Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish announced her support of a Senate Bill 195 by Republican Sen. Sander Rue to create a "sunshine portal" for the state government.

Sorry, it's not up on the Legislature Web site yet, so I can't post a link.

Among the features of the proposed portal:

* The State’s check ledger: regular updates of the state's cash balances by account or fund.

* A monthly summary of the state's investment accounts under the control of the State Investment Council.

*Annual operating budgets for each state agency with monthly expenditures by category.

* The Contractor Database, which became law last year and launch earlier on Jan. 1, 2010.

* The revenue that the state received in the preceding month by source, such as type of tax, fee, fine, administrative fee or other collection category.

* Special appropriations received outside the general appropriation act by each state agency and the purpose of those appropriations

* Approved budget adjustment requests by state agency and affected budget category.

* Reversions and cash balances by state agency and fund

* Capital Outlay tracker to give updates on capital outlay projects and appropriations.

* A directory of all employee positions, including exempt employee positions, by state agency, showing each position's title and salary.

* An open meeting tracker, so the public knows when key government meetings are occurring.

* And links to other areas of government where public information is kept, such as: The New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts and the Secretary of State's web sites for lobbyist regulation and political committee reports.