Quinn signs budget transparency legislation

Today, Gov. Pat Quinn signed two pieces of legislation that result in greater budget transparency. The bills – House Bill 2947 and House Bill 2955 – which have both passed out of the Illinois General Assembly, mandate that the governor’s office posts the Illinois state budget online, and specifically identifies if there a budget surplus or a deficit within...

Today, Gov. Pat Quinn signed two pieces of legislation that result in greater budget transparency. The bills – House Bill 2947 and House Bill 2955 – which have both passed out of the Illinois General Assembly, mandate that the governor’s office posts the Illinois state budget online, and specifically identifies if there a budget surplus or a deficit within each fiscal year.

Prior to the passage of this budget transparency package, citizens were left in the dark regarding details of the state’s budget – specific budget details were only accessible to political insiders. The signing of this legislation is a step toward openness and transparency, and finally allows citizens a detailed look into the way the state is spending money.

This access is much-needed, since the Illinois General Assembly increased spending for fiscal year 2014 to more than $35.4 billion, up approximately $2 billion from what was approved for the previous fiscal year.

In 2011 lawmakers passed a record 67 percent tax hike. The increased personal income tax rate is legally required to sunset to 3.75 percent in January 2015 from the current 5 percent. But lawmakers failed to implement any of the reforms necessary to prepare for the legally required tax-hike sunset in 2015.

Lawmakers should take action to ensure that the state reduces spending to make this sunset a reality.

The Illinois Policy Institute has laid out a plan to reform and modernize the way the state of Illinois budgets and spends taxpayer resources. These changes will certainly be difficult, but Illinois is worth fighting for.