HB252 Alabama 2019 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Chris PringleRepresentative

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2019

Title

Professional licensing Boards, self-sustaining, bds, agencies, and commissions exempted from publishing expenditures through Comptroller website, required to post expenditures on bd, agency, or commission website

Summary

HB 252 would require self-sustaining professional licensing boards to post their expenditures on their own websites and have their service contracts reviewed by a legislative oversight committee.

What This Bill Does

The bill requires each self-sustaining licensing board to publish expenditure information on its website, including amount, date, payor, payee, and the purpose of the expense, in a searchable format (with possible charts). It allows limited public access to certain details (no payee addresses, but county may be shown) and provides confidentiality protections with a hearing process for prices or costs. It also makes contracts for personal and professional services by these boards subject to review by the Contract Review Permanent Legislative Oversight Committee, the same as other state agencies. Additionally, the Department of Finance must link to these expenditure pages from the state's public home page, and the public may not be charged to access the information; boards may adopt rules to implement the section, and confidentiality rules apply to vendor price information.

Who It Affects

• Self-sustaining licensing boards, agencies, and commissions: must publish expenditures on their own websites and implement the required reporting and confidentiality processes; their contracts will be reviewed by the Contract Review Permanent Legislative Oversight Committee.
• The general public and taxpayers: will have publicly searchable access to expenditure data on board websites, with no access fees and with information presented (and possibly graphically) for easier understanding.
• Vendors, contractors, or suppliers to licensing boards: may request confidentiality for prices or costs; boards must hold a hearing to decide whether to keep prices confidential, with a court-reviewable ruling based on reasonableness.
• The Contract Review Permanent Legislative Oversight Committee: will review personal and professional service contracts of licensing boards, in the same way as it reviews contracts for other state agencies.
• The Alabama Department of Finance: must include a prominent link to the boards' expenditure information on the state public home page.

Key Provisions

• Expenditures posting: licensing boards must publish expenditure data on their website, including amount, date, payor, payee, and the object of the expense; data should be electronically searchable and may include object-level and item-level classifications; boards may present data with graphs.
• Public access and confidentiality: public access is limited to certain information (e.g., county location of payees; no confidential items); boards and employees are immune from civil liability for posting information relied on confidentiality determinations; boards must adopt confidentiality processes for sensitive data.
• Access and links: the state Department of Finance must place a prominent link to the expenditure information on the state’s public home page, and each board’s homepage must include a prominent link to the required expenditure information; the public may not be charged to access this information.
• Confidential pricing process: if a vendor asks for confidentiality of prices/costs, the board must hold a hearing to determine if the information should be confidential, with a court-reviewable decision based on reasonableness.
• Contract oversight: contracts for personal or professional services of licensing boards must be reviewed by the Contract Review Permanent Legislative Oversight Committee in the same manner as other state agencies.
• Implementation rules and effective date: boards may adopt rules to implement the section, and the act becomes effective on the first day of the third month after passage.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Professional Licensing Boards