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Illinois FOIA & OMA Reference

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How to write an Illinois FOIA request that does not get denied

Quotations come from the FOIA text on this site’s statutes page (5 ILCS 140, fetched September 6, 2026). General information, not legal advice.

No wording makes a request denial-proof. Some records are exempt. But many denials and delays come from requests that are unclear, too broad, or missing something the Act asks for. This guide covers the parts of a request you control. When you are ready to write, the request builder will assemble the letter, and the example requests show finished wording.

1. Ask for records, not answers

FOIA covers “public records,” which the Act defines as “all records, reports, forms, writings, letters, memoranda, books, papers, maps, photographs, microfilms, cards, tapes, recordings, electronic data processing records, electronic communications, recorded information and all other documentary materials pertaining to the transaction of public business” held by or for a public body (section 2(c)).

It does not make a body explain things. The Act “is not intended to compel public bodies to interpret or advise requesters as to the meaning or significance of the public records” (section 3.3). So “Why did the board approve the contract?” asks for an answer. “The board packet, minutes and contract for the [date] meeting” asks for records.

2. Put the whole request in the message

Section 3(c) says requests “shall be made in writing and directed to the public body.” They may be sent by “personal delivery, mail, telefax, or other means available to the public body.”

For email, the Act adds: “Electronic requests under this Section must appear in their entirety within the body of the electronic submission,” and a public body is not required “to open electronically attached files or hyperlinks to view or access details of a request.” A body that gets a request that would require opening attachments or links must, within 5 business days, tell you the whole request has to be in the body of the message.

Send the request to the body’s FOIA officer. If you are unsure who that is, try the public-body directory. Section 3(c) also says all requests received by a body “shall immediately be forwarded to its Freedom of Information officer or designee.”

You do not have to use a form, and you do not have to give a reason. A body “may not require that a request be submitted on a standard form or require the requester to specify the purpose for a request, except to determine whether the records are requested for a commercial purpose or whether to grant a request for a fee waiver” (section 3(c)).

3. Name specific records

A request is easier to answer, and harder to deny, when the body can tell what you want without guessing. Include:

Broad requests

Section 3(g) deals with requests “calling for all records falling within a category.” Such a request “shall be complied with unless compliance with the request would be unduly burdensome for the complying public body and there is no way to narrow the request and the burden on the public body outweighs the public interest in the information.”

Before using that ground, the body “shall extend to the person making the request an opportunity to confer with it in an attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions.” A denial on that ground must be in writing, “specifying the reasons why it would be unduly burdensome and the extent to which compliance will so burden the operations of the public body.” See the section 3(g) hub for PAC decisions and the guide on requests called unduly burdensome.

A categorical request also lets the body take an extension. One of the listed reasons is that “the request is couched in categorical terms and requires an extensive search for the records responsive to it” (section 3(e)(iii)).

A worked example. In a March 2025 PAC determination letter (Request for Review 2024 PAC 84210), a requester asked the City of Chicago Office of the Mayor for text messages from the mayor’s personal cell phone about township business during 2024. The request then listed a long chain of fallbacks: a month, a week, single days, and finally the first and last message. The Mayor’s Office denied it as unduly burdensome under section 3(g) and asked the requester to reduce it to manageable proportions. The Public Access Bureau took no further action. It wrote that it “has previously determined that a request that is vast in scope and not targeted to any manner of public interest is unduly burdensome under section 3(g) of FOIA in the absence of an identifiable public interest in disclosure,” and that the body was not required to weigh each alternative in the chain. The lesson for you: choose one targeted subject and a short date range up front, rather than relying on fallbacks.

Keep it from becoming “voluminous”

The Act sets up a slower track for a “voluminous request.” Section 2(h) defines it as a request that “includes more than 5 individual requests for more than 5 different categories of records or a combination of individual requests that total requests for more than 5 different categories of records in a period of 20 business days,” or one that “requires the compilation of more than 500 letter or legal-sized pages of public records unless a single requested record exceeds 500 pages.” The definition excludes requests by news media and non-profit, scientific or academic organizations when the principal purpose is news, opinion or features of public interest, or academic, scientific or public research or education.

On that track, the body’s response tells you it is treating the request as voluminous and gives you 10 business days to amend the request (section 3.6(a), (b)). Splitting a large wish list into focused requests, or starting with the most important category, can avoid that track. See the section 3.6 hub.

4. Say what format you want

Section 6(a) says that when a record is kept electronically, “the public body shall furnish it in the electronic format specified by the requester, if feasible.” If that is not feasible, the body “shall furnish it in the format in which it is maintained by the public body, or in paper format at the option of the requester.”

You can also ask to inspect the records. Section 3(a) requires a body to make public records “available to any person for inspection or copying.”

