State should stop giving to nonprofits until checks in place, legislators say

01/25/2007

RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
Pioneer Press


The state should stop giving money to nonprofit organizations until it gets better at tracking its grants, a Republican Minnesota House member proposed today.

"Until state agencies enact better controls and procedural safeguards, the only responsible course of action is to enact a moratorium," said Rep. Chris DeLaForest, R-Andover. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Eden Prairie, also wants the state to make it easy for anyone to see how the annual $4.7 billion the state pays to nonprofits is used, through the creation of a publicly accessible Web site.

The proposals come on the heels of a state report released earlier this month that found Minnesota has a "fragmented and inconsistent" approach to tracking grants to nonprofits and doesn't do needed checking to see how well the money is used.

"Taxpayers deserve to know where their money is spent," said Paulsen.