Open Illinois.org

Have you ever needed to call a state agency and been torn about which one you should call?  Or have you ever called the agency you were sure you needed only to be told you need to call a different agency? You are not alone.

Illinois currently has 76 state agencies.  With such a high number, there is sure to be overlap and miscommunication between agencies. This makes it more difficult for Illinoisans to find the resources they need.

In order to prevent government redundancy and waste Illinois should consider integration of agencies that provide similar services.

Here are just a few ideas for agency, department and board integration or reorganization.

• Department of Health Care and Family Services, and Department of Children and Family Services: To more efficiently run these programs, the state could integrate child support division of the DHCFS into the DCFS. Health care programs in Illinois are so broad that they should be run by a department that is charged only with that issue and no others.
• Board of Education, Board of Higher Education, and Illinois Community College Board: These boards can all be integrated in to one Board of Education with various subdivisions for different levels of education. Not only will this make the departments more efficient, but it will create a better environment to for the boards to work together.
• Human Rights Commission and Department of Human Rights: The Department investigates and the Commission adjudicates.  These departments could be run more efficiently (especially cost wise) if they were under one system that was able to better to filter out extraneous cases.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Much more could be done to support accountability and transparency by not only integrating departments, but reorganizing and streamlining within each department.