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 ...

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 20: A sign hangs outside of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge on January 20, 2023 in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Salaries and bonuses for Chicago police ...

It is no secret that Illinois is home to the greatest number of government units in the nation, nearly 7,000. Following the passage of Senate Bill 3 in the summer of 2017, which made the process of ...

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 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 ...

The creation of a new City of Chicago Office of Public Safety Administration (PSA) in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s inaugural budget for fiscal year 2020, which the mayor’s office announced as a cost-saving ...

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 ...

Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz about something called ranked choice voting. Instead of marking their ballots for just one candidate, voters are asked to rank two or three or more, with the winner ...

Mayor Brandon Johnson released his proposed 2025 budget for the City of Chicago on Wednesday, Oct. 30. As in previous years, BGA Policy will release a series of department-specific budget snapshots ...

Chair Kifowit, Vice Chair Rohr, Rep. Reick, members of the committee: Thank you for the invitation to speak today about one of the most important issues facing our state: How to reinvest in our ...

The Chicago City Council passed a “snap” curfew ordinance on June 18 that allows the superintendent to impose short-notice curfews. Two days later, Mayor Brandon Johnson issued the first veto in 19 ...

The Chicago Police Department is the city’s largest department both in headcount and in overall funds appropriated, with nearly three times the positions budgeted as the next-largest Chicago Fire ...