Campaign & Ethics Reform

Chicago, April 13 – Illinois got a “B” when it comes to openness about government spending, according to FOLLOWING THE MONEY: How the 50  States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data”(Illinoispirg.org), released on Tuesday.

“The good news is that Illinois has become far more transparent about where the money goes,” said Celeste Meiffren, Field Director at Illinois PIRG. “Even so, Illinois still has a lot of room for improvement and given the current severity of our budget problems, more should be done so Illinoisans can be confident they can follow the money.”

FOLLOWING THE MONEY found that 32 states provide an online database of government expenditures with “checkbook-level” detail. The best state transparency tools are highly searchable, and include detailed information about government contracts, tax subsidies and special grants to businesses.

A reason for high marks is the state of Illinois’ Corporate Accountability Project which tracks grants given to companies for job creation – and provides yearly reports signed by the companies of how many jobs were actually created.

States with top-flight transparency websites are saving money, restoring public confidence in government, and preventing misspending and pay-to-play contracts. States that have created online transparency have done so with little upfront cost. 

The leading states with the most open spending are: Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Missouri and Pennsylvania. 

“This report shows that many states are getting impressive results from making contracts and subsidies more transparent. Illinois should stay in the lead,” added Meiffren.

Though Illinois has made significant progress, Illinois PIRG called on Governor Quinn to consider the following improvements:

·       Detailed summary information of contracts, as a step toward providing full searchable text of government contracts;

·       Prior years’ contracts and expenditures for comparison and to identify trends;

·       Links to the state’s Web site that tracks federal funds flowing through Illinois as a result of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Following-the-Money---Illinois-PIRG-Education-Fund.pdf