Grantee Handbook

Contents

• Introduction
• How to Apply
• Funding Duration
• Drug Free Workplace and Nondiscrimination Statements
• Resolution from Governing Body
• Funding Priorities
• Processing of Grant Awards
• Allowable Costs
• Unallowable Costs
• Budget Detail
• Claims for Reimbursement
• Records
• Implementation and Control of Approved Projects
• Project Reports

Introduction

This handbook outlines requirements for agencies that apply for and/or receive an ABC-OTS Grant for conducting Minor Decoy operations, Shoulder Tap operations, IMPACT inspections, and Holiday Enforcement operations from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).

Funding agencies (grantees) must administer their grants according to these requirements. Failure to do so may result in the withholding or disallowance of grant payments, the reduction or termination of the grant award, and/or the denial of future grant awards. All grantees must also comply with the terms and conditions of the Standard State Contract (Form STD 15).

How to apply

To apply for a multi-program ABC-OTS Grant, applicants must submit a letter of interest, a maximum of two pages, signed by the Chief of Police or Sheriff or his/her designee, along with the required attachments.

Letters must be received on or before 5 p.m., September 8, 2023.

Mail or deliver letters of interest to:

Diana Fouts-Guter, Grant Unit
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
3927 Lennane Drive, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95834

All letters of interest are date stamped upon receipt at ABC.  Letters received after the deadline date will not be eligible for consideration.  It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the letter is received by ABC prior to the deadline.  ABC will not be responsible for late letters due to mistakes or delays of the applicant or the carrier.  A postmark is not sufficient.  ABC will accept emailed proposals with an electronic signature to diana.fouts-guter@abc.ca.gov

Letters of interest must address the issues listed in the Funding Priorities, listed below.

Founding Duration

Grantees will be funded for the period of October 1, 2023, or upon federal spending authority (whichever is later) through August 31, 2024.

Drug Free Workplace Certification and Nondiscrimination Compliance Statement

Applicants selected for funding will be required to sign these standard State forms as part of the contract with the State.

Resolution from Governing Body

A resolution will be required from the governing body authorizing the applicant to enter into a contract with the State.

Funding Priorities

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) will take the following factors into consideration in awarding its ABC-OTS Grants. Therefore, the applicant’s letter of interest should respond to the following issues:

1. Office of Traffic Safety’s (OTS) Traffic Safety Ranking. A printout from OTS’s website depicting your City/County Fatality and Injury Ranking. This information can be found on the OTS website. From the home page, click on the “Traffic Safety Data” tab then open “OTS Crash Rankings”, select the most recent year and enter your jurisdiction (City/County). If your city is not listed, please contact OTS. Sample:
   
2. Number of licensed retail outlets within applicant’s jurisdiction. Visit Licenses by City for cities and Licenses by County for counties. Or on the ABC website, click on “Licensing”, “Licensing Reports”, then scroll down to “License by City” or “License by County”.
3. Completed Budget Estimate (see Sample Budget Detail below for information).
4. Willing to do Minor Decoy operations during the term of the agreement.
5. Willing to do Shoulder Tap operations during the term of the agreement.
6. Willing to do IMPACT inspections during the term of the agreement.
7. Willing to work Holiday Enforcement operations.
8. Ensure that the Minor Decoy and/or Shoulder Tap operations have the support of the local prosecutor.
9. Issue press releases as follows:
   To announce the start of the program and at the conclusion of each Minor Decoy operation and/or Shoulder Tap operation.

Other Funding Criteria

The Department will also take the following criteria into consideration when awarding its ABC-OTS Grants:

1. Need for funding, based on previously awarded grants.
2. ABC will work to ensure Grant funds are spread throughout the State.

Processing of Grant Awards

Notification of Grant Award

The following are the sequential steps the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will take in processing grant awards:

1. Applicants submit a letter of interest to ABC.
2. ABC review and ranking.
3. ABC Director makes the final funding decision.
4. ABC sends proposed contract documents to the Office of Traffic Safety for approval.
5. ABC sends a selection notification letter to all applicants, whether successful or unsuccessful.
6. ABC sends an approved contract to the grant applicant for signature.
7. ABC signs the contract and sends a fully executed copy to the applicant.

Allowable Costs

Grantees shall be reimbursed for direct costs expended in support of this project as indicated below:

Overtime

This grant is intended to be worked solely on paid overtime. Authorized overtime shall be reimbursed for the time worked on the project at the overtime rate paid to the employee by the local agency as long as the overtime rate is the same as that paid to other employees in the same classification performing comparable duties. Personnel assigned to the project shall include a minimum of one sworn officer. Overtime for additional, non-sworn personnel may also be reimbursed.

Employee Overtime Benefits

Actual costs of employee overtime benefits.

Travel

The grant requires a mandatory training session for the operations office. The training will cover operational requirements and the completion of grant reporting documents. Selected agencies operations officers will be required to attend the one-day training session on Tuesday October 17, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. The fiscal officer will be contacted via/email or telephone to receive training regarding the requirements for submitting claims for reimbursement.

Unallowable Costs

All costs not mentioned above are the responsibility of the local agency and are not reimbursable. This includes administrative overhead/indirect costs, supplies, evidence purchases, equipment (e.g., body wire equipment), and operating expenses (e.g., buy money), etc. Grantees are responsible for their operating expenses, which will include such items as cameras and “buy” money. Buy money would be the funds used by the decoy (Minor Decoy Operation) to purchase alcoholic beverages or that the decoy provides to the adult who purchases alcoholic beverages for the decoy (Shoulder Tap Operation).

