Over the past three months, the Illinois Policy Institute has been working with 16 government entities in Lyons Township to the implement transparency best-practices as part of our local government transparency project. The Institute just completed a second round of audits on the local governments; this is an important benchmark for checking progress. You can see the...
by Mark Cavers Over the past three months, the Illinois Policy Institute has been working with 16 government entities in Lyons Township to the implement transparency best-practices as part of our local government transparency project. The Institute just completed a second round of audits on the local governments; this is an important benchmark for checking progress. You...
by Mark Cavers Last week, Governor Quinn signed into law the Tax Disclosure Act, which instructs the Department of Revenue to provide information on all state and local taxes in a single, central online database. Under this law, citizens will be able to see every tax they pay with just a few clicks of the mouse....
by Aon Hussain Earlier this year, the Texas Transportation Institute measured traffic congestion across America. Their results found that Chicago has the most debilitating amount of traffic congestion in the entire country. The problem isn’t just local. In total, congestion cost the entire country almost $115 billion, forced travelers to sit behind the wheel 4.8 billion hours...
by Mark Cavers The Chicago Tribune reports that the City of Chicago has made progress in reigning in a traffic control aide program that is costing the city millions: “Fewer traffic control aides will be posted at downtown intersections during rush hour after the city laid off about half of Chicago’s full-time brigade to save money.”...
by Alex Miller Representative Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, took the House floor on Wednesday, fervently criticizing the lofty tax exemptions that Governor Quinn has granted to large corporations who have threatened to leave the state due to Illinois’s poor economic outlook. Franks insisted that he could not, in good conscience, watch so many millions fly into the hands of...
by Mark Cavers On Monday, the Chicago Tribune ran a story on the thousands of taxing districts and government bodies that are scattered across Illinois: “Illinois has the most units of government in the nation, and the Tribune acquired and combed through a list of each one — nearly 8,500 by the state comptroller’s count, from well-known...
CHICAGO (June 15, 2011) — The city of Evanston scored the highest of five Evanston-area governments in the latest leg of the Illinois Policy Institute’s “Local Transparency Project,” which grades governments on the availability to the public of vital community information. The city earned a score of 91.7 out of 100 possible points for making...
by Kristina Rasmussen PETA sent Gov. Quinn a letter echoing our request that he veto funding for the state’s Urban Fishing Program: I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 2 million members and supporters, including thousands across Illinois, to respectfully urge you to end state funding for the Illinois...
by Mark Cavers Mayor Rahm Emanuel has decided to put salary information for all 34,218 city of Chicago employees online for the public to see, analyze, and download. In the past, the information has been provided through news organizations and non-profits but this is the first time the data is available directly from the city. This level...
y Mark Cavers Today, the Associated Press reports that Governor Quinn has made another controversial appointment with his move to put former Representative Michael Smith on the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, complete with a salary of almost $100,000. Prior to voters’ decision to remove him from office last fall, Smith was a vocal advocate for Governor...
by Aon Hussain The Illinois Policy Institute’s Local Transparency Project aims to conduct a transparency audit of every taxing body in the state. Allowing citizens to attain information about government contracts, expenditures and municipal officials gives the public opportunities to highlight wasteful spending, prevent corruption, and improve the democratic system. Realizing the benefits of increased transparency, legislators...
by Alex Miller Today, businesses and jobs are leaving Illinois, thousands of students are trapped in underperforming schools, and the state unemployment rate is 8.7 percent. In such conditions, Democrats and Republicans alike should be calling on their state government to be responsible in determining where to allocate scarce state resources. Yet, during this present malaise of economic...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson In December, the Menard Correctional Center became infamous after theBelleville News-Democrat revealed almost $10 million in workers’ compensation paid out to more than half the staff of the facility. The high incident of workers’ compensation claims have prompted multiple investigations at the federal and state level, and the increased scrutiny of the claims has resulted in...