From The State Journal-Register -- For decades, government bodies across Illinois became adept at using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act as a handy tool for withholding information from the public.
Until Dec. 31, 2009, the law originally intended to be a window into government was used more as a dead-bolted door to lock out the public. Just about any public request for documents and information could be denied or delayed infinitely based on numerous exemptions and loopholes deftly exploited by public bodies...
That changed on Jan. 1, when the state’s new Freedom of Information Act went into effect...
More than anything, the new law represents a striking change in culture regarding open government in Illinois. Where it had long been assumed that the law favors a public body’s need to keep information secret, the opposite is now true.
And guess what? A lot of public bodies don’t like it one bit.
Read more here.
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