Chicago’s budget for the 2026 fiscal year, enacted just before its Dec. 31st deadline, made history when it passed without the mayor’s support or approval. Mayor Brandon Johnson lacked the […] ...

Chicago taxpayers are on the hook for an average $93.6 million a year for legal judgments and settlements against the city. A Better Government Association policy team analysis found that after years ...

A unanimous Illinois Supreme Court ruling yesterday in a case called Chapman v. Chicago reverses a lower court’s ruling and blocks plaintiff Matt Chapman’s open records request for information from ...

For first-time watchers, Chicago’s City Council can seem incomprehensible. Most of the business is done in a routine, rapid-fire succession of votes and gavel raps, punctuated by repetitions of the ...

Chicago’s City Council allows public comment at all of its meetings, including meetings of its committees. There are multiple ways to submit public comment, but each has a specific application process ...

Departmental budgets for three of Chicago’s oversight agencies are not on their own sufficient to meet mandatory minimums described in law, a BGA Policy analysis of annual appropriations and related ...

A yearly Chicago ritual is about to begin. Oct. 16 marks the start of two weeks of budget hearings, when department heads will appear before City Council to take questions about their administrative ...

A BGA Policy analysis of the 16 county detention centers across Illinois has found that only three successfully have completed audits mandated by federal law to enforce protections against sexual ...

Our Policy Agenda: The Better Government Association policy team researches, drafts, supports and advocates for legislation that improves transparency, efficiency, equity and accountability in ...

Under Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act, there is a presumption that government records are open to the public. Body cam footage is an anomaly. Its availability is dictated by the Law Enforcement ...

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Chicago’s City Council is off to a slow start in 2023: Only about 40% of its time in session so far this year – or about two of every five hours between the opening and closing gavels– has been spent ...