Appropriations Committee
JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT
Bill No.: SB-398
AN ACT CONCERNING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF
Title: FUNDS RECEIVED BY THE STATE.
Vote Date: 4/7/2022
Vote Action: Joint Favorable Substitute
PH Date: 3/25/2022
File No.:
Disclaimer: The following JOINT FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
Appropriations Committee
REASONS FOR BILL:
The bill creates a framework to ensure that the federal funds received by the state through
the COVID-19 relief programs and the Infrastructure Investment Act are spent appropriately
and that there is an accurate accounting of the funds. The framework will provide
accountability and transparency regarding the management of these federal funds.
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
Jeffrey Beckham, Acting Secretary Office of Policy and Management Secretary
Beckham submitted testimony in opposition to the bill. He asked that the Committee consider
whether information already required as part of the federal reporting process would satisfy
the state reporting requirement without the administrative burden required to develop and
present duplicative reports. Otherwise, significant resources would need to be provided to
satisfy the reporting requirements envisioned by this bill. Secretary Beckham stated that
implementation of the bill would require significant budgetary resources and would introduce
costly, duplicative reporting on federal expenditures and additional and unnecessary
procedural requirements on municipal governments. He offered to work with the Committee
to develop language that improves transparency with regard to the new pools of federal
funding, while addressing OPM's concerns about the bill.
Nancy Navarretta, Commissioner Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services:
Commissioner Navarretta testified in regard to Section 4 of the bill, which establishes a task
force to review model law developed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy concerning
the safeguarding and use of opioid litigation proceeds. She shared that the Governor has
submitted H.B. 5044 AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE GOVERNOR'S BUDGET
RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF OPIOID LITIGATION PROCEEDS for
legislative action. As HB 5044 was drafted in consultation with the Office of the Attorney
General using the model law reference in Section 4, Commissioner Navarretta believes that
Section 4 is not necessary.
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
Senator Kevin Kelly Senator Kelly submitted testimony in support of the bill. He offered
that as Connecticut receives a historic amount of federal funding intended to provide relief
and investment in the state, the legislature must work to establish proper safeguards,
openness, and accountability. Sen. Kelly expressed his belief that the bill will establish
greater transparency and accountability of COVID-19 relief funds, federal infrastructure
dollars, and opioid settlement funds. Further, he expressed his frustration that relief funds
meant to help those who were sick, hungry, and in need were allegedly misdirected. He
wrote, "These allegations raise serious questions about the need to strengthen safeguards to
ensure all funds are helping the most people during these difficult times. To move forward,
Connecticut must take strong action to restore public trust and enhance accountability across
the board".
Gian-Carl Casa, President & CEO, The Alliance Mr. Casa testified in support of the bill.
He stated that The Alliance supports legislative oversight of federal funding to promote
transparency and ensure the dollars received are used for its intended purposes. He cited as
an example the federal matching funds for the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage
(FMAP), which included a 10% increase for Home and Community Based Services. He
shared that many nonprofit providers viewed that funding as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
for Connecticut to finally establish Medicaid rates that actually pay the cost of care". Not all of
that money was used to increase rates or otherwise compensate providers, which was the
intended purpose of the funding. He added that federal funding represents a critical resource
to strengthen the human services delivery system, and not applying the full FAMP increase to
these essential services will make an already bad situation worse.
With regard to Section 4, which establishes a task force to study the use of opioid litigation
settlement funds to address addiction and support recovery, Mr. Casa commented that input
be sought from the people doing the addiction and recovery work as well as those who have
lived experience with addiction. He urged the Committee to adopt language in similarly
intended legislation, HB-5435, Section 1, that designates the composition of the task force to
include behavioral health providers, counselors, people in recovery, representatives of
groups supporting people with substance use disorders, family advocates and other recovery
support staff.
Mr. Casa commented on Section 1, which requires municipalities to submit a list of projects
over $100,000 that were funded as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Fiscal
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Recovery Funds to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM). It also requires
municipalities to post the information on their website, so project selection, funding amount
and other project details are accessible to the public. Mr. Casa remarked that community
nonprofits have experienced difficulty in finding information about local priorities, previous
awards and how to apply for funding. He added that while ARPA rules allow each
municipality the ability to design its own program, finding the information should be easier,
which enactment of this bill would accomplish.
Regarding Section 3, which requires OPM to submit a report of all projects funded by the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to the legislative Transportation, Environment,
Government, Administration, and Elections, Appropriations, and Finance, Revenue and
Bonding Committees, Mr. Casa stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the
critical need of capital and infrastructure funding for community nonprofits. He shared that the
pandemic created unanticipated and unbudgeted costs and operational challenges for
community nonprofits, including a backlog of capital and infrastructure projects. Capital
investments under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help community nonprofits
recover while strengthening their ability to deliver services now and into the future.
Hamish MacPhail, ConnCAN Mr. MacPhail expressed ConnCAN's support of the bill. He
stated that ConnCAN believes that more should be done to ensure that federal funds are
spent correctly, and that the results of the grant program (i.e. the priority goals) are publicly
reported at the conclusion of the grant period. He spoke of the importance of the public fully
understanding the impact, success, or limitations of the grant money provided to school
districts. In addition, Mr. MacPhail stated that is important to understand how the federal
funding impacted student outcomes, and the extent to which each district successfully
aligned their resources with their priorities to achieve an adequate result. He offered that
ConnCAN has recommended language to include school district financial reporting, and
outcome reporting. He added that the data needed to report on outcomes are already kept
by the districts, and the slight increase in reporting requirements will provide significant
insights on the efficacy of the ARP ESSER program in improving student outcomes.
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
Luke A. Bronin, Mayor, City of Hartford Mayor Bronin does not support the bill because it
would require towns to submit a formal request to the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) for approval of any federal COVID-19 relief monies expenditures over $100,000. He
shared that the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which was designed with the sole aim of
giving COVID-19 relief monies directly to city governments nationally, would be squarely in
conflict with both the spirit and the written wording of such a mandate. He added that all
communities that receive federal COVID recovery monies are already obligated to comply
with strict reporting requirements to the US Department of the Treasury. Furthermore, every
municipality is expected to provide a report.
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) CCM expressed concerns about
the bill, as the organization believes it would run contrary to federal law, specifically that
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ARPA indicates that states may not impose stricter limitations than permitted by statute or
Treasury regulations or guidance on towns and cities. CCM wrote that the Department of
Treasury regulates the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF) under
ARPA for states and municipalities throughout the country. CCM is concerned that the
provisions in SB 398 may (a) inhibit timely economic recovery projects from being allocated
under ARPA, (b) impose administrative burdens through additional reporting, and (c) be
contrary to federal law which may result in the federal government penalizing the state for
their actions.
With regard to the In addition, task force to study the use of opioid litigation settlement funds
to address addiction and the overdose epidemic in impacted communities, CCM believes that
the group needs to be equally comprised of state and municipal officials to develop
recommendations for the allocation of the settlement funds. In addition, CCM expressed
concern that while the task force does not appear to be contrary to the settlement, it may
create confusion and impose barriers towards appropriately allocating these funds in
accordance with the settlement and therefore possibly inhibit funding from being received.
David Godbout Mr. Godbout opposed the bill on procedural and constitutional grounds.
Reported by: Taylor Williams Date: 4/14/22
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