S.3011 Act Aims for Flexibility in ARP Funding
American Rescue Plan project funding is a topic of discussion and uncertainty for many communities across the country. Current guidelines have many projects have been put on hold as communities experience delays due to restrictions and questioning qualifications for funding.
Recently, the Senate has unanimously passed the “State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act” (S. 3011/H.R. 5735). This has now moved to The U.S. House for voting.
Information from the National Association of Counties (NACo) outlines that the Senate-passed legislation can impact America’s counties in three major ways:
1. Allows increased flexibility for the use of Treasury ARP county dollars, including for eligibility under:
- Federal surface transportation infrastructure projects (including non-federal match requirements)
- Provision of government services (consistent with Treasury’s rules and guidance for ARP county aid)
- HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program
- Emergency relief from natural disasters, including negative economic impacts of natural disasters
2. Modifies eligibility for public lands counties under ARP’s Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund:
- Clarifies an “eligible revenue share county” is the same as Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) counties
- Redirects $15M (or 1%) from the original $1.5B for public lands “revenue share” counties to U.S. territories
3. Directs unclaimed Treasury ARP dollars for federal deficit reduction
- National Association of Counties | www.NACo.org | October 2021 | 3
- National Association of Counties | www.NACo.org | May 2021
S. 3011: State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility ActFor America’s counties, enactment of S. 3011 would mean:
$27 billion in new infrastructure flexibility for county ARPA Recovery Funds
$17 billion in flexibility to carry out U.S. Treasury-defined “government services”
Eligible Transportation and Infrastructure Projects
The bill would allow counties to use the greater of $10 million or 30 percent of their ARPA Recovery Fund allocation for a wide variety of transportation infrastructure projects, including:
- National Significant Freight and Highway Projects
- Federal Lands Transportation Program
- National Highway Performance Program
- Federal Lands Access Program
- Bridge Investment Program
- RAISE Grant Program
- Surface Transportation Block Grant Program
- Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS)
- Metropolitan Transportation Planning
- TIFIA Program (including repayment of TIFIA loans)
- Highway Safety Improvement Program
- Urbanized Area Formula Grants
- Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program
- Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants
- Territorial and Puerto Rico Highway Program
- Formula Grants for Rural Areas
- National Highway Freight Program
- State of Good Repair Grants
- Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program
- Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities
- Carbon Reduction Program
- National Culvert Removal, Replacement, and Restoration
- PROTECT Program
- Community Development Block Grant
- Alternative Fueling Infrastructure
- Bridge Replacement, Rehabilitation, Preservation,
- Tribal Transportation Program
- Protection, and Construction Program
(Bold indicates flexibility)
S. 3011 AT A GLANCE
The legislation would also allow counties to flexibly invest Recovery Funds into projects that are eligible under the Community Development Block Grant:
As always, Region 3A is here to assist your community with planning projects that can move our area forward. If you would like to learn more about eligible ARP project funding and how it can be paired with other funding sources, contact us today.