Bill > H0745

This bill mandates that every special district, which is a unit of local government created to perform a specific function like providing water or fire protection, must maintain an official website and post its budget information online. Specifically, tentative budgets must be available on the website at least two days before a hearing to discuss them, and final adopted budgets must be posted within 30 days of approval. Additionally, the bill requires that the online budget information be comprehensive, allowing the public to view and compare multiple years of financial data, including general ledger and checking account details, analyze spending trends, examine individual accounting entries, filter information by various categories, download financial data and graphs, view data in different graphical and tabular formats, and simultaneously compare revenue and expense trends. This change aims to increase transparency and public access to how special districts manage their finances, removing previous provisions that allowed districts without websites to rely on local government websites for posting this information.