correction: i didn't adequately test what happens if the user_proj_map_db was not defined in the universe file; here's the changes:

157         # BEGIN ADD USER'S PROJ
158         try:
159             conn = sqlite3.connect(self.app.config.user_proj_map_db)
160             c = conn.cursor()
161             c.execute('SELECT PROJ FROM USER_PROJ WHERE GID=?', [job_wrapper.user_id])
162             row = c.fetchone()
163             c.close
164             native_spec += ' -P ' + row[0]
165         except:
166                 log.debug("Cannot look up proj of user %s" % job_wrapper.user_id)
167         # /END ADD USER PROJ

also, in the config, define a default instead of using None:
        self.user_proj_map_db = resolve_path( kwargs.get( "user_proj_map_db", "database/user_proj_map.sqlite" ), self.root )

one last note: there doesn't seem to be any error displayed to the user if the job cannot be scheduled because the galaxy user doesn't have permissions to use the user's project (although there is a log entry), but the job will never be scheduled.  so be sure the galaxy user has permissions to submit to all possible projects.