HB 4444

Select Language
  ×
The Illinois General Assembly offers the Google Translate™ service for visitor convenience. In no way should it be considered accurate as to the translation of any content herein.
Visitors of the Illinois General Assembly website are encouraged to use other translation services available on the internet.
The English language version is always the official and authoritative version of this website.
NOTE: To return to the original English language version, select the "Show Original" button on the Google Translate™ menu bar at the top of the window.
  Choose Language
  English
  Afrikaans
  Albanian
  Arabic
  Armenian
  Azerbaijani
  Basque
  Bengali
  Bosnian
  Catalan
  Croatian
  Czech
  Danish
  Dutch
  Esperanto
  Estonian
  Filipino
  Finnish
  French
  Galician
  Georgian
  German
  Greek
  Gujarati
  Haitian Creole
  Hausa
  Hawaiian
  Hebrew
  Hindi
  Hungarian
  Icelandic
  Indonesian
  Interlingua
  Interlingue
  Inuktitut
  Irish
  Italian
  Japanese
  Javanese
  Kannada
  Khmer
  Korean
  Latin
  Latvian
  Lithuanian
  Luxembourgish
  Macedonian
  Malagasy
  Malayalam
  Maltese
  Maori
  Marathi
  Myanmar
  Nepali
  Norwegian
  Odia
  Pashto
  Punjabi
  Romanian
  Russian
  Samoan
  Sango
  Sanskrit
  Sardinian
  Sindhi
  Sinhala
  Slovak
  Slovenian
  Somali
  Southern Sotho
  Spanish
  Sundanese
  Swahili
  Swedish
  Tamil
  Telugu
  Thai
  Tigrinya
  Tonga
  Turkish
  Ukrainian
  Urdu
  Vietnamese
  Welsh
  Xhosa
  Yiddish
  Yoruba
  Zulu
  Powered by Translate
  Close
Illinois General Assembly
Top Navigation Bar
  Translate
  Learn
  Select General Assembly
  Search the 104th General Assembly
  Enter search terms for legislation, members, committees, or schedules.
  ILGA.GOV
Mobile Top Bar
  Search the 104th General Assembly
  Enter keywords to search the Illinois General Assembly website.
Full Text of HB4444
Home
Legislation
Full Text
	HB4444 - 104th General Assembly
		Bill Status
		Full Text
		Votes
		Witness Slips
	Select Menu
	Bill Status
	Full Text
	Votes
	Witness Slips
	Printer Friendly Version
			Introduced
			House Amendment 001
		Printer Friendly Version
		Introduced
		House Amendment 001
			 Open PDF
104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4444
Introduced 1/20/2026, by Rep. Daniel Didech
SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
5 ILCS 140/6	  from Ch. 116, par. 206
Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that a public body may charge the actual cost (rather than up to $10) for each hour spent by personnel in searching for and retrieving a requesting record or in examining the record for necessary redactions. Specifies that no fees shall be charged for the first 2 hours (rather than the first 8 hours) spent by personnel searching for or retrieving a requested record. Deletes a provision that limits the applicability of these cost recovery provisions to commercial requests.
LRB104 16721 BDA 30127 b
A BILL FOR
		HB4444		LRB104 16721 BDA 30127 b
1    AN ACT concerning government.
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
4    Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by
5changing Section 6 as follows:
6    (5 ILCS 140/6)  (from Ch. 116, par. 206)
7    Sec. 6. Authority to charge fees.
8    (a) When a person requests a copy of a record maintained in
9an electronic format, the public body shall furnish it in the
10electronic format specified by the requester, if feasible. If
11it is not feasible to furnish the public records in the
12specified electronic format, then the public body shall
13furnish it in the format in which it is maintained by the
14public body, or in paper format at the option of the requester.
15A public body may charge the requester for the actual cost of
16purchasing the recording medium, whether disc, diskette, tape,
17or other medium. If a request is not a request for a commercial
18purpose or a voluminous request, a public body may not charge
19the requester for the costs of any search for and review of the
20records or other personnel costs associated with reproducing
21the records. Except to the extent that the General Assembly
22expressly provides, statutory fees applicable to copies of
23public records when furnished in a paper format shall not be
		HB4444	- 2 -	LRB104 16721 BDA 30127 b
1applicable to those records when furnished in an electronic
2format.
