Access legislation came in many shapes and sizes
(scroll down for a chart of access-related bills)
The 2009 General Assembly was especially interesting for the number of bills filed that promoted access to information in general, or that promoted e-government services to the public.
The highest-profile of these bills were advanced by Del. Ben Cline, R-Amherst, and Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax. In their original form, both bills would have instructed the Auditor of Public Accounts to create a searchable database of state budget data, including more than two dozen data fields, including debt service on bonds, salaries, and a “descriptive purpose” of each expenditure.
Both legislators faced questions over the fiscal impact of their proposals, which was estimated at $3 million. Both disputed the assessment, noting that the software to create the database is being freely distributed after being developed and used in Texas and a handful of other states.
Still, seeing the writing on the wall in a tough economic atmosphere, both men pared their bills back to require the auditor to include much of the same data on the state’s existing Commonwealth Data Point system (http://datapoint.apa.virginia.gov). Some have cited the not-so-user-friendliness of Data Point as the reason why a more comprehensive and more searchable database was needed.
Cuccinelli’s bill also instructs the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to develop something like standardized budget templates so that budget data is categorized similarly across all state government agencies.
Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Woodbridge, and Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Roanoke County, introduced similar measures to give citizens the means to access per-image views of online land records. Currently, court clerks maintain subscription services for access to those records, primarily used by real estate and title insurance professionals, but the full subscription price might be too high — or too cumbersome — for, say, a genealogist researching her family tree.
The clerks opposed the bill in its original form, again worrying over the inclusion of Social Security numbers and some saying a per-image access system was not workable. The clerks succeeded in narrowing the bill down to a three-year pilot program for Prince William County, whose clerk, former delegate Michelle McQuigg, has expressed an interest in providing the service.
Apparently some legislators feel that school boards need to open up a little more. Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Glade Hall, won support for his bill to post school budget data online. Sen. Steve Newman, R-Forest, got a bill through to require public disclosure of the amount a school district anticipated getting from the local government.
Several bills were filed that would encourage state government in particular to look into allowing electronic filings instead of paper copies. VCOG applauded the efforts in general, but noted that the legislature should tread carefully, making sure not to elevate electronic over paper filings if it has the effect of penalizing those citizens who do not have the financial means or ability to access their government through cyberspace.
Unfortunately, Sen. Sam Nixon, R-Richmond, was not successful in persuading the Senate to pass his bill that would have redesigned the lobbyist-disclosure form to include, among other things, the exact bills lobbied on, not just the general topic.
Sen. Steve Newman filed a bill that originally would have barred the Department of Health Professions from giving out the home addresses and other personal information of health professionals to “any private entity for resale.” The Virginia Press Association worked hard to get the bill amended to set up a two-tiered information personal contact practice similar to what the Virginia State Bar uses. Individuals will fill out one contact form that will be public and another that the department will not disclose. Which addresses the professionals choose to use on each one would be up to them.
