§6720 Definitions, Application, and Administration

Summary

Defines important words, lets the HUD Secretary work with other agencies, and says how to handle changes in local boundaries or government organization. Key terms named here: "unit of general local government" — a county, township, city, similar local unit as set by the Secretary of Commerce, plus the District of Columbia and tribal or Alaska Native governing bodies that carry out major government duties; "payment period" — each one-year period starting October 1 of 1994 through 2000; "State and local taxes" — taxes collected by a State or local government for public purposes, excluding payroll retirement or social insurance contributions and special capital assessments; "State" — any State and the District of Columbia; "income" — total money income as defined by the Secretary of Commerce, using the 1990 Census report for local governments; "per capita income" — total income divided by population for the U.S., a State, or a local unit; "finding of discrimination" — a decision by HUD, a state or local agency, or other evidence under HUD rules that it is more likely than not a local government broke the nondiscrimination rules; "holding of discrimination" — a court or certain administrative judge finding that a local government using these funds discriminated against someone in the U.S. because of race, color, national origin, or sex, or violated the specific ban in section 6711(b); and "Secretary" — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The HUD Secretary may agree with other federal departments or agencies to let them run all or part of these rules. If boundary changes, annexations, reorganizations, or state law changes would make the rules work against the chapter’s goals, the HUD Secretary must use rules so the chapter’s purposes are carried out. If only part of a local unit lies inside a larger area, that part is treated as a separate unit for allocating funds, and calculations normally split amounts by that part’s share of the unit’s population.