FISCAL
NOTE
WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on Government Organization then Finance
A BILL to amend the Code
of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated
§6-9B-1, §6-9B-2, §6-9B-3, §6-9B-4,
§6-9B-5 and §6-9B-6, all relating to creating and maintaining a searchable
online budget database to easily access the details on how the state is
spending tax dollars and what performance results are achieved for those
expenditures; designating this as the "Budget and Spending Transparency
Act"; providing a short title, legislative findings, definitions, content
requirements and updates; and compliance by the State Tax Department.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article,
designated §6-9B-1, §6-9B-2, §6-9B-3, §6-9B-4, §6-9B-5 and §6-9B-6, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 9B. BUDGET AND SPENDING TRANSPARENCY ACT.
§6-9B-1. Short title.
This article shall be
known and may be cited as the "Budget and Spending Transparency Act."
§6-9B-2. Legislative
finding.
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 those
expenditures. It is the intent of the Legislature, therefore, to direct the State
Tax Department to create and maintain a searchable budget database website
detailing where, for what purpose and the results achieved for all taxpayer
investments in state government.
§6-9B-3. Definitions.
For the purpose of this
article, the following terms shall be defined as:
(a) "Agency"
means a state department, office, board, commission, bureau, division,
institution or institution of higher education. This includes individual state
agencies and programs, as well as those programs and activities that cross agency
lines. "State agency" includes all elective offices in the Executive
Branch of government and the Legislature.
(b) "Tax Department"
means the State Tax Department. For the purpose of this article, the Tax
Department's duties are generally those respectively assigned in the code: Provided, That the Tax Department may
establish any methods or procedures as necessary to accomplish the intent and
goals of this article.
(c) "Entity"
or "recipients" means any corporation, association, union, limited
liability corporation, limited liability partnership, legal business entity
including nonprofit organizations, grantee, contractor or any county, municipal
or other local government entity: Provided,
That the term "entity" or "recipients" does not include an
individual recipient of state assistance.
(d) "Funding action
or expenditure" includes details on the type of spending (grant, contract,
appropriations, etc.). This includes, but is not limited to, tax exemptions,
tax credits or any expenditure from any civil contingency or similar fund.
Where possible, a hyperlink to the actual grants or contracts shall be
provided.
(e) "Funding
source" means the state account from which the expenditure is
appropriated.
(f) "Searchable
budget database website" means a website that allows the public at no cost
to search and aggregate information regarding the state's budget and spending.
(g) "State audit or
report" includes any audit or report issued by the State Tax Department,
Legislative Auditor, legislative committee or executive body relating to the
entity or recipient of funds or the budget program, activity or agency.
§6-9B-4. Searchable
budget database website created.
No later than January 1,
2018, the Tax Department shall develop and make publicly available a single,
searchable budget database website including the required data for the current
fiscal year. The searchable database
shall also contain the required information for the previous three fiscal
years. Each year thereafter, the Tax Department shall make the budget
information available within thirty days after the budget is approved.
§6-9B-5. Content
requirements and updates.
(a) The Tax Department
shall include as part of the searchable budget database website the following
content:
(1) The name and
principal location or residence of the entity or recipients of funds;
(2) The name of the
person or entity requesting the funds;
(3) The amount of funds
expended rounded to the nearest cents per $100;
(4) The funding or
expending agency;
(5) The funding source
of the revenue expended;
(6) The budget program,
category or activity of the expenditure;
(7) A descriptive
purpose for the funding action or expenditure;
(8) The expected
performance outcome for the funding action or expenditure;
(9) The past performance
outcomes achieved for the funding action or expenditure;
(10) Any state audit or
report relating to the entity or recipient of funds or the budget program or
agency;
(11) A formula whereby a
taxpayer may enter the amount of taxes paid by the taxpayer and determine what
percentage of those taxes is dedicated to each program, category or spending activity;
and
(12) Any other relevant
information specified by the Legislature.
(b) The searchable
budget database website shall be updated for each fiscal year no later than
thirty days following the end of the fiscal year. In addition, the Tax
Department shall update the searchable budget database website as new data
becomes available. All state agencies shall provide to the Tax Department all
data that is required to be included in the searchable budget database website
no later than thirty days after the data becomes available to the agency. The Tax
Department shall provide guidance to agency heads to ensure compliance with
this section.
§6-9B-6. Compliance.
The Tax Department is
not in compliance with this article if the data required for the searchable
budget database website is not available in a searchable and aggregate manner,
or the public is redirected to other government websites, 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to create a searchable online database containing past and recent budget and
expenditure information creating and maintaining a searchable online budget
database to easily access the details on how the state is spending their tax
dollars and what performance results are achieved for those expenditures. The
State Tax Department is authorized to establish any methods or procedures as
necessary to accomplish the intent and goals of this article.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.