The General Revenue Sharing Complaint Function: An Examination and Possible Implications

Abstract

The General Revenue Sharing (GRS) legislation has been considered significant for several reasons.1 Primarily, it has been deemed an important mechanism for shifting power from the national government to the states and their local governments; decentralization was to be achieved by distributing funds to state and local governments with few regulations or strings attached. It has generally been accepted or assumed that GRS has had this intended effect and considerable research has proceeded based on this assumption.2 Given its intended no-strings nature, the implementation of GRS and recipient governments' accountability to its ostensibly minimal provisions have also been of interest to observers.3 However, relatively little systematic research attention has been given to the GRS complaint function. It is this dimension which will be the focus of this article.