It shall be the duty of the committee to review applications and recommend for approval any community services grants made from any funds appropriated to the State Executive Commission on Community Services Grants by the Legislature for the purpose of awarding community services grants. The committee shall evaluate grant proposals based on the relevance of such proposals to the purposes for which such grants shall be made; the extent to which such grant proposal advances the program objectives of the grant-making agency; the ability of the grant recipient to fulfill the objectives of the grant proposal; and the extent to which the grant proposal can benefit the greatest number of citizens, without excluding any geographic regions of the state. All of the above information may be ascertained by appropriate measures, which shall include interviews, audits, public hearings, and recommendations by members of the Legislature. The committee shall act in an advisory role only. All grants recommended for approval or rejection by the committee shall be forwarded to the State Executive Commission on Community Services Grants which shall review each grant for compliance with the criteria listed herein and shall approve or disapprove each grant. The commission shall have absolute discretion to award or reject any grant. The commission shall report to the committee, within 14 days after any meeting, all actions taken. It shall also be the duty of the commission to ensure that, of any appropriations awarded by the commission, a minimum of the equivalent of 0.4 percent of such appropriations shall be distributed to each House district and 1.2 percent of such appropriations shall be distributed to each Senate district.
Last modified: May 3, 2021