| TO: | Honorable Bill Callegari, Chair, House Committee on Government Reform |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB3430 by Strama (Relating to the online availability of information about state expenditures, including the creation of a state database containing information on state expenditures.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2008 | ($405,090) |
| 2009 | $0 |
| 2010 | $0 |
| 2011 | $0 |
| 2012 | $0 |
| Fiscal Year | Probable (Cost) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1 |
|---|---|
| 2008 | ($405,090) |
| 2009 | $0 |
| 2010 | $0 |
| 2011 | $0 |
| 2012 | $0 |
The bill would require the Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA) to establish and post on the internet a database of state expenditures, including contracts and grants, that is electronically searchable by the public.
The bill would require the database to include the amount, date, payor, and payee of expenditures; a listing of state expenditures by object of expense with links to the warrant or check register level and as appropriated, class and item level.
The bill would require that the database allow users to search and aggregate state funding by any element of the information; ascertain through a single search the total amount of state funding awarded to a person by a state agency; and download information yielded by a search of the database.
The bill would require that all state agencies provide the requested information to the comptroller for inclusion in the database. The provisions of the proposed bill will affect all state agencies under the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government as well as all institutions of higher education
The bill would require that the Department of Information Resources prominently include a link to the database on the home page of the Texas Online project.
The bill would allow the CPA to establish procedures and adopt rules to implement the provisions of the bill.
The bill would require all state agencies that maintain an internet site to include a link on the agency's internet site to the state expenditure database established by the CPA.
The effective date of the bill is October 1, 2007.
The Comptroller of Public Accounts would create a web based state expenditure database available on their website.
It is assumed that the Uniform State Accounting System (USAS) currently collects the data prescribed in the proposed bill and no significant costs will be incurred for agencies that currently use USAS as their accounting systems.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) indicates that their current system does not capture the information prescribed in the proposed bill, specifically the class and item level. The OAG estimates that additional programming costs of $360,000 (3 programmers at 1,500 hours each and at $80 an hour), software upgrade costs of $8,985, and general operating costs associated with the 3 contract programmers of $36,105 will be incurred to implement the provisions of the bill. Therefore the fiscal impact to the OAG to implement the provisions of the bill is $405,090 in fiscal year 2008. It is assumed that on-going maintenance costs of $1,500 estimated for fiscal year 2009 and out years can be absorbed with existing resources within the OAG. The OAG also indicates that they will not be able to comply with the provisions of the bill until March 1, 2008.
Anticipated costs for the Legislative Budget Board will include programming to modify existing system to collect new data fields required in the proposed bill. The LBB could absorb these costs with existing resources.
Another factor that could result in additional costs is that not all state agencies use USAS as their accounting system. USAS has internal and external users and additional programming and reporting cost could be incurred for external user agencies.
To the extent that external user agencies that report to USAS are already capturing the class and item level in their current systems, it is assumed that any additional costs associated with the implementation of the proposed bill, could be absorbed with existing resources. However, costs could be more for those agencies that do not capture the class and item level in their current systems.
| Source Agencies: | 302 Office of the Attorney General, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 307 Secretary of State, 313 Department of Information Resources, 405 Department of Public Safety, 460 Board of Professional Engineers, 515 Board of Pharmacy, 529 Health and Human Services Commission, 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 308 State Auditor's Office, 458 Alcoholic Beverage Commission, 601 Department of Transportation, 720 The University of Texas System Administration
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, MN, MS, EP, RC
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