Bill Text: MS HB1505 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Mississippi Accountability and Transparency Act; establish additional requirements for DFA's Web site on state spending.
Sponsorship: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 18-3)
Status: (Failed) 2010-02-02 - Died In Committee [HB1505 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2010-HB1505-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representatives Turner, Bondurant, Byrd, Carpenter, Chism, Denny, DuVall, Ellington, Formby, Gipson, Huddleston (15th), McGee, Monsour, Moore, Nowell, Palazzo, Pigott, Reed, Staples, Weathersby, Zuber
House Bill 1505
AN ACT TO MAKE VARIOUS REVISIONS TO THE MISSISSIPPI ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2008; TO CREATE NEW SECTION 27-104-152, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DECLARE LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT; TO AMEND SECTION 27-104-153, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DEFINE ADDITIONAL TERMS USED UNDER THE ACT; TO AMEND SECTION 27-104-155, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXPAND THE DATA REQUIRED TO BE MAINTAINED ON THE SEARCHABLE WEB SITE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION AND TO PRESCRIBE ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE WEB SITE; TO AMEND SECTION 27-104-157, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT TO ADD DATA FROM PREVIOUS FISCAL YEARS TO THE WEB SITE AND TO MAINTAIN DATA FOR A MINIMUM OF TEN YEARS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 27-104-152, Mississippi Code of 1972:
27-104-152. The Legislature finds that taxpayers should be able to easily access the details on how the state is spending their tax dollars and what performance results are achieved for the expenditures. It is the intent of the Legislature that the state, acting through the Department of Finance and Administration, create and maintain a searchable Web site database detailing where, for what purpose and what results are achieved for all taxpayer investments in state government.
SECTION 2. Section 27-104-153, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-104-153. As used in Sections 27-104-151 through 27-104-159:
(a) "Searchable Web site" means an Internet site that:
(i) Allows the public to access information identified in Sections 27-104-151 through 27-104-159 without any fee or charge to the public for such access; * * *
(ii) Provides keyword or other efficient search capability to provide the public with the ability to find, aggregate and display such information with reasonable ease; and
(iii) Allows the public to programmatically search and access all data in a serialized machine readable format, such as XML, via a Web-services application programming interface.
(b) "Expenditure of state funds" means the disbursement or transfer of any funds, whether appropriated or nonappropriated, from any source by any office, department, agency, division, bureau, commission or board of the state.
(c) "Entity" or "recipient" means: a corporation; association; union; limited liability company; limited liability partnership; grantee; contractor; county, city or other local government entity; or any other legal business entity, including a nonprofit entity. The term "entity" or "recipient" does not include an individual recipient of state public assistance.
(d) "Agency" means a state department, agency, board, bureau, college, commission, committee, subcommittee, council, division, institution, office or any other instrumentality of the state. The term "agency" includes individual state agencies and programs as well as multiple agencies whenever state programs and activities involve more than one (1) state agency. The term "agency" includes all elective offices in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government.
(e) "Funding source" means the state account from which an expenditure is appropriated.
(f) "State audit or report" means any audit or report issued by the State Auditor, Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) or an executive body relating to the entity or recipient of funds or to the budget program or activity or agency.
SECTION 3. Section 27-104-155, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-104-155. The Department of Finance and Administration shall develop and operate a searchable Web site that * * * includes information on expenditures of state funds and bond proceeds. The Web site shall be given a unique and simplified Web site address. Each agency that maintains a generally accessible Internet site or for which a generally accessible Internet site is maintained shall include a link on the front page of the agency's Internet site to the searchable Web site required under this section.
(a) With regard to disbursement of funds, the Web site 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 required 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 revenue expended;
(v) The budget program or activity of the expenditure;
(vi) The general source of authority for such expenditure including, but not limited to, legislative appropriation line item or bond issue;
(vii) The specific source of authority for such expenditure including, but not limited to, a grant, contract, subcontract or the general discretion of the agency director, provided that if the authority is a grant, contract or subcontract, the Web site entry shall include a grant or contract number or similar information that clearly identifies the document. The information required under this item includes data relative to tax exemptions and credits;
(viii) The funding or expending agency;
(ix) The type of transaction; * * *
(x) The expected performance outcomes for the funding action or expenditure;
(xi) The past performance outcomes achieved for the funding action or expenditure;
(xii) Any state audit or report relating to the entity or recipient of funds or the budget program or activity or agency; and
(xiii) Any other information deemed relevant by the Department of Finance and Administration.
(b) An electronic copy of each grant, contract, subcontract and purchase order executed on or after the launch date of the Web site shall be posted on the Web site, subject to the restrictions in paragraph (c) of this section. Whenever possible, a hyperlink to the actual expenditure document, in a format that is searchable, at a minimum, as a searchable PDF document, must be provided. If the Department of Finance and Administration determines that this portion of the Web site could be better or more quickly developed and hosted by another state agency, it may cooperate with that agency to accomplish the requirements of this paragraph.
(c) 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 which is required confidential by state or federal law or outside the applicable freedom of information statutes.
(d) The Web site shall be updated as soon as possible after each expenditure is made, or grant awarded, or contract or subcontract executed; at the latest, all updates must be made no later than thirty (30) days after the receipt of data from an agency.
SECTION 4. Section 27-104-157, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-104-157. (1) The Department of Finance and Administration shall have the authority to establish the form and timelines for state agencies to report information required by Sections 27-104-151 through 27-104-159. At the latest, each agency shall provide to the department all data that is required to be included in the searchable Web site no later than thirty (30) days after the data becomes available to the agency. All departments, agencies and entities of state government shall fully cooperate with the Department of Finance and Administration in compiling and providing all information necessary to comply with the requirements of Sections 27-104-151 through 27-104-159.
(2) Before January 1, 2012, the Department of Finance and Administration shall add data for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 fiscal years to the searchable Web site. Data for previous fiscal years may be added as such data is made available and as time permits. The department shall ensure that all data on the searchable Web site remains accessible to the public for a minimum of ten (10) years.
(3) The Department of Finance and Administration shall not be considered in compliance with Sections 27-104-151 through 27-104-159 if the data required for the searchable Web site is not available in a searchable and aggregate manner or if the public is redirected to other government Web sites, unless each of those sites has information from all agencies and each category of information required can be searched electronically by field in a single search.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.
