THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY BROWNE, BRUBAKER, PILEGGI, ALLOWAY, ROBBINS, FOLMER, BAKER, PICCOLA, WARD, ORIE, ERICKSON, BOSCOLA, VANCE, TOMLINSON, EARLL, WOZNIAK, GORDNER, RAFFERTY, O'PAKE, WILLIAMS, WONDERLING, CORMAN, WAUGH, SMUCKER, M. WHITE, LEACH, VOGEL, PIPPY, FERLO, EICHELBERGER, GREENLEAF, D. WHITE AND WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 6, 2009

AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, MAY 4, 2009   

AN ACT

Providing for the establishment of a searchable budget database-

driven Internet website detailing certain information

concerning taxpayer investments State expenditures.

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The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the Taxpayer

Transparency Act.

Section 2.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall

have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:"

"Agency."  A Commonwealth agency, a judicial agency or a

legislative agency as defined under section 102 of the act of

February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law.

"Commonwealth agency."  Any of the following:

(1)  Any office, department, authority, board, multistate

agency or commission of the executive branch, an independent

agency or a State-affiliated entity. The term includes:

(i)  The Governor's Office.

(ii)  The Office of Attorney General, the Department

of the Auditor General and the Treasury Department.

(iii)  An organization established by the

Constitution of Pennsylvania, a statute or an executive

order which performs or is intended to perform an

essential governmental function.

(2)  The term does not include a judicial or legislative

agency as defined under section 102 of the act of February

14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law.

"Expenditures." A grant, contract, appropriation, tax 

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exemption or tax credit or any tax expenditure as defined in 

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section 624 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known

as The Administrative Code of 1929.

"Funding recipient."  A person or political subdivision that

receives State funding other than an individual recipient of

State assistance or services or employee benefits buyouts.

"Funding source."  The General Fund, special funds or other

Federal or State funds appropriated by the General Assembly,

statute or executive authorization.

"Person."  A corporation, association, limited liability

company, partnership, limited partnership, nonprofit

organization, educational institution, political subdivision or

other government entity. The term does not include an individual

recipient of State assistance or services or employees benefits

buyouts.

"Searchable budget database."  A database-driven Internet

website that allows the public to search for and aggregate

budget information.

"Secretary."  The Secretary of the Budget of the 

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Commonwealth.

"State audit or report."  An audit report issued by the

Auditor General, a Commonwealth agency, including the Governor’s

Office, Office of Comptroller Operations, the Joint State

Government Commission or the Legislative Budget and Finance

Committee relating to a funding recipient, a budget program or

an agency.

"Treasury."  The Treasury Department of the Commonwealth.

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Section 3.  Searchable budget database.

(a)  Development.--By June October 1, 2009, the secretary 

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treasury shall develop and implement an Internet website,

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available to the public, that provides a single, searchable

budget database containing the data for the fiscal year

2008-2009 2009-2010 budget required under this section. The

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secretary treasury shall maintain the Internet website which

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shall allow the public to search for and aggregate data at no

cost. The Internet website shall include the following data

relating to expenditures of $25,000 or more:

(1)  The name and principal location or address of the

recipient of funds.

(2)  The amount of funds expended or received.

(3)  The funding source.

(4)  The disbursing agency and the budget line item from

which the expenditure is made.

(5)  A description of the purpose and type of

expenditure.

(6)  The expected performance outcomes achieved from the

expenditure, if available.

(7)  Past performance outcomes achieved from the

expenditure, if available.

(8)  Any State audit report relating to the funding

recipient, the budget program or an agency administering the

funding.

(9)  Any other relevant information specified by the

secretary treasury.

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(10)  All budget implementation data described in section 

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620(a) of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known

as The Administrative Code of 1929.

(b)  Hyperlink.--A hyperlink to contracts maintained under

Chapter 17 of the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known

as the Right-to-Know Law, that pertains to the expenditure shall

be provided where practicable.

(c)  Exemption.--Records, material dates or other information

exempted from disclosure under 24 Pa.C.S. § 8502(e)(2) (relating

to administrative duties of board) or 71 Pa.C.S. § 5902(e)(2)

(relating to administrative duties of board) shall be exempt

from placement on the searchable database.

(d)  Revenue reporting requirements.--

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(1)  The searchable budget database shall include weekly

revenue reports for the General Fund and the Motor License

Fund. The weekly revenue reports shall be prepared in a

manner consistent with section 620(b) of the act of April 9,

1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of

1929. In addition to the requirements set forth in section

620(b) of The Administrative Code of 1929, the weekly revenue

reports shall include a comparison of the actual collections

of revenue with prior year actual collections for each week.

(2)  Notwithstanding section 4(b) of this act, the weekly

revenue reports shall be made available on the searchable

budget database within three days after the immediately

preceding week.

Section 4.  Updates.

(a)  Time of updates.--Beginning July 1, 2009 2010, and each

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fiscal year thereafter, data, including expenditure symbols,

relating to the appropriations adopted in the general

appropriation act, nonpreferred appropriations acts and special

fund appropriations acts and all funds authorized by the

executive branch for that fiscal year shall be added to the

searchable budget database no later than 30 days following the

beginning of the fiscal year. The secretary treasury shall add

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additional data required under section 3 relating to the

expenditure of funds, as the data becomes available.

(b)  Agency requirements.--Each agency shall provide the

secretary treasury with all data required under section (3)(a)

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no later than 30 days after the data becomes available to the

agency. The agency shall not be required to provide information

that is exempt from disclosure under the act of February 14,

2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law.

(c)  Format.--Each agency shall create and maintain data

under this section in ASCII-delimited text file, spreadsheet

file or other file as required by the secretary treasury.

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(d)  Data maintenance.--The secretary treasury shall ensure

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that all data added to the searchable budget database remains

accessible to the public for a minimum of ten years.

Section 5.  Compliance.

The secretary treasury shall not be considered in compliance

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with this act if the data required for the searchable budget

database is not available in a searchable manner or is unable to

be aggregated or if the public is redirected to other government

Internet websites unless the other Internet websites contain the

information as required under this act.

Section 20.  Effective date.

This act shall take effect in 60 days.