Governor delays release of $43 million in grants to nonprofits

The Legislature last session approved $43.1 million in grants in aid to nonprofits for the 2008 fiscal year that began July 1. According to the July 17 Honolulu Star-Bulletin, however, Governor Linda Lingle has stalled all 148 grants for operations and capital imporvements at Hawaii charities, issuing a memo to all state department heads freezing all grants subject to her approval on a case-by-case basis.

The memo states, "Due to revenue and fiscal concerns, allotments for operatihg grants and subsidies will not be made in the first two quarters of FY08," which means funds will not be released until January 2008. Exceptions may be made in cases of "public health and saftey reasons or other critical needs."

Although the governor's memo, dated June 27, said department heads would work with nonprofits to inform them of the policy, as of July 17 several chief executives of grantee organizations told HANO they had not been informed yet of the freeze.

On Friday, July 13, the state Tax Department reported tax collections for fiscal year 2007 were up 3.4 percent from the previous year, which was below the 4 percent forecast by the Council on Revenues in May and well below the March projection of 6 percent.