|
LEGISLATIVE AND COMMUNITY GRANTS STILL AN ISSUE
|
The headline in the March 2008 OCG Citizen Alert read "Secrecy clouds $20 million grant process." At that time OCG felt these community services grants and legislative grants were "egregious in the midst of the current budget crisis" but the budget of 2008 was the golden age compared to now. Yet these grants continue, albeit at a reduced level of $10.6 million for Fiscal Year FY 2009. And already legislative grants are being doled out for FY 2010.
This report is a review of both legislative and community services grants for FY 2009, which includes July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009.
The selection process for legislative grants remains a mystery, other than that they are awarded to legislators by the Senate President and the House Speaker. In light of the secret process, OCG and the public can reasonably believe the Assembly Leadership is doling out legislative grants for friends and favored organizations, to help control the rank and file legislators, and to help some incumbents get re-elected with a photo-op of the sponsor announcing the grant.
The Community Services Grants are buried in the budget, are not identified or voted on individually, and do not have a legislator name attached.
House Legislative Grants
For FY 2009, 38 Representatives, including 6 newly elected last November and 4 who are no longer there, received about 235 grants totaling about $558,000. This includes $150,000 for Waterfire attributed to "House leadership."
- Representative Mattiello (Cranston) received the most money ($25,000).
- Representative Vaudreuil (Central Falls and Cumberland) received the most grants (17) totaling $15,500.
- Two current Representatives (Edwards, representing Portsmouth and Tiverton; and Ucci, a candidate for Speaker in 2011, representing Cranston and Johnston) requested grants but did not receive any.
- 39 current Representatives, including all of the Republicans, did not request any grants.
- The largest House grants (besides WaterFire) were $10,000 each for the Jonah, Inc. Community Center in Warwick (sponsor: Ferri, representing Warwick) and the East Bay Community Development Corp. (sponsor: Gallison, representing Bristol and Portsmouth.)
- At least 6 agencies received more than one House grant from two different sponsors.
Senate Legislative Grants
For FY 2009, all 38 Senators received about 478 grants totaling about $1,033,373. Those receiving grants were in the Senate prior to the November 2008 election. Seven are no longer there. The seven newly elected Senators did not request or receive grants.
- Former Senate President Montalbano and current Senate President Paiva-Weed each received more than $75,000.
- Senator Walaska (Warwick) received the largest number of grants (25) totaling $28,500.
- Eight agencies received $10,000 or more, with $20,000 to the Davinci Center for Community Progress, Inc. (sponsor: Ruggerio representing Providence and North Providence)
- At least17 agencies received more than one Senate grant from two or more Senate sponsors.
- Senators Alves and Raptakis both requested a grant for the West Warwick Senior Center; only Senator Alves received $12,500.
Community Services Grants
Community Services Grants do not have a legislator’s name attached to them. The House finance Committee is supposed to hear the requests for these monies. On the day of a hearing, House Finance Committee members are given a list of grants to be discussed that day, but only a few on the list receive an in depth review. These grants get buried in the budget bill, using different executive branch departments as a “pass through” for these grants. Executive branches receiving these monies have orders for where the money is to be given and have no say in that decision.
When the General Assembly votes on the budget, the community services grants are not identified, so the General Assembly is voting on the budget as a whole, not on individual grants. This appears to be in violation of Article VI, Section 11 of the RI Constitution which states:
Section 11. Vote required to pass local or private appropriations. -- The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the general assembly shall be required to every bill appropriating the public money or property for local or private purposes.
For FY 2009, about 349 Community Services Grants totaling about $9 million are granted to various entities, some of whom also received House and/or Senate grants, such as WaterFire which received another $150,000 in addition to the House legislative grant of $150,000.
- The largest grant, $528,204 went to the Children's Crusade.
- Others receiving grants in excess of $200,000 include the Veterans Memorial Auditorium Foundation, VNA Statewide (Visiting Nurses,) Crossroads RI, and RI Meals on Wheels.
- Community groups receiving grants encompass a wide range of fields including the arts, community centers, education, health, historic preservation, neighborhood associations, seniors, social services, sports, veterans, and more. Some of these grants seem worthy.
- At least 67 of these recipients also received legislative grants from the House and/or the Senate.
Recommendation: OCG recommends eliminating the legislative grants, since many already receive Community Services Grants. There is no process for legislators to vote on legislative grants. There is no explanation of the award process, for example why the Senate awarded the North Providence West Little League a grant, but not the North Providence East Little League or why one library, boy scout troop, fire district or senior center gets a grant and another does not.
Also, OCG recommends an in-depth review of each Community Services Grant by the House Finance Committee and due diligence by the executive departments that pass the monies to the grantee. What the Finance Committee and the executive departments miss could be picked up by individual legislators on the House floor if these grants are included in a separate budget article and are not hidden in the budget.
Access to information: FY 2009 legislative grants are no longer on the General Assembly website, having been replaced by legislative Grants for FY 2010 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/LegGrants/ which gets updated periodically. Already, for FY 2010, the Senate has awarded $346,500 of the $1,151,170 requested by all 38 senators. The House has awarded three grants totaling $16,500.
View the Community Service grants for FY 2009 at: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/HouseFinance/2009grantgrantee.pdf
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/HouseFinance/2009grantAgency.pdf
View OCG’s summary of FY 2009 House Grants, and FY 2009 Senate Grants sorted by legislators with totals for each legislator. (links attached here)
|
