The Florida Senate

216.212  Budgets for federal funds; restrictions on expenditure of federal funds.--

(1)  The Executive Office of the Governor, the office of the Comptroller, and the office of the Treasurer shall develop and implement procedures for accelerating the drawdown of, and minimizing the payment of interest on, federal funds. The Executive Office of the Governor shall establish a clearinghouse for federal programs and activities. The clearinghouse shall develop the capacity to respond to federal grant opportunities and to coordinate the use of federal funds in the state.

(a)  Every state agency, when making a request or preparing a budget to be submitted to the Federal Government for funds, equipment, material, or services, shall submit such request or budget to the Executive Office of the Governor for approval before submitting it to the proper federal authority. However, the Executive Office of the Governor may specifically authorize any agency to submit specific types of grant proposals directly to the Federal Government.

(b)  Every office or court of the judicial branch, when making a request or preparing a budget to be submitted to the Federal Government for funds, equipment, material, or services, shall submit such request or budget to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for approval before submitting it to the proper federal authority. However, the Chief Justice may specifically authorize any court to submit specific types of grant proposals directly to the Federal Government.

(2)  When such federal authority has approved the request or budget, the state agency or the judicial branch shall submit to the Executive Office of the Governor such documentation showing approval as that office prescribes. Beginning July 1, 1993, the Executive Office of the Governor must acknowledge each approved request or budget by entering that approval into an Automated Grant Management System developed in consultation with the chairs of the House of Representatives and Senate appropriations committees.

(3)  Federal money appropriated by Congress or received from court settlements to be used for state purposes, whether by itself or in conjunction with moneys appropriated by the Legislature, may not be expended unless appropriated by the Legislature. However, the Executive Office of the Governor or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court may, after consultation with the legislative appropriations committees, approve the receipt and expenditure of funds from federal sources by state agencies or by the judicial branch. Any federal programs requiring state matching funds which funds were eliminated, or were requested and were not approved, by the Legislature may not be implemented during the interim. However, federal and other fund sources for the State University System which do not carry a continuing commitment on future appropriations are hereby appropriated for the purpose received.

(4)  The Office of the Comptroller and the Executive Office of the Governor, in consultation with the Office of the Treasurer and the Office of the Auditor General, shall develop and maintain a means to ensure the compatibility of the State Automated Management Accounting Subsystem and the Federal Aid Tracking System. Any successive systems serving identical or similar functions shall preserve such compatibility.

History.--s. 31, ch. 69-106; s. 14, ch. 71-354; s. 14, ch. 77-352; s. 17, ch. 79-190; s. 12, ch. 81-169; s. 17, ch. 83-49; s. 6, ch. 88-557; s. 63, ch. 92-142; s. 1169, ch. 95-147; s. 5, ch. 95-303.