I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Grants 

5 Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPORTS ON USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 

7 (a) RECIPIENT REPORTS.—Not later than 10 days 

8 after the end of a fiscal year, each recipient that received 

9 grant funds during that fiscal year from an agency shall 


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1 submit a report to that agency that contains, with respect 

2 to that fiscal year— 

3 (1) the total amount of grant funds received 

4 from that agency; 

5 (2) the amount of grant funds received that 

6 were expended or obligated to projects or activities; 

7 and 

8 (3) a detailed list of all projects or activities for 

9 which grant funds were expended or obligated, in10 cluding— 

11 (A) the name of the project or activity; 

12 (B) a description of the project or activity; 

13 (C) an evaluation of the completion status 

14 of the project or activity; 

15 (D) an estimate of the number of jobs cre16 ated and the number of jobs retained by the 

17 project or activity; and 

18 (E) for infrastructure investments made by 

19 State and local governments, the purpose, total 

20 cost, and rationale of the agency for funding 

21 the infrastructure investment with grant funds. 

22 (b) AGENCY REPORTS.—Not later than 30 days after 

23 the end of a fiscal year, each agency that made grant 

24 funds available to any recipient during that fiscal year 

25 shall make the information in reports submitted under 


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1 subsection (a) publicly available by posting the informa2 tion on a website. The agency shall include with such in3 formation the name of the person to contact at the agency 

4 if there are concerns with the grant funds. 

5 (c) OTHER REPORTS.—The Congressional Budget 

6 Office and the Government Accountability Office shall 

7 comment on the information described in subsection 

8 (a)(3)(D) for any reports submitted under subsection (a). 

9 Such comments shall be due to Congress within 45 days 

10 after the end of the fiscal year for which such reports are 

11 submitted and made publicly available by posting the com12 ments on the websites of such Offices. 

13 (d) GUIDANCE.—The Director of the Office of Man14 agement and Budget shall issue guidance for agencies on 

15 compliance with this section. The Director also shall re16 quire each agency to create a standard form for use within 

17 the agency for the reports required under subsection (a). 

18 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 (1) GRANT FUNDS.—The term ‘‘grant funds’’ 

20 means any funds available for a grant from the Fed21 eral Government if the period of availability of such 

22 funds for the grant is not greater than one fiscal 

23 year. 


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1 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

2 meaning given under section 551 of title 5, United 

3 States Code. 

4 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 

5 the first fiscal year beginning after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act and each fiscal year thereafter. 

7 SEC. 3. IDENTIFICATION AND RETURN OF UNDISBURSED 

8 BALANCES IN EXPIRED GRANT ACCOUNTS. 

9 (a) TREATMENT OF UNDISBURSED BALANCES IN

10 EXPIRED GRANT ACCOUNTS.—Notwithstanding section 

11 1554 of title 31, United States Code, during the first 

12 quarter of each fiscal year, each agency with grant ac13 counts shall identify any undisbursed balances in the 

14 grant accounts as of the end of the preceding fiscal year. 

15 The agency shall return such undisbursed balances to the 

16 Treasury of the United States by the end of the first quar17 ter of the fiscal year. 

18 (b) APPLICABILITY TO ONE-YEAR GRANT FUNDS.— 

19 Subsection (a) applies to grant accounts whose period of 

20 availability is not greater than one fiscal year. 

21 (c) AGENCY.—In this section, the term ‘‘agency’’ has 

22 the meaning given under section 551 of title 5, United 

23 States Code. 

Æ 


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