Reading Room Document

Effect of a Judicial Stay on Administrative Fund Termination Proceedings

Under the nondiscrimination provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1972, the administrative process by which funds are suspended or terminated is independent of any contemporaneous judicial proceeding, and a stay entered in the judicial proceeding thus has no effect on an administrative decision to suspend or terminate funds. The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration is free to defer administrative fund suspension or termination proceedings during the pendency of a judicial stay, but is foreclosed from restoring funds that have already been suspended or terminated except in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. Under the nondiscrimination provisions of the Revenue Sharing Act, the Office of Revenue Sharing is required to suspend administrative enforcement proceedings, and to restore funds already suspended or terminated, whenever a stay is issued in the judicial proceeding that triggered the administrative enforcement action. 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/22526/download.

March 14, 1980