41-109. Prevention of child abuse fund; definitions

A. The prevention of child abuse fund is established consisting of monies received pursuant to section 28-2417. The director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family shall administer the fund. Not more than three percent of monies deposited in the fund annually shall be used for the cost of administering the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated.

B. The governor's office of youth, faith and family shall allocate monies to primary prevention programs that strengthen families and that increase public and professional awareness to prevent child abuse in all its forms to children in this state. Beginning January 1, 2020, monies received pursuant to section 28-2417 may be allocated to child and family advocacy centers to provide support to victims of child abuse.

C. On notice from the director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family, the state treasurer shall invest and divest monies in the fund as provided by section 35-313 and monies earned from investment shall be credited to the fund.

D. Monies in the fund are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations.

E. Before allocating monies pursuant to subsection B of this section:

1. The director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family shall prepare and issue a request for donation application that includes at least the following information:

(a) A description of the nature of the donation project, including the scope of the work to be performed by an awardee.

(b) Identification of the funding source and the total amount of available monies.

(c) Whether a single award or multiple awards may be made.

(d) Encouragement of collaboration by entities for community partnerships, if appropriate.

(e) Any additional information required by the applications.

(f) The criteria or factors under which an application will be evaluated for award and the relative importance of each criteria or factor.

(g) The due date for submittal of an application and the anticipated time the awards may be made.

2. Adequate public notice of the request for donation application shall be given a reasonable time before the date set forth in the request for application. The notice may include publication one or more times in a newspaper of general circulation in this state a reasonable time before the application opening.

3. A preapplication conference may be conducted before the due date for the submittal of an application to explain the donation application requirements. Statements made at a preapplication conference are not amendments to a request for a donation application unless a written amendment is issued.

4. A donation application shall be publicly received at the time and place designated in the request for donation application. The name of each applicant shall be publicly read and recorded. All other information in the donation application is confidential during the process of evaluation. All applications shall be open for public inspection after donations are awarded. To the extent the applicant designates and the state concurs, trade secrets and other proprietary information contained in the application shall remain confidential.

5. An application shall be evaluated by at least three evaluators who are peers or other qualified individuals. The evaluators may allow an applicant to make an oral or written presentation regarding the scope of work, terms and conditions of the donations, budget and other relevant matters set forth in the request for application. An applicant shall be accorded fair treatment with respect to any opportunity for oral or written presentations. The evaluators may require an applicant to revise the application to reflect information provided in an oral or written presentation. Any person who has information contained in the application of competing applicants shall not disclose that information.

6. The evaluators shall review each application based solely on the evaluation criteria or factors set forth in the request for donation application. Each evaluator shall maintain a written record of the evaluator's assessment of each application, which shall include comments regarding compliance with each evaluation criteria or factor, the citation of a specific criteria or factor as the basis of each stated strength or weakness and a clear differentiation between comments based on facts presented in the application and comments based on professional judgment.

7. The evaluators shall make award recommendations to the director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family based on the evaluators' reviews of each application. The evaluators' recommendations may include the adjustment of the budgets of the applicants individually or collectively.

8. The director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family may affirm, modify or reject the evaluators' recommendations in whole or in part. Modification of the evaluators' recommendations may include the adjustment of the budget on any proposed award individually or on all awards by an amount or percentage. If the director of the division modifies or rejects the recommendations, the director shall document in writing the specific justifications for the action taken.

9. The director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family may enter into agreements with other state governmental units to furnish assistance in conducting the solicitation of donation applications.

10. The director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family may resolve protests of the award or proposed award of a donation. An appeal from a decision of the director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family may be made to the director of the department of administration. A protest of an award or proposed award of a donation and any appeals shall be resolved in accordance with the rules of procedure adopted by the department of administration pursuant to section 41-2611.

F. On or before December 31 of each year, the director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family shall submit a written report to the governor, the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives on all expenditures made from the fund in that calendar year. The report shall include all administrative expenses, all grants of monies, the names of grantees and any remaining balance in the fund. The director shall provide a copy of the report to the secretary of state and the director of the Arizona state library, archives and public records.

G. The director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family shall make available to the public a list of all grants awarded pursuant to this section.

H. For the purposes of this section:

1. " Donation" means furnishing financial or other assistance, including state monies or federal grant monies, by the director of the governor's office of youth, faith and family to any person for the purpose of supporting or stimulating primary prevention programs that strengthen families and that increase public and professional awareness to prevent child abuse in all its forms to children of this state if no substantial involvement between the governor's office of youth, faith and family and the recipient occurs during performance.

2. " Person" means any corporation, business, individual, committee, club or other organization or group of individuals.