U.S. Treasury Guidance
U.S. Treasury published its final rule on the American Rescue Plan's State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund on Jan. 6, 2022.
Note: Find Updating U.S. Treasury Information and FAQs on our Frequently Asked Questions page, here.
On this page
U.S. Treasury Guidance - Final Rule
Links:
Blog Posts on Final Rule:
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Treasury Publishes Final Rule, Increases ARP Flexibility for Local Governments
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Newly Flexible ARP Funds: Treasury Announces $10 Million Revenue Loss 'Standard Allowance'
Changes from Interim Rule
The U.S. Treasury’s breakdown of key changes, originally published via press release, can be read below:
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Treasury has expanded the non-exhaustive list of uses that recipients can use to respond to COVID-19 and its economic impacts – ensuring states and localities can adapt quickly and nimbly to changing public health and economic needs. This includes clarifying that recipients can use funds for certain capital expenditures to respond to public health and economic impacts and making services like childcare, early education, addressing learning loss, and affordable housing development available to all communities impacted by the pandemic.
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Treasury has expanded support for public sector hiring and capacity, which is critical for the economic recovery and in maintaining vital public services for communities.
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Treasury has streamlined options to provide premium pay for essential workers, who bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical sectors.
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Treasury has broadened eligible water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure projects – understanding the unique challenges facing each state and locality in delivering clean water and high-speed broadband to their communities.
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Treasury has greatly simplified the program for small localities – many of whom have received a historic federal investment in their communities through this program – including through the option to elect a standard allowance for revenue loss rather than calculating revenue loss through the full formula.
Final Rule Webinar
U.S. Treasury Guidance - Interim Final Rule
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on May 10, 2021 issued interim formal guidance to implement the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund established under the American Rescue Plan Act.
That announcement can be read here, and the interim rule document is linked here and can be downloaded here.
Though a Final Rule has been published Jan. 6, 2022, the Interim Final Rule will remain in effect until April 1, 2022. Funds used consistently with the interim rule are in compliance with the State and Local Fiscal Relief Fund (SLFRF) program. This document will stay published to serve as a record of the implementation of SLFRF.
Compliance and Reporting Guidance
Updated Nov. 5, 2021
The U.S. Treasury updated the below document on Nov. 5, 2021.
The document, titled “Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Guidance on Recipient Compliance and Reporting Responsibilities,” provides additional detail and clarification for each recipient’s compliance and reporting responsibilities, and should be read in concert with the Award Terms and Conditions, the authorizing statute, the Interim Final Rule (IFR), and other regulatory and statutory requirements.
A few important summarized notes from the document can be found in our blog, here.
The last page of the document provides a summary of the Nov. 5 changes. These include:
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Updated Subrecipient Monitoring section to clarify beneficiaries and recipients.
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Updated references to Interim Final Rule comment period as comment period is closed.
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Updated reporting tiers, thresholds and timelines in Part 2 Table 2, Reporting Requirements by recipient type, as well as Part 2 A and Part 2 B.
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Updated reporting periods for Interim Report and Project and Expenditure reports.
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Added concept of Adopted Budget to Project and Expenditure Report data fields.
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Noted phase in of Required Programmatic Data in the Project and Expenditure Report.
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Removed certain data fields from the Ineligible Activities: Tax Offset Provision under the Recovery Plan.
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Separated reporting of NEU Distributions (for States and territories) from the Interim Report and Project and Expenditure Reports as information will be provided on an ongoing basis.