Illinois · FOIA (5 ILCS 140)

Illinois FOIA on its statutory clock, in one platform

AccessPoint manages Freedom of Information Act requests for Illinois public bodies — the five-business-day response, Section 7 exemptions, fee estimates, and Public Access Counselor review — pre-configured for Illinois and running inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

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Illinois at a glance

Response deadline
5 business days to grant or deny (Section 3(d))
Extensions
One 5-business-day extension for enumerated reasons (Section 3(e))
Commercial requests
21 business days for records sought for a commercial purpose (Section 3.1)
Copy fees
First 50 letter/legal black-and-white pages free, then $0.15 per page (Section 6)
Review of denials
Request for review by the Public Access Counselor — binding opinion within 60 days
Languages
English

Built for Illinois

One platform for the whole access-and-privacy mandate, pre-configured for this regime and running in your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

FOIA request lifecycle

Intake to disclosure on Illinois's five-business-day clock, with Section 3(e) extensions, the Section 7 exemption catalogue, fee estimates, and review-ready records, all built on Microsoft 365.

Public Access Counselor review

Track a request for review to the PAC — assemble the record and the public body's position, and manage the binding opinion or mediated outcome on its own statutory clock.

Section 7 exemptions and redaction

The full Section 7(1) exemption catalogue, colour-coded for redaction, with a per-exemption citation recorded on every withholding.

Fees and the commercial track

Statutory copy fees, commercial-request labor charges, and the separate 21-business-day commercial-purpose timeline handled automatically.

Deadlines that don't slip

Illinois business-day math, the five-day response, extension limits, and reminders so a response never misses the statutory due date.

In your own Illinois tenant

Every request, document, and record stays inside your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant — no third-party cloud, no cross-border transfers, no per-user fees.

The Public Access Counselor

Illinois built a binding-review step before court. AccessPoint runs your side of it.

When a public body denies a request, the requester can ask the Public Access Counselor in the Attorney General's office to review it — and the PAC can issue a binding opinion, enforceable against the public body, within 60 days. That is the distinctive Illinois step: a fast, binding administrative review that sits between the denial and the circuit court. AccessPoint keeps every request review-ready — the Section 7 basis for each withholding, the correspondence, and the audit trail the PAC will ask for — so a request for review becomes a package you already have rather than a scramble.

Binding opinions The PAC's opinion is enforceable — and challengeable only by administrative review.
Review-ready records Every withholding carries its Section 7 citation and its own audit trail.
60-day clock PAC review runs on its own statutory timeline, tracked beside the request.

Configured out of the box

Installing the us-il-foia configuration pack seeds your tenant with everything this regime needs — a starting point you can adjust, not a lock-in.

Related guide: FOI Workflow Quick Check
  • Illinois FOIA (5 ILCS 140) as the legal-authority and citation spine
  • Illinois business-day math and the five-business-day due-date rules
  • The Section 7(1) exemption catalogue, colour-coded for redaction
  • Section 3(e) extension reasons with citations and the 5-business-day limit
  • The 21-business-day commercial-purpose request track
  • Statutory copy-fee categories and commercial labor-charge rules
  • Public Access Counselor request-for-review and binding-opinion workflows
  • Illinois FOIA correspondence templates with statutory wording

Illinois Questions

How long does an Illinois public body have to respond to a FOIA request?
Five business days to grant or deny (Section 3(d)), with one five-business-day extension for enumerated reasons (Section 3(e)). Requests for a commercial purpose have a separate 21-business-day track (Section 3.1). AccessPoint runs each on its own Illinois business-day clock, with reminders before the deadline.

What is the Public Access Counselor, and does AccessPoint support it?
The Public Access Counselor sits in the Illinois Attorney General's office and reviews denials. It can issue a binding opinion — enforceable against the public body and subject only to administrative review — generally within 60 days of a request for review, or resolve the matter by mediation. AccessPoint keeps every request review-ready so a request for review is a package you already hold.

Does it handle Section 7 exemptions and redaction?
Yes. AccessPoint ships the full Section 7(1) exemption catalogue, colour-coded for redaction, and records the specific exemption citation on each withholding — the same basis the Public Access Counselor and a reviewing court will expect.

Where does our FOIA data reside?
Entirely within your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant. Requests, documents, and audit history never leave your control — no third-party cloud and no cross-border data transfers.

Run Illinois FOIA in One Platform

Try AccessPoint free for 30 days, pre-configured for Illinois. No credit card required.

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