House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello says lawmakers should not be able to get paid through state community service grants.
The grants are facing scrutiny due to the resignation Tuesday of former House Finance Chairman Ray Gallison.
Gallison received tens of thousands of dollars in pay from community service grants for his work for an education nonprofit. Mattiello says that’s wrong.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to give a grant that a member specifically receives numeration out of to any organizations,” said Mattiello.
Community service grants are typically go to nonprofit groups. They’re larger than the legislative grants given to small organizations in lawmakers’ districts.
Mattiello became speaker in 2014. He says he has called for an audit of community service grants and plans to eliminate some of them.
Gallison resigned in the face of a federal investigation. It’s unclear if the probe is related to the money he previously received through state grants.
