North Carolina legislators are starting to fill in more details on distributing the latest tranche of coronavirus relief money approved in Washington.
The Senate’s budget-writing committee recommended on Thursday legislation that would formally appropriate $6.35 billion allocated for North Carolina in the American Rescue Plan approved by Congress in March. That law already determined how this money must be used. More than half is for K-12 schools, with universities and child care and emergency rental assistance programs getting several hundred million dollars each.
The bill also creates a special reserve for $3.4 billion in additional federal funds going to local governments.
This legislation, now headed to another committee, doesn’t address spending $5.3 billion more earmarked for North Carolina in the American Rescue Plan. Lawmakers have more discretion in how to spend that money. Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to propose a spending plan.
Thursday’s bill also would adjust a state law this year that capped how much rental and utility aid could be awarded in each county. The Cooper administration said those limits would make it harder to get money out quickly to applicants. The measure would provide more flexibility in maximum cumulative assistance payments in all but the state’s 12 largest counties.
Photo via AP Photo/Gerry Broome.
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