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Federal legislation would allocate $807 million in relief for Kentucky counties

National Association of Counties
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 proposes direct county allocation based on population of $60.1 billion.

On March 4, the U.S. Senate introduced The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the companion bill to the U.S. House’s bill (H.R. 1219) that was passed February 27, 2021. The Senate is now debating its Substitute Amendment. If the Senate passes its version this week, it will move back to the House next week for final consideration before being sent to the president for his signature.

Local governments would receive $120.2 billion, split evenly between municipalities and counties, resulting in a direct county allocation based on population of $60.1 billion. Tribal governments would receive $20 billion and U.S. territories would receive $4.5 billion.  

The Senate version  amends the House-adopted bill in several important ways:  

  • The U.S. Department of Treasury would still oversee and administer these payments to state and local governments, and every county would be eligible to receive a direct allocation from Treasury.  States, municipalities, and counties would now receive funds in two tranches – both tranches would provide 50 percent of the entity’s total allocation. In cases where a state has a very high level of unemployed individuals, these states may receive both tranches at the same time.
     
  • Under the Senate bill, states must certify that the first tranche has been 80 percent spent before receiving the second tranche from the U.S. Treasury. Counties and municipalities are not required to comply with the 80 percent certification and would automatically receive the second tranche of funding no earlier than one-year after the first tranche payment. 

See more analysis from the National Association of Counties here, including county-level projected allocations. 

 

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