FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) REQUEST
The Freedom of Information Act are Records Access Laws pertaining to agency records. The FOIA is a federal statute which governs federal records, i.e. those maintained on behalf of a federal agency or Illinois Department of Military Affairs (DMA).
Authority to release records or deny access to records does not exist at unit/office level. Record Access Officers are trained to assess fees and protect non-Public data/information.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A FOIA REQUEST LETTER:
- Provide your full name and contact information
- Provide a reasonable description of the record(s) requested
- Provide a statement of your fee category (see below) and your willingness to pay applicable fees
- Send your request to the applicable FOIA Office (see below)
FEE CATEGORIES:
- Educational, Noncommercial, Scientific, and Media: Any accredited U.S. educational or research institution or instructor of an institution, or representative of the news media using the information in a scholarly or analytical work contributing to public knowledge and disseminated to the public.
- Commercial: Increases the commercial interest of the requestor.
- All Others: All other requestors
FEES:
The FOIA provides for the collection of fees for:
- Searches: Time spent in looking for and retrieving material, either paper or electronic files, that are responsive to the request to include personnel hours (clerical and professional) and computer time.
- Reviews: Time spent to determine if the record is releasable under legal guidelines, excluding resolution of legal or policy issues. This does include time spent excising text that is exempt under FOIA.
- Reproduction: Generating a copy of a requested record in the appropriate medium, for example paper or computer file.