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Commentary – The Facts on State Funding of Charities in Virginia

I have been asked by several media outlets about the recent articles regarding state agency funding to certain charities being suspended because of the attorney general’s January legal opinion that charities cannot be funded by direct appropriations from the state budget.

First, this office was asked for its legal opinion and it provided it based on the plain language of the Virginia Constitution:  that charities which are not owned or controlled by the commonwealth cannot be funded by direct appropriations from the budget (see http://www.vaag.com/OPINIONS/2011opns/11-002-O’Bannon.pdf).  Legal experts such as A.E. Dick Howard, who led the commission that gave us the current revision of the Virginia Constitution back in 1971 even said that this office was correct in its legal interpretation.

The attorney general’s official opinion merely stated what the law already is; it did not make new law.  Official opinions are not the attorney general’s personal opinions.  They are his legal analysis of what current law is, based on the law as written and any applicable court decisions.  He does not make the law or change the law.  In fact, the Supreme Court of Virginia has previously invalidated General Assembly budget appropriations to charities based on the language of the Constitution (these cases are cited in the opinion).

For those legislators who are disparaging the attorney general’s office for its plain reading of the state constitution, they should know they are the only ones who can change laws they don’t like.  That power does not rest with this office.

Second, there is a growing misperception that this office is going through lists of charities, stating which ones can receive money and which can’t.  That is not the case.  When asked, our attorneys have worked with individual state agencies and have provided legal guidance on the scope of the constitutional prohibition, applying the law to specific facts presented to us by agencies without regard to the nature of the charity.  But we do not have a master list of charities that we are “approving” or “not approving” for funding.  That is not the job of this office.

Finally, although the state cannot donate money directly to charities, if charities are providing a contracted service to the state, they can be paid for that contract work, just like any other vendor.  Some news outlets have reported that some agencies are working with charities to create contracts with deliverables that could change their relationships from those of handing out direct donations of taxpayer money to instead contracting for specific services.

 

-Brian Gottstein, Director of Communication – Office of the Attorney General of Virginia

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Please note that the Virginia Tobacco Commission has misused millions in public funds as earmarks to so-called “charities.” Republicans have killed this audit for years and it’s easy to see why.

    A recent audit of this massive waste and fraud says:

    TICR should request clarification from the Attorney
    General about whether its grant programs and
    practices comply with language in the Constitution
    of Virginia prohibiting the provision of public funds
    to charitable organizations.

    Meaningful outcomes data not collected by TICR
    for 89% of awards

    They spent over $500 million with little to show for it.

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