Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie is pushing for greater transparency in state government this year. The House Minority Leader filed legislation to ensure that legislative proceedings are available to the public, including audio and video recordings of all committee hearings in the General Assembly. Under her bill, those resources would be available to the public for 30 days.
“A lack of transparency leads to a lack of trust,” said McCombie. “Illinois residents should be able to follow the legislative process either in real time or after hearings take place. There is no reason that a government that works for the people should keep anything that directly impacts them behind closed doors.”
The lack of transparency in government proceedings has been a tipping point for McCombie, especially during the latter months of spring session when the state budget is presented and debated—often in the middle of the night.
The House Minority leader sees her legislation as a commonsense step toward increasing public trust in government, especially as 44 other states already have public access for their legislative hearings.
“This isn’t something Illinois should be lagging behind on,” continued McCombie. “With Democratic leaders already committing their support, I expect this bill to be a bipartisan unanimous agreement.”
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon signaled their support in written letters to the Better Government Association last month, with the House Speaker calling it “not only a reasonable request but also a transformative one.”
McCombie’s bill, HB4383, will now proceed through the legislative process. The House of Representatives will resume legislative session on February 17th.