Changes to FOIA and OMA Effective January 1, 2026

Public Act 104-0438, signed by Governor Pritzker on November 21, 2025, makes various changes to the Open Meetings Act, the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), and the Local Records Act:

Changes to the Open Meetings Act

• Effective January 1, 2026, a public body may no longer hold a meeting on an election day. If a public body’s regular meeting date falls on election day, the meeting must be rescheduled. Regular meetings may still be held on holidays when the public body’s regular meeting date coincides with a holiday.
• Township officials who are required to receive Open Meetings Act training pursuant to the Act may now satisfy this requirement by “completing a course of training sponsored or conducted by an organization that represents townships created under the Township Code.” Previously, Township officials could only satisfy the training requirement by completing a course of training offered by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
• Public bodies may now move into a closed session meeting for the purpose of discussing self-evaluations, practices, procedures or professional ethics when meeting with a representative of a regional association of which the public body is a member. Previously this exception had been limited to discussions with state-wide associations.
• Remote meeting participation is now permitted for members of a public body who are unable to attend a meeting due to active military service. Previously, the reasons a member of the public body could participate remotely were limited to: (i) personal illness, (ii) employment purposes or business of the public body, (iii) a family or other emergency, or (iv) unexpected childcare obligations. Public bodies wishing to allow members to take advantage of this new exception should amend their remote attendance policy to include it.

Changes to the Freedom of Information Act

• In reaction to heightened cybersecurity concerns, electronic FOIA requests (such as those sent via email) must now appear within the body of the electronic submission—citizens may no longer email a PDF document containing a FOIA request. If the public body receives a FOIA request that would require the recipient to click an external hyperlink or open an email attachment, the public body must, within 5 days, notify the requester that they are required to submit their request in the body of the electronic submission.
• If a public body has a reasonable belief that a request has been submitted by artificial intelligence (i.e., not by a person), it may require the requestor to verify that they are a person within 5 days of receiving the request. Public bodies, however, may not require requesters to submit personal information, private information, or identifying information to prove the requester is a person. The requestor has 30 days to verify they are a person. If they fail to do so within this timeframe, the public body may deny the request.
• “Junk mail” is no longer a public record subject to production under FOIA or retention under the Local Records Act. FOIA defines “junk mail” as “(i) any unsolicited commercial mail sent to a public body and not responded to by an official, employee, or agent of the public body or (ii) any unsolicited commercial electronic communication sent to a public body and not responded to by an official, employee, or agent of the public body.”
• As of January 1, 2026, public bodies with websites are only required to post certain information required by FOIA (such as a brief description of the public body, and a brief description of where the public may request information and records) online, instead of at its administrative offices.
• Officers and employees who disclose records pursuant to an opinion by the Illinois Attorney General’s office are now expressly immune from liability that may result. Previously, FOIA stated merely that the public body was immune.

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Public bodies should review their policies to ensure they align with these changes to the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Please contact one of our attorneys if you have questions regarding this Act or its impact on your public body’s operations.