Reading Room Document

Use of Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Program Grant Funds for Administrative Purposes

Funds originally awarded to states by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration for programmatic purposes, under Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, may be used to supplement exhausted administrative funds. A lump sum appropriation can be used for any purpose consistent with the purposes of the authorizing statute, and an agency's representation to Congress as to how it proposes to allocate appropriated funds is legally binding on the agency only to the extent its proposed allocation finds its way into the language of the appropriation statute itself. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/24511/download.

June 5, 1980