---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 300w–6"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "300w–6"
heading: "Withholding of funds"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/300w-6"
units:
  - "Chapter 6A — Public Health Service"
  - "Subchapter XVII — Block Grants"
  - "Part A — Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grants"
---

# §300w–6. Withholding of funds

- (a) **Prerequisites—**
  - (1) The [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) shall, after adequate notice and an opportunity for a hearing conducted within the affected [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f), withhold funds from any [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) which does not use its allotment in accordance with the requirements of this part or the certification provided under [section 300w–4 of this title](/usc/42/300w–4.md). The [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) shall withhold such funds until the [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) finds that the reason for the withholding has been removed and there is reasonable assurance that it will not recur.
  - (2) The [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) may not institute proceedings to withhold funds under [paragraph (1)](#a-1) unless the [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) has conducted an investigation concerning whether the [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) has used its allotment in accordance with the requirements of this part or the certification provided under [section 300w–4 of this title](/usc/42/300w–4.md). Investigations required by this paragraph shall be conducted within the affected [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) by qualified investigators.
  - (3) The [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) shall respond in an expeditious manner to complaints of a substantial or serious nature that a [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) has failed to use funds in accordance with the requirements of this part or certifications provided under [section 300w–4 of this title](/usc/42/300w–4.md).
  - (4) The [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) may not withhold funds under [paragraph (1)](#a-1) from a [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) for a minor failure to comply with the requirements of this part or certifications provided under [section 300w–4 of this title](/usc/42/300w–4.md).
- (b) **Investigations—**
  - (1) The [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) shall conduct in several [States](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) in each fiscal year investigations of the use of funds received by the [States](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) under this part in order to evaluate compliance with the requirements of this part and certifications provided under [section 300w–4 of this title](/usc/42/300w–4.md).
  - (2) The [Comptroller General](/usc/42/300x–64.md?p=b-1) of the United States may conduct investigations of the use of funds received under this part by a [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) in order to insure compliance with the requirements of this part and certifications provided under [section 300w–4 of this title](/usc/42/300w–4.md).
- (c) **Availability of books, documents, papers, and rec­ords—** Each [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f), and each entity which has received funds from an allotment made to a [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) under this part, shall make appropriate books, documents, papers, and records available to the [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) or the [Comptroller General](/usc/42/300x–64.md?p=b-1) of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives, for examination, copying, or mechanical reproduction on or off the premises of the appropriate entity upon a reasonable request therefor.
- (d) **Information not readily available—**
  - (1) In conducting any investigation in a [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f), the [Secretary](/usc/42/201.md?p=c) or the [Comptroller General](/usc/42/300x–64.md?p=b-1) of the United States may not make a request for any information not readily available to such [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) or an entity which has received funds from an allotment made to the [State](/usc/42/201.md?p=f) under this part or make an unreasonable request for information to be compiled, collected, or transmitted in any form not readily available.
  - (2) [Paragraph (1)](#d-1) does not apply to the collection, compilation, or transmittal of data in the course of a judicial proceeding.

## Source credit

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title XIX, § 1907, as added Pub. L. 97–35, title IX, § 901, Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 541.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1981, see section 901 of Pub. L. 97–35, set out in part as a note under section 300w of this title.