FY 2020-21 SUPPLEMENTAL                                                                                                                                     S.B. 529 (S-1):

                                                                                                                                                ANALYSIS AS PASSED BY THE SENATE

Senate Bill 529 (Substitute S-1 as reported)

Sponsor:   Senator Wayne Schmidt

Senate Committee:   Appropriations (discharged)

Date Completed:   7-15-21

CONTENT

The supplemental includes $1.625 billion in Federal funding from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund to provide funding to the Department of Transportation to address bridge and rail grade separation issues as well as offset lost revenue for county road commissions and cities and villages.

Table 1

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill provides fiscal year (FY) 2020-21 line-item appropriations of $1,626.0 million Gross, all from the Federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund, to support bridge and rail grade separation efforts. Of this amount, $1,304.1 million would go for bridge programs, $126.0 million would go for rail grade separation efforts, and the remaining funding would be distributed to county road commissions and cities and villages to offset revenue lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of $5.65 billion has been allocated to the State by the United States Treasury from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund. Table 2 summarizes the details of the appropriations in the supplemental.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) restricts the use of Federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Funds for specific purposes described within ARP. In order to apply the funds to cover the cost of the appropriations in part 1, those appropriations must fit within the accepted uses listed in Sec. 9901(a) of ARP. Any Fiscal Recovery funds that the US Department of Treasury determines are used outside the scope of ARP may be subject to recoupment. Sec. 9901(a) allows for Fiscal Recovery funds to be used for the provision of government services to the extent that the State has experienced a revenue loss due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The provision of government services includes road, bridge, and rail infrastructure projects. Likewise, the transfer of funds from the State to local units of government are subject to the same restrictions on spending as if the State were spending the funds itself. The State must monitor any Fiscal Recovery funds it transfers to another unit of government to ensure they are spent in accordance with the Act. At this time, it is not known if some or all of the appropriations in part 1 would meet the accepted uses listed in Sec. 9901(a).

FY 2020-21 BOILERPLATE LANGUAGE SECTIONS-PART 2