H. B. 3091
(By Delegates J. Miller, Sobonya, C. Miller,
Sumner, Blair, Shott, Armstead, Cowles,
Andes, McGeehan and Louisos)
[Introduced March 12, 2009; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary 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;
designating this as the "Budget and Spending Transparency
Act"; short title; legislative findings; definitions; content
requirements and updates; and compliance.
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
Auditors 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) "The Auditors" means both the State Auditor and
Legislative Auditor working in concert. For the purpose of this
article, each Auditor's duties shall generally be those
respectively assigned in the code: Provided, That the Auditors 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" shall include 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 web site" 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" shall include any audit or report
issued by the State Auditor, 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 web site created.
No later than January 1, 2010, the Auditors shall develop and
make publicly available a single, searchable budget database web
site including the required data for the current fiscal year. The searchable database shall also contain the required information for
the previous three fiscal years.
§6-9B-5. Content requirements and updates.
(a) The Auditors shall include as part of the searchable
budget database web site 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;
(4) The funding or expending agency;
(5) The funding source of the revenue expended;
(6) The budget program 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; and
(11) Any other relevant information specified by the
Legislature.
(b) The searchable budget database web site shall be updated
for each fiscal year no later than thirty days following the end of the fiscal year. In addition, the Auditors shall update the
searchable budget database web site as new data becomes available.
All state agencies shall provide to the Auditors 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 Auditors shall provide guidance to agency heads to
ensure compliance with this section.
§6-9B-6. Compliance.
The Auditors shall not be considered in compliance with this
article if the data required for the searchable budget database web
site is not available in a searchable and aggregate manner, or the
public is redirected to other government web sites, 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.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.