Senate Bill 2823

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 27-104-155, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE AND DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO INCLUDE ON THE STATE AGENCY ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY WEBSITE A DESCRIPTION OF THE FIVE OLDEST PUBLIC RECORDS ACT OR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) REQUESTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 27-104-155, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

27-104-155. (1) The Department of Finance and Administration shall develop and operate a searchable website that includes information on expenditures of state funds from all funding sources. The website shall have a unique and simplified website address, and the department shall require each agency that maintains a generally accessible Internet site or for which a generally accessible Internet site is maintained to include a link on the front page of the agency's Internet site to the searchable website required under this section.

(a) With regard to disbursement of funds, the website shall include, but not be limited to:

(i) The name and principal location of the entity or recipients of the funds, excluding release of information relating to an individual's place of residence, the identity of recipients of state or federal assistance payments, and any other information deemed confidential by state or federal law relating to privacy rights;

(ii) The amount of state funds expended;

(iii) A descriptive purpose of the funding action or expenditure;

(iv) The funding source of the expenditure;

(v) The budget program or activity of the expenditure;

(vi) The specific source of authority and descriptive purpose of the expenditure, to include a link to the funding authorization document(s) in a searchable PDF form;

(vii) The specific source of authority for the expenditure including, but not limited to, a grant, subgrant, contract, or the general discretion of the agency director, provided that if the authority is a grant, subgrant or contract, the website entry shall include a grant, subgrant or contract number or similar information that clearly identifies the specific source of authority. The information required under this paragraph includes data relative to tax exemptions and credits;

(viii) The expending agency;

(ix) The type of transaction;

(x) The expected performance outcomes achieved for the funding action or expenditure;

(xi) Links to any state audit or report relating to the entity or recipient of funds or the budget program or activity or agency; and

(xii) Any other information deemed relevant by the Department of Finance and Administration.

(b) When the expenditure of state funds involves the expenditure of bond proceeds, the searchable website must include a clear, detailed description of the purpose of the bonds, a current status report on the project or projects being financed by the bonds, and a current status report on the payment of the principal and interest on the bonds.

(c) The searchable website must include access to an electronic summary of each grant, including amendments; subgrant, including amendments; contract, including amendments; and payment voucher that includes, wherever possible, a hyperlink to the actual document in a searchable PDF format, subject to the restrictions in paragraph ( * * *de) of this subsection. The Department of Finance and Administration may cooperate with other agencies to accomplish the requirements of this paragraph.

(d) The searchable website must include access to a description of the five (5) oldest requests for information from each state agency under the Mississippi Public Records Act (Section 25-61-1 et seq.) or the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), including the name of the person or entity making the request and the status of the request. The Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) shall develop a report on the requirements of information requests made to state agencies under state and federal law and the effect of providing the status of this information on the searchable website under this paragraph (d) and make a report thereon to the 2019 Regular Session of the Legislature.

( * * *de) Nothing in Sections 27-104-151 through 27-104-159 shall permit or require the disclosure of trade secrets or other proprietary information, including confidential vendor information, or any other information that is required to be confidential by state or federal law.

( * * *ef) The information available from the searchable website must be updated no later than fourteen (14) days after the receipt of data from an agency, and the Department of Finance and Administration shall require each agency to provide to the department access to all data that is required to be accessible from the searchable website within fourteen (14) days of each expenditure, grant award, including amendments; subgrant, including amendments; or contract, including amendments; executed by the agency.

( * * *fg) The searchable website must include all information required by this section for all transactions that are initiated in fiscal year 2015 or later. In addition, all information that is included on the searchable website from the date of the inception of the website until July 1, 2014, must be maintained on the website according to the requirements of this section before July 1, 2014, and remain accessible for ten (10) years from the date it was originally made available. All data on the searchable website must remain accessible to the public for a minimum of ten (10) years.

( * * *gh) For the purposes of this subsection (1), the term "contract" includes, but is not limited to, personal and professional services contracts.

(2) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall create the IHL Accountability and Transparency website to include its executive office and the institutions of higher learning no later than July 1, 2012. This website shall:

(a) Provide access to existing financial reports, financial audits, budgets and other financial documents that are used to allocate, appropriate, spend and account for appropriated funds;

(b) Have a unique and simplified website address;

(c) Be directly accessible via a link from the main page of the Department of Finance and Administration website, as well as the IHL website and the main page of the website of each institution of higher learning;

(d) Include other links, features or functionality that will assist the public in obtaining and reviewing public financial information;

(e) Report expenditure information currently available within these enterprise resource planning (ERP) computer systems; and

(f) Design the reporting format using the existing capabilities of these ERP computer systems.

(3) The Mississippi Community College Board shall create the Community and Junior Colleges Accountability and Transparency website to include its executive office and the community and junior colleges no later than July 1, 2012. This website shall:

(a) Provide access to existing financial reports, financial audits, budgets and other financial documents that are used to allocate, appropriate, spend and account for appropriated funds;

(b) Have a unique and simplified website address;

(c) Be directly accessible via a link from the main page of the Department of Finance and Administration website, as well as the Mississippi Community College Board website and the main page of the website of each community and junior college;

(d) Include other links, features or functionality that will assist the public in obtaining and reviewing public financial information;

(e) Report expenditure information currently available within the computer system of each community and junior college; and

(f) Design the reporting format using the existing capabilities of the computer system of each community and junior college.

(4) Not later than January 1, 2016, the owner or owners of a community hospital, as defined in Section 41-13-10, shall create and maintain an accountability and transparency website for the community hospital or set up a separate section for the community hospital on the current website of the owner or owners. This website of the community hospital or section of the website of the owner or owners shall:

(a) Provide access to existing financial reports, financial audits, budgets and other financial documents of the community hospital that are used to allocate, appropriate, spend and account for public funds;

(b) Have a unique and simplified website address if it is a new website for the community hospital, or be an easily accessible section of the website of the owner or owners;

(c) Include links, features or functionality that will assist the public in obtaining and reviewing public financial information of the community hospital;

(d) Report expenditure information of the community hospital in functional expenditure categories that is currently available within the computer system of the community hospital; and

(e) Design the reporting format using the existing capabilities of the computer system or systems of the owner or owners of the community hospital.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.