05 LC 18
4148
Senate
Bill 202
By: Senator Wiles of the 37th
By: Senator Wiles of the 37th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Article 1 of Chapter 81 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated, relating to local government budgets and audits, so as to provide for
additional grant certification requirements with respect to subrecipients and
units of local government; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Article
1 of Chapter 81 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to local government budgets and audits, is amended by striking Code Section
36_81_8.1, relating to grant certification with respect to subrecipients, and
inserting in its place a new Code Section 36_81_8.1 to read as
follows:
"36_81_8.1.
(a)
As used in this Code section, the
term:
(1)
'Subrecipient'
'subrecipient'
means an entity that receives a grant of state funds from the Governor´s
emergency fund or from a special project appropriation through a local
government and
shall also mean an entity which in turn receives all or any portion of such
grant funds from a
subrecipient.
(2)
'Unit of local government' means, for purposes of this Code section and
notwithstanding paragraph (16) of Code Section 36_81_2, a:
(A)
Municipality, county, consolidated government, county school district,
independent school district, other political subdivision of the state, any
public agency or authority of any of the foregoing, or any combination of any of
the foregoing;
(B)
Regional development center;
(C)
Any public authority created by local Act or local constitutional amendment of
the General Assembly; or
(D)
Any public authority created by general law which applies to an area of less
than the entire state and which requires activation by a county or municipal
government.
(b)
Each grant of state funds to a recipient
unit
of local government from the
Governor´s emergency fund or from a special project appropriation in an
amount greater than $5,000.00 shall be conditioned upon the receipt by the state
auditor of a properly completed grant certification form. The form shall be
designed by the state auditor and shall be distributed with each covered grant
as required by this Code section. The grant certification form shall require the
certification by the recipient
unit
of local government and by the
unit
of local government auditor that the grant
funds were used solely for the express purpose or purposes for which the grant
was made. Such form shall be filed with the state auditor in conjunction with
the annual audit required under Code
Section
Sections
36_81_7,
50_6_6, or any other applicable Code
section for each year in which such grant
funds are expended or remain unexpended by the
unit
of local government.
A recipient
unit of local government which is not otherwise subject to the annual audit
requirements specified in this subsection shall file a grant certification form
with the state auditor no later than December 31 of each year in which such
grant funds are expended or remain
unexpended. For grant funds to
subrecipients, the certification by the
unit
of local government auditor required by
this subsection may also be made by an in_house or internal auditor of the
unit
of local government who meets the
education requirements contained in subparagraph (a)(3)(A) of Code Section
43_3_6. The cost of performing any audit required by this subsection or
paragraph (1) of subsection (d) of this Code section shall be an eligible
expense of the grant. However, the amount charged shall not exceed 2 percent of
the amount of the grant or $250.00 per required audit, whichever is less. The
unit
of local government to whom the grant is
made may deduct the cost of any such audit from the funds disbursed to the
subrecipient.
(c)
Where the grant of state funds is for $5,000.00 or less, the grant shall require
submission to the state auditor of a properly completed grant certification form
as required by subsection (b) of this Code section except that only the
unit
of local government need certify that the
grant funds were used solely for the express purpose or purposes for which the
grant was made. However, where such grant is to a subrecipient, the grant shall
require submission to the
unit
of local government of a notarized
affidavit executed by the executive director, president, chairperson, chief
executive officer, or other responsible party representing the subrecipient, by
whatever name or title, to whom the grant funds are disbursed. The affidavit
shall certify under oath that the funds were used solely for the express purpose
or purposes for which the grant was made. Such affidavit shall be submitted
annually for each year that grant funds are expended or remain unexpended
according to a schedule established by the
unit
of local government and shall be made on a
form designed by the state auditor and distributed with each covered grant as
required by this Code section.
(d)(1)
Notwithstanding
subsections
subsection
(b) or (c) of this Code section, the Governor, the Appropriations Committee of
the House of Representatives, or the Appropriations Committee of the Senate
shall have the right and authority to direct and require any recipient
unit
of local government to obtain or perform
an audit of any grant of state funds from the Governor´s emergency fund or
from a special project appropriation, regardless of the amount
thereof.
(2)
Notwithstanding
subsections
subsection
(b) or (c) of this Code section, a recipient
unit
of local government shall have the right
or authority to obtain or perform an audit of any grant of state funds to a
subrecipient from the Governor´s emergency fund or from a special project
appropriation, regardless of the amount thereof.
(e)
The failure to comply with the requirements of this Code section shall result in
a forfeiture of a state grant and the return to the state of any such grant
funds which have been received by the
unit
of local government. In the case of a
state grant awarded to a subrecipient, the subrecipient shall be responsible for
the return to the state of any such grant funds if it is determined that the
funds were not used for the express purpose or purposes for which the grant was
made. A grant recipient or subrecipient shall be ineligible to receive funds
from the Governor´s emergency fund or from a special project appropriation
until all unallowed expenditures are returned to the state, except that a
recipient unit
of local government shall not be
ineligible for such funds where a subrecipient has not used funds it received
for the express purpose or purposes for which the grant was made.
(f)
No subrecipient shall be considered an agent of the
unit
of local government or be indemnified or
held harmless by the
unit
of local government for any negligence,
misfeasance, or malfeasance of the subrecipient, and a recipient
unit
of local government shall not be liable
for any expenditure of state grant funds by a
subrecipient."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.