A. The department shall establish and maintain an official internet website that is electronically searchable by the public at no cost and that contains a comprehensive database of receipts and expenditures of state monies. The database shall include the information as prescribed in the comprehensive annual financial report of a budget unit that has been made by a certified public accountant who is currently certified by the Arizona state board of accountancy or who has a limited reciprocity privilege pursuant to section 32-725 and who is not an employee of the department. The report shall be made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and shall contain financial statements that are in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. If the department has a comprehensive annual financial report of a budget unit that has been presented with a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting by the governmental finance officers association, the department may post such a financial report to satisfy the requirements of this subsection.

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

B. The department must present information in the database in a manner that is intuitive to members of the general public, including graphical representations. The database must allow users to:

1. Search and aggregate payments by individual budget units and programs.

2. Search and aggregate payments by individual vendors, including the total amount of state funding awarded by all budget units to individual vendors.

3. Download information yielded by a search of the database.

4. Access electronic versions of contracts that relate to expenditures.

C. The database shall include the following information:

1. Annual receipts of revenues, including:

(a) Receipts or deposits by each state budget unit into funds established in the state treasury.

(b) Taxes.

(c) Earnings by each budget unit, including amounts collected for merchandise sold, services performed and licenses, certifications and permits issued.

(d) Revenue from the use of publicly owned money or property, including leases and licenses.

(e) Gifts, donations and grants received, including amounts received from the federal government.

(f) Any other type of public revenue, however denominated or derived, deposited into the state treasury.

2. Annual expenditures and disbursements of state revenues by each state budget unit from funds established in the state treasury, as applicable, including:

(a) Bond payments, debt service and redemption charges and fees.

(b) Contractual services and cooperative agreements.

(c) Commodities.

(d) Capital outlay.

(e) Revenue sharing and other aid to other levels of government, including tribal governments.

(f) Any other expenditure or disbursement of state revenue from the state treasury, however denominated or structured.

D. Expenditure data shall list:

1. The manner of payment, including check or warrant or credit, debit or other purchase card.

2. The funding source, including categorical codes and the state accounts the expenditure is appropriated from.

3. A standardized descriptive title of the type and purpose of the transaction.

4. The date and amount of each payment.

5. The state agency or budget unit making the payment.

6. The name of the person or entity receiving the payment, including to the extent practicable a parent entity of the recipient if the recipient is owned by another entity.

7. The primary location of performance under the contract, including the county, city or town and legislative district.

E. The database shall not include:

1. Tax payment or refund data that include confidential taxpayer information.

2. Data relating to payments of state assistance to individual recipients.

3. Payees’ addresses or telephone numbers, but the department may allow public access in the database to information identifying the county in which the payee is located.

4. Work product in anticipation of litigation or information subject to attorney-client privilege.

5. Any other information that is designated by law as confidential or preapproved as confidential by the department pursuant to rule. The department and any officer or employee of the department:

(a) May rely on a determination made by a budget unit regarding confidentiality of information relating to the budget unit’s expenditures.

(b) Are immune from civil liability for posting confidential information under this section if the posting is in reliance on the budget unit’s determination relating to confidentiality.

F. Each budget unit shall cooperate with the department as necessary to implement and administer this section. Each budget unit shall provide to the department any additional data in a manner and schedule prescribed by the department that are required to be included in the database. The database shall be updated within thirty days after the end of each fiscal year and may be updated as new data become available. The data shall be retained in the database for at least ten full fiscal years.

G. The governor, secretary of state, state treasurer and legislature shall include a link to the database under this section in their individual official websites. Each budget unit that maintains a generally accessible internet website, or for which a generally accessible website is maintained, shall include a link on that website to the database under this section.

H. Each local government shall establish and maintain an official internet website that is accessible to the public at no cost and that contains a comprehensive reporting of all revenues and expenditures over five thousand dollars of local monies in as nearly as practicable the same manner and consistent with subsections B through E of this section. The database shall include the information as prescribed in the comprehensive annual financial report of a budget unit that has been made by a certified public accountant who is currently certified by the Arizona state board of accountancy or who has a limited reciprocity privilege pursuant to section 32-725 and who is not an employee of the local government. The report shall be made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and shall contain financial statements that are in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. If a local government has a comprehensive annual financial report of a budget unit that has been presented with a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting by the governmental finance officers association, the local government may post such a financial report to satisfy the requirements of this subsection. A link to this data shall be displayed in a prominent place on the local government’s official internet website or on a website of an association of cities and towns for cities and towns that do not have official websites and on the department’s official internet website as prescribed in this section. The data shall be updated no less frequently than every three months and may be updated as new data becomes available. The data shall be retained and accessible online for at least three fiscal years.

I. For the purposes of this section "local government" means:

1. A county, city or town with a population of more than twenty-five hundred persons.

2. Any community college district and school district having a student count of more than six hundred pupils.

3. A state university.