Bill Text: MS HB1067 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Transparency Mississippi website; revise to include certain information on officials, ethics, audits, contracts, lobbying, FOIA and taxes.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2020-03-03 - Died In Committee [HB1067 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2020-HB1067-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency; Appropriations
By: Representative Owen
House Bill 1067
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 27-104-155, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE TRANSPARENCY MISSISSIPPI WEBSITE TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO INCLUDE CERTAIN INFORMATION ON ELECTED OFFICIALS, APPOINTED ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICIALS, ETHICS, AUDITS, CONTRACTS, LOBBYING, THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AND TAXES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 27-104-155, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-104-155. (1) The
Department of Finance and Administration shall develop and operate a searchable
website that includes information on expenditures of state funds from all
funding sources, elected officials, appointed administrative officials,
ethics, audits, contracts, lobbying, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and
taxes. The website shall have a unique and simplified website address * * * and an easy-to-understand interface, and
all of the information on the website shall be in "plain English,"
well-organized, easy-to-navigate and without tedious plug-in downloads. * * * The department shall require each agency
that maintains a generally accessible Internet site or for which a generally
accessible Internet site is maintained to include a link on the front page of
the agency's Internet site to the searchable website required under this
section and to include the contact information for the person who handles
the FOIA requests for the agency. The department shall post all open meeting
laws and shall require each agency to post notices about public meetings,
minutes of past meetings, a meeting schedule, if any, and meeting agendas for
past and future meetings.
(a) With regard to disbursement of funds, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) The name and principal location of the entity or recipients of the funds, excluding release of information relating to an individual's place of residence, the identity of recipients of state or federal assistance payments, and any other information deemed confidential by state or federal law relating to privacy rights;
(ii) The amount of state funds expended;
(iii) A descriptive purpose of the funding action or expenditure;
(iv) The funding source of the expenditure;
(v) The budget program or activity of the expenditure;
(vi) The specific source of authority and descriptive purpose of the expenditure, to include a link to the funding authorization document(s) in a searchable PDF form;
(vii) The specific source of authority for the expenditure including, but not limited to, a grant, subgrant, contract, or the general discretion of the agency director, provided that if the authority is a grant, subgrant or contract, the website entry shall include a grant, subgrant or contract number or similar information that clearly identifies the specific source of authority. The information required under this paragraph includes data relative to tax exemptions and credits;
(viii) The expending agency;
(ix) The type of transaction;
(x) The expected performance outcomes achieved for the funding action or expenditure;
(xi) Links to any state audit or report relating to the entity or recipient of funds or the budget program or activity or agency; and
(xii) Any other information deemed relevant by the Department of Finance and Administration.
(b) When the expenditure of state funds involves the expenditure of bond proceeds, the searchable website must include a clear, detailed description of the purpose of the bonds, a current status report on the project or projects being financed by the bonds, and a current status report on the payment of the principal and interest on the bonds.
(c) The searchable website must include access to an electronic summary of each grant, including amendments; subgrant, including amendments; contract, including amendments; and payment voucher that includes, wherever possible, a hyperlink to the actual document in a searchable PDF format, subject to the restrictions in paragraph (d) of this subsection. The Department of Finance and Administration may cooperate with other agencies to accomplish the requirements of this paragraph.
(d) With regard to the information of elected officials, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) Contact information;
(ii) Term of office;
(iii) Date of next election;
(iv) Voting record;
(v) Party affiliation;
(vi) Any existing laws or rules on conflicts of interest; and
(vii) Committee appointments, if any.
(e) With regard to the information of appointed administrative officials, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) Contact information;
(ii) Term of office;
(iii) Governing boards;
(iv) By laws for agencies;
(v) Party affiliation; and
(vi) Any existing laws or rules on conflicts of interest.
(f) With regard to the ethics information, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) Ethics commission guidelines for ethical behavior of state officials;
(ii) Process for reporting ethics violation;
(iii) Status of current investigations; and
(iv) Results of investigations.
(g) With regard to the audit information, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) Status of regular audits of state agencies and departments, including the Governor and the Legislature;
(ii) Audit results;
(iii) Schedule of all financial audits; and
(iv) Performance audits for state programs.
