Open Illinois.org

Small efforts in bringing more transparency to government can make a big difference. Across Illinois, both small and large organizations are joining the movement for open books and better government. The College of DuPage, the largest single-campus community college in the Midwest with an annual budget of nearly $140 million, posts its check register online. Other, smaller school districts, like Huntley D158, Carpentersville D300, and Elmhurst D205 understand how posting a check register benefits both the school and community.

The Village of Golf, a small community with an equally small staff, just implemented transparency as part of Village Board policy. The Wheaton Park District also decided to become transparent. All other school districts, park districts, county boards, and village boards – any body operating off tax dollars – can do the same, and should.

The Illinois Accountability Portal, HB 4765, would achieve what we’re proposing on a statewide level. The Illinois House of Representatives passed transparency legislation by a 108-0 margin in the Spring 2008 session, but the measure has stalled in the Senate.

In 2006, President Bush signed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act into law, co-sponsored by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). Kansas, the first state to enact transparency legislation, created a website detailing all state expenditures. Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Hawaii, South Carolina and Missouri have, or in the process of, implementing transparency legislation.