassment allegationsFOIADetermination letterPartial violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester sought a law firm's investigative report on sexual-harassment allegations against a district employee, which the school district withheld and refused to give the PAC for confidential…
- Seasonal performance evaluations and interview scoring recordsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A former employee asked the Chicago Park District for copies of their past performance evaluations. The PAC explained that while employees have a right to see their own personnel files under a…
- Inventory records of lost or stolen electronic devicesFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought a school-by-school breakdown of the roughly 77,505 lost or stolen technology devices cited in a CPS Inspector General report, and the district's IT department provided a…
- Questions about internal procedures and legal definitionsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
The question was whether a FOIA request consisting of twenty-six questions posed to the Illinois Human Rights Commission constituted a valid request for 'public records' under 5 ILCS 140/2(c). The…
- Emails between a school board president and superintendentFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
Two requesters asked Summit Hill School District 161 for emails between the Board President and Superintendent during specific time periods. The District designated them as recurrent requesters and…
- Closed-session minutes and recordings of an investigationFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A library patron requested records from a closed-door meeting regarding an investigation into their own conduct. The library refused to release the meeting minutes and audio recording, citing laws…
- A village trustee's records of a community Facebook pageFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A citizen sent a FOIA request to a Village Trustee's personal email address asking for records. The Attorney General's office explained that FOIA requests must be sent to the public body itself, not…
- A school district's tip-line policies and security protocolsFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked a school district for documents about their 'Tip Line' policies and security procedures. The school district withheld some documents, claiming they contained sensitive security…
- A federal agency's response to an Illinois FOIA requestFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Body Definition
A requester asked the Illinois Attorney General to intervene after the U.S. Department of the Interior refused to accept a FOIA request. The Attorney General's office explained that Illinois FOIA…
- A journalist's recurrent requester designationFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionRequester Status
A journalist requested records from two state agencies and challenged the agencies' decision to label them a 'recurrent requester,' which allows agencies more time to respond. The journalist argued…
- Teacher evaluation performance task resultsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for teacher evaluation data, hoping that removing personal names would make the records public. The Attorney General's office agreed with the school district…
- Emails about cancellation of a protested bidFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A company requested emails from a state office regarding a cancelled bid, but the office denied the request. When the company asked the Attorney General's office to review the denial, the PAC…
- Writer reviews from a universityFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
This determination addresses whether a public body properly charged fees under FOIA's voluminous-request provisions. The Public Access Bureau held that the University of Illinois properly designated…
- A university's FOIA personnel and resource recordsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A requester asked the University of Illinois for data and calculations to prove their claim that they lacked the resources to fulfill a previous FOIA request. The Attorney General's office closed the…
- Internal communications on a property development projectFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
This determination addresses whether the City of the requester Office of the Mayor properly withheld portions of e-mails under section 7(1)(f) of FOIA (5 ILCS 140/7(1)(f)) as predecisional,…
- Police daily body-camera usage statistics for a specific dateFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionSearch & Production
A citizen asked the Peoria Police Department for a specific count of officers using body cameras on a date two years ago. The Department stated it had no such records, and the PAC agreed, noting that…
- Entity's status as a public body under FOIA and OMAFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Body Definition
A former board member asked the Illinois Attorney General's office to decide if the organization 'Aurora Downtown' must follow state transparency laws. The Attorney General's office declined to…
- Police reports, body camera footage, and 911 recordings of a shootingFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A requester sought police records about a shooting. The PAC found that the police department properly withheld the main case report because disclosure would interfere with an ongoing investigation,…
- A risk management report on building safetyFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested a risk assessment report regarding stable buildings from the Palatine Park District, but the District refused to release it. The Attorney General's office reviewed the document…
- Communications about incomplete fiscal auditsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundSearch & Production
A citizen asked the Village of Orland Park for emails and documents related to incomplete financial audits, but the Village claimed it had no such records. The Attorney General's office reviewed the…
- Records of isolation allegations and medical careFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen requested records from the Illinois Department on Aging concerning allegations of elder abuse or isolation. The Department refused to release the documents, stating they are confidential by…
- Police activity logs for a parkFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
This determination addresses whether the Chicago Park District properly withheld portions of a daily police log under FOIA exemption 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(v), which protects vulnerability assessments and…
- Records provided to a village's auditorsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A resident requested financial records and audit-related documents from the Village of Orland Park. The Village denied access to some of these records, claiming they were exempt under section 7(1)(m)…
- Redacted name and sentence in a police reportFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested a police report from the Village of Bartlett, but the Village redacted certain information. The citizen asked the Attorney General's office to review the redactions. The PAC…
