The Public Access Counselor is the Illinois FOIA appeal route that does not require a lawyer, a filing fee, or a lawsuit. It works best when your submission does the reviewer’s work for them.
The Steps
- 1Confirm you are within the deadline
The request for review must generally be submitted within 60 days of the public body’s response. If the agency never responded, the failure to respond is itself the denial.
- 2Attach the complete exchange
Include your original request exactly as sent, every response received, and any correspondence in between. Do not summarize what you can attach.
- 3State the gap in one paragraph
Identify precisely what you asked for and what you received. "I requested five categories; the response addressed one" is reviewable. "They are stonewalling me" is not.
- 4Identify the specific defect
Name it: inadequate search, no exemption log, no segregability analysis, improper exemption, failure to respond in time, or a response that answers a different question than the one asked.
- 5Say what you want
Ask for a specific outcome — production of the identified categories, an itemized exemption index, or a certification of what was searched.
- 6Submit and preserve proof
Send it in writing and keep the transmission record. Note the date; the review process is not fast.
What the Record Shows
- Two requests for review were transmitted on July 29, 2026 in this matter, both preserved with authenticated mailbox confirmation. See the five confirmed sends.
- Filing a request for review is not a ruling. This archive labels such filings as sent, never as decided — see the editorial standard.