Coronavirus Relief Fund
Guidance for State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Governments from US Treasury - April 22, 2020
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to recipients of the funding available under section 601(a) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”). The CARES Act established the Coronavirus Relief Fund (the “Fund”) and appropriated $150 billion to the Fund. Under the CARES Act, the Fund is to be used to make payments for specified uses to States and certain local governments; the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories (consisting of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands); and Tribal governments.
The CARES Act provides that payments from the Fund may only be used to cover costs that—
- are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19);
- were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020 (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the State or government; and
- were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020.1
The guidance that follows sets forth the Department of the Treasury’s interpretation of these limitations on the permissible use of Fund payments.
Necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency
The requirement that expenditures be incurred “due to” the public health emergency means that expenditures must be used for actions taken to respond to the public health emergency. These may include expenditures incurred to allow the State, territorial, local, or Tribal government to respond directly to the emergency, such as by addressing medical or public health needs, as well as expenditures incurred to respond to second-order effects of the emergency, such as by providing economic support to those suffering from employment or business interruptions due to COVID-19-related business closures.
Funds may not be used to fill shortfalls in government revenue to cover expenditures that would not otherwise qualify under the statute. Although a broad range of uses is allowed, revenue replacement is not a permissible use of Fund payments.
The statute also specifies that expenditures using Fund payments must be “necessary.” The Department of the Treasury understands this term broadly to mean that the expenditure is reasonably necessary for its intended use in the reasonable judgment of the government officials responsible for spending Fund payments.
Costs not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020
The CARES Act also requires that payments be used only to cover costs that were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020. A cost meets this requirement if either
(a) the cost cannot lawfully be funded using a line item, allotment, or allocation within that budget or
(b) the cost is for a substantially different use from any expected use of funds in such a line item, allotment, or allocation.
The “most recently approved” budget refers to the enacted budget for the relevant fiscal period for the particular government, without taking into account subsequent supplemental appropriations enacted or other budgetary adjustments made by that government in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
A cost is not considered to have been accounted for in a budget merely because it could be met using a budgetary stabilization fund, rainy day fund, or similar reserve account.
Costs incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020
A cost is “incurred” when the responsible unit of government has expended funds to cover the cost.
Nonexclusive examples of eligible expenditures
Eligible expenditures include, but are not limited to, payment for:
A.) Medical expenses such as:
- COVID-19-related expenses of public hospitals, clinics, and similar
- Expenses of establishing temporary public medical facilities and other measures to increase COVID-19 treatment capacity, including related construction
- Costs of providing COVID-19 testing, including serological
- Emergency medical response expenses, including emergency medical transportation, related to COVID-19.
- Expenses for establishing and operating public telemedicine capabilities for COVID-19- related
B.) Public health expenses such as:
- Expenses for communication and enforcement by State, territorial, local, and Tribal governments of public health orders related to COVID-19.
- Expenses for acquisition and distribution of medical and protective supplies, including sanitizing products and personal protective equipment, for medical personnel, police officers, social workers, child protection services, and child welfare officers, direct service providers for older adults and individuals with disabilities in community settings, and other public health or safety workers in connection with the COVID-19 public health
- Expenses for disinfection of public areas and other facilities, g., nursing homes, in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
- Expenses for technical assistance to local authorities or other entities on mitigation of COVID-19-related threats to public health and
- Expenses for public safety measures undertaken in response to COVID-19.
- Expenses for quarantining
C.) Payroll expenses for public safety, public health, health care, human services, and similar employees whose services are substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the COVID- 19 public health
D.) Expenses of actions to facilitate compliance with COVID-19-related public health measures, such as:
- Expenses for food delivery to residents, including, for example, senior citizens and other vulnerable populations, to enable compliance with COVID-19 public health
- Expenses to facilitate distance learning, including technological improvements, in connection with school closings to enable compliance with COVID-19
- Expenses to improve telework capabilities for public employees to enable compliance with COVID-19 public health
- Expenses of providing paid sick and paid family and medical leave to public employees to enable compliance with COVID-19 public health
- COVID-19-related expenses of maintaining state prisons and county jails, including as relates to sanitation and improvement of social distancing measures, to enable compliance with COVID-19 public health
- Expenses for care for homeless populations provided to mitigate COVID-19 effects and enable compliance with COVID-19 public health
E.) Expenses associated with the provision of economic support in connection with the COVID-19 public health emergency, such as:
- Expenditures related to the provision of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required
- Expenditures related to a State, territorial, local, or Tribal government payroll support program.
- Unemployment insurance costs related to the COVID-19 public health emergency if such costs will not be reimbursed by the federal government pursuant to the CARES Act or otherwise.
F.) Any other COVID-19-related expenses reasonably necessary to the function of government that satisfy the Fund’s eligibility
Nonexclusive examples of ineligible expenditures
The following is a list of examples of costs that would not be eligible expenditures of payments from the Fund.
- Expenses for the State share of
- Damages covered by
- Payroll or benefits expenses for employees whose work duties are not substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the COVID-19 public health
- Expenses that have been or will be reimbursed under any federal program, such as the reimbursement by the federal government pursuant to the CARES Act of contributions by States to State unemployment
- Reimbursement to donors for donated items or
- Workforce bonuses other than hazard pay or
- Severance
- Legal
