On Tuesday evening, the House Oversight and Reform Committee released the text and summary of legislation that would provide $350 billion in state and local coronavirus fiscal recovery funding. The provisions are part of the Committee's Fiscal Year 2021 Reconciliation Act provisions which will be included as part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Relief package that House and Senate Democrats are advancing over the next several weeks. President Joe Biden originally proposed the provisions on January 14 as part of his American Rescue Plan. The bill, which was marked up in Committee today, does not currently include language providing special districts direct access to fiscal recovery funds.
U.S. Representative John Garamendi (D-CA) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) again led efforts to secure funding for special districts through the reintroduction of the Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act (
S. 91/
H.R. 535).
The legislation would directly allocate critically needed financial relief to special districts that have experienced unforeseen expenditures, decreases in revenue, or both, as a result of the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. Nationally, the pandemic's toll on special districts totals an estimated $30.5 billion through Fiscal Year 2021.
NSDC needs your help generating support for this critical legislation with the goal of getting it included in the final FY 2021 budget reconciliation package! Please consider doing the following:
- Sign the form to add your agency to the list of bill supporters.
- Let us know if we can add your agency to any letters sent to the Hill through the option included in the form.
- Circulate this alert to all your local and regional partners. We are looking for support from individual special districts, local governments, regional associations, private businesses, and any other entity that supports special districts.
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