AGO 81-016.

• Case Date: February 20, 1981
• Court: North Dakota

North Dakota Attorney General Opinions 1981. AGO 81-016. OPINION 81-16Date Issued: February 20, 1981 (AGO 81-16) Requested by: T.N. Tangedahl, Executive Director, Social Service Board of North Dakota- QUESTION PRESENTED - Whether a legislative appropriation of federal vocational rehabilitation grant funds constitutes one of the federally recognized exceptions to the federal rule that these grant funds must be spent within one year of the federal fiscal year in which they were obligated.- ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OPINION - It is my opinion that a legislative appropriation of federal grant funds constitutes one of the federally recognized exceptions to the federal rule that these grant funds must be spent within one year of the federal fiscal year in which they were obligated. - ANALYSIS - The Social Service Board of North Dakota received certain grant funds during the 1979 federal fiscal year which ended September 30, 1979. The Social Service Board of North Dakota, through its division of Vocational Rehabilitation, included these funds in their proposed expenditures during the North Dakota state fiscal biennium, commencing July 1, 1979, through June 30, 1981. A rehabilitation services administrative notice, RSA-PI-77-20, dated May 5, 1977, concerning the liquidation of unpaid obligations on hand at the end of the fiscal year, requires that all obligations, with certain exceptions, must be liquidated within one year of the close of the federal fiscal year in which the obligation was incurred. One of the exceptions to this policy is stated in paragraph 2 of that notice, as follows:

When State laws permit liquidation of obligations beyond one year from the close of the Fiscal Year in which the obligation was incurred. In those instances, the State agency may apply to the Regional Office for an exemption from the one-year limitation. The request for exemption shall include a copy of the applicable law and justification as to why obligations, except for Establishment and Construction, cannot be liquidated within the one-year limitation.

Article X, Section 12 of the Constitution of North Dakota states, in pertinent part:

All moneys, from whatever source

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