2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 3 - Executive
Chapter 33 - Public Records; Fees
§ 881a. Online access to information relating to public funds

(a) Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

• (1) “Agency” means any department, office, board, commission, bureau, division, institution or institution of higher education. “Agency” specifically includes any authority created by an act of the Legislature, including those authorities not receiving territorial tax revenue except for independent agencies of government. This includes individual agencies and programs, as well as those programs and activities that cross agency lines, and also includes all elective offices in the Executive Branch of Government and the Legislative Branch of Government.

• (2) “BIT” means the Virgin Islands Bureau of Information Technology as established in 3 V.I.C., chapter 1, § 10.

• (3) “Entity” or “recipients(s)” means any corporation, association, limited liability corporation, limited liability partnership, or any other legal business entity. It shall also include any grantee or sub-grantee, contractor or subcontractor, or any other government entity.

• (4) “Funding action or expenditure” shall include details on the type of spending of both:

  • (A) appropriated expenditures, including but not limited to grants, contracts, and appropriations; and

  • (B) tax expenditures, including but not limited to tax exemptions, waivers, and credits. This shall include but not be limited to all tax exemptions, credits, direct grants, or infrastructure assistance provided to any corporate or other business entity. Where possible, a hyperlink to the actual grants or contracts shall be provided.

• (5) “Funding source” means the account the expenditure is appropriated from.

• (6) “Searchable budget database website” means a website that allows the public at no cost to search for, obtain, and aggregate the information identified in subsection (b) of this section.

• (7) “State audit or report” shall include any audit or report issued by the Virgin Islands Inspector General, United States Inspector General, contracted private auditor, Legislative Post Auditor, Legislative Committee, or Executive body relating to the past or current performance of the entity or recipient of funds or the budget program, activity or agency which the Commissioner of Finance deems as relevant.

(b) On or before June 1, 2013, the Bureau of Information Technology, as established in 3 V.I.C., chapter 1, § 10 in collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Finance, 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 recipients and expenditures of the Territory's funds. The Bureau of Information Technology must present information in the database in a manner that is intuitive to members of the general public, including graphical representations.

(c) Internet database; contents.

• The internet database should include the following:

  • (1) The appropriation, expenditure or use of all public funds or federal funds or receipt of all federal funds or public funds as defined in section 883 of this chapter unless the federal funds are accounted for on the website of the Office of Economic Opportunity as required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009;

  • (2) Annual government expenditures or funding actions provided to any entity, recipient or agency, as determined by the Commissioner of Finance including the name and location of any such entity, recipient or agency, the funding source, the amount of funds appropriated including tax expenditures or other subsidies, the funding agency or authority, and a description of the purpose of the funding action or expenditure;

  • (3) Bond debt payments and debt service including but not limited to amounts of bond interest paid and sources of funds paid for individual bond issues;

  • (4) Local aid to each department including, but not limited, to amounts paid to individual units of government for individually identifiable aid programs;

  • (5) Annual revenues, as determined by the Commissioner of Finance which shall include but not be limited to:

    • (A) Receipts or deposits by any agency into funds established within the territory’s treasury;

    • (B) Agency earnings, including but not limited to, amounts collected by each agency for merchandise sold, services performed, licenses and permits issued, or regulation;

    • (C) Revenue for the use of money and property including, but not limited to, amounts received for compensation for the use of government-owned money and property;

    • (D) Gifts, donations and federal grants including, but not limited to, amounts received from public and private entities to aid in support of a specific function or other governmental activity; and

    • (E) Other revenue including, but not limited to, receipts not classified elsewhere.

  • (6) Annual bonded indebtedness which shall include, but not be limited to, the amount of the total original obligation stated in terms of principal and interest, the term of the obligation, the source of funding for repayment of the obligation, the amounts of principal and interest previously paid to reduce the obligation, the balance remaining of the obligation, any refinancing of the obligation, and the cited statutory authority to issue such bonds;

  • (7) A link to any local or federal audit or report; and

  • (8) Any other relevant information specified by the Commissioner of Finance in consultation with the Virgin Islands Office of Management and Budget.

(d) The searchable budget database website shall retain information for each fiscal year on the single website for not less than 5 years and shall include data for the most recent fiscal years.

(e) The searchable budget database website shall have a link for each branch of government and every governmental agency defined in section 883 of this chapter to include the Legislative branch of Government.

(f) The data presented in the database must be complied [sic] by the respective agencies and submitted to the BIT. BIT shall update the searchable budget database website as new data becomes available. All agencies shall provide to the BIT all data that is required to be included in the searchable budget database website no later than 30 days after the data becomes available to the agency. The Office of Management and Budget and the Commissioner of Finance shall provide guidance to agency heads to ensure compliance with this section.

(g) The searchable budget database website shall not include:

• (1) Tax payments or refund data that includes confidential taxpayer information;

• (2) Data relating to payments of “state” assistance to individual recipients;

• (3) Payees’ addresses or telephone numbers, but the agencies may allow public access in the database to information identifying the district 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 agency pursuant to rule. The agency and any officer or employee of the agency:

  • (A) may rely on a determination made by a budget unit within the agency 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.

(h) The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, all government agencies and the Legislature shall include a link to the database under this section in their individual official websites. Each government agency 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.

(i) Each government agency shall cooperate with the Virgin Islands Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Finance as necessary to implement and administer this website. Each government agency shall provide to the department any additional data in a manner and schedule prescribed by the Virgin Islands Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Finance that are required to be included in the database.

(j) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, two or more violations of this section by a governmental agency in any fiscal year, upon the second or subsequent violation, subjects the governmental agency to an audit of their budget and all expenditures by the Virgin Islands Inspector General or the Legislative Post Audit Division.