CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As counties, cities and municipalities apply to the state for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) act funding, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin is behind a new bill directly meant for local government.
Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced the bipartisan legislation, the State and Municipal Assistance for Recovery and Transition (SMART) Act. The bill provides $500 billion in direct funding for all state, local, and tribal governments, including an estimated roughly $2 billion for West Virginia.
“I worked to ensure the bill has dedicated funding for every municipality and county no matter how big or how small. That way every unit of the government from the state on down will have funding to respond to the crisis and make up for lost revenues,” Manchin said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
The CARES Act provided more than $2 trillion in economic relief, including direct payment of $1.25 billion to the state. Applications began coming into the state for those funds on Friday including one from Kanawha County which has experienced lost revenues over $1.6 million and more than $1.5 million in expenses directly attributable to COVID-19.
Current guidance from the federal government will allow the state to reimburse cities and counties for direct expenses but revenue lost is not yet allowed for reimbursement. Gov. Jim Justice said counties and cities should make that part of their application anyway.
The SMART Act breaks down funding to states into a formula that equals one-third based on population size, one-third on infection rate and one-third on revenue losses. Manchin said the state does not allocate these funds to the local government itself, which was seen in the CARES Act.
The bill also includes prohibitions on states using these funds to shore up pension funds to address concerns that these funds would be used to cover entirely unrelated budgetary issues.
VIEW: Manchin office’s summary of the SMART Act
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) appeared on Tuesday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline’ expressed the need to give the states more flexibility with what they already have through the CARES Act.
She supported changing some language.
“What I would like to see the Governor (Justice) do and I expressed it to him is to go ahead and give people the replenishment of what they have already spent because you know that’s safe ground. Then move forward as we are anticipating that we will change this and give the governor’s more flexibility on the money they already have,” she said.
Capito also expressed her opposition to the $3 trillion relief bill that passed through the House last week.
.@SenCapito speaks with @HoppyKercheval about her opposition to the House-passed bill adding another $3 trillion to virus relief. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/BPOVmtvXH9
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) May 19, 2020