Bill Text: IL HB4241 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Open Illinois Checkbook Act. Requires the Comptroller to establish and maintain a publicly accessible database to be known as the "Open Illinois Checkbook" for the purpose of showing all of the expenditures made from any State fund. Provides further requirements for the establishment, use, and operation of the Open Illinois Checkbook. Defines terms. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HB4241 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-HB4241-Introduced.html

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100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2017 and 2018 HB4241 Introduced , by Rep. David McSweeney SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
Creates the Open Illinois Checkbook Act. Requires the Comptroller to establish and maintain a publicly accessible database to be known as the "Open Illinois Checkbook" for the purpose of showing all of the expenditures made from any State fund. Provides further requirements for the establishment, use, and operation of the Open Illinois Checkbook. Defines terms. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning State government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Open
Illinois Checkbook Act.
Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Expenditure" means any payment, disbursement, or purchase
made by a State entity.
"State entity" means the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches of the State of Illinois, including its
departments, divisions, agencies, constitutional offices,
public bodies, and public universities. The term does not
include units of local government, school districts, or
community colleges.
"Vendor" means a person or entity that sells, leases, or
otherwise provides goods and services to any State entity and
receives reimbursement from that State entity for the goods or
services provided.
Section 10. Open Illinois Checkbook.
(a) No more than 6 months after the effective date of this
Act of the 100th General Assembly, the Comptroller shall
establish and maintain a publicly accessible database to be

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known as the "Open Illinois Checkbook" for the purpose of
showing all of the expenditures made from any State fund. The
Open Illinois Checkbook shall be maintained within the Internet
website operated by the Office of the Comptroller, and access
shall be free and open to the public. All relevant State
entities, including, but not limited to, the Department of
Innovation and Technology, shall consult with the Comptroller
in the establishment of the Open Illinois Checkbook and the
fulfillment of the requirements of this Act.
(b) Each entry in the Open Illinois Checkbook shall at a
minimum contain the following information categories, which
shall be searchable by the user by individual category or
multiple categories per search:
(1)the amount of the expenditure;
(2) the date the expenditure was paid;
(3) the vendor to which the expenditure was paid;
(4) the State entity that made the expenditure; and
(5) the salaries of each State employee.
The Comptroller may, by administrative rule, provide
additional information categories to be searchable by users
under this subsection (b).
(c) The Open Illinois Checkbook shall allow users
downloadable access to the following information:
(1) access to a searchable database of all
expenditures;
(2) access to each expense category of the State,

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including the Comptroller accounting code, if any, for a
specific class of good or service;
(3) access to aggregated classes of expenditure data;
and
(4) access to the total expenditures paid to a specific
State vendor or State employee.
The Comptroller may, by administrative rule, provide
access to additional information to be downloadable by users
under this subsection (c).
(d) The Comptroller shall develop and publish graphical
representations of data contained in the Open Illinois
Checkbook for the purpose of enhancing and organizing the data
therein. The Comptroller shall determine the format of these
graphical representations by administrative rule.
(e) The Comptroller shall accept comments from the public
on the Open Illinois Checkbook and its implementation, and
shall publish an annual selection of these comments. The
selection shall reflect public opinion that both praises and
criticizes the implementation. Nothing in this subsection (e)
shall require the Comptroller to publish public comments that
are obscene or otherwise irrelevant to the subject of the Open
Illinois Checkbook.
(f) The Comptroller shall not be required to publish in the
Open Illinois Checkbook any expenditure that is confidential
under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. The
Comptroller and his or her employees shall be legally protected

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from liability concerning the inadvertent disclosure of a
confidential record that was posted despite its eligibility to
be kept confidential under the Freedom of Information Act.
(g) No later than the 10th day of each month, each State
entity shall convey expenditure information to the Comptroller
for inclusion in the Open Illinois Checkbook concerning
expenditures made by that State entity during the preceding
month. Each State entity required to convey information to the
Comptroller under this subsection (g) shall also provide a link
on its Internet website to the Open Illinois Checkbook.
(h) No later than March 31 of each year, the Comptroller
shall report on the implementation and the performance of the
requirements of this Act, including statistics on data made
available and frequency of public usage. The report shall be
made available to the public, and copies of the report shall be
delivered to the Governor, the President and Minority Leader of
the Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives, and the Secretary of State in his or her
capacity as the Illinois State Librarian.
(i) The Comptroller shall adopt any administrative rules
necessary for the implementation and enforcement of this Act
under the provisions of the Illinois Administrative Procedure
Act.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.