(CONCORD) The New Hampshire Senate has approved a bill that would require state officials to post online any payments made by state government. The bill, SB 359, cleared the full Senate on a voice vote yesterday, and now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.

Sen. Sharon Carson

“It’s a step in the right direction,” argued lead sponsor Senator Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry). “We need to make sure that everything that we do on behalf of our constituents is transparent and that they can see where we are spending their tax dollars.

New Hampshire’s Department of Revenue Administration posts the state’s updated revenue figures at the beginning of every month. In January, Governor John Lynch announced that he would require monthly spending reports as well, but did not specify whether the reports would include total spending by agency, or a detailed transaction register (DTA). The DTA is essentially a copy of the state treasurer’s checkbook, showing every dollar flowing from state coffers.

The State of Nebraska has posted detailed information about all state revenues, expenditures, and contracts at NebraskaSpending.gov. New Hampshire Treasurer Cathy Provencher pointed to the Nebraska site as a model for other states during New Hampshire Watchdog’s in-depth series “Can New Hampshire Pay Its Bills?” earlier this winter.

If approved, SB 359 would take effect July 1, 2010, but there is no deadline for the Commissioner of Administrative Services to begin posting data online. The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy has been working on a Right to Know request with DAS for the past 11 months, requesting that all state payments be released to the public.

Jay Flanders heads the Josiah Bartlett Center’s Open Government Project. He says in order to bring true accountability to state government, the bill should require disclosure of not only who received state money, but the purpose of the spending

“Who got the money is important. What the money was spend on is equally important,” Flanders adds.

Flanders says an effective bill would mandate the data be posted in a download-able and search-able format, include recipient addresses, and require DAS to post the information in a timely manner. He says state officials shouldn’t be allowed to wait nearly a year to release public information, and that the current bill does not specify how frequent or how timely the spending reports must be.

Josiah Bartlett President Charlie Arlinghaus the Center’s Open Government Project goes well beyond the limited scope of SB 359.

“While it’s important for the government to reveal information about itself, they will also hold something back. It’s human nature,” Arlinghaus explained. “Our Open Government Project will establish a gatekeeper-free resource open to all at no charge that includes every check every dime every expense for complete transparency. We’ve spent 11 months working with the state to open the data to public scrutiny and will begin peeling back the curtain in the spring.”

The Office of the Legislative Budget Assistant’s Office estimates that SB 359 would cost over $212,000 to implement in FY 2011, rising to over $283,000 in FY 2014, based on DAS claims that it would need to hire a full-time data specialist and two full-time administrators to meet the bill’s reporting requirements.

The amended bill reads in full:

CHAPTER 9-F

ONLINE ACCESS TO STATE PAYMENT INFORMATION

9-F:1 Online Access to State Payment Information.

I. The commissioner of administrative services, in consultation with the chief information officer, shall post online the following information relating to any payments made by the state:

(a) The payment date.

(b) The name of the recipient of the payment.

(c) The amount of the payment.

(d) The source of funding for the payment.

II. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph I, the commissioner of administrative services shall not post online any information related to payments by the state that is not a public record or that is confidential pursuant to state or federal law. In this section, “public record” shall have the same meaning as “governmental record” in RSA 91-A:1-a, III.

­2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.