Illinois Passes Package of Amendments to OMA and FOIA

During its fall veto session, the Illinois General Assembly passed an omnibus bill encompassing a wide range of changes to the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA) and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Senate Bill 0243. The amendments include significant updates that public bodies should be aware of as they manage board meetings and the increasing number of FOIA requests that could create cybersecurity risks. The legislation will take effect on January 1, 2026, if Governor Pritzker signs it before then.

While this bill does not specifically address FOIA requests that are generated with the assistance of AI, it includes significant new provisions to help address requests that appear not to be sent by real individuals or that include suspicious links or attachments. These provisions are summarized below:

• Public bodies may require a requester “to verify orally or in writing that the requester is a person” if the public body “has a reasonable belief that a request was not submitted by a person.” If a public body sends notice within five business days after receiving the request to require verification, the deadline for responding is paused until the requester verifies that they are a person. In addition, the FOIA request can be denied if the requester does not verify that they are a person within 30 days after the public body requests verification.
• Public bodies are not required to open electronically attached files or hyperlinks to view or access details of a request. However, if the public body receives a request that would involve opening such files or links, it is required to notify the requester within 5 business days about “the requirement that the entirety of an electronic request must appear within the body of the electronic submission.”

Other updates to FOIA in this legislation include:

• The definition of a “person” under FOIA is updated to include only an “individual” who is acting individually (including as an agent of an organization) or acting as part of a group.
• Public records do not include “junk mail,” that is, unsolicited commercial mail that an official, employee, or agent of the public body does not respond to.
• While public bodies with websites will still need to display certain information under FOIA Section 4, they will no longer have to display the information at each administrative or regional office.

In addition, Senate Bill 0243 includes the following changes to the OMA:

• Township trustees’ OMA trainings can be conducted by an organization that represents townships.
• The closed session exception in OMA Section 2(c)(16) is expanded. Closed session is now permissible for self-evaluation, practices and procedures, or professional ethics “when meeting with a representative of a statewide or regional association of which the public body is a member.”
• Public bodies are prohibited from scheduling or holding a meeting on the day of any general primary election, general election, consolidated primary election, or consolidated election.
• Performance of active military duty as a service member is another permissible reason for an individual member of a public body to attend a meeting remotely.

For questions about maintaining compliance with these changes and other FOIA and OMA requirements, please contact your Robbins Schwartz attorney.

Print this page