Government Grants Accountability Act

Government Grants Accountability Act - Requires each recipient of federal agency grant funds to report to that agency with respect to each fiscal year: (1) the total amount of grant funds received from that agency; (2) the amount expended or obligated to projects or activities; and (3) a detailed list of such projects or activities.

Requires each agency with grant accounts, during the first quarter of each fiscal year, to: (1) identify any undisbursed balances in such accounts as of the end of the preceding fiscal year; and (2) return such undisbursed balances to the Treasury by the end of such quarter.

Applies such requirement to grant accounts whose period of availability is not greater than one fiscal year.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4272 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4272

To require the public tracking of undisbursed balances in expired grant 
                               accounts.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 10, 2009

  Mr. Hodes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the public tracking of undisbursed balances in expired grant 
                               accounts.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Government Grants Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REPORTS ON USE OF GRANT FUNDS.

    (a) Recipient Reports.--Not later than 10 days after the end of a 
fiscal year, each recipient that received grant funds during that 
fiscal year from an agency shall submit a report to that agency that 
contains, with respect to that fiscal year--
            (1) the total amount of grant funds received from that 
        agency;
            (2) the amount of grant funds received that were expended 
        or obligated to projects or activities; and
            (3) a detailed list of all projects or activities for which 
        grant funds were expended or obligated, including--
                    (A) the name of the project or activity;
                    (B) a description of the project or activity;
                    (C) an evaluation of the completion status of the 
                project or activity;
                    (D) an estimate of the number of jobs created and 
                the number of jobs retained by the project or activity; 
                and
                    (E) for infrastructure investments made by State 
                and local governments, the purpose, total cost, and 
                rationale of the agency for funding the infrastructure 
                investment with grant funds.
    (b) Agency Reports.--Not later than 30 days after the end of a 
fiscal year, each agency that made grant funds available to any 
recipient during that fiscal year shall make the information in reports 
submitted under subsection (a) publicly available by posting the 
information on a website. The agency shall include with such 
information the name of the person to contact at the agency if there 
are concerns with the grant funds.
    (c) Other Reports.--The Congressional Budget Office and the 
Government Accountability Office shall comment on the information 
described in subsection (a)(3)(D) for any reports submitted under 
subsection (a). Such comments shall be due to Congress within 45 days 
after the end of the fiscal year for which such reports are submitted 
and made publicly available by posting the comments on the websites of 
such Offices.
    (d) Guidance.--The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
shall issue guidance for agencies on compliance with this section. The 
Director also shall require each agency to create a standard form for 
use within the agency for the reports required under subsection (a).
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Grant funds.--The term ``grant funds'' means any funds 
        available for a grant from the Federal Government if the period 
        of availability of such funds for the grant is not greater than 
        one fiscal year.
            (2) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given 
        under section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
    (f) Effective Date.--This section shall apply to the first fiscal 
year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act and each 
fiscal year thereafter.

SEC. 3. IDENTIFICATION AND RETURN OF UNDISBURSED BALANCES IN EXPIRED 
              GRANT ACCOUNTS.

    (a) Treatment of Undisbursed Balances in Expired Grant Accounts.--
Notwithstanding section 1554 of title 31, United States Code, during 
the first quarter of each fiscal year, each agency with grant accounts 
shall identify any undisbursed balances in the grant accounts as of the 
end of the preceding fiscal year. The agency shall return such 
undisbursed balances to the Treasury of the United States by the end of 
the first quarter of the fiscal year.
    (b) Applicability to One-year Grant Funds.--Subsection (a) applies 
to grant accounts whose period of availability is not greater than one 
fiscal year.
    (c) Agency.--In this section, the term ``agency'' has the meaning 
given under section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
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