CSSB 25(STA): "An Act relating to the establishment and maintenance of an Internet website providing information on state government financial transactions and specifying the information to be made available on the website; and relating to the Alaska Checkbook Online Internet website."
00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 25(STA) 01 "An Act relating to the establishment and maintenance of an Internet website providing 02 information on state government financial transactions and specifying the information 03 to be made available on the website; and relating to the Alaska Checkbook Online 04 Internet website." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 07 to read: 08 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Alaska Online Checkbook Act. 09 * Sec. 2. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 10 read: 11 LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT. (a) The Alaska Online Checkbook Act is 12 intended to allow people of the state to identify and discover state revenue and expenditures. 13 (b) The Alaska Online Checkbook Act shall be construed in favor of disclosure and 14 transparency.
01 (c) A fair and open government requires that state revenue and expenditures be 02 accounted for and easily accessible to the public at no cost. 03 (d) The state should strive to create an Internet website that is user friendly, that 04 allows a member of the public to easily understand all state financial information, and that 05 allows a member of the public to view all state financial information in a centralized location. 06 * Sec. 3. AS 37.05.210(a) is amended to read: 07 (a) The Department of Administration shall 08 (1) file with the governor and with the legislative auditor before 09 December 16 a report of the financial transactions of the preceding fiscal year and of 10 the financial condition of the state as of the end of that year, prepared in accordance 11 with generally accepted accounting principles and audited by the legislative auditor in 12 accordance with generally accepted audit standards, with comments and 13 supplementary data that the Department of Administration considers necessary; this 14 report shall be printed for the information of the legislature and the public and shall 15 be made available to the public on the Internet website established under 16 AS 37.05.215; 17 (2) compile statistics necessary for the budget and other statistics 18 required by the governor; 19 (3) file a travel and compensation report with the legislature by 20 January 31 of each year containing detailed information for the previous calendar year 21 of the salaries, per diem, travel expenses, relocation expenses, and any additional 22 allowances for 23 (A) the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the chiefs of 24 staff of the governor and lieutenant governor; 25 (B) the president and vice-president of the University of Alaska 26 and the chancellors of the individual campuses of the university; 27 (C) the commissioners or other executive heads of the principal 28 departments in the executive branch of state government, and the deputy 29 commissioners and division directors in those departments; and 30 (D) the executive heads of public corporations created by law, 31 including the Alaska Railroad Corporation.
01 * Sec. 4. AS 37.05 is amended by adding a new section to article 2 to read: 02 Sec. 37.05.215. State financial transactions Internet website. (a) The 03 Department of Administration shall develop, operate, and maintain a searchable 04 Internet website that is accessible to the public at no cost and that provides financial 05 information available from the central accounting system or the annual financial report 06 prepared and filed under AS 37.05.210(a)(1), describing 07 (1) unaudited state revenue for the preceding month, including 08 (A) a receipt or deposit by a state agency into a fund or account 09 established within the state treasury; 10 (B) proceeds from taxes received, categorized by source type, 11 including a compulsory contribution imposed by the state for the purpose of 12 financing services; 13 (C) state agency earnings, including amounts collected for sales 14 or services, licenses or permits issued, or otherwise received by a state agency 15 under the agency's regulations; 16 (D) revenue received for the use of state money or property, 17 including interest and lease payments; 18 (E) gifts, donations, and federal receipts; and 19 (F) other revenue; 20 (2) unaudited expenditures for the preceding month, including 21 (A) the name and location of any person to whom payment was 22 made; 23 (B) the amount of the expenditure disbursed; 24 (C) the type of transaction, by account code, including the 25 purpose of the expenditure; 26 (D) other information specified by the Department of 27 Administration; 28 (3) the estimated balances, for the preceding month, of the statutory 29 budget reserve fund (AS 37.05.540), the constitutional budget reserve fund (art. IX, 30 sec. 17, Constitution of the State of Alaska), and the permanent fund earnings reserve 31 account (AS 37.13.145);
01 (4) the amount deposited into the permanent fund under art. IX, sec 15, 02 Constitution of the State of Alaska for the preceding fiscal year; 03 (5) state revenue and expenditures, summarized for the preceding 04 fiscal year, as follows: 05 (A) general fund revenue sources; 06 (B) general fund expenditures categorized by function; 07 (C) general fund expenditures categorized by state agency; 08 (D) general fund expenditures categorized by account; and 09 (E) total general fund revenue versus expenditures; 10 (6) total assets versus liabilities at the end of the fiscal year; and 11 (7) for the preceding 10 years, by fiscal year, the following: 12 (A) the number of full-time, part-time, and temporary 13 employees employed by the state, by state agency; 14 (B) the number of independent contractors engaged by the 15 state, by state agency; 16 (C) the total long-term debt owed by the state, by state agency; 17 (D) total general fund expenditures; and 18 (E) total general fund payroll, by state agency. 19 (b) The Department of Administration shall update the information described 20 in (a)(1) - (3) of this section on the Internet website on a monthly basis and the 21 information described in (a)(4) - (7) of this section on an annual basis. To the extent 22 practicable, information on the website should be sorted by state agency, accounting 23 category, accounting code, recipient, purpose, amount, and date. The Department of 24 Administration shall maintain and store the information required by this section on the 25 website for at least 10 years. 26 (c) The Internet website described in (a) of this section must include 27 (1) at no cost to the public, reference materials to assist the public in 28 understanding the financial information provided on the website, including a 29 description of the accounting codes used by state agencies; 30 (2) a feature that allows users to search for information on the website 31 by keyword and recipient; and
01 (3) a link to 02 (A) the Internet website of the legislative audit division; 03 (B) a searchable Internet website that provides information 04 related to state service procurement contracts, including name, compensation, 05 contract length, and contract type; 06 (C) a searchable Internet website that provides information 07 related to independent contractors engaged by the state, by state agency, 08 including name, compensation, contract length, and contract type. 09 (d) The Department of Revenue and other state agencies, including a state 10 agency that does not use the central accounting system, shall provide information to 11 the Department of Administration that is necessary to comply with the requirements of 12 this section, including a summary of indirect expenditures. 13 (e) Nothing in this section requires disclosure of information that is 14 confidential under state or federal law. However, the Department of Administration 15 shall provide aggregated or summarized information describing confidential revenue 16 and expenditures if the aggregated or summarized information continues to protect 17 confidentiality. 18 (f) In this section, 19 (1) "expenditure" means a payment from the state treasury that is 20 greater than $1,000 and that is made as a grant, subgrant, contract, subcontract, loan, 21 lease, cooperative agreement, purchase order, task order, delivery order, or other form 22 of financial transaction; "expenditure" does not include the transfer of money between 23 state agencies, individual payments to state employees or retirees, or payment of state 24 or federal assistance to an individual; 25 (2) "searchable Internet website" means an Internet website that allows 26 searching, extracting, compiling, and aggregating information from the data available 27 on the website; 28 (3) "state agency" means a department, office, agency, board, 29 commission, public corporation, or other organizational unit of or created under the 30 executive branch of the state government, including the University of Alaska. 31 * Sec. 5. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to
01 read: 02 DELAYED AVAILABILITY. The Internet website established under AS 37.05.215, 03 added by sec. 4 of this Act, shall be available to the public on or before October 1, 2022. 04 * Sec. 6. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 05 read: 06 TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS. (a) The initial Internet website established under 07 AS 37.05.215, added by sec. 4 of this Act, must, notwithstanding the requirements of 08 AS 37.05.215(a), list information from the previous fiscal year. Beginning on October 1, 09 2023, information on the website shall be updated monthly or annually, as specified in 10 AS 37.05.215(b). 11 (b) The Department of Administration shall continue to make the Alaska Checkbook 12 Online Internet website the department made available online in February 2021 available to 13 the public and continue to publish information from the statewide accounting system on the 14 website until the Internet website established under AS 37.05.215, added by sec. 4 of this Act, 15 is made available to the public.