Open Illinois.org

A single, unified website serves as a valuable resource for not only citizens, but also for policy makers and elected officials from both sides of the political aisle. For examples of successful transparency sites in other states, please see our full transparency policy brief.

• Transparency reform would inject much-needed sunshine into Illinois government while encouraging more efficient spending.

• States around the nation continue moving towards full online transparency, creating low-cost, successful solutions with wide, popular, bipartisan support.

• The State of Illinois should continually work towards improving its transparency site, http://accountability.illinois.gov, and provide comprehensive, up-to-date information — a program that will serve as a win-win for both legislators and citizens.

ALREADY PUBLIC INFORMATION

Taxpayers, communities and newspapers already have the right to see public budget information and can obtain it through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request. However, as anyone who has made a FOIA request knows, the inefficient and paper-heavy process does not make it easy to find the right information. By posting everything online, basic transparency gets rid of the unnecessary steps involved with FOIA and lets people go right to the source. This makes life simpler for all parties involved – including the government.

Transparency offers a simple, effective, low-cost tool to put the government back on track and back into the hands of the citizens government ought to serve.

Implementing transparency at all levels of government, whether in school districts, park districts, county government, or the state, does not demand great effort; it demands basic respect for communities and taxpayers funding government operation.

A Complete Transparency Website for Taxpayers Should Include:

1. The amount, date, authorizer, payer, and payee of all expenditures

2. Details and purpose of payment, including check numbers

a. All contracts, agreements, and grants

b. All vendors used and the contracts pertaining to those vendors

At a Minimum, the Site Must Allow Users To:

1. Search and aggregate funding by any element of the information

2. Ascertain through a single search the total amount of funding awarded to a person, group, or

organization

3. Download information yielded by a search of the database