3    (a-5) If a voluminous request is for electronic records
4and those records are not in a portable document format (PDF),
5the public body may charge up to $20 for not more than 2
6megabytes of data, up to $40 for more than 2 but not more than
74 megabytes of data, and up to $100 for more than 4 megabytes
8of data. If a voluminous request is for electronic records and
9those records are in a portable document format, the public
10body may charge up to $20 for not more than 80 megabytes of
11data, up to $40 for more than 80 megabytes but not more than
12160 megabytes of data, and up to $100 for more than 160
13megabytes of data. If the responsive electronic records are in
14both a portable document format and not in a portable document
15format, the public body may separate the fees and charge the
16requester under both fee scales.
17    If a public body imposes a fee pursuant to this subsection
18(a-5), it must provide the requester with an accounting of all
19fees, costs, and personnel hours in connection with the
20request for public records.
21    (b) Except when a fee is otherwise fixed by statute, each
22public body may charge fees reasonably calculated to reimburse
23its actual cost for reproducing and certifying public records
24and for the use, by any person, of the equipment of the public
25body to copy records. No fees shall be charged for the first 50
26pages of black and white, letter or legal sized copies
		HB4444	- 3 -	LRB104 16721 BDA 30127 b
1requested by a requester. The fee for black and white, letter
2or legal sized copies shall not exceed 15 cents per page. If a
3public body provides copies in color or in a size other than
4letter or legal, the public body may not charge more than its
5actual cost for reproducing the records. In calculating its
6actual cost for reproducing records or for the use of the
7equipment of the public body to reproduce records, a public
8body shall not include the costs of any search for and review
9of the records or other personnel costs associated with
10reproducing the records, except for commercial requests as
11provided in subsection (f) of this Section. Such fees shall be
12imposed according to a standard scale of fees, established and
13made public by the body imposing them. The cost for certifying
14a record shall not exceed $1.
15    (c) Documents shall be furnished without charge or at a
16reduced charge, as determined by the public body, if the
17person requesting the documents states the specific purpose
18for the request and indicates that a waiver or reduction of the
19fee is in the public interest. Waiver or reduction of the fee
20is in the public interest if the principal purpose of the
21request is to access and disseminate information regarding the
22health, safety and welfare or the legal rights of the general
23public and is not for the principal purpose of personal or
24commercial benefit. For purposes of this subsection,
25"commercial benefit" shall not apply to requests made by news
26media when the principal purpose of the request is to access
		HB4444	- 4 -	LRB104 16721 BDA 30127 b
1and disseminate information regarding the health, safety, and
2welfare or the legal rights of the general public. In setting
3the amount of the waiver or reduction, the public body may take
4into consideration the amount of materials requested and the
5cost of copying them.
6    (d) The imposition of a fee not consistent with
7subsections (6)(a) and (b) of this Act constitutes a denial of
8access to public records for the purposes of judicial review.
9    (e) The fee for each abstract of a driver's record shall be
10as provided in Section 6-118 of "The Illinois Vehicle Code",
11approved September 29, 1969, as amended, whether furnished as
12a paper copy or as an electronic copy.
13    (f) A public body may charge the actual cost [up to $10] for
14each hour spent by personnel in searching for and retrieving a
15requested record or examining the record for necessary
16redactions. No fees shall be charged for the first 2 [8] hours
17spent by personnel in searching for or retrieving a requested
18record. A public body may charge the actual cost of retrieving
19and transporting public records from an off-site storage
20facility when the public records are maintained by a
21third-party storage company under contract with the public
22body. If a public body imposes a fee pursuant to this
23subsection (f), it must provide the requester with an
24accounting of all fees, costs, and personnel hours in
25connection with the request for public records. [The provisions ]
26[of this subsection (f) apply only to commercial requests.]
		HB4444	- 5 -	LRB104 16721 BDA 30127 b
1(Source: P.A. 97-579, eff. 8-26-11; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14.)