Open Illinois.org

An audit of the Schaumburg Township area in Northwestern Cook County revealed only 4 of 17 local government agencies graded received a passing grade on basic online transparency guidelines.

Although promising the public would have five days to look at every bill online before signing it into law, Obama has signed the health care bill just 36 hours after it passed the House.

Check out the video.…

Good news from Springfield yesterday: The House passed legislation to create the Illinois Sunshine Commission (HB4836), which would create a commission “to conduct a thorough review of the relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness of each “State executive branch program.”

Rep. …

USA Today highlights yet another good reason for government spending transparency:

Average federal salaries exceed average private-sector pay in 83% of comparable occupations.

Citizens want transparent government for many reasons, and being able to easily review government salaries – at …

The Quincy Herald Whig reports Alderman Paul Havermale, R-3, has initiated talks about bringing more transparency to city government in Quincy, “asking city officials to consider some steps to increase “transparency” in city government.” 

Havermale remarked, “With as …

The January 2010 deadline has come and gone, yet we still don’t see legislators’ salary information posted on the state’s Illinois Accountability Portal.

If you’re interested in seeing salary information for all state employees — benefits data included — …

Rep. Renee Kosel introduced legislation (HB5483) which would amend the current Open Meetings Act and require “a public body to make proposed minutes of an open meeting available for public inspection within 8 business days after the meeting …

Prompting bad precedent?

The Chicago Tribune’s Clout St. Street reports:

The Illinois Senate plans to meet behind closed doors this morning to hear a presentation by experts about state budgets and the national economy, a move that open government advocates

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After passing a transparency resolution about a year ago, Cook County has posted its check registry online and appears to be embracing spending transparency policy, describing their move as an “Open County Initiative,” which is  “part of Cook …

Batman, car racing, and giant tubs for bass fishing…see what we found in our 2010 Piglet Book, detailing some of the wasteful spending going on in Illinois.

Highlights include:

• $6,500 for a tub of live bass. The state paid

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