Budget Detail

The budget is the basis for management, fiscal review, and audit. Project costs must be directly related to the objectives and activities of the project. The budget must be detailed and cover the entire grant period. Include only those items specifically authorized, i.e., salaries, overtime, and employee benefits. Grant funds shall not be used to supplant any existing positions or expenditures.

Grantees must submit a proposed budget for this project up to $40,000. Budget proposals must reflect anticipated funds to be used between October 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024.

Note: Applicant agency is to specify the position classification titles used in their agency. ROUND ALL BUDGET AMOUNTS TO THE NEAREST $100 (and not exceed $40,000).

The budget must detail the number of positions by classification, salary rate, and percentage of time to be assigned to the project, and total salary costs for the grant period.

Overtime costs shall include an estimated number of hours by classification, overtime salary rate, and total overtime costs for the grant period.

Claims for Reimbursement

Grantees shall submit invoices on a bi-monthly basis to receive payments from the State. The invoices shall be in the format specified by the State.

Records

Grantees shall maintain detailed records to substantiate the amounts claimed for reimbursement. These records (timesheets, payroll records, accounting reports, daily activity reports, etc.) must be maintained for a period of three years from the date of receipt of the final payment for the grant period and must be made available for review by the State upon request.

Grantees shall refund to the State any amounts claimed for reimbursement and paid to grantees disallowed by the State after an audit of the records maintained by grantees.

Implementation and Control of Approved Projects

Effective Date

The contract will show an effective date. Claims for reimbursement may be made only for costs incurred subsequent to that date. No reimbursement will be provided for expenses incurred prior to the effective date or after the project period ending date.

Project Director Responsibilities:

The Project Director is responsible for establishing operating procedures and controls which will ensure adequate administration of the project in accordance with the terms of the contract. The Project Director shall:

1. 1. Attempt to expend all awarded funds
   2. Ensure all Grant Goals and Objectives are met before the conclusion of the Grant
   3. Notify ABC Grant Unit immediately if any of the awarded funds will not be utilized
   4. Monitor time frames as outlined in the contract
   5. Maintain costs
   6. Maintain adequate records for validation of project progress and accountability for all funds expended on the project
   7. Ensure Submission of required project reports, billing and final report
   8. Conduct project evaluation
   9. Ensure that the program has the support of the local prosecutor. Experience has shown that the Minor Decoy/Shoulder Tap Programs work best when they have the strong support of the local prosecutor.
   10. Issue press releases as follows:
       1. To announce the start of the program;
       2. At the conclusion of each Minor Decoy operation to announce the number of licensed premises which sold to the minor decoy:
       3. At the conclusion of each Shoulder Tap operation to announce the number of adults arrested for purchasing alcoholic beverages to the minor decoy.
       4. Agencies can elect to issue one press release per month with information pertaining to all combined operations.

NOTE: ABC can assist in preparing a press release to each of the agencies with the resources of our Public Information Officer.

ABC Responsibility

ABC has the responsibility and authority to review and evaluate each project as deemed necessary. Such review and evaluation will be made to assist the grantee in understanding and complying with the required procedures and in gaining the maximum benefits from the funds expended. Grantees should promptly notify their ABC Project Coordinator concerning any changes or problems that arise.

Liaison with Other Agencies

ABC encourages meetings between agencies having similar projects in operation for the purpose of coordinating related activities. The ABC will be glad to assist in coordinating such meetings and providing any information required.

Revision of Projects

Any revision requires prior approval of ABC. Documentation pertaining to requested project revisions must be submitted in writing to and received by the ABC prior to the effective date of the requested changes.

Cancellation of Projects

The ABC Project Coordinator has the responsibility to notify the ABC Director or his/her designee of any project which is not being implemented in accordance with applicable State laws or the terms of the contract. At this time, the ABC Director or his/her designee may choose to cancel the contract.

Project Reports

Purpose

Funded agencies are required to participate in data collection and submit progress reports on a timely basis. The purpose of the progress report is to provide the grantee and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control with an evaluation of project progress in achieving the objectives.

Submission

ABC requires all agencies to submit one copy of the progress report to ABC’s Grant Project Unit on a bi-monthly basis. Failure to submit reports on time can delay payment of claims for reimbursement.

Progress Reports and Evaluation Measures

Agency Reports, to include but not limited to:

Minor Decoy Operation

• Quantitative measures: Number of premises visited, number of clerks that requested identification and still sold, number of clerks that did not request identification and sold, number of premises that refused to sell to the minor decoy, and license type/owner/licensee name and address.

Shoulder Tap

• Quantitative measures: Number of persons contacted, number of persons who furnished, number of persons arrested for other offenses, ratio of approaches versus furnishings, bookings versus citations, number of persons who would charge extra for the alcohol, prior arrest record of furnishers (excluding minor offenses), number of adults under the influence, license type/owner/licensee name and address.

IMPACT Inspections

• Quantitative measures: Number of on-sale and off-sale premises inspections conducted at, total number of violations, number of premises to be re-inspected. Upon re-inspection, number of on-sale and off-sale premises re-inspected, number not in compliance, number of premises recommended for accusations, number of criminal actions, arrests/citations issued.

Holiday Enforcement

• Quantitative measures: Specific holiday worked, city/county conducted in, number of on-sale and off-sale premises worked, arrests/citations including section violated.

Contact

Additional information may be obtained by contacting:

Diana Fouts-Guter, Grant Coordinator
3927 Lennane Drive, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95834
Email: diana.fouts-guter@abc.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 928-9807
Fax: (916) 928-7625