Sections 602 and 603 of the Social Security Act as added by section 9901 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the âActâ), Pub. L. No. 117-2 (Mar. 11, 2021) authorizes the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSFRF) and Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CLFRF) respectively (referred to as the âCoronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fundsâ or âSLFRFâ), which provides $350 billion in total funding to Treasury to make payments generally to States (defined to include the District of Columbia), U.S. Territories (defined to include, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa), Tribes, Metropolitan cities, Counties, Consolidated Governments, and Nonentitlement units of local government (through States) (collectively the âeligible entitiesâ) to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impact, including provide assistance to households, small business, nonprofits, and impacted industries, such as tourism, travel, and hospitality; respond to workers performing essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing premium pay to eligible workers of the State, territory, tribal government, metropolitan city, county, or nonentitlement units of local government performing essential work or by providing grants to eligible employers that have eligible workers; provide government services, to the extent COVID-19 caused a reduction of revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year of the State, territory, tribal government, metropolitan city, county, or nonentitlement units of local government; or make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.
Section 602(b) of the Act prescribes that $219.8 billion must be allocated as follows: (1) $4.5 billion reserved for making payments to the U.S. Territories; (2) $20 billion reserved for making payments to Tribal governments; and (3) $195.3 billion reserved for making payments to the 50 States and the District of Columbia.
Section 603(b) of the Act prescribes that $130.2 billion must be allocated as follows: (1) $45.57 billion reserved for making payments to Metropolitan cities; (2) $19.53 billion reserved for making payments to States for distribution to Nonentitlement units of local government; and (3) $65.1 billion reserved for making payments to Counties. A unit of general local government that has formed a consolidated government or is geographically (in full or in part) within the boundaries of another unit of general local government may receive a distribution from the funds reserved for making payment to a metropolitan city, nonentitlement unit of local government or county, as applicable based on the respective formula for such allocation to a metropolitan city, nonentitlement unit of local government or county.
Section 602(b)(6)(A)(i) provides that Treasury shall make payments to States and U.S. Territories no later than 60 days after receipt of the required certification. Payments to tribal governments are to be distributed no later than 60 days after March 11, 2021 pursuant to section 602(b)(6)(B).
Section 603(b)(7)(A) provides that Treasury shall make the first tranche of payments to metropolitan cities, counties, and States for distribution to nonentitlement units of local government no later than 60 days after March 11, 2021.
Pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 C.F.R. § 1320.13, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) requests emergency processing for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) programâs Non-entitlement units of local government (NEUs) Use Guide, revising OMB Control Number 1505-0271.
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law, and established the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, which together make up the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (âSLFRFâ) program. This program is intended to provide support to State, territorial, local, and Tribal governments in responding to the economic and public health impacts of COVID-19 and in their efforts to contain impacts on their communities, residents, and businesses.
On November 15, 2021, Treasury published updated Compliance and Reporting Guidance that SLFRF recipients need to comply with to fulfill their reporting requirements. Treasury has directly engaged with various interested agencies and stakeholders as well as SLFRF recipients plans to provide input on reporting. Due to policy and technical constraints, and recognition of open questions from recipients and external stakeholders on SLFRF eligible uses, the SLFRF program, in coordination with policy, OGC and ORP leadership, recommended a series of updates to reporting requirements and timelines included in the Compliance and Reporting Guidance.
Concurrently, Treasury has been working on onboarding NEUs based on information provided by States and U.S. territories into the online portal. Since the potential population of NEUs could reach 27,000 it is critical that outreach and documentation be provided as quickly as possible to ensure all NEUs are fully prepared to meet their upcoming reporting requirements. NEUs will be required to confirm their account set-ups as well as provide certain documentation noted in the Compliance and Reporting Guidance. The online portal for NEUs to confirm accounts and start providing the Agreements and Supporting Documentation is expected to go live around December 13, 2021. Due to the need to provide guidance to NEUs in the User Guide in order to properly report through the Treasury reporting portal and address the goal of publishing the data provided by recipients, Treasury requests emergency processing and approval by December 13, 2021. In preparation for the renewal of the OMB approval, Treasury has published a 60-day notice soliciting comments on September 16, 2021 at 86 FR 51727.
This emergency revision is to add the NEU Agreements and Supporting Documents, which will increase the burden hours by 13,500 hours. An increase of 8.860 hours is also included to account for Interim Reporting requirements that had been approved previously, but not included in the burden estimates.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Local Government Transfer Form
1505-0271 Emergency Justification Memo-SLFRF NEUs and non-UGLGs 2021-12-10.docx
Emergency Justification Memo - SLFRF Plan Report and Template_signed.pdf
NEU and non-UGLG Agreements and Supporting Documents