It sounds simple enough, but “public” still doesn’t mean “public” – at least not in Illinois, it seems.

When the new Illinois Freedom of Information Act was implemented at the beginning of this year, it was a major victory for transparency. Price caps on requested documents, a five-day response deadline (down from a seven-day deadline) and fines for institutions who failed to comply strengthened the law. The added role of the Public Access Counselor (PAC) was put in place to help shed light on a state that was still darkened by corruption.

But nearly a year later, it’s hard to ignore the fact that transparency isn’t as clear as it seems. In the spring session, the legislature voted to exempt public employee performance evaluations from disclosure, a move blocked by Gov. Quinn. Other bills aimed at the FOIA have targeted price limits and sought to restrict documents on issues still “under investigation.”

Then there are the deadlines.

Public bodies have a five-day deadline to respond to requests for public documents. But that can often be a ten-day deadline because public bodies can invoke extensions. The time between filing a request and receiving documents might be at least two weeks — unless the records are denied or the body asks for a review from the counselor.

In that case, well, it’s hard to say exactly what happens.

According to the guide to the PAC, the PAC will issue an opinion “within 60 calendar days after receiving the Request for Review from the requester. The PAC may extend the 60-day time period by 21 working days by sending a written notice to the requester and the public body.”

All of those days start to add up quickly.

Which is great, if you’re an Illinois public official or public body with something to hide. Especially if the person requesting it intends to publish that information so that anyone can read it. If we sound paranoid, think about the admissions scandal that ended in two of the University’s top leaders resigning – a scandal that went public after the Chicago Tribune fought hard for the University to fulfill a Freedom of Information request for the documents.

We would love if all “public” information was exactly that. But it’s not, and that means Illinois needs to go back to the drawing board.

Whether it’s bulking up the PAC’s staff to get requests answered faster, increasing repercussions for public bodies that fail to respond or rewriting the law entirely, something needs to be done.

No, not all documents requested should really be handed over. Privacy is still important. And some of the requests that take a long time to work through the system need that long to be sorted through. But public information that has no legitimate reason to be held back should be available as soon as possible to anyone who wants it.

A legacy of shady Illinois politics should be enough to scare us into the sunshine.