1 HB124
2 210722-3
3 By Representative Pringle
4 RFD: State Government
5 First Read: 02-FEB-21
6 PFD: 01/26/2021
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1 ENGROSSED
2
3
4 A BILL
5 TO BE ENTITLED
6 AN ACT
7
8 Relating to professional licensing boards and
9 commissions; to require each self-sustaining board or
10 commission previously exempted from posting expenditures
11 through the searchable public Internet database of the
12 Comptroller, to post the information on the public website of
13 the board or commission, or on the website of the Comptroller
14 for a reasonable fee.
15 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
16 Section 1. (a) For the purposes of this section, a
17 licensing board is a state professional licensing board or
18 commission that is self-sustaining by its own revenues and
19 fees, the expenditures of which are not required to be
20 published on the searchable public Internet database
21 maintained by the Comptroller pursuant to Section 41-4-65,
22 Code of Alabama 1975.
23 (b) The expenditures, including contracts and
24 grants, of each licensing board shall be published on the
25 website of the licensing board. The published expenditures
26 shall be electronically searchable by the public, except as
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1 provided by subdivision (4), and shall include all of the
2 following:
3 (1) The amount, date, payor, and payee of
4 expenditures.
5 (2) A listing of state expenditures by both of the
6 following:
7 a. The object of the expense with links to the
8 warrant or check register level.
9 b. To the extent maintained by the licensing board
10 accounting systems in a reportable format, class and item
11 levels.
12 (3) To the extent possible, the licensing board
13 shall present expenditure information in a manner that is
14 searchable and intuitive to users and shall enhance and
15 organize the presentation of the information through the use
16 of graphical representations, such as pie charts, as the
17 licensing board considers appropriate.
18 (4) The licensing board may not allow public access
19 under this section to the address of a payee, except that the
20 licensing board may allow public access under this section to
21 information identifying the county in which the payee is
22 located. The licensing board may not allow public access under
23 this section to information that is identified by the
24 licensing board that is exempt from required disclosure as
25 confidential. The licensing board, or an officer or employee
26 of the licensing board, shall be immune from any civil
27 liability for posting confidential information under this
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1 section if the licensing board, or officer or employee of the
2 licensing board, posted the information in reliance on a
3 determination made by the licensing board about the
4 confidentiality of information relating to the expenditures of
5 the licensing board.
6 (5) To the extent any information required to be
7 published on the website is already being collected or
8 maintained by the licensing board, the licensing board shall
9 include that information on the website.
10 (6) The licensing board may not charge a fee to the
11 public to access any information required to be published on
12 the licensing board website pursuant to this section.
13 (7) The Alabama Department of Finance, after
14 consultation with each licensing board, shall prominently
15 include a link to that portion of the website of each
16 licensing board, that includes the expenditure information
17 required to be published by this section on the website of the
18 Comptroller. Alternatively, a licensing board may publish
19 expenditure information required to be published by this
20 section on the website maintained by the Comptroller pursuant
21 to Section 41-4-65, Code of Alabama 1975. Notwithstanding
22 subsection (h) of Section 41-4-65, Code of Alabama 1975, the
23 Comptroller may charge a licensing board a reasonable fee for
24 publishing expenditure information pursuant to this
25 subdivision.
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1 (8) The home page of the website of each licensing
2 board shall include a prominent link to the expenditure
3 information required to be published by this section.
4 (9) Each licensing board may adopt rules to
5 implement and administer this section.
6 (10) Any vendor, contractor, or other supplier to
7 any licensing board may notify the licensing board in writing
8 that its prices or costs, or both, should be held
9 confidential. Upon receipt of written notification, the
10 licensing board may not post the prices or costs, or both,
11 specified in the notification unless and until the licensing
12 board investigates whether the prices or costs, or both,
13 claimed in the notification to be confidential should be
14 protected from posting. The investigation shall include a
15 hearing where the vendor, contractor, or other supplier may
16 present justification for holding the information
17 confidential. The ruling of the licensing board on
18 confidentiality shall be based on a standard of reasonableness
19 and shall be subject to review by the courts.
20 Section 2. This act shall become effective on the
21 first day of the third month following its passage and
22 approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.
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1
2
3 House of Representatives
4 Read for the first time and re-
5 ferred to the House of Representa-
6 tives committee on State Government
7 ................................... ....... 02-FEB-21
8
9 Read for the second time and placed
10 on the calendar with 1 substitute
11 and................................ ....... 24-FEB-21
12
13 Read for the third time and passed
14 as amended......................... ....... 20-APR-21
15 Yeas 97, Nays 0, Abstains 0
16
17 Jeff Woodard
18 Clerk
19
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 41-4-65
Engrossed: 41-4-65