State Senator Karen Tallian (D-Ogden Dunes) is calling for legislative oversight to ensure coronavirus relief funds are spent responsibly.

In a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Senator Ryan Mishler (R-Bremen) Senator Tallian requested that the Senate Budget Committee oversee all COVID-19 related expenditures.
“It’s going to take some serious spending for us to get through this crisis,” Senator Tallian said. “When you’re spending that kind of money, you need oversight to make sure that it is being spent in the right places, there is transparency and no one is taking advantage of the system.”

Indiana is expected to receive roughly $4.5 billion in federal stimulus funds. As a long standing member of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Tallian is stressing the importance of legislative oversight in spending large sums like this.

“The reason we have a budget committee is so the legislature can have a say in how these massive sums of money are spent,” Senator Tallian said. “We’re obviously in uncharted waters now, but that doesn’t mean the oversight authority of the legislature should just go out the window. We need to be able to take a look at where all the money is going and to make sure this recovery is fair and equal for all Hoosiers.”

The full letter can be found here.