Bill Text: IL HB4597 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that a public body may impose a fee upon a requester for the actual, necessary, and direct cost of redacting recorded audio or video content recordings made under the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act. Provides that the public body may not impose the fee under specified circumstances. Requires the public body to provide the requester, in writing, with an estimate of the amount of the fee to be charged before before fulfilling the request.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2026-04-02 - Added Co-Sponsor Rep. Laura Faver Dias [HB4597 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB4597-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026HB4597 Introduced , by Rep. Sharon Chung SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
5 ILCS 140/6 from Ch. 116, par. 206
Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that a public body may impose a fee upon a requester for the actual, necessary, and direct cost of redacting recorded audio or video content recordings made under the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act. Provides that the public body may not impose the fee under specified circumstances. Requires the public body to provide the requester, in writing, with an estimate of the amount of the fee to be charged before before fulfilling the request.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by
changing Section 6 as follows:
(5 ILCS 140/6) (from Ch. 116, par. 206)
Sec. 6. Authority to charge fees.
(a) When a person requests a copy of a record maintained in
an electronic format, the public body shall furnish it in the
electronic format specified by the requester, if feasible. If
it is not feasible to furnish the public records in the
specified electronic format, then the public body shall
furnish it in the format in which it is maintained by the
public body, or in paper format at the option of the requester.
A public body may charge the requester for the actual cost of
purchasing the recording medium, whether disc, diskette, tape,
or other medium. If a request is not a request for a commercial
purpose or a voluminous request, a public body may not charge
the requester for the costs of any search for and review of the
records or other personnel costs associated with reproducing
the records. Except to the extent that the General Assembly
expressly provides, statutory fees applicable to copies of
public records when furnished in a paper format shall not be

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applicable to those records when furnished in an electronic
format.
(a-5) If a voluminous request is for electronic records
and those records are not in a portable document format (PDF),
the public body may charge up to $20 for not more than 2
megabytes of data, up to $40 for more than 2 but not more than
4 megabytes of data, and up to $100 for more than 4 megabytes
of data. If a voluminous request is for electronic records and
those records are in a portable document format, the public
body may charge up to $20 for not more than 80 megabytes of
data, up to $40 for more than 80 megabytes but not more than
160 megabytes of data, and up to $100 for more than 160
megabytes of data. If the responsive electronic records are in
both a portable document format and not in a portable document
format, the public body may separate the fees and charge the
requester under both fee scales.
If a public body imposes a fee pursuant to this subsection
(a-5), it must provide the requester with an accounting of all
fees, costs, and personnel hours in connection with the
request for public records.
(b) Except when a fee is otherwise fixed by statute, each
public body may charge fees reasonably calculated to reimburse
its actual cost for reproducing and certifying public records
and for the use, by any person, of the equipment of the public
body to copy records. No fees shall be charged for the first 50
pages of black and white, letter or legal sized copies

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requested by a requester. The fee for black and white, letter
or legal sized copies shall not exceed 15 cents per page. If a
public body provides copies in color or in a size other than
letter or legal, the public body may not charge more than its
actual cost for reproducing the records. In calculating its
actual cost for reproducing records or for the use of the
equipment of the public body to reproduce records, a public
body shall not include the costs of any search for and review
of the records or other personnel costs associated with
reproducing the records, except for commercial requests as
provided in subsection (f) of this Section. Such fees shall be
imposed according to a standard scale of fees, established and
made public by the body imposing them. The cost for certifying
a record shall not exceed $1.
(c) Documents shall be furnished without charge or at a
reduced charge, as determined by the public body, if the
person requesting the documents states the specific purpose
for the request and indicates that a waiver or reduction of the
fee is in the public interest. Waiver or reduction of the fee
is in the public interest if the principal purpose of the
request is to access and disseminate information regarding the
health, safety and welfare or the legal rights of the general
public and is not for the principal purpose of personal or
commercial benefit. For purposes of this subsection,
"commercial benefit" shall not apply to requests made by news
media when the principal purpose of the request is to access

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and disseminate information regarding the health, safety, and
welfare or the legal rights of the general public. In setting
the amount of the waiver or reduction, the public body may take
into consideration the amount of materials requested and the
cost of copying them.
(d) The imposition of a fee not consistent with
subsections (6)(a) and (b) of this Act constitutes a denial of
access to public records for the purposes of judicial review.
(e) The fee for each abstract of a driver's record shall be
as provided in Section 6-118 of "The Illinois Vehicle Code",
approved September 29, 1969, as amended, whether furnished as
a paper copy or as an electronic copy.
(f) A public body may charge up to $10 for each hour spent
by personnel in searching for and retrieving a requested
record or examining the record for necessary redactions. No
fees shall be charged for the first 8 hours spent by personnel
in searching for or retrieving a requested record. A public
body may charge the actual cost of retrieving and transporting
public records from an off-site storage facility when the
public records are maintained by a third-party storage company
under contract with the public body. If a public body imposes a
fee pursuant to this subsection (f), it must provide the
requester with an accounting of all fees, costs, and personnel
hours in connection with the request for public records. The
provisions of this subsection (f) apply only to commercial
requests.

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(g) A public body may impose a fee upon a requester for the
actual, necessary, and direct cost of redacting, whether by
pixelization or other means, recorded audio or video content
recordings made under the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body
Camera Act to the extent redaction is necessary to comply with
the law. When calculating the fee imposed under this
subsection, the rate for an actual, necessary, and direct
charge for staff time spent redacting shall be based on the pay
rate of the public body's lowest paid employee capable of
performing the task. A public body may not impose a fee under
this subsection for a request for records containing audio or
video content if:
(1) the requester:
(A) is an individual that provides written
certification to the public body that the requester
will not use the audio or video content for financial
gain, except for seeking an award of damages in a civil
action; and
(B) during the calendar year in which the public
body receives the request, has not made more than 10
requests, including the current request but not
including any request that satisfied the requirements
of paragraph (2) or (3), to the public body for records
containing audio or video content;
(2) the requester is:
(A) directly involved in the events depicted on

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the audio or video content;
(B) an attorney representing an individual
directly involved in the events depicted on the audio
or video content; or
(C) the parent or guardian of an individual under
the age of 18 who is depicted on the audio or video
recording;
(3) the audio or video content depicts an
officer-involved shooting, as defined in Section 1-30 of
the Police and Community Relations Improvement Act; or
(4) the public body did not provide the requester, in
writing, with an estimate of the amount of the fee to be
charged before fulfilling the request.
(h) If an individual provides a false certification under
subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subsection (g), then the
individual shall be subject to a fine of $10,000 for each
violation.
(Source: P.A. 97-579, eff. 8-26-11; 98-1129, eff. 12-3-14.)