On March 27, Congress passed and the president signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which established a new $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) for state, county and municipal governments with populations of over 500,000 people to address necessary expenditures incurred due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The U.S. Treasury will oversee and administer CRF payments to state and local governments. CRF payments will be distributed no later than April 27 and will be available until December 30, 2020. If a state or eligible unit of local government does not spend all CRF payments that are allocated by December 2020, the U.S. Treasury will recoup these funds.

This document provides an overview of the CRF funding breakdown, eligibility requirements and recently released U.S. Treasury guidance with a specific focus on how each of these items impact county governments.