The Comptroller of Illinois is an elected official of the U.S. state of Illinois. They are responsible for maintaining the State's fiscal accounts, and for ordering payments into and out of them. The office was created by the Illinois Constitution of 1970, replacing the office of Auditor of Public Accounts. The Comptroller of Illinois was Judy Baar Topinka, a member of the Republican Party first elected in 2010 and subsequently re-elected in 2014 to a second four-year term. However, Topinka died unexpectedly in December 2014. On December 19, Governor Pat Quinn appointed Jerry Stermer to succeed Topinka, to serve until January 12, 2015, when he was replaced by Leslie Munger, who was appointed by Quinn's successor as governor, Bruce Rauner. Munger was then defeated by Susana Mendoza in 2016 to fill the remainder of the term through 2018.
Duties
The Comptroller is charged, by the terms of Section 17 of Article V of the Constitution of Illinois, with the duties of: maintaining the central fiscal accounts of the state, and ordering payments into and out of the funds held by the Treasurer of Illinois. In accordance with this duty, the Comptroller signs paychecks or grants approval to electronic payments made by the state to its employees and creditors. The Comptroller is also charged, by Illinois statute, with certain additional duties. In particular, the Comptroller regulates cemeteries under the Cemetery Care Act, and is charged with the fiduciary protection of cemetery care funds used for the care and maintenance of Illinois gravesites. The Illinois Constitution provides that the comptroller must, at the time of his or her election, be a United States citizen, at least 25 years old, and a resident of the state for at least 3 years preceding the election. The Comptroller is fourth in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Illinois. The Comptroller's office operates a web page describing the office's powers and duties.
Merger proposals
Some legislators have perceived a redundancy overlap between the offices of Comptroller and Treasurer, and have therefore proposed constitutional amendments to merge the two offices and earn administrative savings. For example, HJRCA 12, considered by the Illinois General Assembly in the 2008-2009 session, would merge the office of Comptroller into the office of Treasurer. In 2011, Comptroller Topinka and the Treasurer, Dan Rutherford, introduced legislation to allow voters to decide whether the offices should be merged. The legislation was opposed by Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and did not become law.
