Illinois FOIA - June 30th FOIA Officer Training Deadline Approaching

Illinois' newly revised Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) took effect on January 1.  The law is designed to help foster transparency and accountability in government, and numerous changes were made to that end.  One such change was the requirement that every Illinois public body appoint one or more "Freedom of Information Officers" (FOIA Officers) who are to receive, process, and respond to FOIA requests submitted to the public body.  FOIA Section 3.5.   The law requires that all FOIA Officers complete a mandatory initial training program with the Attorney General's Office by June 30, 2010.  The Attorney General's Office has provided an online registration portal for FOIA Officers, from which the FOIA Officers can complete the required training online.  Interested members of the public can also access FOIA training at this site.  After the initial program, FOIA officers are required to complete additional training annually.

There are numerous small public entities in Illinois, and many may not be aware of this requirement.  If you work with such an entity, please make sure they are aware of the deadline so they can comply with the requirement.

Nate Hinch is an attorney and partner at the law firm of Mueller, Reece & Hinch, LLC.  He has offices at 404 N. Hershey Road, Suite C, Bloomington, IL 61704, and 809 Detweiller Drive, Peoria, IL 61615, and can be reached by phone at (309) 827-4055 and email at nhinch@mrh-law.com.

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are welcome, just keep it clean, respectful to all views, and no spamming or soliciting. Thanks!

Popular posts from this blog

Public Insurance Adjuster Contracts and New Licensing Requirements

Image
This post has been updated, see the new post here .   Imagine that your home is destroyed in a fire overnight.  After family and friends, you would likely next call your insurance company to report the catastrophe and initiate a claim.  The person from the insurance company who investigates your claim and calculates the amount to be paid for the loss is called an "adjuster."  About this time you also attempt to read through the fine print morass that is your insurance policy, and realize the difficulty of making sense of it all.  Now imagine that after you report the claim you receive a letter from a "public adjuster," which helpfully points out to you that the insurance company's adjuster is an employee of the insurance company and therefore tied to the insurer's interests, and that the public adjuster is available to help you negotiate a better settlement with the insurance company, often for a percentage of the settlement proceeds, say for example 1
Read more

Illinois 2015 Estate Planning Law Changes - Transfer on Death Instrument Act

This is the fourth post on changes to Illinois law for 2015 affecting estate planning.   The first  covered the amended  Health Care Power of Attorney act  and  the second  addressed the amended  "Small Estate Affidavit"  found in the Probate Act.  The third  summarized the  new Article IVa  added to the Probate Act for 2015, on "Presumptively Void Transfers."  A fourth change to Illinois estate planning law in 2015 is that the  Residential Real Property Transfer on Death Instrument Act , 755 ILCS 27/5, has been amended.  The TODI Act was enacted in Illinois just a few years ago, but TODI statutes have been around for a while in other States.  The TODI concept is essentially to have a mechanism for transferring real property at death without probate.  Although the Probate Act provides for "small estates" to avoid probate via a Small Estate Affidavit, the definition of "small estate" hinges on the value of personal property in the estate ($100,0
Read more

New in 2012 - Illinois' Residential Real Estate Transfer on Death Instrument Act

Image
Now that the calendar has turned over to 2012, the new I llinois Residential Real Property Transfer on Death Instrument (TODI) Act , 755 ILCS 27/1 et. seq, (the "Act") has taken effect.  The Act gives Illinois residential property owners a new and useful estate planning tool. What is a TODI?  A TODI is similar to, but distinctive from a deed; it is recorded with the county in which the property is located while the property owner is alive, but that takes effect only upon the death of the owner , as long as certain statutory conditions are met. Why the Act Matters - In Illinois, real property personally owned by a decedent requires a probate action, regardless of the value of the estate.  The TODI gets the property out of probate.  Trust planning can accomplish the same goal but is not typically focused on a specific property.  The TODI is a simpler, more cost-effective mechanism, more tailor-made to accomplish the goal of transferring residential real property outside
Read more