Transportation planning grants to local governmental units

(1) In this section, “local governmental unit” means a county, city, village, town or regional planning commission. (2) From the appropriation under s. 20.505 (1) (z), the department may provide grants to local governmental units to be used to finance the cost of planning activities related to the transportation element, as described in s. 66.1001 (2) (c), of a comprehensive plan, as defined in s. 66.1001 (1) (a), including contracting for planning consultant services, public planning sessions, and other planning outreach and educational activities, or for the purchase of computerized planning data, planning software, or the hardware required to utilize that data or software. The department may require any local governmental unit that receives a grant under this section to finance not more than 25 percent of the cost of the product or service to be funded by the grant from the resources of the local governmental unit. Prior to awarding a grant under this section, the department shall forward a detailed statement of the proposed expenditures to be made under the grant to the secretary of transportation and obtain his or her written approval of the proposed expenditures.