Direct Support for Communities Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 34 To provide funding for cities, counties, and other units of general local government to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 22, 2021 Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Appropriations A BILL To provide funding for cities, counties, and other units of general local government to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Direct Support for 4 Communities Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS. 6 The following sums are hereby appropriated, out of 7 any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S34.IS S34 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 34 IS for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, and for 1 other purposes, namely: 2 3 DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN 4 DEVELOPMENT 5 COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 6 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FUND 7 For an additional amount for the ‘‘Community Devel- 8 opment Fund’’, such sums as may be necessary, to remain 9 available until expended, to prevent, prepare for, and re- 10 spond to coronavirus, which shall be in addition to any 11 other amounts available for such purposes, of which— 12 (1) 50 percent shall be allocated to metropoli- 13 tan cities and other units of general local govern- 14 ment (as those terms are defined in section 102 of 15 the Housing and Community Development Act of 16 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)), of which— 17 (A) 70 percent of such sums shall be dis- 18 tributed, not later than 30 days after the date 19 of enactment of this Act, pursuant to the for- 20 mula under section 106(b)(1) of the Housing 21 and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 22 U.S.C. 5306(b)(1)) to metropolitan cities that 23 received allocations pursuant to such formula in 24 fiscal year 2020; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S34.IS S34 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 34 IS (B) 30 percent of such sums shall be dis- 1 tributed, not later than 30 days after the date 2 of enactment of this Act, to States (as defined 3 in such section 102) for use by units of general 4 local government, other than counties or par- 5 ishes, in nonentitlement areas (as defined in 6 such section 102) of the State, in amounts 7 equal to the relative sum of the populations of 8 such units of general local government in a 9 State as a proportion of the total population of 10 all such units of general local government in all 11 States: Provided, That a State shall pass- 12 through the amounts received under this sub- 13 paragraph within 30 days of receipt to such 14 units of general local government: Provided fur- 15 ther, That if a State has not elected to dis- 16 tribute amounts allocated under section 17 106(d)(1) of the Housing and Community De- 18 velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5306(d)(1)), 19 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- 20 ment shall distribute the applicable amounts 21 under this subparagraph to such units of gen- 22 eral local government in the State not later 23 than 30 days after the date on which the State 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S34.IS S34 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 34 IS would otherwise have received the amounts 1 from the Secretary; and 2 (2) 50 percent shall be distributed, not later 3 than 30 days after the date of enactment of this 4 Act, directly to counties and parishes of States, the 5 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 6 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the 7 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 8 and American Samoa, in amounts equal to the rel- 9 ative sum of the populations of the counties and par- 10 ishes in a State or such other jurisdiction as a pro- 11 portion of the total population of all the counties 12 and parishes in all States and such other jurisdic- 13 tions: Provided, That in calculating the populations 14 of counties and parishes for purposes of this para- 15 graph, the District of Columbia shall be treated as 16 a county: Provided further, That no county or parish 17 that is an urban county (as defined in section 102 18 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 19 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)) shall receive less than the 20 amount the county or parish would otherwise receive 21 if the amount distributed under this paragraph were 22 allocated to metropolitan cities and urban counties 23 under section 106(b) of the Housing and Commu- 24 nity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5306(b)): 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S34.IS S34 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 34 IS Provided further, That the amounts otherwise deter- 1 mined for counties and parishes under this para- 2 graph shall be adjusted on a pro rata basis to the 3 extent necessary to comply with the preceding pro- 4 viso: Provided further, That the District of Columbia 5 may spend the amount received under this para- 6 graph as if it were a county: Provided further, That 7 in the case of an amount allocated to a county or 8 parish that does not have a governing body, the 9 amount shall be distributed to the State or such 10 other jurisdiction of the county or parish which, not 11 later than 30 days after the date of enactment of 12 this Act, shall distribute the amount to units of gen- 13 eral local government within the county or parish in 14 amounts equal to the relative population of each 15 such unit of general local government as a propor- 16 tion of the total population of the county or parish: 17 Provided further, That, notwithstanding any other provi- 18 sion of law, funds made available under this heading may 19 be used to cover costs, or to replace lost, delayed, or de- 20 creased revenues, stemming from the public health emer- 21 gency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID– 22 19), including revenues lost, delayed, or decreased during 23 or after the end of such public health emergency as a re- 24 sult of the global and national economic decline caused 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S34.IS S34 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 34 IS by the outbreak and response to COVID–19: Provided fur- 1 ther, That amounts distributed under paragraph (1) or (2) 2 shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, any non- 3 Federal funds that a State or such other jurisdiction 4 would otherwise provide to cities, counties, parishes, or 5 other units of general local government of the State or 6 other jurisdiction: Provided further, That nothing in para- 7 graph (1) or (2) shall be construed as prohibiting a metro- 8 politan city and a county or parish that have formed a 9 consolidated government from each receiving a distribu- 10 tion under paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable: Provided 11 further, That for purposes of this heading, the population 12 of an entity shall be determined based on the most recent 13 year for which data are available from the Bureau of the 14 Census: Provided further, That, except as provided in 15 paragraphs (1) and (2), no requirement or limitation ap- 16 plicable to funds provided under title I of the Housing and 17 Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et 18 seq.) shall apply to funds made available under this head- 19 ing and distributed under such paragraphs: Provided fur- 20 ther, That such amount is designated by Congress as being 21 for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 22 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 23 Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A)(i)). 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S34.IS S34 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS