(1) By January 15 of each fiscal year, the department, with advice from the grant review subcommittee, shall develop the grant criteria for the fiscal year beginning on the following July 1, based upon the goals and objectives from the land information plan, and shall publish the grant criteria, grant application forms, and instructions for submitting grant applications to the department web site. Grant criteria may allow for funding multi-year projects.

(2) Grant applications received by the department before 5:00 p.m. on February 15 will be considered.

(3) Upon receipt, the department will advise applicants of incomplete grant applications. Applications initially incomplete, but completed and received by March 1, will be evaluated for possible funding.

(4) By May 1 of each fiscal year, the department, based on grant criteria and with advice of the grant review subcommittee, shall identify grant applications that meet the grant criteria and warrant approval and shall rank them in priority order. Previously approved multi-year projects may be placed at the top of the priority list. The grant review subcommittee chair shall distribute the results to the council, consider additional comments, and report those comments to the department if necessary.

(5) On May 15 of each fiscal year, the department, with advice of the grant review subcommittee, shall finalize the priority order of the grants.

(6) The department shall disburse available grant funds to grant applicants in the order of priority set forth under (5) . Available grant funds in excess of the funding necessary for the applications that meet the grant criteria shall be added to the available grant funds for the subsequent grant period.