- I-Pass transponder and license plate data for an individualFOIADetermination letterViolation foundFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked for I-Pass records related to a specific person, but the Lake County Forest Preserve District refused, claiming the records were exempt under several FOIA exemptions. The Attorney…
- A sheriff's office video recording on a flash driveFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionSearch & Production
This determination letter addresses whether a county sheriff's office violated FOIA's electronic-format requirement under 5 ILCS 140/6(a) by failing to provide a video recording on a flash drive as…
- Grants, youth programs, and staffing recordsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked for a large volume of emails and financial documents from a school district. The district claimed the request was too broad and burdensome to fulfill, and the Attorney General's…
- An incident report about missing swan decoysFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested a police incident report about missing swan decoys, but the Sheriff's Office refused to release it, claiming it would interfere with an ongoing court case. The Attorney General's…
- Records denied by a state's attorney's officeFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionLegal & Financial Records
This letter addresses when the Public Access Counselor must cease review under FOIA section 9.5(g). The Public Access Bureau held that because the requester filed a lawsuit under section 11 of FOIA…
- Records of school busing errors and transportation incidentsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked a school district for a wide range of documents related to busing problems. The school district classified the request as 'voluminous' because it covered many different categories…
- Police activity forms for a parkFOIADetermination letterNo violationSearch & Production
A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for specific daily activity forms, but the Department claimed no such records existed. The Attorney General's office reviewed the Department's search…
- A private citizen's contact details in a dog bite incident reportFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A resident requested an unredacted police incident report to get the contact information of another dog owner involved in an incident. The Village redacted the owner's home address and phone number,…
- Incident reports and disciplinary records of student altercationsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen asked a school district for reports on student fights and disciplinary actions. The school district refused to provide them, arguing that even if names were removed, the details would still…
- Emails with a contractor about curb and gutter workFOIADetermination letterViolation foundGeneral Records Exemptions
The requester sought e-mails between the county transportation division and its roadwork contractor, one of which the division redacted as deliberative material. The PAC determined the e-mail…
- Police body-camera footage of a private meeting between officersFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested body camera footage of a meeting between two police officers from the Village of Skokie. The Village denied the request, and the Public Access Counselor agreed, finding that state…
- Police reports on named private individualsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
This determination addressed whether the Village of Libertyville properly withheld police reports under section 7(1)(c) of FOIA's personal privacy exemption. The Public Access Bureau held that the…
- A school board's discussion of FOIA fee policies and requestersFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen complained to the Attorney General's office that a school board discussed charging illegal fees for FOIA requests and publicly named people who file many requests. The PAC explained that it…
- A sheriff's office's denial of FOIA recordsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionLegal & Financial Records
A reporter's FOIA request for review was pending before the PAC when the reporter filed suit in court over the same denial. Because FOIA requires the Public Access Counselor to take no further action…
- Automated license plate reader data on a specific vehicleFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Illinois State Police for data showing when and where their vehicle was tracked by automated license plate readers. The police denied the request, citing a state law that keeps…
- Police body-camera footage of a traffic stop arrestFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested police body camera footage of a specific traffic stop and arrest. The Village of Oak Brook provided the video but redacted parts of it, claiming it would interfere with legal…
- Police body-camera footage of a reported incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested police body camera footage of an incident they had reported to the Village of Bolingbrook. The Village denied the request, stating that the requester was not the person captured…
- A village employee's timesheets, expense reports, and economic interest statementsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A citizen requested timesheets and expense reports for a Village of Lee employee, but believed the Village withheld documents and failed to provide economic interest statements. The Attorney…
- Body-camera footage and response deadline extensionFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A citizen requested body camera footage from the Village of Hillside, and the Village extended its response deadline without citing a specific legal reason required by FOIA. The Attorney General's…
- Draft advertisements for a public safety sales taxFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked for communications and copies of advertisements related to a public safety sales tax. The County provided some records but withheld draft versions of advertisements, claiming they…
- A state police incident reportFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A law firm requested a specific police report from the Illinois State Police, but the agency refused to provide it, claiming the request was too burdensome to fulfill. The Public Access Counselor…
- Waterfowl banding locations and identification numbersFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested records from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources about waterfowl banding activities, including band numbers and locations, citing concerns about the handling of the…
- Police reports and video footage of a traffic crashFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the City of Granite City for crash reports and videos related to a specific accident. The City denied the request under section 7(1)(d)(i) of FOIA, claiming the records were exempt…
- Police school absentee reports on minorsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
This determination addresses whether the Chicago Police Department properly denied a FOIA request for School Absentee Reports under 5 ILCS 140/7.5(bb), which exempts records whose disclosure is…
