The Illinois Attorney General oversees the state's two open government laws, the Freedom of Information Act for records and the Open Meetings Act for meetings, and its open government pages describe them as the two pillars that uphold a functioning democracy. The office that makes the records law work in practice is the Public Access Counselor, whose published functions are to provide educational materials to the public and answer informal inquiries, to issue advisory opinions to public bodies, to resolve or mediate disputes between members of the public and public bodies, to investigate and issue opinions where a request has been denied or a meetings violation is alleged, and to provide electronic training to all freedom of information officers and to those designated to receive open meetings training. For a requester, that means a free route to a decision without going to court first.
Making the request is deliberately informal. The Attorney General's own request page asks for requests in writing but requires no standard form, invites requesters to say whether they want copies or to examine records in person, since both are rights, and reminds people that the Act is designed to let them inspect or receive copies of records rather than to make a public body answer questions, pointing anyone with questions to the office's telephone lines instead. It also notes what is already published without a request, including Attorney General opinions, registration files and correspondence from its charitable trust and franchise bureaus, press releases and publications. For Illinois records held locally, see the Illinois county pages.
- Five business days: the standard deadline from receipt, with an automatic five business day extension and anything longer only by agreement.
- Twenty one business days: the deadline for a commercial request, which turns on resale, solicitation or advertising rather than on the requester.
- Fifty free pages: standard black and white copies are free for the first fifty pages, then fifteen cents a page, with discs at five dollars.
- Sixty days to challenge: a signed request for review goes to the Public Access Counselor within sixty days of a denial, or the requester can go to the circuit court.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Illinois's own systems: the Illinois Attorney General honest and open government page, the Attorney General's freedom of information request page, the Attorney General's freedom of information request form, the Department of Natural Resources freedom of information questions, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The two clocks, and which one applies
Illinois sets its deadlines by the purpose of the request rather than by its size. The Department of Natural Resources' published guidance states the rule as it appears in 5 ILCS 140/3: the agency responds within five business days after receiving the request, or within twenty one business days for a request made for a commercial purpose. The response time can be extended automatically for five further business days, and beyond that only by mutual agreement between the requester and the agency, and where the information is not readily available a deferral is issued.
What makes a request commercial is the use to which the records will be put, defined as the use of any part of a public record, or information derived from public records, in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or advertisement for sale or services. The agency adds the practical corollary that requests by news media and by nonprofit, scientific or academic organisations are generally not considered to be for commercial purposes.
A researcher or reporter therefore keeps the five day clock, while a business compiling a mailing list does not.
What copies cost, and when a fee can be waived
The basic charge for black and white paper copies is fifteen cents a page where the response runs beyond fifty pages, with the first fifty pages free, and colour or oversize copies may cost more, up to the actual commercial cost of reproduction. Records supplied on a compact disc cost five dollars per disc. Commercial requests carry a search charge of ten dollars an hour where staff spend more than eight hours searching or retrieving, and an agency can charge the actual cost of retrieving and transporting records from off site storage.
Payment is not sent with the request: the agency notifies the requester of any charge and sends the records once payment arrives, by check or money order rather than by card. A waiver or reduction can be asked for under section 6(c) of the Act where the specific purpose of the request is in the public interest rather than principally for personal or commercial benefit, and the Attorney General's own guidance tells requesters exactly how to do it, by including a sentence requesting a waiver of all fees together with a specific explanation of why the request serves the public interest rather than the requester's own.
Where a response would run to more than four inches of paper or multimedia items, an agency may offer alternatives such as an on site review of the records, hiring a local copying service, or paying the copying fee.
Private information, and the awkwardness of email
Two categories cause most of the redaction in Illinois responses. Personal identity information such as addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and driver licence numbers is redacted and withheld as personal or private information under the Act's definitions, which is why a list of individual licence holders cannot be released even though a list of commercial licence holders can. Email is the other. Each electronic communication counts as a record in its own right, so a request for correspondence on a topic can run to thousands of pages, charged at fifteen cents each beyond the first fifty, and the agency warns that email is often used for internal communication and policy discussion and may therefore be exempt under section 7(1).
The practical advice the agency gives is to narrow a request by date range, to consider excluding email at first and asking for it in a follow up request, and to remember that a request captures records as they exist rather than acting as a subscription for future updates.
Challenging a denial without going to court
Where a request is refused, Illinois offers a free administrative route. Under section 9.5 of the Act a requester may file a request for review in writing with the Public Access Counselor in the Attorney General's office, and it must be filed no later than sixty days after the denial, signed, and accompanied by a summary of the facts supporting the allegation that the denial was wrong. The review procedures then follow the statute, and the counsel's opinions are published.
A requester who prefers a court can go straight there instead: section 11 allows a person denied access to inspect or copy a record to file for injunctive or declaratory relief in the circuit court for Sangamon County or in the circuit court for the county where the requester lives. The counsel also mediates, which is often faster than either route where the dispute is about scope or fees rather than principle.
Requesting the Attorney General's own records
The office that polices the Act is subject to it. Requests for its records go to its freedom of information officer in Springfield, by the online public records centre, by post, email or fax, and the office states that it requires no standard form, although it publishes one as guidance and asks requesters to keep a copy of whatever they send. The form asks whether the requester wants copies or wishes to review documents at the office, and whether copies should be paper or electronic.
The office applies the same fee rule as other public bodies, with no charge for the first fifty pages of standard paper copies and fifteen cents a page after that, and it publishes the additional information section 4 of the Act requires, including a description of the records it maintains and a list of the records available immediately without a request.
Reading an Illinois response
The first thing to check in an Illinois reply is which clock the agency applied, because a body treating an ordinary request as commercial has bought itself four extra weeks and should be asked to justify the label. The second is the extension, which is available automatically for five business days but not beyond that without agreement. The third is the fee, where the first fifty pages are free and search time is chargeable only on commercial requests.
And where the answer is a refusal, the date matters: sixty days to the Public Access Counselor, with a signed statement of why the denial was wrong, or the circuit court in Sangamon County or the requester's own county.
Questions about public records requests in Illinois
Related Illinois records
Illinois's other public records guides on this site are the Illinois background check guide for the State Police criminal history service, the Illinois court records guide for the circuit court clerks, the Illinois arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Illinois county pages for every county office.