Coronavirus Community Relief Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6467 To provide for an enhanced Coronavirus relief fund for units of government with a population of 500,000 or less, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 7, 2020 Mr. NEGUSE (for himself, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. CLAY, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. DEAN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. RYAN, Mr. KILMER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CROW, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. KEATING, Mr. SOTO, Ms. CRAIG, Ms. WILD, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. STANTON, Ms. OMAR, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. BERA, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. SIRES, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. JOHN- SON of Georgia, Ms. GABBARD, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mrs. LURIA, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. SCHRIER, Mr. DELGADO, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. WELCH, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. TED LIEU of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To provide for an enhanced Coronavirus relief fund for units of government with a population of 500,000 or less, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Apr 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H6467.IH H6467 PAMTMANN on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6467 IH 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 ‘‘Coronavirus Commu- 4 nity Relief Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND FOR UNITS OF GOV- 6 ERNMENT WITH A POPULATION OF 500,000 OR 7 LESS. 8 Title VI of the Social Security Act (as added by sec- 9 tion 5001 of Public Law 116–136) is amended by adding 10 at the end the following: 11 ‘‘SEC. 602. CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND FOR UNITS OF GOV- 12 ERNMENT WITH A POPULATION OF 500,000 OR 13 LESS. 14 ‘‘(a) APPROPRIATION.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any money in the 16 Treasury of the United States not otherwise appro- 17 priated, there are appropriated for making payments 18 to units of local government with a population of 19 500,000 or less $250,000,000,000 for fiscal year 20 2020. 21 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO MAKE PAYMENTS.—The Sec- 22 retary shall pay to a unit of local government of the rel- 23 ative unit of local government population proportion 24 amount within 30 days after a unit of local government 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Apr 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6467.IH H6467 PAMTMANN on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6467 IH of a State submits the certification required by subsection 1 (e). 2 ‘‘(c) PAYMENT AMOUNTS.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 4 the maximum aggregate amount paid under this sec- 5 tion for fiscal year 2020 to units of local government 6 in a State shall be the amount equal to the relative 7 population proportion amount determined for the 8 State under paragraph (2) for such fiscal year. 9 ‘‘(2) RELATIVE POPULATION PROPORTION 10 AMOUNT.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the rel- 11 ative population proportion amount determined 12 under this paragraph for a State for fiscal year 13 2020 is the product of— 14 ‘‘(A) the amount appropriated under para- 15 graph (1) of subsection (a) for fiscal year 2020; 16 and 17 ‘‘(B) the relative State population propor- 18 tion (as defined in paragraph (3)). 19 ‘‘(3) RELATIVE STATE POPULATION PROPOR- 20 TION DEFINED.—For purposes of paragraph (2)(B), 21 the term ‘relative State population proportion’ 22 means, with respect to a State, the quotient of— 23 ‘‘(A) the population of the State; and 24 ‘‘(B) the total population of all States. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Apr 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6467.IH H6467 PAMTMANN on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6467 IH ‘‘(4) RELATIVE UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT 1 POPULATION PROPORTION AMOUNT.—For purposes 2 of subsection (b), the term ‘relative unit of local gov- 3 ernment population proportion amount’ means, with 4 respect to a unit of local government, the amount 5 equal to the product of the Relative State Proportion 6 Amount and the quotient of— 7 ‘‘(A) the population of the unit of local 8 government; and 9 ‘‘(B) the aggregate total population of 10 local governments determined by adding the 11 population of each unit of local government. 12 ‘‘(5) DATA.—For purposes of this subsection, 13 the population of States and units of local govern- 14 ments shall be determined based on the most recent 15 year for which data are available from the Bureau 16 of the Census. 17 ‘‘(6) OTHER RELIEF.—Nothing in this section 18 shall affect appropriated funds to units of local gov- 19 ernment as a result of Public Law 116–136, nor 20 shall payments in this section be reduced by 21 amounts paid to units of local government through 22 Public Law 116–136. 23 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—A unit of local government 24 shall use the funds provided under a payment made under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Apr 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6467.IH H6467 PAMTMANN on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6467 IH this section to cover only those costs of the unit of local 1 government that— 2 ‘‘(1) are costs that— 3 ‘‘(A) are reasonably deemed by the unit of 4 local government to be necessary; and 5 ‘‘(B) directly or indirectly involve, relate 6 to, are, have been, or will be incurred due to, 7 or are, have been, or will be a response to cir- 8 cumstances caused by, the public health emer- 9 gency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 10 2019 (COVID–19); and 11 ‘‘(2) were incurred during the period that be- 12 gins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 13 2020. 14 To the extent that a unit of local government does not 15 need all of the funds paid to it, it may transfer such funds 16 to another unit of local government in the State for uses 17 in paragraph (1) of this subsection and such transfer is 18 deemed to be a cost of the transferor. 19 ‘‘(e) CERTIFICATION.—In order to receive a payment 20 under this section, a unit of local government shall provide 21 the Secretary with a certification signed by the Chief Ex- 22 ecutive (or equivalent) for the unit of local government 23 that the local government’s uses of the funds are or will 24 be consistent with subsection (d). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Apr 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6467.IH H6467 PAMTMANN on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6467 IH ‘‘(f) INSPECTOR GENERAL OVERSIGHT; 1 RECOUPMENT.— 2 ‘‘(1) OVERSIGHT AUTHORITY.—The Inspector 3 General of the Department of the Treasury shall 4 conduct monitoring and oversight of the receipt, dis- 5 bursement, and use of funds made available under 6 this section. 7 ‘‘(2) RECOUPMENT.—If the Inspector General 8 of the Department of the Treasury determines that 9 a unit of local government has failed to comply with 10 subsection (d), the amount equal to the amount of 11 funds used in violation of such subsection shall be 12 booked as a debt of such entity owed to the Federal 13 Government. Amounts recovered under this sub- 14 section shall be deposited into the general fund of 15 the Treasury. 16 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.— 17 Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to di- 18 minish the authority of any Inspector General, in- 19 cluding such authority as provided in the Inspector 20 General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 21 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 ‘‘(1) COSTS.—The term ‘Costs’ includes but is 23 not limited to lost revenue, reimbursement for ex- 24 penses already incurred, and increases in costs rea- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Apr 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6467.IH H6467 PAMTMANN on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6467 IH sonably believed to be the direct or indirect result of, 1 or direct or indirect responses to circumstances 2 caused by, the public health emergency with respect 3 to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19). 4 ‘‘(2) LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘unit of 5 local government’ means any of the following that 6 has a population of 500,000 or below: a county, mu- 7 nicipality, town, township, village, parish, borough, 8 or other unit of general government below the State 9 level. 10 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 11 the Secretary of the Treasury. 12 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means the 50 13 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 14 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 15 Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 16 Islands, and American Samoa.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Apr 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6467.IH H6467 PAMTMANN on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS