Q. After filing a request for review with the Illinois Attorney General's Office, due to what I believed were unlawful redactions to a FOIA request, the AG agreed and determined that the Chicago government body improperly withheld certain information. It has been nearly four months since the AG's determination and yet the government body still refuses to provide the sought information. Is there any recourse that will not cost me a small fortune in attorney fees?
A. If the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor has issued an opinion ordering a public agency to produce records, the public agency may appeal the opinion to the circuit court. If the public agency does not appeal the opinion and fails to disclose the records as ordered by the opinion, the Attorney General’s office may sue the public agency to enforce the opinion. Thus, you might wish to notify the Attorney General’s office of the status of your request.