ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Forty-seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
FACT SHEET FOR H.B. 2712
tax decisions; distribution
Purpose
Requires tax decisions to be distributed to all state libraries.
Background
Statute sets forth the general policy of the state with respect to public inspection of governmental records and requires public records and other matters in the custody of any officer to be open to inspection by any person at all times during office hours. All officers and public bodies are required to maintain records reasonably necessary to provide an accurate accounting of their official activities and of any government-funded activities. Public bodies include the state, counties, cities, towns, school districts, political subdivisions or tax-supported districts and any branch, department, board, bureau, commission, council or committee thereof.
Administrative rules may also limit disclosure of certain information. When confidential and public information are commingled in a single document, a copy of the document may be made available for public inspection with the confidential material redacted.
Currently, there is no consistently accessible manner in which the public may attain tax decisions. The Department of Revenue and the Arizona Tax Court have websites which allow the public to access some tax decisions. Tax decisions are not considered confidential, but personal identifying information must be redacted before they can be made available to the public.
There may be fiscal impact associated to the Department of Revenue associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires the superior court to assign any filed action that provides tax decisions to tax court.
2. Requires, beginning October 1,2006, specified agencies and courts to provide redacted tax decisions to: a) Maricopa County law libraries; b) the Arizona State University College of Law; c)the University of Arizona College of Law; d) the State law Library and the Arizona State Library by the following agencies and courts.
3. Requires, beginning October 1, 2006, the courts to distribute each tax decision from the preceding calendar quarter to: a) Maricopa County law libraries; b)the Arizona State University College of Law; c)the University of Arizona College of Law; d) the state law library and the Arizona State Library by the following agencies and courts on October 1, 2006:
4. Requires each agency and court to publish all decisions on its official website.
5. Allows any person to file an action in tax or superior court against any agency or court that fails to adhere to this legislation.
6. Requires any agency or court associated with this legislation to establish and maintain a website by December 31, 2007.
7. Defines terms.
8. Makes technical changes.
9. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
WM 2/6/06 DPA 4-1-0-4-0
3rd Read 3/9/06 42-15-3-0
Prepared by Senate Research
March 21, 2006
NS/SC/ac