Illinois legislation that would create a more transparent, all-in-one Web portal where the public can view all state spending is on its way to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.

House Bill 35 passed out of the Illinois Senate, 54-0, Friday afternoon without any floor debate. It moved with similar ease in the Illinois House last month.

The legislation is designed to create a central location for easy public access to state expenditures, tax credits, state contracts, and state employee salaries.

Lawmakers say the searchable online database also could help

encourage the elimination of wasteful spending and pay-to-play corruption.

“It’s about time,” said state Sen. Pamela Althoff, R-McHenry. “There’s been a drastic shift in philosophy under the new administration. This kind of now seems like an afterthought, whereas two years ago, the [Gov. Rod Blagojevich] administration had tried to stop everything in moving forward with this legislation.”

The Illinois chapter of Americans for Prosperity and state Rep. Mike Tryon together had crafted the bill, which fought frequent opposition before Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal from office earlier this year.

Tryon said he expected the system – named the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal, or ITAP – to be up and running within about a year.

“I think it’s a great, giant step forward for the beginning of reform,” said Tryon, R-Crystal Lake. “I think we will continue to add to it in the future.”

Tryon compared the portal to a few other state government-related ones across the country, such as SeeThroughNY and Kentucky’s Open Door. However, unlike the latter, ITAP will post state employee salaries to the Web.

“This will go a long way in gender discrimination because all of those dollars will be online,” Tryon said. “It’ll also go a long way with keeping patronage in check.”

The portal will be sorted by recipient and by representative district.

If signed into law, it must be established by the state Department of Central Management Services by Jan. 1, 2011.

Read article here

You may also like

State’s Growing Budget Hole Threatens NYC Jobs and Aid as Congress Takes a Holiday

“The biggest problem for the state is the enormous, recurring structural budget gap starting next year and into the future,” said E.J. McMahon of the conservative-leaning Empire Center. “Cuomo clearly hopes that starting in 2021, (Democratic presidential candidate Joseph) Biden and a Democratic Congress will provide states and local government a couple of year’s worth of added stimulus. Read More

How Andrew Cuomo became ‘maybe the most powerful governor’ in U.S.

Ed McKinley ALBANY — When the New York Constitution was reorganized nearly 100 years ago to give the governor more power over the budget process,  noted there was a risk of making “the governor a czar." M Read More

Study disputes Cuomo on Trump tax package; experts say it’s complicated

Michael Gormley ALBANY — A new study by a conservative think tank says President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law gave most New Yorkers a tax cut, even as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo insists on repealing the measure because he says it will cost New Yo Read More

Empire Center sues Department of Health over nursing home records

Johan Sheridan ALBANY, N.Y. () — The Empire Center filed a  against the state Department of Health on Friday. “This case isn’t about assigning blame or embarrassing political leaders,” said Bill Hammond, the Empire Center’s Read More

Good news: That New York pork isn’t going out the door after all

The Empire Center first reported Tuesday that grants — 226 of them, totaling $46 million, to recipients selected by the governor and individual state lawmakers — seemed to still be going ahead. Read More

New York Lawmakers Seek Independent Probe of Nursing-Home Coronavirus Deaths

With lingering questions about how the novel coronavirus killed thousands of New Yorkers who lived in nursing homes, a group of state lawmakers is pushing to create an independent commission to get answers from the state Department of Health. Read More

Policy analyst: Cuomo wrong to write-off nursing home criticism as political conspiracy

“The importance of discussing this and getting the true facts out is to understand what did and didn’t happen so we can learn from it in case this happens again,” Hammond said. Read More

EDITORIAL: Nursing home report requires a second opinion

No doubt, the Health Department and the governor would like this report to be the final word on the subject. But if it’s all the same with them, we’d still like a truly independent review. Read More