If a record is already posted online, the body “is not required to copy a public record that is published on the public body’s website,” but it must tell you and “direct the requester to the website where the record can be reasonably accessed.” If you cannot reasonably access it online, you may resubmit and say so (section 8.5). If you already know a record is online, look there first.

5. Fees and the fee waiver

For an ordinary request, the Act says a body “may not charge the requester for the costs of any search for and review of the records or other personnel costs associated with reproducing the records” (section 6(a)). Section 6(b) adds: “No fees shall be charged for the first 50 pages of black and white, letter or legal sized copies requested by a requester,” and the per-page fee for black and white, letter or legal copies “shall not exceed 15 cents per page.” Different rules apply to commercial and voluminous requests (sections 6(a-5) and 6(f)). The guide on electronic record fees covers the details.

To ask for a waiver, say so in the request. Section 6(c): documents “shall be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge, as determined by the public body, if the person requesting the documents states the specific purpose for the request and indicates that a waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest.” The Act defines the public-interest test: waiver or reduction is in the public interest “if the principal purpose of the request is to access and disseminate information regarding the health, safety and welfare or the legal rights of the general public and is not for the principal purpose of personal or commercial benefit.” Requests by news media for that purpose are not treated as commercial benefit.

So a fee-waiver request should do two things: state the specific purpose, and say why a waiver serves the public interest. See the section 6(c) hub. A body can still reduce rather than waive: it may “take into consideration the amount of materials requested and the cost of copying them.”

Ask the body to tell you of any fee before it does the work. That is a request, not something the statute requires.

6. Commercial purpose

Section 2(c-10) defines “commercial purpose” as “the use of any part of a public record or records, or information derived from public records, in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or advertisement for sales or services.” Requests by news media and non-profit, scientific or academic organizations “shall not be considered to be made for a ‘commercial purpose’” when the principal purpose is news and current events, opinion or features of public interest, or academic, scientific or public research or education.

Why it matters:

If your request is commercial, say so when asked. If it is not, say what the principal purpose is (research, news, public education). See the section 2(c-10) hub.

7. Anticipate the usual exemptions

You cannot prevent an exemption claim, but you can shape the request around the common ones. The Act presumes openness: “All records in the custody or possession of a public body are presumed to be open to inspection or copying,” and a body claiming an exemption “has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that it is exempt” (section 1.2).

When a record has both exempt and non-exempt information, the body “may elect to redact the information that is exempt,” and “shall make the remaining information available for inspection and copying” (section 7(1)). So ask for the records “with exempt portions redacted rather than withheld in full.” And since a denial based on section 7 must “specify the exemption claimed” and give “the specific reasons for the denial, including a detailed factual basis and a citation to supporting legal authority” (section 9(b)), ask the body to identify the exemption for each redaction.

Common exemptions, with PAC decisions and the statute text:

Exemption What the text says Decisions
7(1)(b) “Private information, unless disclosure is required by another provision of this Act, a State or federal law, or a court order.” Section 7(1)(b)
7(1)(c) “Personal information contained within public records, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, unless the disclosure is consented to in writing by the individual subjects of the information.” Section 7(1)(c)
7(1)(d) Records created for law enforcement purposes or in administrative enforcement proceedings, “but only to the extent that disclosure would” cause one of the listed harms. Section 7(1)(d)
7(1)(f) “Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, memoranda, and other records in which opinions are expressed, or policies or actions are formulated,” with an exception for a record “publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body.” Section 7(1)(f)
7(1)(m) Communications between a public body and an attorney or auditor representing it “that would not be subject to discovery in litigation,” and certain related materials. Section 7(1)(m)

Section 7(1)(b) points to section 2(c-5), which defines “private information” to include “unique identifiers, including a person’s social security number, driver’s license number, employee identification number, biometric identifiers, personal financial information, passwords or other access codes, medical records, home or personal telephone numbers, and personal email addresses,” and also “home address and personal license plates, except as otherwise provided by law or when compiled without possibility of attribution to any person.” If you do not need those details, say so; it can shorten the review.

8. A checklist before you send

  1. The request is in writing and, if sent by email, entirely in the message body (section 3(c)).
  2. It names record types and a subject, with a start and end date.
  3. It asks for the records, not for explanations (section 3.3).
  4. It says what format you want and offers inspection as an alternative (sections 6(a), 3(a)).
  5. If you want a fee waiver, it states the specific purpose and why a waiver is in the public interest (section 6(c)).
  6. If the use is commercial, you say so; if not, you state your principal purpose (sections 2(c-10), 3.1(c)).
  7. It asks for redaction in place of withholding and for the exemption to be named for each redaction (sections 7(1), 9(b)).
  8. You keep a copy and proof of when it was sent. A body that does not respond, extend or deny within 5 business days has denied the request (section 3(d)); see no response to a FOIA request and FOIA request denied.