PLANNING AND BUDGET OFFICE

TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS

700 Lavaca, Ste 1560
P.O. Box 1748
Austin, Texas 78767

MEMORANDUM
TO:

Elected Officials, Appointed Officials, Department Heads, and Grant Managers

FROM: Travis R. Gatlin, Budget Director

DATE: January 12, 2017
RE:

New Requirements for Office of the Governor Grants

The applications for the State Year 2018 Office of the Governor (OOG), Criminal Justice Division,
grants have new requirements that could impact Travis County offices and departments ability
to continue to receive state funding for a number of County programs. The Planning and Budget
Office (PBO) and the County Attorneys Office will be briefing the Commissioners Court
concerning these new requirements on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.
The new requirements are noted below and taken from the OOG Criminal Justice Division
website at http://gov.texas.gov/cjd/dhs_detainerrequest.

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY DETAINER REQUEST COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR

OOG GRANTEES
An application requirement pertaining to full compliance with Department of Homeland
Security detainer requests applies to all municipal or county governments that include a
department that detains individuals after arrest for a criminal violation. This requirement
is met when the applicant submits both a letter and a certification as part of their
application.

The letter must contain text specified by OOG (see below) and be signed and dated by the
head of each relevant department that detains individuals after arrest. (In most cases, this
will be the county sheriff.) The certification (see below) is made by the authorized official
submitting the application on behalf of the grantee, and pertains to the actions of the
relevant department that detains individuals after arrest.
OOG, at its sole discretion, may accept a copy of any such the letter for all grants applied
for by the county or municipality for a period of two years after the letter date. If that
period expires during the project period, a grantee must submit an updated letter in order
to remain in compliance with this requirement. The certification must be made by the
authorized official for each application the county or municipality submits to OOG. Failure
to submit a certification and to submit and maintain a valid letter will result in denial of
all applications that benefit the department and may result in denial of applications
submitted by other departments or subdivisions of the county or municipality, at OOGs
sole discretion.

Required Certification by Authorized Official in Grant Applications

The following certification a required part of new applications for grant funds. The
certification can be found on the Narrative tab of the eGrants online application:
If Grantee is a county or municipality and includes a department or other subdivision that
detains individuals after arrest for a criminal violation, such Grantee certifies that it
participates fully, and will continue throughout the grant period to participate fully, in all
aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal
aliens in the custody of the Grantee; and (2) detain such aliens in accordance with requests
by DHS. Grantee certifies that it does not have, and will continue throughout the grant
period not to have, any policy, procedure, or agreement (written or unwritten) that in any
way limits or impedes Grantees receipt of or DHSs issuance of detainer requests. Grantee
further certifies that it does not have, and will continue throughout the grant period not
to have, any policy, procedure, or agreement (written or unwritten) that in any way limits
or restricts the Grantees full participation in all aspects of the programs and procedures
utilized by DHS to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal
aliens in the custody of the Grantee; and (2) detain such aliens in accordance with requests
by DHS. Grantee agrees that failure to comply with this certification may result in OOG, at
its sole discretion, terminating this grant and any other grant made by the OOG to the
Grantees county or municipality. Grantee agrees that it shall return all funds received
from OOG for any grant terminated under this certification. Additionally, Grantee agrees
that it will remain ineligible for future OOG funding until it can provide satisfactory
evidence that the jurisdiction has been in compliance with this requirement for a period
of at least one year.

Required Letter by Head of Detaining Department

The text below must be exactly reproduced in a letter signed and dated by the head of each
relevant department that detains individuals after arrest. (In most cases, this will be the
county sheriff.)
I am the head of an agency or department (department) that that detains individuals
after arrest for a criminal violation and I certify that my department participates fully, and
will continue for a period no less than two years from the date of this letter to participate

fully in all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to
illegal aliens in the custody of the Grantee; and (2) detain such aliens in accordance with
requests by DHS. I certify that my department does not have, and will continue not to have
for a period no less than two years from the date of this letter, any policy, procedure, or
agreement (written or unwritten) that in any way limits or impedes Grantees receipt of or
DHSs issuance of detainer requests. I further certify that my department does not have,
and will continue not to have for a period no less than two years from the date of this
letter, any policy, procedure, or agreement (written or unwritten) that in any way limits or
restricts the Grantees full participation in all aspects of the programs and procedures
utilized by DHS to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal
aliens in the custody of the Grantee; and (2) detain such aliens in accordance with requests
by DHS. I acknowledge that failure to comply with this certification may result in OOG, in
its sole discretion, terminating this grant and any other grant made by the OOG to the
Grantees county or municipality. I acknowledge that the Grantee will be required to return
all funds received by OOG for any grant terminated under this certification. Additionally, I
acknowledge that it will remain ineligible for future OOG funding until it can provide
satisfactory evidence that the jurisdiction has been in compliance with this requirement
for a period of at least one year.

Sheriff Hernandez has informed PBO that she will not be able to provide the required certification
letter noted on OOGs website. Therefore, offices and departments submitting grant applications
to OOG will not be able to include the required certification and letter as part of their application.
As noted on OOGs website above, failure to submit a certification and failure to submit and
maintain a valid letter will result in denial of all applications that benefit the department and may
result in denial of applications submitted by other departments or subdivisions of the county or
municipality, at OOGs sole discretion.
We are hopeful that OOG will ultimately decide to continue funding our valuable programs. PBO
recommends that offices and departments continue to prepare their applications so that they
can be submitted to OOG by the February 20, 2017 deadline. To meet this deadline, these
applications would need to be approved by the Commissioners Court by Tuesday, February 14,
2017, with offices and departments submitting grant backup to PBO, the County Auditors Office,
and County Attorneys Office by Tuesday, January 31, 2017 to properly place these items on the
Courts agenda. PBO will provide you with an update with any further direction from the
Commissioners Court regarding this matter once it is available.
I have attached a list of active OOG grants. Please review the list to confirm the information is
correct by Wednesday, January 18, 2017. We would like to use this information to estimate the
impact of the potential loss of OOG grant funding as part of our discussion with the Court on

January 24, 2017. We will continue to monitor other grants to see if any similar new requirements
are made and how these potential changes could impact Travis County.
Travis County has a number of long-standing programs that are currently funded through OOG
grants. Most of our active grants funded through this source end on August 31, 2017. It is
therefore critical to begin work immediately on viable options for the Commissioners Court to
consider for programs with demonstrated results in the event that state funding is not available
in the next grant cycle. These options may include alternative funding through other grants or
other outside sources, funding through the General Fund for a portion of or all of the original
program, or closing out the program. PBO will be working closely with offices and departments
that currently receive OOG funding and this work may continue into the FY 2018 budget process.
We have scheduled a follow up meeting on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, from 10:00 am to
11:30 am at 700 Lavaca, Multifunction Room B, to share the direction from the Commissioners
Court on how to best proceed. We will continue to provide updates as new information is
available and pledge to work with you regarding these changes.
Please contact me or your Planning and Budget Analyst if you have any questions.