Revision: April 8, 2010, midnight
HB 1651-FN – AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
17Feb2010… 0490h
04/07/10 1252s
2010 SESSION
09/10
HOUSE BILL 1651-FN
AN ACT requiring that current information and reports relative to the state budget be made available on the state website.
SPONSORS: Rep. Major, Rock 8; Rep. M. Smith, Straf 7; Rep. Almy, Graf 11; Rep. W. D. Scamman, Rock 13; Rep. Kurk, Hills 7; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20; Sen. Odell, Dist 8; Sen. Janeway, Dist 7; Sen. Carson, Dist 14; Sen. Downing, Dist 22
This bill requires that current information and reports relative to the state budget be made available by the department of administrative services on the state website.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
17Feb2010… 0490h
04/07/10 1252s
10-2449
09/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT requiring that current information and reports relative to the state budget be made available on the state website.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Purpose. The purpose of this act is to promote transparency in the state budget process by providing the public and the general court access to budget, expenditure, and revenue information and reports which are not confidential and which are vital to good government.
2 New Chapter; Online Access to Budget Information and Reports. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 9-E the following new chapter:
CHAPTER 9-F
ONLINE ACCESS TO BUDGET INFORMATION AND REPORTS
9-F:1 Online Access to Budget Information and Reports.
I. The commissioner of administrative services shall make available on the state website the information and reports required to be made available to the public and to the general court under paragraphs II-III of this section. All of this required information shall be accessible on a single state transparency website to be created by the department of information technology.
II. The state transparency website shall include the following:
(a) All expenditures by state agencies shall be published monthly, no later than the 15th day of the following month. These expenditures shall be reported in a total fund format, showing budgeted/revised budgeted amounts spent for the month, for the year, and for the year to date. Expenditure reports generated by the financial reporting system of the state for agency use shall be used to satisfy this requirement.
(b) Annual salaries of all full-time state employees, listed by pay type category and in a searchable format.
(c) Links to information posted to the websites of various state agencies/entities for the following:
(1) Audit reports from the office of the legislative budget assistant.
(2) Annual reports for individual agencies.
(3) Agency budgets submitted in accordance with RSA 9:4.
(4) The governor’s budget in accordance with RSA 9:2.
(d) Any other information as determined by the department of information technology and the department of administrative services, in consultation with the legislative oversight committee established in RSA 9-F:2.
III. Annually on or before October 31, a report from each agency shall be made available which shows the total amount expended during the prior fiscal year for each program providing aid or assistance to individuals. This annual report shall also document any changes in eligibility criteria or payment amount or formulas. Each agency shall prepare its annual report by analyzing and summarizing the content of its statement of appropriation. Each agency shall submit its annual report to the commissioner of administrative services on or before September 1. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, each agency shall submit existing reports to fulfill the requirements of this paragraph. Beginning in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012 and in each year thereafter, each agency’s report shall be in a format developed by the commissioner of administrative services in consultation with the legislative oversight committee established by RSA 9-F:2.
9-F:2 Legislative Oversight Committee Established.
I. There is established a legislative oversight committee to monitor compliance with the requirements for online access to budget information and reports under RSA 9-F:1.
II.(a) The members of the committee shall be as follows:
(1) Three members of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.
(2) Three members of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate.
(b) Members of the committee shall receive mileage at the legislative rate when attending to the duties of the committee.
III. The committee shall monitor compliance with the requirements for online access to budget information and reports under RSA 9-F:1. The committee shall work with the department of administrative services and the department of information technology to explore what components reasonably can be added to the state website to provide increased transparency and to establish reasonable timelines for implementation based on staffing, funding, hardware, and software capacity. Among those components to be discussed:
(a) Expenditure information similar to that in RSA 9-F:1, II, only on a general fund basis.
(b) State grant information.
(c) State contract information.
(d) An online version of the state’s checkbook.
(e) A statewide searchable budget database.
(f) Any other components which the committee determines will increase transparency.
IV. The members of the legislative oversight committee shall elect a chairperson from among the members. The first meeting of the committee shall be called by the first-named house member. The first meeting of the committee shall be held within 45 days of the effective date of this section. Four members of the committee shall constitute a quorum.
