§9133 Payments; Federal Share; and Maintenance of Effort Requirements

Summary

When Congress provides money, the Director must pay each State library agency with an approved plan the federal portion of the plan’s costs. The federal share is 66 percent. The rest must come from non‑federal sources, like the State or local governments. A State’s federal payment can be cut if the State spent less in the previous fiscal year than the average of the three fiscal years before that. The cut equals the allotment multiplied by (the three‑year average minus the State’s prior‑year spending) divided by the three‑year average. If overall federal funding for the program falls from one year to the next, the required prior‑year spending is reduced by the same percentage before doing the comparison, and any such reduction is not counted when making future three‑year averages. Only State dollars spent that year on eligible library programs count. Capital costs, one‑time project money, or similar windfalls do not count. The Director can waive these rules for fair reasons, like a natural disaster or a sudden major drop in State revenue.