§11296. Oversight and accountability
34 U.S.C. § 11296
All grants awarded by the Department of Justice that are authorized under this subchapter shall be subject to the following:
Audit requirement— For 2 of the fiscal years in the period of fiscal years 2014 through 2023, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall conduct audits of the recipient of grants under this subchapter to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse by the grantee.
Mandatory exclusion— If the recipient of grant funds under this subchapter is found to have an unresolved audit finding, then that entity shall not be eligible to receive grant funds under this subchapter during the 2 fiscal years beginning after the 12-month period described in paragraph (4).
Repayment of grant funds— If an entity is awarded grant funds under this subchapter during the 2-fiscal-year period in which the entity is barred from receiving grants under paragraph (2), 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.
Defined term— In this section, the term “unresolved audit finding” means an audit report finding in the final report of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice that the grantee has utilized grant funds for an unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallowable cost that is not closed or resolved within a 12-month period beginning on the date when the final audit report is issued.
Nonprofit organization requirements—
Definition— For purposes of this section and the grant programs described in this subchapter, the term “nonprofit”, relating to an entity, means the entity is described in section 501(c)(3) of title 26 and is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such title.
Prohibition— The Attorney General shall not award a grant under any grant program described in this subchapter to a nonprofit organization that holds money in off-shore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described in section 511(a) of title 26.
Disclosure— Each nonprofit organization that is awarded a grant under this subchapter and uses the procedures prescribed in regulations under section 53.4958–6 of title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations to create a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness of the compensation for its officers, directors, trustees and key employees, shall disclose to the Attorney General 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 available for public inspection.
Conference expenditures—
Limitation— No amounts authorized to be appropriated under this subchapter may be used to host or support any expenditure for conferences that uses more than $20,000 unless the Deputy Attorney General or the appropriate Assistant Attorney General, Director, or principal deputy director as the Deputy Attorney General may designate, provides prior written authorization that the funds may be expended to host a conference.
Written approval— 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, audio/visual equipment, honoraria for speakers, and any entertainment.
Report— The Deputy Attorney General shall submit an annual report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives on all conference expenditures approved by operation of this paragraph.
Prohibition on lobbying activity—
In general— Amounts authorized to be appropriated under this subchapter may not be utilized by any grant recipient to—
lobby any representative of the Department of Justice regarding the award of any grant funding; or
lobby any representative of a Federal, State, local, or tribal government regarding the award of grant funding.
Penalty— If the Attorney General determines that any recipient of a grant under this subchapter 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 grant under this subchapter for not less than 5 years.
Clarification— For purposes of this paragraph, submitting an application for a grant under this subchapter shall not be considered lobbying activity in violation of subparagraph (A).
Notes, amendments, and revision history
(Pub. L. 93–415, title IV, § 408, formerly § 407, as added Pub. L. 113–38, § 4, Sept. 30, 2013, 127 Stat. 529; renumbered § 408, Pub. L. 115–267, § 2(e)(1), Oct. 11, 2018, 132 Stat. 3760, and Pub. L. 115–393, title II, § 202(e)(1), Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat. 5271; amended Pub. L. 115–267, § 3(b), Oct. 11, 2018, 132 Stat. 3760.)
Editorial Notes
Codification
Pub. L. 115–267, § 2(e)(1), and Pub. L. 115–393, § 202(e)(1), identically renumbered section 407 of Pub. L. 93–415 as section 408.
Section was formerly classified to section 5776a of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 408 of Pub. L. 93–415 was renumbered section 409 and is classified to section 11297 of this title.
Amendments
2018—Par. (1). Pub. L. 115–267, § 3(b), substituted “2023” for “2018”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 2018 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 115–267 effective Oct. 11, 2018, with amendment by section 2 of Pub. L. 115–267 applicable to fiscal years beginning after Sept. 30, 2018, see section 4 of Pub. L. 115–267, set out as a note under section 11291 of this title.