§7113 Accountability

Summary

Starting in fiscal year 2013, the Attorney General must apply new rules to every grant made under this law. The Department of Justice Inspector General must start auditing grant recipients in the first fiscal year that begins after March 7, 2013, and each year after that. If the Inspector General’s final audit says a grantee used grant money in a way that is not allowed and the problem is not fixed within 12 months, the grantee cannot get any grants under this law for the next 2 fiscal years. The Attorney General must give priority to applicants who have not had such unresolved audit problems in the 3 fiscal years before they apply. If a barred grantee is paid by mistake, the Attorney General must return that amount to the General Fund of the Treasury and try to get the money back from the grantee. Nonprofit grantees must be tax-exempt 501(c)(3) groups. Nonprofits that hide money offshore to avoid the tax under section 511(a) of the tax code cannot get grants. Nonprofits that use a formal process to show executive pay is reasonable must explain that process in their grant application; the Attorney General may make that information public on request. No grant money can be used for a conference that costs more than $20,000 unless a high DOJ official gives written permission first. That permission must include a full cost estimate, and the Deputy Attorney General must report yearly to the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and House on approved conference spending. Each year the Attorney General must certify to the Judiciary and Appropriations Committees of both chambers that audits were completed and reviewed, exclusions and required repayments were made, and must list any excluded grantees. For fiscal year 2018 and later, these rules also cover two specified grant programs in title 34 (sections 20333 and 20709c).