After over a year of hard work on your behalf, and in coordination with individual special districts, stakeholders, and local government partners, the robust effort to obtain COVID-19 fiscal relief is coming to a close, with special districts beginning to receive critical funds to meet the needs of the communities they serve. Below is a recap of the various funds and the status of allocations.
$100 MILLION COVID-19 RELIEF FUND FOR INDEPENDENT SPECIAL DISTRICTS THAT CAN DEMONSTRATE FISCAL IMPACTS DUE TO THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
- The California Department of Finance (DOF) released the schedule of funding to the State Controller’s Office (SCO) in December, the SCO released funding to county-auditor controllers by December 15 and DOF notified special districts who had applied as to their status at that time. Per statute, county-auditor controllers have 30 days to disperse the funding to the identified districts. The list of independant special district awardees is available on the CSDA COVID-19 Take Action page.
- For questions regarding allocations, email SDrelief@dof.ca.gov
- CSDA has provided a “Thank Your Legislator Toolkit” for special districts who received funding. These resources are available for download on the CSDA COVID-19 Take Action page and inlcude sample social media posts, a template thank you letter, press release, and guideliens for submitting letters to the editor.
As you may know, CSDA secured these funds statewide for independent districts like yours. Our advocacy efforts included:
- Building a statewide coalition of over 750 signatories.
- Conducting over 100 meetings with State Legislators and their staff.
- Holding more than 60 meetings with Administration officials, DOF, committee staff, and Legislative leadership.
- Bringing forward over 200 special district officials to tell their stories following a prep session with CSDA.
NEARLY $1 BILLION IN WATER UTILITY HOUSEHOLD ASSISTANCE
The deadline for application or the California Water and Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program has closed. Through $985 million in federal funding allocated by the State Legislature, the State Water Board administered a new program to provide relief to community water and wastewater systems for unpaid bills related to the pandemic. The funding covers water debt from residential and commercial customers accrued between March 4, 2020 and June 15, 2021 and initially prioritized drinking water residential and commercial arrearages. Funding to these community water systems will be disbursed through January 31, 2022.
If the Program still has funding available, which is anticipated, the program will be extended to wastewater residential and commercial arrearages by February 2022. More information is available on the State Water Board’s website for this fund here.
NEARLY $1 BILLION IN ENERGY UTILITY HOUSEHOLD ASSISTANCE.
The California Arrearage Payment Program (CAPP) offers financial assistance for California energy utility customers to help reduce past due energy bill balances that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Established by Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature in the 2021-22 State Budget and administered by the Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), the CAPP program dedicates $1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to address Californian's energy debts. Utility customers do not need to apply to receive assistance under the CAPP program. If a customer account is eligible, a credit will be automatically applied to the customer's bill. Energy utilities will apply for CAPP assistance on behalf of customers who incurred a past due balance of 60 days or more on their energy bill during the COVID-19 pandemic relief period covering March 4, 2020 through June 15, 2021. More information on the status of this program is available on CSD’s website for this fund.
This program is administrated in four phases:
- Phase 1: Utility Survey – Completed
- Phase 2: CAPP Application - In Progress
- Phase 3: CAPP Allocations Awarded - In Progress
- Phase 4: Utility Outcomes Reporting – Not yet started
$250 MILLION IN ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE CALIFORNIA’S PUBLIC PORTS.
The California State Lands Commission (SLC) authorized disbursement of roughly $136 million from the $250M allocated in the state budget to six California ports to mitigate negative economic impacts resulting from the pandemic and to support ports’ economic recovery based on their revenue losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Ports that either did not apply during this disbursement tranche, or that received an amount less than their requested amount, may reapply for the roughly $113 million in remaining funding and the Commission will consider those funding requests at a future meeting. The Board memo with complete details on these distributions can be found here.
CSDA THANKS YOU
None of these remarkable accomplishments to secure financial resources for special districts would have been possible without the support of special districts like yours through membership and your willingness to engage in advocacy efforts on behalf of your communities. On behalf of the special district community, CSDA thanks the 259 special districts that submitted letters of support, more than 200 special district leaders who participated in our Zoom meetings with legislative offices, and the many coalition partners who came together for this unprecedented moment.
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