Government Operations Chair: No Hearing on ‘Slush Fund’

Tennessee State Rep. Martin Daniel, a Knoxville Republican who chairs the Joint Government Operations Committee, is declining to hold hearings on a $4 million rural grants pool some lawmakers are calling a “slush fund," the Daily Memphian reports. In a letter released last week, Daniel said the House Finance, Ways & Means Committee, not his committee, should be the one to “determine if the funds are being used for the intended purpose.” The $3 million fund was created in part by the governor’s supplemental budget and in part by a legislative initiative to bolster the governor’s rural development executive order. Critics of the fund, however, say it was intended to reward lawmakers who voted for the governor’s education savings account bill.