Illinois
Illinois Freedom of Information Act
5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.
Public records law for Illinois. Covers state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts.
The clock
5 business days
5 business days; 5-day extension for 7 enumerated reasons.
Statutory: 5 business days; 5-day extension for 7 enumerated reasons.. Actual medians vary widely by agency and request complexity; simple requests often 7-30 days, complex 60-300+.
Reading the statute itself
The text of this one is not reproduced here. The United States Code carries no copyright, so federal FOIA is printed on this site in full; the fifty state codes are published by fifty legislatures under their own claims of compilation copyright, so they are linked instead. Everything on this page — the deadline, the appeal path, the fee-waiver standard — is Aletheca’s summary of that text, and the official source is one click away.
If they refuse
- Appeal deadline
- Not specified
- Appeal route
- Request for review to Public Access Counselor (PAC) within 60 days, or circuit court. PAC binding opinions.
- Litigation
- Not specified
Fees and expedition
Quirks worth knowing
PAC is strong; failure to respond in 5 days = denial.