On October 19, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act (S. 3011), which would provide additional flexibility for the $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (Recovery Fund) authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

The legislation, which now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote, would strengthen the Recovery Fund in the following ways:

• Allow counties to allocate up to $10 million in ARPA Recovery Funds for the provision of government services or $10 million (or 30 percent) for infrastructure-related activities authorized under existing federal surface transportation laws or a Community Development Block Grant project
• Allow ARPA Recovery Funds to provide emergency relief from natural disasters and their negative economic impacts, including temporary emergency housing, food assistance, financial assistance for lost wages, or other immediate needs

The Recovery Fund, which NACo helped develop and strongly advocated for its passage, is a historic investment in our nation’s counties. These funds provide direct, flexible aid for every county, parish and borough in America.

NACo is urging counties to contact your U.S. Representatives and urge their support for final passage of S. 3011, which will help counties achieve our goal of successfully implementing the Recovery Fund to ensure the health and well-being of our residents and economic vitality for our communities.