Rep. Morgan Demands Changes or Elimination of Legislative Grants Program
Monday, May 23, 2016
State Representative Patricia Morgan is calling to either eliminate legislative grants or get politics out of the program.
"It is our duty to use tax dollars wisely and to ensure that taxpayers get maximum value out of every dollar. Legislative grants can provide much needed money to some very good programs in our communities, like youth sports, food pantries, and senior centers. Unfortunately, the process used to award these grants is political. And the process is not as transparent as it should be." said Rep. Morgan.
Morgan says that the current program distributes around $2 million a year and goes on to propose changes.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"I propose that 1,000 grants of $1,000 each be created. All non-profits, youth sport organizations, parade committees and other groups that perform services for the benefit of the general public would be encouraged to apply. The application would require a detailed description of need and purpose for the funds. Those qualifying applications would be placed in a pool and, in concert with public citizen witnesses, 250 recipient applications would be selected randomly on a quarterly basis. With this raffle format and in contrast to the current process of today, Rhode Island would have an accountable, transparent, and fair process. Every organization would be treated equally, regardless of rank or connection in the State House. Every organization would have an equal and honest chance to receive needed funds," Morgan said.
Why Changes
Morgan explains why the program needs to be changed and needs to be made transparent and fair.
"It is our duty to use tax dollars wisely and to ensure that taxpayers get maximum value out of every dollar. Legislative grants can provide much needed money to some very good programs in our communities, like youth sports, food pantries, and senior centers. Unfortunately, the process used to award these grants is political. And the process is not as transparent as it should be.
She continued, "Integrity of state funded programs must be fully maintained. The current process is faulty. Can we, as a state, justify giving more taxpayer-funded grants to children in one town over another? All of our children are equally important. It is impossible to defend a process that is not transparent and equally applied. So few individuals decide the amount and destination of grants? We must fix this broken process."
As GoLocalProv reported last week, Rep. Morgan has requested legislative grant in the past, but she says she disagreed with the process.
"I have requested legislative grants in the past for organizations in my district. I understand that by and large the money goes to good civic purposes. However, I have always disagreed with the process. Now is the time to make the process accountable to taxpayers."
Time for Change
Morgan concluded by saying, "It is evident that either the program must be eliminated or it must be reformed. Rhode Islanders are tired of reading scandals in the newspaper and of misappropriated tax money."
She then added, "It is time to change the way we do business on Smith Hill. This will be a refreshing reform of a tarnished program."
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