A Survey of Electronic Access in Illinois

Overview

The Citizen Advocacy Center surveyed thirty-seven (37) municipalities in DuPage County and one hundred thirty-three (133) municipalities in Cook County to learn how these public bodies use electronic means to allow the public access to records. In determining the extent to which each municipality provided information about the Illinois FOIA through websites, the Center focused on four basic questions:

Does the public body have a website?
Is the Illinois FOIA mentioned or referred to on that website?
Is there substantive information about the Illinois FOIA on that website?
Is a request for documents available online, either by means of a downloadable document or an online request form?

Research Methods

The Center’s research began with the lists of county municipalities found on the DuPage County and Cook County websites. Cook County lists one hundred thirty-three (133) municipalities within its county limits and DuPage County lists thirty-seven (37) municipalities within its county limits. Each of the lists had links to the municipality websites. In the event that the links did not work, the Center conducted an Internet search on the municipality to find a municipality website address.

On the municipality and county websites, we first checked for a government subsection heading specifically looking for information about the clerk or for a page with forms or applications. On websites with a search option, we searched for the terms “Freedom of Information,” “Records Request,” or “Forms” to try and locate information about the Illinois FOIA. If our data lists a municipal or county website as not having information about FOIA in error, it is because any FOIA information provided is not readily identifiable on the website, and a reasonably diligent search did not result in finding FOIA information.

Findings

· In DuPage County, all but two (2) or 94.6% of the thirty-seven (37) municipalities maintain websites, and in Cook County, ninety-seven (97) or 72.9% of the one hundred thirty-three (133) municipalities maintain websites.

· Twenty-eight (28) or 80% of the municipalities with websites in DuPage County and eighty (80) or 82.5% of the municipalities with websites in Cook County make no mention of FOIA or refer to FOIA only by name. Visitors to the website will find no substantive or instructive information about the FOIA.

· Four (4) or 11.4% of the municipalities with websites in DuPage County and thirteen (13) or 13.4% of the municipalities with websites in Cook County have only minimal information about FOIA. Websites classified as having only minimal information have one paragraph or less explaining the FOIA and/or giving basic instructions on how to request public documents pursuant to the Act.

· Three (3) or 8.6% of the municipalities with websites in DuPage County and four (4) or 4.1% of the municipalities with websites in Cook County have substantive information about FOIA posted, which included the Act’s intent and purpose.

· Twenty-one (21) or 60% of the municipalities with websites in DuPage County and thirty-five (35) or 36.1% of the municipalities with websites in Cook County offer downloadable request forms. This is a key statistic when taken in conjunction with the fact that most of the websites surveyed fail to provide even minimal information about FOIA and its intent and purpose. This means that, although many public bodies provide downloadable request forms, they fail to inform people what FOIA is and how to exercise their rights under this Act.

· Two (3) or 8.6% of the municipalities with websites in DuPage County and only one (1) or 1% of the municipalities with websites in Cook County have online request forms.

· Despite being the two largest counties in the state, neither the DuPage County or Cook County offer substantive or even minimal information about FOIA, or have downloadable or online request forms on their website.

Recommendations

The Illinois FOIA should be amended to accommodate electronic means of communications thereby increasing accessibility, transparency and accountability of public officials.

Each public body (state agency, county and municipality) should be required to:

1. Maintain a website.

2. Maintain a page on that public body website dedicated to the Illinois FOIA. This page should include:

· General information about the Illinois FOIA including its purpose and intent;

· A timeline for public body compliance to a request,

· Instructions for making a request for public records including a request form that can be downloaded,

· Information about the right to appeal a denial of a request and instructions on how to appeal a denial, and

· An electronic reading room where documents required to be available for public inspection and copying pursuant to the Illinois FOIA in addition to frequently requested documents are posted.

This FOIA webpage should be clearly linked to the home page of the public body’s website to assure easy access to the public.

3. Establish the means to receive and to comply with requests for public documents via e-mail or online request forms.

4. Make documents required to be available for public inspection and copying available by computer telecommunications.

5. Compile a general index of records likely to become the subject of frequent subsequent requests and post it on the FOIA webpage.

6. Publish a yearly request and compliance report and make it available to the public in print form and online.

Conclusion

Public bodies rely heavily on electronic means of communication as a way to provide information to the public, but state law has lagged behind the available technology. The time has long since passed for Illinois legislators to amend Illinois FOIA to embrace the public’s increased reliance on and access to electronic means of communication. In the American spirit of the government being in the hands of the people, these amendments are an immediate and necessary need to maintain a healthy democracy in Illinois.