1. (a) When it becomes necessary to change any significant program or budget element of a grant, a grantee may request a grant adjustment. This adjustment, if approved by the OAG in writing, will allow the grantee to move funds between budget categories, change officials, revise the scope or target of the program, or alter project activities. The person designated in the grantee acceptance notice to request grant adjustments or the authorized official must sign all requests. The OAG must approve an adjustment in advance through a grant adjustment notice mailed to the project director and the financial officer for the grant.
2. (b) The OAG will not consider more than four grant adjustments each grant year where the request is to alter the approved or previously amended budget. This allotment does not include changes in the names of officials, addresses, or phone numbers. The OAG will consider additional budget adjustments only if the OAG expressly requests the budget amendment for reasons other than to resolve deficiencies found during monitoring visits or other examinations of grantee records.
3. (c) Personnel funds not expended because of a vacancy may not be reallocated to other budget line items, either within the personnel category or to another budget category.
4. (d) The OAG will record grant adjustments that request changes other than those to the budget or the activities of the program. Such changes of basic information will not be acknowledged in writing by the OAG.
5. (e) A grantee shall notify the OAG in writing of any change of the designated project director, financial officer, or authorized official within five business days following the change. When such notification records a change of the financial officer, the letter must include a sample signature of the new official.

6. (f) A grantee is responsible for initiating a grant adjustment. The request for adjustment must be made in writing, and may include any information that clarifies the request. A grantee must secure OAG approval, through a grant adjustment notice, in advance and each request must include a detailed justification for:

   1. (1) out-of-state travel that was not included by individual trip in the approved budget;
   2. (2) changes in the need, objectives, methodology, scope, or geographic location of the grant;
   3. (3) transfers of funds among direct cost categories exceeding five percent of the total grant budget over the grant year;
   4. (4) changes in the number or job descriptions of personnel specified in the grant;
   5. (5) changes in equipment amounts, types, or methods of acquisition;
   6. (6) changes in the grant period or in the period for liquidating all encumbered funds;
   7. (7) new line items to be included in the budget or changes to existing line items; and
   8. (8) cost-of-living and merit increases for a budgeted salary (include documentation of approval by the governing body and effective date of the increases).
7. (g) A grantee must submit a request for a grant extension in writing. The OAG Grants Coordinator may approve such requests in extraordinary circumstances. The OAG will not extend a grant for more than 12 months.
8. (h) The OAG will not honor facsimile copies of grant adjustment requests and will not give verbal approvals.
9. (i) No budgetary grant adjustment requests will be honored within 30 days prior to the end of the grant period.
10. (j) Over the course of the funding year, a grantee may transfer funds between direct cost line items in different budget categories not to exceed a cumulative total of five percent of the grant budget during that year. All such budget transfers must comply with all relevant policies in this chapter. Adjustments must occur before funds are expended or were scheduled to be expended in the approved budget. Total transfers during a grant year that exceed five percent of the OAG portion of the grant budget also require a grant adjustment.

Source Note:The provisions of this §66.79 adopted to be effective June 24, 2001, 26 TexReg 4437.