- Police security camera footage of a building entrance during a protestFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested security camera footage from the Springfield Police Department, but the Department refused to release it, claiming it was exempt as a security measure. The Attorney General's…
- A mayor's personal cell phone texts about township businessFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A requester asked for text messages from the Mayor's personal phone, but the City claimed the request was too broad and burdensome. The Attorney General's office decided not to take further action…
- Police body-camera footage of a private-residence incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested body-worn camera footage from the DuPage County Sheriff's Office, which denied the request. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau reviewed the case and found the…
- A proprietary cost table in assessment softwareFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen asked the Marion County Assessor's Office for a copy of a Marshall & Swift cost table embedded in the DEVNET software used to calculate property assessments. The Illinois Attorney General's…
- Video footage of a shooting under investigationFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) for video footage of a shooting, but OEMC denied the request, citing that releasing the video could interfere…
- Police reports from a 2009 caseFOIADetermination letterPartial violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested police records, but the Wheaton Police Department denied the request, claiming the records were sealed by a court order. The Attorney General's office reviewed the documents and…
- A board member's personal cell phone communications during a meetingFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionSearch & Production
A citizen requested text messages and call logs from a school board member's personal phone during a board meeting. The school district stated the board member claimed no school business was…
- Police incident report of criminal damage to a vehicleFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested a police report but was denied because they did not provide a photo ID to prove they were the victim involved in the incident. The Attorney General's office agreed with the police…
- A city's income sources and amounts for three yearsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen asked the City of Harrisburg for financial records, and the City told him to look on their website without providing a specific link or instructions. The PAC found that while the City…
- Body-camera footage of a police officer on a specific dateFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
This non-binding determination addresses whether the Village of Libertyville violated FOIA (5 ILCS 140) by withholding portions of officer body-worn camera footage under 5 ILCS 140/7.5(cc) and the…
- Police body-camera footage of a July 2024 incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested police body camera footage from a specific incident, but the police department said they no longer had the video. The Attorney General's office investigated and found that the…
- Police records on Automated License Plate Reader data and investigationsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen asked the Illinois State Police for records related to license plate tracking and surveillance data. The police department stated they could not find any records, and the Attorney General's…
- Juvenile criminal history records of a deceased individualFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for juvenile criminal records of a deceased person. The police denied the request, stating that juvenile records are confidential by law. The Attorney…
- Communications between city officials and a judge about a civil caseFOIADetermination letterNo violationSearch & Production
A citizen requested records of communications between the City of West Frankfort and a judge regarding a specific court case. The City stated it had no such records, and the Public Access Bureau…
- Police reports of a 1969 death at a state hospitalFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
The question was whether the Illinois State Police (ISP) properly withheld records responsive to a 2024 FOIA request for police reports, witness statements, and communications concerning a 1969 death…
- A school district's communications about a student harassment complaintFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A parent asked a school district for records about their child, but the district did not provide everything the parent expected. The Attorney General's office decided that these types of school…
- Communications and a legal memo from a city planning departmentFOIADetermination letterPartial violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A journalist requested communications and a legal memo from the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development. The City provided records but redacted parts under exemptions for internal…
- Witness statements in a police reportFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
This determination letter addresses whether the Northfield Police Department properly withheld a complainant's statement to police under FOIA exemptions 7(1)(c) and 7(1)(d)(iv). The Public Access…
- Police incident reports, CAD notes, 911 audio, and body-camera footage of an arrestFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested police records, including an incident report, CAD notes, body camera footage, and 911 audio, from the Columbia Police Department. The Department provided the incident report and…
- Aggregation of multiple FOIA requests as voluminousFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFees & Burdensome Requests
The requester asked the Attorney General to review whether a government agency correctly labeled their information requests as 'voluminous.' The PAC found that the agency followed the law in how it…
- Records from a private non-profit organizationFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Body Definition
A citizen filed a FOIA request with the Animal Protective League, arguing that because the organization claims to make documents public in its tax filings, it should be subject to FOIA. The Attorney…
- Tax incentive program applicationsFOIADetermination letterViolation foundLegal & Financial Records
A researcher requested applications for a state tax incentive program, but the DCEO refused to release them, claiming they were still under review and part of a deliberative process. The Attorney…
- Police reports and body camera footage of an incident involving a minorFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A mother requested police reports and body camera footage related to an incident involving her son. The Sheriff's Office provided redacted reports and withheld the video, citing privacy concerns. The…
- Juror names and addresses from a trialFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen requested juror information from Knox County, but the county denied the request. The Attorney General's office explained that the Circuit Clerk is part of the judicial branch, not the…
- School board closed session minutes over eight yearsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionClosed Sessions
