Michael Moriarty, James Burrows and more than 100 representatives from non-profit agencies were packed into the House Finance Committee room of the State House Tuesday evening waiting for the review of the $11.6-million community legislative grant program.

Upstairs in House chambers, House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello blasted the Providence Sunday Journal for its front-page editorial labeling the May 19 grant review hearing a “dog and pony show.” The newspaper pointed out that committee member Rep. Eileen Naughton of Warwick was the only one present for the duration of the hearing.

Moriarty and Burrows had read the editorial and the news coverage, as had many in the room. They wondered what might change and they had a few ideas on what should change, but there was no knowing what would happen.

They didn’t have seats and they did not know how long it could be before they would be asked to testify. Moriarty and Burrows are veterans and they were ready to speak on behalf of the $2,700 grant awarded to the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), which has nine active chapters and 4,800 members across the state.

This was the final hearing on legislative grants. As legislators filtered into the room, the committee clerk walked through the audience handing out single sheets of paper, grant applications for the next fiscal year. It seemed strange – hadn’t they come to answer questions about how they spent state funds, not apply for funding? Would the grant program continue? It appeared that was the case.

Larry Berman, spokesman for Mattiello, said yesterday in an email, “The grant application form is new this year and was provided for organizations to apply for community service grants for next year, but a process has not been finalized.”

Rep. Robert Jacquard, secretary of the House Finance Committee, provided some direction at the hearing. As the fire code restricted how many could be in the room, he outlined what agencies would be called on first, suggesting representatives from the others would be more comfortable in the corridor until seats cleared. Acknowledging the work being done by the agencies and the people in them, he urged agency representatives to limit their comments to how they spent grant funds.

The ground rules appeared to be set.

Dr. Jim Purcell, commissioner of post-secondary education, was also in the audience. He, too, didn’t know when, or if, he would testify. But because several agencies receiving grants come under the direction of the state’s institutions of higher learning, he thought he should be there. And in response to committee member Rep. Patricia Morgan’s question why his office is overseeing a $356,538 grant to the College Crusade, he said, “I have no idea.”

He called the legislative grants a “pass through to our budget.” Purcell said his office processes the paperwork as sent to recipients but doesn’t alter the amount of the grants. Purcell, who became commissioner in 2014, couldn’t say how the process was established. It was something his office inherited.

Similarly, representatives of the West Bay, East Bay and Northern Rhode Island Collaborates, which each receive grants from $4,000 to $5,000, were questioning what more they could provide legislators in addition to the forms and information already filed.

The experience related by Karen Ostroff, executive director of the West Bay Collaborative, was common to other agencies whose grants are administered by the Department of Education. She said the West Bay grant was $25,000 a decade ago. About five years ago, it was cut in half, and has been declining since. The explanation for the decline in funding was “budget cuts.”

“The numbers seem random,” she said.

As for controls, Ostroff said, “I think we’re held extremely accountable.” RIDE requires reports on how the grants are spent.

So, is it through legislative pull that non-profits get on the list?

Moriarty, treasurer of the DAV, couldn’t say for certain how the organization started receiving a community legislative grant. He thought Charles Fogarty was responsible for initiating the funding when he was a legislator. He knows that the grant dried up for several years, and then about three years ago, with the assistance of Naughton, started up again. DAV Commander Burrows said the money is used to provide transportation and buy food baskets for disabled veterans. The agency operates on a $64,000 budget. It has no paid administrators, and it depends on fundraisers and donations to balance its budget.

Burrows and Moriarty have been following the controversy over legislative grants and, seemingly, according to reports, how they are handed out to glean votes. Burrows feels there should be uniformity over the process of reviewing and awarding grants and not just a mechanism to fund “a representative’s pet projects.”

Moriarty also questions the current system.

“I don’t think the Little League should get more than disabled veterans,” he said. He clarified that from what’s been published, it appears some Little Leagues “get lots and others get nothing.” He thinks grants should be based on need and the services provided to the community.

Asked Wednesday what will be the next steps in the process, Burrows said, “Speaker Mattiello was waiting for the hearings on community service grants to conclude, which they did last night. He will now confer with members of the Finance Committee and develop a new plan moving forward in the next fiscal year. The details have not been finalized yet.”