SB 359-FN – AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
03/03/10 0827s
2010 SESSION
09/01
SENATE BILL 359-FN
AN ACT requiring the commissioner of administrative services to post online certain information regarding payments made by the state.
SPONSORS: Sen. Bragdon, Dist 11; Sen. Barnes, Jr., Dist 17; Sen. Bradley, Dist 3; Sen. Carson, Dist 14; Sen. Downing, Dist 22; Sen. Gallus, Dist 1; Sen. Letourneau, Dist 19; Sen. Odell, Dist 8; Sen. Roberge, Dist 9
COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration
This bill requires the commissioner of administrative services to post online certain information regarding payments made by the state.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03/03/10 0827s
10-2876
09/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT requiring the commissioner of administrative services to post online certain information regarding payments made by the state.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Chapter; Online Access to State Payment Information. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 9-E the following new chapter:
CHAPTER 9-F
ONLINE ACCESS TO STATE PAYMENT INFORMATION
9-F:1 Online Access to State Payment Information.
I. The commissioner of administrative services, in consultation with the chief information officer, shall post online the following information relating to any payments made by the state:
(a) The payment date.
(b) The name of the recipient of the payment.
(c) The amount of the payment.
(d) The source of funding for the payment.
II. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph I, the commissioner of administrative services shall not post online any information related to payments by the state that is not a public record or that is confidential pursuant to state or federal law. In this section, “public record” shall have the same meaning as “governmental record” in RSA 91-A:1-a, III.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.
LBAO
10-2876 Amended 03/11/10
SB 359 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT requiring the commissioner of administrative services to post online certain information regarding payments made by the state.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Administrative Services and the Department of Information Technology state this bill, as amended by the Senate (Amendment #2010-0827s), will increase state expenditures by $212,642 in FY 2011, $255,717 in FY 2012, $269,008 in FY 2013, and $283,151 in FY 2014. There will be no fiscal impact on state, county, and local revenue or county and local expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Administrative Services states this bill requires the Commissioner of Administrative Services and the Chief Information Officer to post online information related to any payments made by the state, including the payment date, name of the payment recipient, amount of the payment, and source of funds for the payment. The Department assumes it would compile an online data base in a searchable format to ultimately build up to ten years of historical state spending data. The Department estimates the data base would include the information mentioned previously, along with budget information and detail on payments to state vendors and state employees, and would require a monthly update of the information.
The Department states its Budget Office (DASBO) currently provides support for the submission of the agency proposed budgets for each biennium, and is responsible for ensuring the documents received from each agency during this process are available online. The Department states its Division of Financial Data Management (FDM) is currently responsible for supporting the budget system during the complete budget process and maintaining the integrity of the data housed in the integrated financial system as it relates to general ledger accounting and transactional reporting. The Department states its Division of Accounting Services (DADAS) is responsible for the audit process for all state expenditures, for providing guidance to state agencies through necessary accounting functions during the closing of the books each year and through subject matter experts for the various modules of the financial system, for the reporting of monthly state revenue, and for the compilation of the state’s annual consolidated financial statements. The Department states these three entities would bear the responsibility for carrying out the intent of the proposed bill and would be able to absorb some of the base costs involved in compliance with the bill. However, the Department projects additional staff and funding would be required to ensure that compliance was complete.
Although this bill does not establish positions or contain an appropriation, the Department states the expanded financial system data base would require FDM to hire a fulltime permanent financial data specialist II (LG 30) for coordination of the monthly public access publishing requirements, redaction of confidential information, data validation between the budget system and financial system interfaces, and direct daily contact with web support personnel. The Department estimates FDM would need additional funding for a separate server to support the internet application necessary for public access inquiries. The Department states DASBO would be required to hire an administrator II position (LG 29) to act as budget and expenditure analyst for the bill’s reporting requirements. The Department also states DADAS would be required to hire another administrator II (LG 29) to act as a subject matter expert for coordinating general ledger and source of funds reporting and to ensure data integrity and accuracy of the general ledger and the human resources system. The Department also assumes the responsibilities of all three new positions would also include coordination of these reporting efforts with the other two entities within the Department to ensure consistency and completeness. The Department assumes this bill would be enacted into law July 1, 2010 and the additional staff would be hired on September 1, 2010. The Department also assumes each position will also require funding for additional supplies and technology hardware and software. The Department estimates the fiscal impact as follows:
FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014
Salary and Benefits $196,642 $247,117 $260,408 $274,551
Current expense $3,000 $3,000 $3,000 $3,000
Hardware & software $8,000 $600 $600 $600
Server $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000
Total $212,642 $255,717 $269,008 $283,151
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.