A requester asked a school district for several years of closed session meeting minutes. The PAC ruled that the district was allowed to keep these records private because the district had not yet…
- Police reports on child custody incidentsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
This determination letter addresses whether the City of Evanston properly redacted portions of police reports under FOIA sections 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(c). The Public Access Bureau held that the City did…
- Crash report with driver's personal identifiersFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A law firm requested an unredacted police crash report to help them serve legal papers to a driver involved in an accident. The Illinois State Police provided the report but redacted private details…
- An inmate's discharge date from a corrections sentenceFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A federal investigator asked the Illinois Department of Corrections for an inmate's release date, but the department refused to provide it. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and agreed…
- A university lecture recording used in a courseFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A requester asked the University of Illinois for a recording of a specific virtual lecture. The University refused to provide it, arguing that the recording was a teaching material exempt from…
- Interview questions for teacher candidatesFOIADetermination letterNo violationGeneral Records Exemptions
A citizen asked a school district for their teacher interview questions regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. The school district refused to release them, and the Attorney General's office…
- A police incident report involving a public official and her spouseFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested a specific police report, but the Sheriff's Office refused to release it, arguing that doing so would violate the personal privacy of the people involved. The Attorney General's…
- Records on business transfer verification and tobacco licensingFOIADetermination letterPartial violationLegal & Financial Records
A citizen requested business licensing and enforcement records from the City of Centralia, but the City partially denied the request, citing exemptions for private information, attorney-client…
- Legal fee invoices for Title IX mattersFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A school-district employee requested legal-fee invoices related to Title IX matters. The PAC found that the redactions were narrowly tailored to confidential attorney-client communications and that…
- Unredacted police report of a medical assist incidentFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested a police report regarding a medical incident involving their mother-in-law, but the police department redacted personal information. The PAC ruled that the department acted…
- A village's calculation of FOIA requests for recurrent requester statusFOIADetermination letterPartial violationRequester Status
A requester challenged the Village of Orland Park for labeling him a 'recurrent requester,' which allows a public body more time to respond to FOIA requests. The Attorney General's office found that…
- Staff identities in complaint processingFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Records Definition
A citizen asked a state agency to identify specific employees who worked on their previous complaint. The agency stated it had no records to provide, and the PAC agreed, explaining that FOIA is for…
- Jail surveillance footage from a dayroom areaFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested jail surveillance video, but the Sheriff's Office refused to release it, citing security concerns. The Attorney General's office reviewed the video and agreed that releasing it…
- Surveillance footage of a jail booking areaFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested video footage of their booking process at the Macon County Jail. The Sheriff's Office refused to release the video, arguing that it would reveal security details about the jail's…
- Police body-camera footage of an encounter with othersFOIADetermination letterNo violationPolice & Investigative Records
A citizen requested body camera footage from the Fairfield Police Department. The Department provided the parts of the video showing the requester but redacted parts showing other people. The…
- A private law firm's internal payroll recordsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPublic Records Definition
A citizen asked the Public Access Bureau to review a response from the Madison County State's Attorney's Office regarding a FOIA request for records of how a private law firm compensates its…
- College records of employee bereavement acknowledgmentsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPublic Records Definition
A requester asked South Suburban College for sympathy cards and memorial announcements acknowledging employee family member deaths. The college denied the request, saying these were personal matters.…
- Police training curriculum and lesson plansFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked the University of Illinois for police training curriculum and lesson plans. The University refused to release them, claiming they were protected educational records. The Attorney…
- Job applications and résumés of unsuccessful applicantsFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked Metra for the job applications and résumés of people who applied for positions but were not hired. Metra refused to release this information, arguing it would violate the privacy of…
- Native digital files from Snap, IncFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionSearch & Production
A requester asked for specific digital files from the City and the State's Attorney's Office. The PAC found that the government agencies either did not have the records or were not legally required…
- Investigative materials and hearing transcripts from a 2013 disciplinary orderFOIADetermination letterNo violationPersonnel & Student Records
A requester asked for records related to a 2013 disciplinary case, but the Department only provided a single order. The requester complained to the Attorney General's office, believing more records…
- 911 audio recordings of a suicidal person report and crashFOIADetermination letterViolation foundPolice & Investigative Records
ProPublica requested 911 audio recordings from the Lake County Sheriff's Office, which redacted the decedent's statements, citing privacy concerns for surviving family members. The Illinois Attorney…
- School district policies, employment records, and investigative documentsFOIADetermination letterClosed no further actionFOIA Response Process
A requester asked a school district for a large volume of documents, and the PAC reviewed the district's response. The PAC decided to close the case without taking formal action against the district,…
- Bank statements and copying fees for paper recordsFOIADetermination letterNo violationFees & Burdensome Requests
A citizen requested bank statements from the Village of Minier and asked for them in electronic format to avoid fees. The Village stated they only keep these records on paper and charged a fee to…