V. The legislative oversight committee shall submit interim reports of its findings and any recommendations for proposed legislation to the speaker of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, the house clerk, the senate clerk, the governor, and the state library on or before November 1, 2010 and November 1, 2011, and shall submit a final report on or before November 1, 2012.
3 Applicability; Contingency. The department of administrative services shall have 90 days after the effective date of this act to take the steps necessary to implement this act. Section 2 of this act shall take effect on the date that the commissioner of administrative services certifies to the secretary of state and the director of the office of legislative services that the technology is available and capable of protecting individual and corporate privacy rights when providing online access to budget information and reports.
4 Effective Date.
I. Section 2 of this act shall take effect as provided in section 3 of this act.
II. The remainder of this act shall take effect July 1, 2010.
LBAO
10-2449 Amended 03/11/10
HB 1651 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT requiring that current information and reports relative to the state budget be made available on the state website.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Administrative Services and the Department of Information Technology state this bill, as amended by the House (Amendment #2010-0490h), will increase state expenditures by $84,813 in FY 2011, $89,733 in FY 2012, $94,321 in FY 2013, and $99,045 in FY 2014. This bill will have no fiscal impact on state, county, and local revenue or county and local expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) states this bill requires that current information and reports relative to the state budget be made available on the state website. The criteria for the reporting of current information would include all expenditures by state agencies to be published no later than the 15th day of the following month in the same format as budgeted, showing budgeted/revised budgeted amounts spent for the month, for the year, and for the year to date to be reported. This bill states expenditure reports generated by the state’s financial reporting system shall be used to satisfy this requirement, although DAS points out that currently a standard report containing current monthly expenditures only, does not yet exist and would need to be developed to establish the individual monthly comparisons. Additionally, this bill requires that on or before each September 1st a report be received by DAS from each agency detailing expenditures at the program level, with specific content detailed in the bill, and said report shall be published by DAS before October 31st each year. The Department’s Budget Office (DASBO) currently provides support for the submission of the agency proposed budgets for each biennium, and is responsible for the documents received from each agency by October 1st of each odd numbered year to make those budget requests available for public review. Support for the budget system during the complete budget development process is the responsibility of the Department’s Division of Financial Data Management (FDM). FDM is also responsible for maintaining the integrity of the data that is housed in the integrated financial system as it relates to general ledger accounting and transactional reporting. The Department states it could absorb base costs for agency budget support within the existing budgets of the DASBO and FDM. Although this bill does not establish positions or contain an appropriation, the Department states FDM would need to hire a full-time financial data specialist II (LG 30) for coordination of the monthly publishing requirements for public access, the redaction of confidential information, data validation between the budget and financial system interfaces, and direct daily contact with web support personnel. Additional funds would also be required for a separate computer server to support the world wide web application necessary for public access inquiries. The Department assumes the bill will be enacted as law on July 1, 2010, and the required staff will be hired August 1, 2010. The Department also assumes the current format for the appropriation reports that are now utilized will not need to be modified, and that they will be published after redaction of confidential information. The Department states no report currently exists which reports current month expenditures only. The Department estimates the fiscal impact as follows –
FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014
Personnel and Costs $78,813 $85,733 $90,321 $95,045
FDM E/Server $6,000 $4,000 $4,000 $4,000
Total $84,813 $89,733 $94,321 $99,045
The Department of Information Technology states the bill assigns primary responsibility for this bill’s requirements to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS). The Department states DAS will prepare the data and review it for accuracy and appropriateness, while it will only be responsible for the creation of the website on which the information will be posted and the periodic update of that data as prompted by DAS, assumed to occur monthly. The Department states, based on its experience with website development involving periodically updated static data, it will take a software development specialist approximately 160 hours to create and implement the website and 5 hours per month to update the website. The Department estimated a salary and benefit rate of $45 per hour for cost increases of $ 7,200 (160 hours × $45 per hour) for initial setup and $2,700 (5 hours per month × $45 per hour × 12 months) per year for ongoing maintenance. The Department states the required work can be absorbed by existing resources, although current projects may be postponed or suspended as a result.