34 U.S.C. § 20704 — Grant accountability
submitted 11 years ago by Pub. L. 114-22 to r/title-34-CRIME-CONTROL-AND-LAW-ENFORCEMENT · 902 words · no verdicts yet
This section adds strict oversight to grants awarded under section 20703: regular Inspector General audits, a two-year grant ban for anyone with unresolved audit findings, limits on nonprofit compensation practices and offshore tax avoidance, a $20,000 cap on conference spending without written approval, and a ban on using grant money to lobby for more grants.
(a) Definition. "Covered grant" means a grant the Attorney General awards under section 20703, as amended.
(b) Accountability. All covered grants follow these rules:
(1) Audit requirement. Starting in the first fiscal year after May 29, 2015, and every year after, the DOJ Inspector General must audit some covered-grant recipients, choosing how many to audit, to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. An "unresolved audit finding" is a finding that a grantee misused funds that stays unresolved 12 months after the final audit report. A grantee with an unresolved finding can't get a covered grant for the next 2 fiscal years. The Attorney General must give priority to entities with no unresolved findings in the past 3 years. If an entity wrongly gets a grant during its 2-year ban, the Attorney General must deposit an equal amount into the Treasury's General Fund and try to recoup the cost from that grantee.
(2) Nonprofit organization requirements. A "nonprofit organization" here means a 501(c)(3) group exempt from tax. The Attorney General can't give a covered grant to a nonprofit that holds money offshore to dodge unrelated-business income tax. A nonprofit that uses the standard procedure for presuming the compensation of its officers, directors, trustees, and key employees is reasonable must disclose to the Attorney General, in its grant application, the process for determining that compensation, including the independent persons involved in reviewing and approving it, what comparison data it used, and contemporaneous documentation of the decision; the Attorney General must make that disclosure available to the public on request.
(3) Conference expenditures. No transferred funds may be used for a conference costing over $20,000 in Department funds without prior written approval from the Deputy Attorney General or a designated official. That written approval must include a cost estimate covering food, beverages, audiovisual equipment, speaker fees, and entertainment. The Deputy Attorney General must send Congress's Judiciary Committees an annual report on all approved conference spending. Starting in the first fiscal year after May 29, 2015, the Attorney General must also certify annually, to the Judiciary and Appropriations Committees of both chambers, that all required audits were completed and reviewed, all mandatory exclusions and reimbursements happened, and list any excluded grantees from the prior year.
(4) Prohibition on lobbying activity. Grant funds can't be used to lobby the Justice Department or any government official about awarding grant funding. A grantee who violates this must repay the grant in full and is barred from another covered grant for at least 5 years.
In this section, the term “covered grant” means a grant awarded by the Attorney General under section 20703 of this title, as amended by section 103.
All covered grants shall be subject to the following accountability provisions:
Beginning in the first fiscal year beginning after May 29, 2015, and in each fiscal year thereafter, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall conduct audits of recipients of a covered grant to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees. The Inspector General shall determine the appropriate number of grantees to be audited each year.
In this paragraph, the term “unresolved audit finding” means a finding in the final audit report of the Inspector General that the audited grantee has utilized grant funds for an unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallowable cost that is not closed or resolved within 12 months from the date when the final audit report is issued.
A recipient of a covered grant that is found to have an unresolved audit finding shall not be eligible to receive a covered grant during the following 2 fiscal years.
In awarding covered grants the Attorney General shall give priority to eligible entities that did not have an unresolved audit finding during the 3 fiscal years prior to submitting an application for a covered grant.
If an entity is awarded a covered grant during the 2-fiscal-year period in which the entity is barred from receiving grants under subparagraph (C), the Attorney General shall—
deposit an amount equal to the grant funds that were improperly awarded to the grantee into the General Fund of the Treasury; and
seek to recoup the costs of the repayment to the fund from the grant recipient that was erroneously awarded grant funds.
For purposes of this paragraph and covered grants, the term “nonprofit organization” means an organization that is described in section 501(c)(3) of title 26 and is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of title 26.
The Attorney General may not award a covered grant to a nonprofit organization that holds money in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described in section 511(a) of title 26.
Each nonprofit organization that is awarded a covered grant and uses the procedures prescribed in regulations to create a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness for the compensation of its officers, directors, trustees and key employees, shall disclose to the Attorney General, in the application for the grant, the process for determining such compensation, including the independent persons involved in reviewing and approving such compensation, the comparability data used, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision. Upon request, the Attorney General shall make the information disclosed under this subsection available for public inspection.
No amounts transferred to the Department of Justice under this title,1 or the amendments made by this title,1 may be used by the Attorney General, or by any individual or organization awarded discretionary funds through a cooperative agreement under this title,1 or the amendments made by this title,1 to host or support any expenditure for conferences that uses more than $20,000 in Department funds, unless the Deputy Attorney General or such Assistant Attorney Generals, Directors, or principal deputies as the Deputy Attorney General may designate, provides prior written authorization that the funds may be expended to host a conference.
Written approval under subparagraph (A) shall include a written estimate of all costs associated with the conference, including the cost of all food and beverages, audiovisual equipment, honoraria for speakers, and any entertainment.
The Deputy Attorney General shall submit an annual report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives on all approved conference expenditures referenced in this paragraph.
Beginning in the first fiscal year beginning after May 29, 2015, the Attorney General shall submit, to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, an annual certification that—
all audits issued by the Office of the Inspector General under paragraph (1) have been completed and reviewed by the appropriate Assistant Attorney General or Director;
all mandatory exclusions required under paragraph (1)(C) have been issued;
all reimbursements required under paragraph (1)(E) have been made; and
includes a list of any grant recipients excluded under paragraph (1) from the previous year.
Amounts awarded under this title,1 or any amendments made by this title,1 may not be utilized by any grant recipient to—
lobby any representative of the Department of Justice regarding the award of grant funding; or
lobby any representative of a Federal, State, local, or tribal government regarding the award of grant funding.
If the Attorney General determines that any recipient of a covered grant has violated subparagraph (A), the Attorney General shall—
require the grant recipient to repay the grant in full; and
prohibit the grant recipient from receiving another covered grant for not less than 5 years.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 114–22, title I, § 117, May 29, 2015, 129 Stat. 245.)
- 2015Enacted · Pub. L. 114-22 · 129 Stat. 245
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 114-22 on 2015-05-29.
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