đź’¸With federal investigations into Connecticut's budget earmark process, House Republicans led with solutions to protect taxpayers' hard-earned money.
"We reached a level of complacency that proved too significant for the folks who control the purse strings—the Governor and legislative Democrats—to continue to ignore," says House GOP Leader Vincent Candelora. "Taxpayers are stretched thin, and they deserve to know where every one of their dollars goes. As it stands right now, we can't say that. This bill is an important step toward filling considerable gaps."
Among the most impactful elements of the legislation are reforms targeting a current gap in the system that allows earmark recipients to pass funds along to other organizations without approval, transparency, or accountability. Under the bill, that practice would require prior approval, and any organization receiving passed-along funds would face the same transparency requirements as the original earmark recipient.