ILCS » Chapter 5 · Act 140
Illinois Compiled Statutes

5 ILCS 140/1 (2026)

Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act

✓ current as of May 2026
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(5 ILCS 140/1) (from Ch. 116, par. 201)
    Sec. 1. Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act. Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest.
    The General Assembly hereby declares that it is the public policy of the State of Illinois that access by all persons to public records promotes the transparency and accountability of public bodies at all levels of government. It is a fundamental obligation of government to operate openly and provide public records as expediently and efficiently as possible in compliance with this Act.
     This Act is not intended to cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, nor to allow the requests of a commercial enterprise to unduly burden public resources, or to disrupt the duly-undertaken work of any public body independent of the fulfillment of any of the fore-mentioned rights of the people to access to information.
    This Act is not intended to create an obligation on the part of any public body to maintain or prepare any public record which was not maintained or prepared by such public body at the time when this Act becomes effective, except as otherwise required by applicable local, State or federal law.
    Restraints on access to information, to the extent permitted by this Act, are limited exceptions to the principle that the people of this State have a right to full disclosure of information relating to the decisions, policies, procedures, rules, standards, and other aspects of government activity that affect the conduct of government and the lives of any or all of the people. The provisions of this Act shall be construed in accordance with this principle. This Act shall be construed to require disclosure of requested information as expediently and efficiently as possible and adherence to the deadlines established in this Act.
    The General Assembly recognizes that this Act imposes fiscal obligations on public bodies to provide adequate staff and equipment to comply with its requirements. The General Assembly declares that providing records in compliance with the requirements of this Act is a primary duty of public bodies to the people of this State, and this Act should be construed to this end, fiscal obligations notwithstanding.
    The General Assembly further recognizes that technology may advance at a rate that outpaces its ability to address those advances legislatively. To the extent that this Act may not expressly apply to those technological advances, this Act should nonetheless be interpreted to further the declared policy of this Act that public records shall be made available upon request except when denial of access furthers the public policy underlying a specific exemption.
    This Act shall be the exclusive State statute on freedom of information, except to the extent that other State statutes might create additional restrictions on disclosure of information or other laws in Illinois might create additional obligations for disclosure of information to the public.
(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)

    
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 387 cases (116 in the last 5 years), 1994–2026 · leading case: Cooper v. Dep't of Lottery, 640 N.E.2d 1299 (Ill. App. Ct. 1994).
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Cooper v. Dep't of Lottery, 640 N.E.2d 1299 (Ill. App. Ct. 1994). · cites it 11× “(5 ILCS 140/1 (West 1992).) The circuit court of Cook County granted summary judgment for defendant and plaintiff appeals.”
Rushton v. Dep't of Corr., 2019 IL 124552 (Ill. 2019). · cites it 3× “At issue is whether a settlement agreement between Wexford and the estate of an inmate who died from cancer is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 2014)). We hold that it is.”
Stern v. Wheaton-Warrenville Cmty. Unit Sch. Dist. 200, 910 N.E.2d 85 (Ill. 2009). · cites it 3× “” 5 ILCS 140/1 (West 2006). Simply stated, the purpose of FOIA “is to open governmental records to the light of public scrutiny.”
Duncan Publ'g, Inc. v. City of Chicago, 709 N.E.2d 1281 (Ill. App. Ct. 1999). · cites it 5× “Duncan) filed a three-count complaint against defendant city of Chicago (City), essentially seeking to enjoin the City from withholding certain public records from them for inspection and copying purposes, to compel the City to create an index of certain records to be more…”
Better Gov't Ass'n v. Blagojevich, 899 N.E.2d 382 (Ill. App. Ct. 2008). · cites it 5× “JUSTICE STEIGMANN delivered the opinion of the court: This case presents the question of whether the recipient of a federal grand jury subpoena, acting as a public official for the State of Illinois, has the discretion to refuse a request to disclose that subpoena, pursuant to…”
Chicago Tribune Co. v. Cook Cnty. Assessor's Off., 2018 IL App (1st) 170455 (Ill. App. Ct. 2018). · cites it 3× “" 5 ILCS 140/1 (West 2016). The General Assembly has concluded that access to governmental information is "necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure…”
S. Illinoisan v. Illinois Dep't of Pub. Health, 844 N.E.2d 1 (Ill. 2006). · cites it 2× “Thereafter, plaintiff filed a complaint in the circuit court of Jackson County pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 1998)), requesting judicial review of the Department’s denial.”
Illinois Educ. Ass'n v. Illinois State Bd. of Educ., 791 N.E.2d 522 (Ill. 2003). · cites it 2× “JUSTICE RARICK delivered the opinion of the court: The issue presented in this case is whether the Freedom of Information Act (Act) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 2000)) requires the Illinois State Board of Education (Board) to disclose material provided to the Illinois Attorney…”
Lieber v. Bd. of Trs. of S. Illinois Univ., 680 N.E.2d 374 (Ill. 1997). · cites it 3× “JUSTICE HARRISON delivered the opinion of the court: The issue in this case is whether the Freedom of Information Act (Act) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 1994)) requires Southern Illinois University (SIU) to provide the owner of an apartment building approved by the University for…”
People Ex Rel. Birkett v. City of Chicago, 705 N.E.2d 48 (Ill. 1998). · cites it 4× “The City advances two bases of support for our adoption of the deliberative process privilege: namely (1) the recognition of the privilege in the federal courts; and more importantly (2) the existence of an exemption under Illinois' Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS…”
Chicago Sun-Times v. Cook Cnty. Health & Hosp. Sys., 2022 IL 127519 (Ill. 2022). · cites it 3× “” 5 ILCS 140/1 (West 2018). “It is a fundamental obligation of government to operate openly and provide public records as expediently and efficiently as possible in compliance with this Act.”
Lieber v. S. Illinois Univ., 664 N.E.2d 1155 (Ill. App. Ct. 1996). · cites it 6× “PRESIDING JUSTICE HOPKINS delivered the opinion of the court: Plaintiff, Stan Lieber, filed a complaint in the Jackson County circuit court seeking mandatory and permanent injunctions to require defendant, Southern Illinois University (SIU), to provide Lieber with certain…”
Show all 387 citing cases →
— 5 ILCS 140/1(a) — 1 case
Heinrich v. White, 2012 IL App (2d) 110564 (Ill. App. Ct. 2012).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.