Senator Kitchens’ bill would require monthly public posting of discretionary-account spending; municipal league warns of burden

Senator Chris Kitchens introduced legislation (referred to in the hearing as Senate Bill 306) that would require agencies and elected officials to publish monthly expenditures from discretionary accounts so the public can see how those public funds are spent.

Kitchens, the bill sponsor, told the committee: "What this does is it's really to have transparency in government." He described the measure as similar in public access to campaign finance disclosures and said it would cover public funds—including fees or court costs that are routed to special discretionary accounts. "In some cases, it may be money that had been budgeted through the general fund. But in a lot of cases, it might be, for instance, a pistol permit fee when we're talking about sheriffs," Kitchens said.

The bill drew both support and concern at the Senate committee. A senator who said she posts her allocations online described a county-level discretionary fund she uses to allocate community-service grants and told colleagues she supports the bill. The committee then opened the public hearing.

Caleb Beck, legislative counsel for the Alabama League of Municipalities, testified in opposition. "The league opposes costly and cumbersome procedures that can and should be addressed at the local level," Beck said, arguing that many smaller municipal clerks are part-time or volunteer and that a statewide posting mandate would place a new resource burden on cities and towns. Beck suggested interested residents can use public-records requests under existing law to inspect discretionary-account expenditures.

Kitchens said he had negotiated with the League on implementation details and noted possible accommodations for municipalities without websites. "We would have different agencies that would then be responsible for that where they could post it online and anyone could see the expenditures from that discretionary account," Kitchens said. He also said he would be open to a centralized posting option at a state office similar to the Secretary of State’s campaign filings, but lawmakers on both sides said they did not want to shift staff burdens onto another state office without further discussion.

After discussion and a roll call, the committee recorded the bill as receiving a favorable report out of committee.

The committee did not adopt a uniform technical implementation during the hearing; Kitchens and League representatives said they expected to continue negotiating language about posting formats and alternatives for small municipalities. The bill’s text, as discussed in the hearing, would apply to public funds only.

Votes at the committee session were recorded by roll call; the clerk read attendance and the chair announced the bill received a favorable report.