County Essential Services Grant Grant Program, FY2027

County Essential Services Grant Grant Program, FY2027 is sponsored by Office of the Governor, State of Texas.

The purpose of this announcement is to provide financial assistance to counties for essential public services including law enforcement services, jail services, court services, or reimbursement of extraordinary costs incurred for the investigation or prosecution of a capital murder or crimes committed because of bias or prejudice as defined in Article 104. 004 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

# Office of the Governor, Public Safety Office Criminal Justice Division # Funding Announcement: County Essential # Services Grant Program, FY2027 The purpose of this announcement is to provide financial assistance to counties for essential public services including law enforcement services, jail services, court services, or reimbursement of extraordinary costs incurred for the investigation or prosecution of a capital murder or crimes committed because of bias or prejudice as defined in Article 104.

004 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. State funds are authorized under the Texas General Appropriations Act, Article I, Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor, Strategy B. 1.

2. All awards are subject to the availability of funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law. Invitation Only.

Applications may only be submitted by Texas counties. Eligible applicants must first contact PSO for prior approval to begin the application process. Please contact Chelssie.

Lopez@gov.texas. gov or (512) 463-1919. ***NEW APPLICATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT*** The following documents must be submitted with the application for the application to be considered complete and eligible for funding.

See the Eligibility Requirements and/or Program-Specific Requirements Sections of this Funding Announcement for more details on the requirements for each attachment/certification: • Resolution from Governing Body - Applications from nonprofit corporations, local units of governments, and other political subdivisions must submit a fully executed resolution.

• CEO/Law Enforcement Certifications and Assurances Form - Each local unit of government, and institution of higher education that operates a law enforcement agency, must certify compliance with federal and state immigration enforcement requirements. Failure to submit the fully executed required attachment(s) by the application deadline may result in the application being deemed ineligible.

Funding Announcement: County Essential Services Grant Program, FY2027 Funding Announcement Release 09/01/2026 Online System Opening Date 09/01/2026 Final Date to Submit and Certify an Application 08/31/2027 at 5:00PM CST Earliest Project Start Date 09/01/2026 Projects must begin between 09/01/2026 and 8/31/2027.

Grantees must comply with standards applicable to this fund source cited in the Texas Grant Management Standards ( TxGM S), Federal Uniform Grant Guidanc e, and all statutes, requirements, and guidelines applicable to this funding.

# Eligible Activities and Costs Projects are considered on a case-by-case basis with preference given to counties seeking reimbursement for costs incurred for the investigation and/or prosecution of capital murder or crimes committed because of bias or prejudice as defined in Article 104. 004 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Eligible costs may include: 1.

Expert witness fees and travel; 3. Additional courtroom security; 5. Investigative services; 6.

Court reporter fees (original transcripts only); Funding Announcement: County Essential Services Grant Program, FY2027 7. Costs associated with change of venue including detention services; 9. Other costs associated with trial and prosecution of crimes under Sec.

19. 03 of the Penal Code or Article 42. 014 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

# Eligibility Requirements 1. Applications from nonprofit corporations, local units of governments, and other political subdivisions must submit a fully executed resolution with the application to be considered eligible for funding.

The resolution must contain the following elements (see Sample Resolution): • Authorization by your governing body for the submission of the application to the Public Safety Office (PSO) that clearly identifies the name of the project for which funding is requested; • A commitment to provide all applicable matching funds; • A designation of the name and/or title of an authorized official who is given the authority to apply for, accept, reject, alter, or terminate a grant; • A designation of the name and/or title of a financial officer who is given the authority to submit financial and/or performance reports or alter a grant; and • A written assurance that, in the event of loss or misuse of grant funds, the governing body will return all funds to PSO.

2. Local units of governments must comply with the cybersecurity and artificial intelligence training requirements described in Section 772. 012 and Section 2054.

5191 of the Texas Government Code. Local governments determined to not be in compliance with the cybersecurity and artificial intelligence required by Section 2054. 5191 of the Texas Government Code are ineligible for OOG grant funds until the second anniversary of the date the local government is determined ineligible.

Government entities must annually certify their compliance with the training requirements using the Cybersecurity Training Certification for State and Local Governments . A copy of the Training Certification must be uploaded to your eGrants application. For more information or to access available training programs, visit the Texas Department of Information Resources Statewide Cybersecurit y Awareness Trainin g page.

