U.S. Senate passes legislation that would expand eligible uses of Recovery Fund
Key Takeaways
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.
County News
Proposed legislation lends more flexibility to recovery fund spending for counties
Across the country, counties are continuing a frontline response to the devastating effects of COVID-19, as well as beginning to look toward economic recovery.
Related News
NACo calls for OMB to extend public comment period for proposed rule overhauling sweeping changes to federal grants and hosts webinar with record attendance
On June 17, NACo joined NLC, USCM, ICMA, NCSL, CSG, GFOA, NADO, AMPO, and NARC in requesting OMB Director Russell Vought for a 45 day extension for public comments to OMB’s proposed revisions to Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR), Part 200, Subtitle A, commonly referred to as Uniform Guidance for federal grants.
OMB proposes major change to federal grant administration
Counties have until July 13 offer comment on a wide-reaching regulation affecting federal grants to counties. A NACo webinar goes into detail about the changes counties need to note as they budget for federal awards.
SEC Finalizes FTDA Phase 1 Final Rule
On June 8, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in coordination with other federal financial regulatory agencies, finalized a rule implementing the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022 (FDTA) marking the completion of Phase 1 out of 2.