Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued the Final Rule for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program, enacted as a part of the American Rescue Plan, which delivers $350 billion to state, local, and Tribal governments to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The final rule, which takes effect on April 1, 2022, provides state and local governments with increased flexibility to pursue a wider range of uses, as well as greater simplicity so governments can focus on responding to the crisis in their communities and maximizing the impact of their funds.
The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program final rule provides additional clarity and flexibility for recipient governments, including:
- First, Treasury has expanded the non-exhaustive list of uses that recipients can use to respond to COVID-19 and its economic impacts – ensuring states and localities can adapt quickly and nimbly to changing public health and economic needs. This includes clarifying that recipients can use funds for certain capital expenditures to respond to public health and economic impacts and making services like childcare, early education, addressing learning loss, and affordable housing development available to all communities impacted by the pandemic.
- Second, Treasury has expanded support for public sector hiring and capacity, which is critical for the economic recovery and in maintaining vital public services for communities.
- Third, Treasury has streamlined options to provide premium pay for essential workers, who bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical sectors.
- Fourth, Treasury has broadened eligible water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure projects – understanding the unique challenges facing each state and locality in delivering clean water and high-speed broadband to their communities.
- In addition to these expansions, Treasury has greatly simplified the program for small localities – many of whom have received a historic federal investment in their communities through this program – including through the option to elect a standard allowance for revenue loss rather than calculating revenue loss through the full formula.
Treasury will host live webinars to provide a briefing and answer questions about the Final Rule at the following times:
If RSVP capacity is reached for any of the scheduled webinars, Treasury will post a recording of the January 7th webinar on its website next week. SCAC will also pass along any webinars or information regarding the Final Rule from the National Association of Counties (NACo) as soon it becomes available.
If you have any questions, please contact John Wienges, SCAC Staff Attorney, at (803) 664-0774 or
jwienges@scac.sc.
