Bill Summary for Bill Number HB09-1288

Date: 03/04/2009

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB09-1288

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved amendment L.001. The motion passed without Refer House Bill 09-1288, as amended, to the Commi	Pass Without Objection PASS

09:50 AM -- House Bill 09-1288 - Concerning the Tax Transparency Act

Representative Nikkel, prime sponsor, explained the provisions of the bill. She explained that the bill requires the Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT) to create and maintain a searchable database website with revenue and expenditure data from the state's Financial Data Warehouse (FDW). The FDW is a tool that allows a user to obtain information from the state's accounting system. Representative Nikkel noted that the bill requires each state agency website to include a link to the searchable budget database. The database must be made publicly available no later than January 1, 2010. After a brief committee discussion, testimony was taken. Representative Nikkel distributed amendment L.001 (Attachment A) to the committee and noted that it would be discussed during the amendment phase of the hearing.

The following persons testified:

09:56 AM -- Mr. Joshua Culling, National Taxpayers Union, testified in support of the bill and distributed a handout on his testimony (Attachment B).

10:09 AM -- Mr. Cleve Tidwell, representing himself, testified in support of the legislation. He closed by saying that people in Colorado want to know how their taxpayer money is being spent. This bill accomplishes the goal of making government more transparent.

10:17 AM -- Mr. Terry Mangan, representing himself, testified in support of a bill that was not before the committee.

10:20 AM -- Mr. Charley Able, former reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, testified in support of the bill. This bill will make it possible for people in Colorado to know how their state government spends its taxpayer dollars. Mr. Able discussed other websites in the United States that make their government budgets more transparent. He closed by urging the committee to support House Bill 09-1288.

The committee discussed security issues that are tied to searchable databases that are placed on the Internet. Mr. Able responded to the discussion by noting that the legislation (House Bill 09-1288) would ensure a greater amount of security than a searchable budget database that would result from an executive order by the Governor.

10:44 AM -- Mr. David K.Williams Jr., Libertarian Party of Colorado, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Williams continued by saying that we believe that individuals in Colorado should be empowered and this bill accomplishes this goal. He closed by discussing the expenditure in the fiscal note and mentioned that most websites cost about $4.95 to place on the Internet. The committee discussed the information that would be placed on the searchable database under the bill and the filtering process that would ensure that sensitive information is not made public. Mr. Williams noted that a breech of confidential information should not be an issue given the provisions of the bill.

10:51 AM -- Mr. Jack Ott, Coalition for a Conservative Majority, testified in support of the bill and discussed the need for the bill.

10:53 AM -- Mr. Jerry Roach, representing himself, testified in support of the bill because it adds government accountable to the system.

10:56 AM -- Ms. Edie Bryan, representing herself, testified in support of the legislation.

10:58 AM -- Ms. Amy Oliver Cooke, Independence Institute, testified in support of the legislation and distributed an article on government transparency to the committee (Attachment C).

11:08 AM -- Mr. John Conley, Governor's Office of Information Technology, responded to committee questions and discussed the issue of security. He noted that whether the database is established by law or executive order, the issue of security would be the same. He closed by saying that the database would be created within the state's firewall. The system would simply post revenue and expenditure data in a read-only format.

11:18 AM


BILL:	HB09-1288
TIME:	11:20:02 AM
MOVED:	Gerou
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001. The motion passed without objection by those members present.
SECONDED:	Lambert
		VOTE
	Apuan
	Benefield
	Gerou
	Kefalas
	Kerr A.
	Lambert
	Roberts
	Summers
	Swalm
	Frangas
	Judd

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB09-1288
TIME:	11:20:59 AM
MOVED:	Swalm
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 09-1288, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a 11-0 vote.
SECONDED:	Summers
		VOTE
	Apuan	Yes
	Benefield	Yes
	Gerou	Yes
	Kefalas	Yes
	Kerr A.	Yes
	Lambert	Yes
	Roberts	Yes
	Summers	Yes
	Swalm	Yes
	Frangas	Yes
	Judd	Yes

Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS