Special districts’ federal advocacy has led to a U.S. House bill addressing special districts’ COVID-19 relief needs. Congressman John Garamendi introduced H.R. 7073, the “Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act,” and did so following special districts’ communicating the need to his office.
The Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act would allow special districts access to the Coronavirus Relief Fund (Fund). Under the bill, states would be required to allocate at least 5 percent of its total Fund allocation to special districts and do so within 60 days of receiving the Fund disbursement from the U.S. Treasury. Language used in the legislation is intended to remove uncertainty for special districts’ access to the Fund following the U.S. Department of Treasury’s April 15 guidance, which did not consider districts in its methodology for releasing funds.
The bill would also allow special districts to be considered “eligible issuers” under the Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facilities (MLF) program, which would be another tool for districts to access capital during the economic downturn. The CARES Act only authorized MLF for states, and counties with a population greater than 500,000 and cities with populations greater than 250,000.
To achieve access to these programs for local government relief, the bill includes a definition for “special district”, which currently does not exist in federal statute. The legislation establishes the term to mean a “political subdivision, formed pursuant to general law or special act of a state, for the purpose of performing one or more governmental or proprietary functions.” If passed, this definition may be used in future legislative efforts.
The bill was introduced with 18 original cosponsors, including California Representatives Bera, Carbajal, Costa, Cox, Khanna, Lee, Lowenthal, Napolitano, Panetta, Rouda, Takano and Thompson.
CSDA is working with its National Special Districts Coalition partners in Colorado, Florida, Oregon and Utah. CSDA joined with state associations in sending a letter to congressional leadership urging for support of the legislation and to include its provisions in the next COVID-19 relief package. The letter was sent June 2 to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY. CSDA also led the efforts for a letter with other special districts stakeholder associations in California to build bipartisan support for this bill. That letter was sent to the California Congressional Delegation.
CSDA is asking members to urge their federal representatives to cosponsor Garamendi’s legislation and support its inclusion in future COVID-19 relief packages for state and local governments. A goal is for the bill provisions to be included in the U.S. Senate’s counter-bill to the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion relief bill that the U.S. House passed in May.
Congressional negotiations are ongoing in the Senate, where Majority Leader McConnell had declared this to be the final relief legislation the Senate will take up this year and stated the bill’s appropriations would not be as high as the HEROES Act.
For questions on the bill, contact Cole Karr, CSDA Public Affairs Field Coordinator, at colek@csda.net or (417) 861-7418. Stay tuned to that latest updates on this and other COVID-19 legislative initiatives on CSDA’s Take Action page and on the COVID-19 community forum.
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