Ray Sullivan

STATE HOUSE - With the first check for federal stimulus money expected to arrive in Rhode Island today, two West Bay representatives want to ensure that it and future stimulus payments are spent responsibly and that Rhode Island receives as great a share of the available stimulus money as possible.

Rep. Raymond J. Sullivan Jr. and Sen. Joshua Miller are proposing a special legislative committee to oversee the appropriation of the federal stimulus money in Rhode Island.

The 15-member committee, which would include five representatives and five senators, as well as the four members of the state's congressional delegation or their designees and the director of the Department of Administration, would be charged with devising the systems by which the stimulus funding should be acquired and appropriated, and then providing oversight.

This is an unprecedented influx of funding, and we don't currently have any kind of structure in place to ensure that it is administered in a way that is appropriate, fair, efficient and transparent. There should be public hearings and input into the way this money is spent, and there also must be careful oversight to ensure that it is used as it is intended, said Representative Sullivan, a Democrat who represents District 29 in Coventry and West Greenwich.

Under the bills, which Representative Sullivan submitted today and Senator Miller will submit in the next few days, the committee's duties would include establishing a mechanism for distributing stimulus money as it arrives in Rhode Island and a mechanism for prioritizing prospective uses for the money, and monitoring the appropriateness and effectiveness of the spending. It would also be expected to identify strategies to ensure that Rhode Island receives as much money as possible from the available stimulus funding.

There are going to be a lot of important decisions being made about how this money is spent. This is too important to do in any way but the most public way, with the most eyes possible overseeing the spending, said Senator Miller, a Democrat who represents District 28 in Cranston and Warwick and who serves as chairman of the Senate Corporations Committee.

The committee would exist until July 1, 2011, by which time it is expected that all the stimulus funding will have been spent. It would be required to issue an annual report to the General Assembly.

Rhode Island is expected to receive more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money over the next two years under the stimulus bill that was signed into law last week. The first installment of $93.7 million is scheduled to arrive today.