Each year the State of Utah receives billions of federal dollars to administer federal grant programs. These dollars are appropriated in the state budget and require ongoing review and approval through a program administered by GOPB's State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for grants. Section 63J of Utah Code stipulates that each grant dollar go through this state review process. Either the Governor's Office or the Legislature authorizes expenditures of these federal dollars to ensure that they are in line with the state's various goals.
The process involves two components: 1) an annual submission of budgeted grants by state agencies to the legislature for approval during legislative session 2) an ongoing submission process to the state grant's website for approval before the grants funds are actually received and spent.
Details of the process:
- During the fall, agencies report all grants they expect to receive for the following fiscal year to GOPB.
- A report is compiled by GOPB that shows the grants that were reported by agency.
- That report goes to the legislature for approval. Authority to receive and spend those grants is given during session.
- After the session ends and during interim, agencies are required to submit ALL grants to a centralized approval system through GOPB. Grants must be entered into the system when the agency applies for them or before funding is received.
- Grants reported to the system are either approved by GOPB, sent to the Executive Appropriations Committee (EAC) or marked as having already received approval.