(MintPress) – Two California governors are coming under attack after an Associated Press (AP) review found that money collected to help victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was used to reduce the state’s deficit rather than put towards a scholarship program, which is where the funds were meant to go.
After the terrorist attacks in 2001, California lawmakers proposed to sell specialty memorial license plates with the words, “We Will Never Forget” in order to help victims’ families and law enforcement.
While 85 percent of the money from the sale of the license plates was pegged to fund anti-terrorism programs, the remaining 15 percent was to go toward scholarships for the children of California residents who died in the attacks.
Of the $15 million raised, Gov. Jerry Brown and his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, used $3 million of the proceeds to alleviate California’s budget deficit.
According to the review, only a small portion of the funds went toward scholarships and 40 percent – about $6 million – supported anti-terrorism efforts. Additionally, millions of dollars from the proceeds have gone to programs that are not directly related to terroristic threats, including livestock diseases and workplace safety.
Advertisements for the plates made by the California Department of Motor Vehicles uphold that the fund continues to support the children affected by the attacks, however, as of seven years ago, the state no longer funds the scholarship program.
The state still takes in $1.5 million each year from sales of the specialty license plates. Each plate initially costs $50 with an annual renewal fee of $40.
All four planes were bound for California when they were hijacked in 2001, and Californians have bought or renewed plates more than 200,000 times since 2002.
Residents of California who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks have spoken out against the raid on the fund.
«I can’t believe that they would do that,» said Candice Hoglan, who bought a plate to commemorate her nephew, Mark Bingham. «We’re paying extra for the plate; we’re making a point, and it means a lot to us.»
Bingham was one of the passengers who attempted to gain control of United Airlines Flight 93 from the hijackers. The flight crashed in Pennsylvania.
While three dozen California residents died during the attacks, only $21,381 from the fund has made it to the children and spouses of those killed. An additional $60,000 is sitting in a scholarship reserve for those individuals. The sign-up date to participate in the scholarship program closed in 2005.
The AP review of the fund shows that of the $5.5 million collected through 2005, only 1.5 percent of the proceeds have gone toward scholarship funding.
However, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger borrowed $2 million from the fund to pay for a budget shortfall in 2008. Then, last year, Gov. Jerry Brown borrowed another $1 million for the same purpose.
Neither of these finances has been repaid and there is no deadline in place to make sure the funds get reimbursed.
The report states that it is hard to track exactly to where the borrowed money went. However, it was stated that several programs, including the California Department of Food and Agriculture, were recipients.
“We’re trying to simultaneously balance the budget and fund important programs,» Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Brown, said. «If there was an indication that borrowing this money was going to negatively impact this program, we wouldn’t borrow the money.»