Coronavirus State and Local Financial Assistance Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6705 To require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a State and Local Government Coronavirus Relief Program to make grants to States to make up for lost revenue due to COVID–19 and social distancing steps taken by the State and political subdivisions of the State, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 5, 2020 Mrs. AXNE (for herself and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a State and Local Government Coronavirus Relief Program to make grants to States to make up for lost revenue due to COVID–19 and social distancing steps taken by the State and political subdivisions of the State, and for other purposes. 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 State and 4 Local Financial Assistance Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6705.IH H6705 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6705 IH SEC. 2. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CORONAVIRUS 1 RELIEF PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 3 shall establish a State and Local Government Coronavirus 4 Relief Program under which the Secretary shall make 5 monthly grants to States to make up for lost revenue due 6 to COVID–19 and social distancing steps taken by the 7 State and political subdivisions of the State. 8 (b) ESTIMATE OF LOST REVENUE.— 9 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—In order to be eligible to 10 receive a grant under this section, a State shall ap- 11 point an administrator who shall— 12 (A) compile estimates for the revenue lost 13 by the State and each political subdivision of 14 the State because of COVID–19 and social 15 distancing steps taken by the State and political 16 subdivisions of the State; and 17 (B) submit an estimate to the Secretary 18 not later than the 20th of each month, which 19 shall include— 20 (i) a break down of how much of the 21 losses were incurred by the State itself and 22 how much was incurred by each political 23 subdivision of the State; 24 (ii) information for any prior months; 25 and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6705.IH H6705 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6705 IH (iii) any corrections or updates from 1 prior months. 2 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out para- 3 graph (1), the administrator— 4 (A) shall compile such estimate based off 5 of reductions in realized revenue as compared 6 to the latest official revenue estimates as of 7 February 15, 2020; 8 (B) may only include losses occurring from 9 March 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020; 10 (C) may, with respect to sales, fuel, and 11 other excise tax estimates, submit estimates to 12 the Secretary either monthly or quarterly, de- 13 pending on when such taxes are collected; and 14 (D) shall, with respect to income and prop- 15 erty taxes, submit estimates to the Secretary 16 quarterly, and shall adjust for delays in pay- 17 ment dates. 18 (c) PAYMENT OF GRANTS.— 19 (1) TIMING.—The Secretary shall make grant 20 payments to a State under this section not later 21 than 15 days after the date on which the Secretary 22 receives a loss estimate under subsection (b)(1)(B). 23 (2) PRO RATA DISTRIBUTION.—If, with respect 24 to a month, the Secretary does not have sufficient 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6705.IH H6705 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6705 IH funds available under this section to make full grant 1 payments to all States based on the loss estimates 2 submitted to the Secretary, the Secretary shall make 3 pro rata payments to the States based on each 4 State’s share of the aggregate national amount of 5 losses submitted to the Secretary for the applicable 6 month. 7 (3) TREATMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS.—With re- 8 spect to a State, an overpayment made by the Sec- 9 retary in a prior month shall decrease the following 10 month’s payment or, if an overpayment occurs in the 11 final month of the Program, the Secretary may treat 12 such overpayment as a debt of the State to the Fed- 13 eral Government. 14 (d) DISTRIBUTION TO POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.—A 15 State that receives a grant under this section shall dis- 16 tribute a percentage of such grant to each political sub- 17 division of the State in an amount equal to the percentage 18 that such political subdivision’s loss made up of the rev- 19 enue loss to the State as whole, as reported to the Sec- 20 retary. 21 (e) PROGRAM TERMINATION.—The Secretary’s au- 22 thority to make grants under this section shall terminate 23 on the earlier of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6705.IH H6705 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6705 IH (1) the date on which funds are no longer avail- 1 able to carry out this section; or 2 (2) December 31, 2020. 3 (f) FUNDING.—There is appropriated, out of any 4 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 5 $500,000,000,000 to the Secretary to carry out this sec- 6 tion. 7 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9 the Secretary of the Treasury. 10 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 11 the several States, the District of Columbia, and 12 each territory and possession of the United States. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6705.IH H6705 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS