HB 86: "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."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 86 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." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 06 to read: 07 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Alaska Online Checkbook Act. 08 * Sec. 2. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 09 read: 10 LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT. (a) The Alaska Online Checkbook Act is 11 intended to allow people of the state to identify and discover state revenue and expenditures. 12 (b) The Alaska Online Checkbook Act shall be construed in favor of disclosure and 13 transparency. 14 (c) A fair and open government requires that state revenue and expenditures be
01 accounted for and easily accessible to the public at no cost. 02 (d) The state should strive to create an Internet website that is user friendly, that 03 allows a member of the public to easily understand all state financial information, and that 04 allows a member of the public to view all state financial information in a centralized location. 05 * Sec. 3. AS 37.05.210(a) is amended to read: 06 (a) The Department of Administration shall 07 (1) file with the governor and with the legislative auditor before 08 December 16 a report of the financial transactions of the preceding fiscal year and of 09 the financial condition of the state as of the end of that year, prepared in accordance 10 with generally accepted accounting principles and audited by the legislative auditor in 11 accordance with generally accepted audit standards, with comments and 12 supplementary data that the Department of Administration considers necessary; this 13 report shall be printed for the information of the legislature and the public and shall 14 be made available to the public on the Internet website established under 15 AS 37.05.215; 16 (2) compile statistics necessary for the budget and other statistics 17 required by the governor; 18 (3) file a travel and compensation report with the legislature by 19 January 31 of each year containing detailed information for the previous calendar year 20 of the salaries, per diem, travel expenses, relocation expenses, and any additional 21 allowances for 22 (A) the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the chiefs of 23 staff of the governor and lieutenant governor; 24 (B) the president and vice-president of the University of Alaska 25 and the chancellors of the individual campuses of the university; 26 (C) the commissioners or other executive heads of the principal 27 departments in the executive branch of state government, and the deputy 28 commissioners and division directors in those departments; and 29 (D) the executive heads of public corporations created by law, 30 including the Alaska Railroad Corporation. 31 * Sec. 4. AS 37.05 is amended by adding a new section to article 2 to read:
01 Sec. 37.05.215. State financial transactions Internet website. (a) The 02 Department of Administration shall develop, operate, and maintain a searchable 03 Internet website that is accessible to the public at no cost and that provides financial 04 information available from the central accounting system or the annual financial report 05 prepared and filed under AS 37.05.210(a)(1), describing 06 (1) state revenue for the preceding month, including 07 (A) a receipt or deposit by a state agency into a fund or account 08 established within the state treasury; 09 (B) proceeds from taxes received, categorized by source type, 10 including a compulsory contribution imposed by the state for the purpose of 11 financing services; 12 (C) state agency earnings, including amounts collected for sales 13 or services, licenses or permits issued, or otherwise received by a state agency 14 under the agency's regulations; 15 (D) revenue received for the use of state money or property, 16 including interest and lease payments; 17 (E) gifts, donations, and federal receipts; and 18 (F) other revenue; 19 (2) expenditures for the preceding month, including 20 (A) the name and location of any person to whom payment was 21 made; 22 (B) the amount of the expenditure disbursed; 23 (C) the type of transaction, by account code, including the 24 purpose of the expenditure; 25 (D) other information specified by the Department of 26 Administration; 27 (3) the balances, for the preceding month, of the statutory budget 28 reserve fund (AS 37.05.540), the constitutional budget reserve fund (art. IX, sec. 17, 29 Constitution of the State of Alaska), and the permanent fund earnings reserve account 30 (AS 37.13.145); 31 (4) the amount deposited into the permanent fund under art. IX, sec 15,
01 Constitution of the State of Alaska for the preceding fiscal year; 02 (5) state revenue and expenditures, summarized for the preceding 03 fiscal year, as follows: 04 (A) general fund revenue sources; 05 (B) general fund expenditures categorized by function; 06 (C) general fund expenditures categorized by state agency; 07 (D) general fund expenditures categorized by account; and 08 (E) total general fund revenue versus expenditures; 09 (6) total assets versus liabilities at the end of the fiscal year; and 10 (7) for the preceding 10 years, by fiscal year, the following: 11 (A) the number of full-time, part-time, and temporary 12 employees employed by the state, by state agency; 13 (B) the number of independent contractors engaged by the 14 state, by state agency; 15 (C) the total long-term debt owed by the state, by state agency; 16 (D) total general fund expenditures; and 17 (E) total general fund payroll, by state agency. 18 (b) The Department of Administration shall update the information described 19 in (a)(1) - (3) of this section on the Internet website on a monthly basis and the 20 information described in (a)(4) - (7) of this section on an annual basis. To the extent 21 practicable, information on the website should be sorted by state agency, accounting 22 category, accounting code, recipient, purpose, amount, and date. The Department of 23 Administration shall maintain and store the information required by this section on the 24 website for at least 10 years. 25 (c) The Internet website described in (a) of this section must include 26 (1) at no cost to the public, reference materials to assist the public in 27 understanding the financial information provided on the website, including a 28 description of the accounting codes used by state agencies; 29 (2) a feature that allows users to search for information on the website 30 by keyword and recipient; and 31 (3) a link to
01 (A) the Internet website of the legislative audit division; 02 (B) an electronic copy of information related to state service 03 procurement contracts, including compensation and contract length; 04 (C) an electronic copy of information related to independent 05 contractors engaged by the state, by state agency, including compensation and 06 contract length. 07 (d) The Department of Revenue and other state agencies that use the central 08 accounting system shall provide information to the Department of Administration that 09 is necessary to comply with the requirements of this section, including a summary of 10 indirect expenditures. 11 (e) Nothing in this section requires disclosure of information that is 12 confidential under state or federal law. However, the Department of Administration 13 shall provide aggregated or summarized information describing confidential revenue 14 and expenditures if the aggregated or summarized information continues to protect 15 confidentiality. 16 (f) In this section, 17 (1) "expenditure" means a payment from the state treasury that is 18 greater than $1,000 and that is made as a grant, subgrant, contract, subcontract, loan, 19 lease, cooperative agreement, purchase order, task order, delivery order, or other form 20 of financial transaction; "expenditure" does not include the transfer of money between 21 state agencies, individual payments to state employees or retirees, or payment of state 22 or federal assistance to an individual; 23 (2) "searchable Internet website" means an Internet website that allows 24 searching, extracting, compiling, and aggregating information from the data available 25 on the website; 26 (3) "state agency" means a department, office, agency, board, 27 commission, public corporation, or other organizational unit of or created under the 28 executive branch of the state government, including the University of Alaska. 29 * Sec. 5. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 30 read: 31 DELAYED AVAILABILITY. The Internet website established under AS 37.05.215,
01 added by sec. 4 of this Act, shall be available to the public on or before October 1, 2022. 02 * Sec. 6. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 03 read: 04 TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS. The initial Internet website established under 05 AS 37.05.215, added by sec. 4 of this Act, must, notwithstanding the requirements of 06 AS 37.05.215(a), list information from the previous fiscal year. Beginning on October 1, 07 2023, information on the website shall be updated monthly or annually, as specified in 08 AS 37.05.215(b).