3. Entities receiving funds from PSO must be located in a county that has an average of 90% or above on both adult and juvenile dispositions entered into the computerized criminal history database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as directed in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 60.

The disposition completeness percentage is defined as the percentage of arrest charges a county reports to DPS for which a disposition has been subsequently reported and entered into the computerized criminal history system.

Counties applying for grant awards from the Office of the Governor must commit that the county will report at least 90% of convictions within five business days to the Criminal Justice Information System at the Department of Public Safety. 4. Eligible applicants operating a law enforcement agency must be current on reporting complete UCR data and the Texas specific reporting mandated by 411.

042 TGC, to the Texas Department of Public Funding Announcement: County Essential Services Grant Program, FY2027 Safety (DPS) for inclusion in the annual Crime in Texas (CIT) publication. To be considered eligible for funding, applicants must have submitted a full twelve months of accurate data to DPS for the most recent calendar year by the deadline(s) established by DPS.

Due to the importance of timely reporting, applicants are required to submit complete and accurate UCR data, as well as the Texas-mandated reporting, on a no less than monthly basis and respond promptly to requests from DPS related to the data submitted. 5. In accordance with Texas Government Code, Section 420.

034, any facility or entity that collects evidence for sexual assault or other sex offenses or investigates or prosecutes a sexual assault or other sex offense for which evidence has been collected, must participate in the statewide electronic tracking system developed and implemented by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Visit DPS’s Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking Program website for more information or to set up an account to begin participating. Additionally, per Section 420. 042 "A law enforcement agency that receives evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense...

shall submit that evidence to a public accredited crime laboratory for analysis no later than the 30th day after the date on which that evidence was received." A law enforcement agency in possession of a significant number of Sexual Assault Evidence Kits (SAEK) where the 30-day window has passed may be considered noncompliant. 6.

Local units of government, including cities, counties and other general purpose political subdivisions, as appropriate, and institutions of higher education that operate a law enforcement agency, must comply with 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 Agency’s custody; and (2) detain such illegal aliens in accordance with requests by DHS.

Additionally, counties and municipalities may NOT have in effect, purport to have in effect, or make themselves subject to or bound by, any law, rule, policy, or practice (written or unwritten) that would: (1) require or authorize the public disclosure of federal law enforcement information in order to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection fugitives from justice or aliens illegally in the United States, 8 U.S.C.

§ 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii); (2) impede federal officers from exercising authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), § 1226(c), § 1231(a), § 1357(a), § 1366(1), or § 1366(3); (3) encourage or induce an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States in violation of law, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv); (4) result in the illegal transport or movement of aliens within the United States, 8 U.S.C.

§ 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii). Lastly, eligible applicants must comply with all provisions, policies, and penalties found in Chapter 752, Subchapter C of the Texas Government Code.

Each local unit of government, and institution of higher education that operates a law enforcement agency, must download, complete and then upload into eGrants the CEO/Law Enforcement Certifications and Assurances Form certifying compliance with federal and state immigration enforcement requirements.

This Form is required for each application submitted to OOG and is active until August 31, 2027 or the end of the grant period, whichever is later. 7. Eligible applicants must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM) database and have an UEI (Unique Entity ID) number assigned to its agency (to get registered in the SAM database and request an UEI number, go to https://sam.

gov /). Funding Announcement: County Essential Services Grant Program, FY2027 Failure to comply with program eligibility requirements may cause funds to be withheld and/or suspension or termination of grant funds. Grant funds may not be used to support the unallowable costs listed in the Guide to Grants or any of the following unallowable costs: 2.

Indigent defense costs; 3. Construction, renovation, or remodeling; 4. Law enforcement equipment that is standard department issue; and 5.

Any other prohibition imposed by federal, state or local law or regulation. Application Screening: The Office of the Governor will screen all applications to ensure that they meet the requirements included in the funding announcement. Final Decisions: Projects are considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Office of the Governor will consider staff recommendations along with other factors and make all final funding decisions. Other factors may include cost effectiveness, overall funds availability, state government priorities and strategies, legislative directives, need, geographic distribution, or other relevant factors. The Office of the Governor may not fund all applications or may only award part of the amount requested.

In the event that funding requests exceed available funds, the Office of the Governor may revise projects to address a more limited focus. For more information, contact the eGrants help desk at eGrants@gov.texas. gov or (512) 463-1919.