SANTA FE — On February 20, New Mexico’s House Energy and Natural Resources Committee gathered for one of its regular meetings in a drab room here at the capitol, a circular building known as the Roundhouse. On the agenda: a bill that would hike fees and penalties for energy companies drilling wells in the state.

The votes fell along party lines, with five Republicans lining up against the bill and the committee's Democratic majority voting to send the legislation to the House floor. The Republicans argued the bill would stifle business and cost jobs, and for one lawmaker, the issue hit particularly close to home. Rep. James Strickler spends most of the year running his own small oil and gas production company, JMJ Land & Minerals Co. The bill would directly affect his profits.

On October 26, 2011, the Illinois legislature passed a bill that authorized construction of a multi-billion-dollar smart grid and reshaped how utility companies seek approval for raising electricity rates. Consumer groups opposed the measure, saying it was a handout to utilities.

But the final blow for opponents came three months later when former state Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who had pushed the bill through the legislature only to resign after winning its passage, registered his own lobbying firm and signed his first clients. Prominent among them: Commonwealth Edison, one of the state’s largest utilities.

State integrity news for Illinois, from the Northwest Herald:

Two new laws will make it easier for Illinois taxpayers to review public-sector salaries and state tax breaks doled out to companies. Both bills, signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, require agencies to put the information online.

State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said he was happy that the bills – of which he is the chief sponsor – were signed into law Friday. “We need more sunshine at all levels of government, including the local levels,” Franks said.

Read the rest of the story at the Northwest Herald.

State integrity news for Illinois, from the Chicago Tribune:

Watch the lobbyists, lawyers and consultants swing through the House speaker's office door on any session day, many of whom hire his law firm to fight their property tax assessments or to provide "legal guidance." You don't need an ethics expert to deduce that something is very wrong in Illinois.

Legislative leaders who have private business interests should be required to disclose far more information about their moonlighting, so voters can judge what's a conflict.

Read the rest of the story at the Chicago Tribune.

Early last month, lawmakers in Iowa completed work on a new open records statute. Senate File 430 creates the Iowa Public Information Board, a nine-member commission charged with enforcing the state’s open records and meetings laws.

For good government advocates in the Hawkeye State, the new legislation was cause for celebration — sort of.

Indeed, there were smiles all around as Gov. Terry Branstad signed the law on May 3 in the ornate Capitol Building, surrounded by lawmakers and journalists — many of whom spent six years on the effort. And the law is undoubtedly a victory of sorts for open government in the state, where enforcement was spotty at best, divided among several local and state entities. If a citizen’s request for information was denied, the only option was to sue — a time-consuming and costly course of action. Now, the Board can investigate complaints and bring them to court on citizens’ behalf.

It all sounds good — except for the fine print.

State integrity news for Illinois, from the Chicago Sun-Times:

A proposal making its way through the General Assembly would make it easier for people to decide if they want to have a voice in government decision making.

Introduced by Glen Ellyn Republican Rep. Sandra Pihos and cosponsored by Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, House Bill 4687 would require posted meeting agendas to include enough information “to give the public reasonable notice of the items that will be considered or will be the subject of final action at the meeting,” the bill’s synopsis reads on the state website. Dillard noted that the point of mandated meeting notices is to encourage public involvement and boost transparency.

Read the rest of the story at the Chicago Sun-Times.

By Mark Cavers, Illinois Policy Institute

In fiscal year 2011, Illinois awarded more than $1.1 billion in grants to nonprofit organizations. Yet few know how exactly this money was used and whether it was used effectively. Why? Because information about state grants often is difficult or impossible for citizens, journalists and elected officials to obtain.

That’s why the Illinois Policy Institute is supporting a measure by state Sens. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) and Kirk Dillard (R-Westmont) to make Illinois’ outdated grant reporting process more transparent.

Illinois Senate Bill 3773 would require grant information to be posted online in a centralized location. A detailed online repository of how grant money is spent and what results are achieved would allow citizens, journalists and government employees to catch fraud and corruption at nonprofits that receive grants from the state.

State integrity news for Illinois, from the Chicago Tribune:

State lawmakers are poised to finally ban an oft-abused free college tuition program that's drawn the scrutiny of federal prosecutors, a push that comes as a new scholarship program is being offered as a bargaining chip to win votes for a long-stalled proposal to build a Downstate power plant.

Headed for the chopping block is the century-old legislative scholarship program that allows lawmakers to dole out free tuition to state schools. For decades, the Tribune and other news outlets have documented abuses where legislators awarded the scholarships to family members, children of political donors and students living outside their districts.

Read the rest of the story at the Chicago Tribune.

State integrity news for Illinois, from Illinois Statehouse News:

Northstar Lottery Group won a 2010 contract to manage the Illinois State Lottery that could enrich the firm by more than $300 million over five years, but a Franklin Center investigation has discovered that irregularities marred the state’s selection process.

GTECH, which owns 80 percent of Northstar, poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign fund that funneled $1.5 million to Gov. Pat Quinn’s 2010 campaign. Just six weeks before Election Day 2010, Quinn announced that Northstar would receive the lucrative contract to manage the lottery.

Read the rest of the story at Illinois Statehouse News.

State integrity news for Illinois, from the Chicago Tribune:

Convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich surrendered at a Colorado prison on Thursday to begin serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges, with TV news cameras tracking his every step. News cameras followed the former governor being driven from Denver's airport and walking into the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood, about 15 miles southwest of Denver, where he has been assigned inmate number 40892-424.

"Let the sentencing for Gov. Blagojevich be a clear warning to all elected officials that public corruption of any form will not be tolerated. Illinois families have long suffered from an estimated $500 million hidden corruption tax," Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk's office said in a statement.

Read the rest of the story at the Chicago Tribune.