Meanwhile, Rep. Chad Bennion, R-Murray, while not knowing about MATRIX, has already introduced a bill aimed at better informing legislative leaders about the grants the state seeks and accepts from the federal government.

HB231 is a three-tiered approach, said Bennion, who added he is also concerned about what information MATRIX has given out. The bill says:

• Any grant from $0 to $1 million that has no new employees needed to conduct the federally funded grant program must be approved personally by the governor, and state agency heads could no longer make those calls themselves.

• Any grant from $1 million to $10 million or has any new employees requires the governor to inform the Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee of the grant application before it is accepted, and allows top lawmakers to nix the grant.

• Any grant or federal program more than $10 million requires specific approval by the entire Legislature, either in a general or special session, before it is accepted.

While aimed at controlling ongoing costs of federal grant programs that could shift to the state when the grant ends, HB231 would still be a way "of letting (legislators) know what grants we're even considering," said Bennion.

"If one FTE came with MATRIX, then under my bill it would have had to have been specifically approved" by the Executive Appropriations Committee during last summer's interim meeting schedule. Executive appropriations is made up of leaders of both the House and Senate and of both political parties.

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E-mail: spang@desnews.com; bbjr@desnews.com