HB 253

Under existing law, the expenditures of self-sustaining state professional licensing boards, agencies, and commissions are not required to be published on the searchable public Internet database maintained by the Comptroller

This bill would require those self-sustaining state professional licensing boards, agencies, and commissions to publish their expenditure information on the public website of the board, agency, or commission

Relating to professional licensing boards, agencies, and commissions; to require each self-sustaining board, agency, or commission exempted from posting expenditures through the searchable public Internet database of the Comptroller, to post the information on the public website of the board, agency, or commission.

Section 1

(a) For the purposes of this section, a licensing board is a state professional licensing board, agency, or commission that is self-sustaining by its own revenues and fees, the expenditures of which are not required to be published on the searchable public Internet database maintained by the Comptroller pursuant to Section 41-4-65, Code of Alabama 1975. (b) The expenditures, including contracts and grants, of each licensing board shall be published on the website of the licensing board. The published expenditures shall be electronically searchable by the public, except as provided by subsection (d), and shall include all of the following: (1) The amount, date, payor, and payee of expenditures. (2) A listing of state expenditures by both of the following: a. The object of the expense with links to the warrant or check register level. b. To the extent maintained by the licensing board accounting systems in a reportable format, class and item levels. (c) To the extent possible, the licensing board shall present expenditure information in a manner that is searchable and intuitive to users and shall enhance and organize the presentation of the information through the use of graphical representations, such as pie charts, as the licensing board considers appropriate. (d) The licensing board may not allow public access under this section to the address of a payee, except that the licensing board may allow public access under this section to information identifying the county in which the payee is located. The licensing board may not allow public access under this section to information that is identified by the licensing board as exempt from required disclosure as confidential. The licensing board, or an officer or employee of the licensing board, shall be immune from any civil liability for posting confidential information under this section if the licensing board, or officer or employee of the licensing board, posted the information in reliance on a determination made by the licensing board about the confidentiality of information relating to the expenditures of the licensing board. (e) To the extent any information required to be published on the website is already being collected or maintained by the licensing board, the licensing board shall include that information on the website. (f) The licensing board may not charge a fee to the public to access any information required to be published on the licensing board website pursuant to this section. (g) The Alabama Department of Finance, after consultation with each licensing board, shall prominently include a link to that portion of the website of each licensing board, that includes the expenditure information required to be published by this section on the public home page of the State of Alabama. (h) The home page of the website of each licensing board shall include a prominent link to the expenditure information required to be published by this section. (i) Each licensing board may adopt rules to implement and administer this section. (j) Any vendor, contractor, or other supplier to any licensing board may notify the licensing board in writing that its prices or costs, or both, should be held confidential. Upon receipt of such written notification, the licensing board may not post the prices or costs, or both, specified in the notification unless and until the licensing board investigates whether the prices or costs, or both, claimed in the notification to be confidential should be protected from posting. The investigation shall include a hearing where the vendor, contractor, or other supplier may present justification for holding the information confidential. The ruling of the licensing board on confidentiality shall be based on a standard of reasonableness and shall be subject to review by the courts.

Section 2

This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.