Illinois 104th General Assembly Status: Introduced 1 D cosponsors

HB5778      — FOIA-STUDENT COMMS

Last action — Referred to Rules Committee

  1. 1
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed House
  4. 4
    Passed Senate
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been introduced in the House. Introduced May 15, 2026. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee referral and hearing.

Odds of enactment

Low chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a low chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Not enough signal yet

Not enough signal yet to read this bill's trajectory — we surface a likelihood only once there's real movement (stage, sponsorship, committee, or votes) to point to.

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

In plain language

This bill exempts certain student communications from public disclosure under FOIA.

The bill amends the Freedom of Information Act to protect written communications about students between schools and families from being publicly disclosed. It provides exceptions based on existing educational privacy laws.

What this means for you
  • Families: Families of students can expect greater privacy for communications with educational institutions.

Summary

Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Exempts from inspection and copying under the Act written communication and attachments that pertain to a current or former student and that were sent between an educational institution and the student or between an educational institution and the student's parent or guardian, except if the Illinois School Student Records Act or the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act applies.

Bill Text

We don't have the full text on file for this bill yet.

Read HB5778 on the official Illinois source →

Action History

  1. Referred to Rules Committee

  2. First Reading

  3. Filed with the Clerk by Rep. Justin Cochran

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 182 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (182)

182 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 182 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

civil-rights education
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does HB5778      do?
Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Exempts from inspection and copying under the Act written communication and attachments that pertain to a current or former student and that were sent between an educational institution and the student or between an educational institution and the student's parent or guardian, except if the Illinois School Student Records Act or the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act applies.
Who sponsors HB5778     ?
HB5778      is sponsored by Justin Cochran (Democrat).
What is the current status of HB5778     ?
This bill has been introduced in the House. Introduced May 15, 2026. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
Where can I track HB5778     ?
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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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