The Treasurer of Illinois is an elected official of the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. The office was created by the

Constitution of Illinois The Constitution of the State of Illinois is the governing document of the state of Illinois. There have been four Illinois Constitutions; the fourth and current version was adopted in 1970. The current constitution is referred to as the "Constit ...

Current Occupant

The current Treasurer of Illinois is Democrat Mike Frerichs. He was first elected to head the State Treasury in 2014 in a close race with Republican Party candidate Tom Cross.

Duties of the Treasurer

The Treasurer is required by the State Constitution (Section 18 of Article V) to hold responsibility for the safekeeping and investment of the monies and securities deposited in the public funds of Illinois. The Treasurer is not the state's

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and finan ...

, a post reserved for a separate elected official, the

Illinois Comptroller The Comptroller of Illinois is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Illinois. Ten individuals have held the office of Comptroller since the enactment of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, replacing ...

.Section 18, Article V, "Constitution of Illinois", accessed April 12, 200

/ref> Rather, the Treasurer functions as the state's banker and investor. The Illinois Constitution provides that the treasurer 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 Treasurer is fifth (behind the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Lieutenant Governor,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, Secretary of State, and Comptroller, respectively) in the

line of succession An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by ...

. The Treasurer's office operates a web page describing the office's powers and duties."Dan Rutherford - Illinois State Treasurer", accessed January 25, 201
Illinois State Treasurer web page
/ref>

List of office holders

Proposals to merge with Comptroller

Some observers have perceived an overlap between the offices of Treasurer of Illinois and Comptroller of Illinois, and have therefore proposed constitutional amendments to merge the two offices and earn administrative savings. For example, HJRCA 14, considered by the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 18 ...

in 2007-2008, would have merged the two offices into the office of a single State Fiscal Officer."House Joint Resolution - Constitutional Amendment 14", accessed April 12, 200

/ref> In 2011, the incumbent Treasurer along with the Comptroller (also former Treasurer) Judy Baar Topinka 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 The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 rep ...

References

External links

Illinois State Treasurer's Office
{{Illinois statewide political officials 1818 establishments in Illinois Territory