(h) With regard to the contract information, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) Laws governing contracts;
(ii) Bids and contracts for purchases over Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00); and
(iii) Vendor campaign contributions and the vendor contract.
(i) With regard to the lobbying information, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) State-paid lobbying activity;
(ii) Database of registered lobbyists;
(iii) Agency lobbying contracts; and
(iv) All grants given to nonprofit organizations, the reason for the grant and a contact person in the nonprofit responsible for oversight of the grant.
(j) With regard to the FOIA information, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) FOIA contact person for every agency and department, to be located in a centralized location on the website; and
(ii) Annual compliance survey performed that measures the number of FOIAs submitted, the number of FOIAs fulfilled, the average time for compliance and the reasons for denials.
(k) With regard to the tax information, the website shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) All tax information, including fees; and
(ii) All sources of revenue for any agency.
( * * *l) Nothing in Sections 27-104-151
through 27-104-159 shall permit or require the disclosure of trade secrets or
other proprietary information, including confidential vendor information, or
any other information that is required to be confidential by state or federal
law.
( * * *m) The information available from the
searchable website must be updated no later than fourteen (14) days after the
receipt of data from an agency, and the Department of Finance and
Administration shall require each agency to provide to the department access to
all data that is required to be accessible from the searchable website within
fourteen (14) days of each expenditure, grant award, including amendments;
subgrant, including amendments; or contract, including amendments; executed by
the agency.
( * * *n) The searchable website must include
all information required by this section for all transactions that are
initiated in fiscal year 2015 or later. In addition, all information that is
included on the searchable website from the date of the inception of the
website until July 1, 2014, must be maintained on the website according to the
requirements of this section before July 1, 2014, and remain accessible for ten
(10) years from the date it was originally made available. All data on the
searchable website must remain accessible to the public for a minimum of ten
(10) years.
( * * *o)
For the purposes of this subsection (1), the term "contract"
includes, but is not limited to, personal and professional services contracts.
(2) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall create the IHL Accountability and Transparency website to include its executive office and the institutions of higher learning no later than July 1, 2012. This website shall:
(a) Provide access to existing financial reports, financial audits, budgets and other financial documents that are used to allocate, appropriate, spend and account for appropriated funds;
(b) Have a unique and simplified website address;
(c) Be directly accessible via a link from the main page of the Department of Finance and Administration website, as well as the IHL website and the main page of the website of each institution of higher learning;
(d) Include other links, features or functionality that will assist the public in obtaining and reviewing public financial information;
(e) Report expenditure information currently available within these enterprise resource planning (ERP) computer systems; and
(f) Design the reporting format using the existing capabilities of these ERP computer systems.
(3) The Mississippi Community College Board shall create the Community and Junior Colleges Accountability and Transparency website to include its executive office and the community and junior colleges no later than July 1, 2012. This website shall:
(a) Provide access to existing financial reports, financial audits, budgets and other financial documents that are used to allocate, appropriate, spend and account for appropriated funds;
(b) Have a unique and simplified website address;
(c) Be directly accessible via a link from the main page of the Department of Finance and Administration website, as well as the Mississippi Community College Board website and the main page of the website of each community and junior college;
(d) Include other links, features or functionality that will assist the public in obtaining and reviewing public financial information;
(e) Report expenditure information currently available within the computer system of each community and junior college; and
(f) Design the reporting format using the existing capabilities of the computer system of each community and junior college.
(4) Not later than January 1, 2016, the owner or owners of a community hospital, as defined in Section 41-13-10, shall create and maintain an accountability and transparency website for the community hospital or set up a separate section for the community hospital on the current website of the owner or owners. This website of the community hospital or section of the website of the owner or owners shall:
(a) Provide access to existing financial reports, financial audits, budgets and other financial documents of the community hospital that are used to allocate, appropriate, spend and account for public funds;
(b) Have a unique and simplified website address if it is a new website for the community hospital, or be an easily accessible section of the website of the owner or owners;
(c) Include links, features or functionality that will assist the public in obtaining and reviewing public financial information of the community hospital;
(d) Report expenditure information of the community hospital in functional expenditure categories that is currently available within the computer system of the community hospital; and
(e) Design the reporting format using the existing capabilities of the computer system or systems of the owner or owners of the community hospital.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.
