DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

August 10, 2023

via Email

Dear Tribal Leader:

As the Point of Contact for Tribal Consultation for the U.S. Department of the Treasury 

(Treasury), I invite you to a consultation on the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal 

Recovery Funds (SLFRF) Interim Final Rule (IFR). The consultation will be held virtually 

on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. You may register for the 

consultation here.

Background

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, a part of the American 

Rescue Plan, allocates $20 billion for Tribal governments across the country to support 

their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency. In 

December 2022, Congress amended the SLFRF program through the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2023, providing additional flexibility for recipients to use SLFRF 

funds to respond to natural disasters, build critical infrastructure, and support 

community development. The existing eligible uses, as discussed in the 2022 Final

Rule, remain unchanged. Recipients may continue to use SLFRF funds in alignment 

with the 2022 Final Rule.

Treasury issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) implementing the amendments to the 

SLFRF program. Treasury also published a user-friendly overview of many of the major 

provisions of the IFR. The IFR provides the features below.

Emergency Relief from Natural Disasters

The IFR provides a framework for using SLFRF funds to provide emergency relief from 

natural disasters or their negative economic impacts. The IFR defines “natural disaster” 

and provides a standard for providing emergency relief from natural disasters, using a 

two-step process. Recipients must first identify a natural disaster that has occurred or is 

expected to occur imminently, or a natural disaster that is anticipated to occur in the 

future, and then identify emergency relief that responds to the physical or negative 

economic impacts, or potential physical or negative economic impacts, of the natural 

disaster. The emergency relief must be related and reasonably proportional to the 

impact identified. 

Surface Transportation Projects

The IFR provides a framework for using SLFRF funds for projects that are eligible under 

26 surface transportation programs specified in the 2023 CAA (Surface Transportation 
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

projects). This eligible use category is broken out into three pathways. Pathway One 

outlines how recipients may use SLFRF funds for projects receiving funding from the 

Department of Transportation (DOT). Pathway Two outlines how recipients may use 

SLFRF funds for projects that are not receiving funding from DOT. Pathway Three 

outlines how recipients may use SLFRF funds to satisfy non-federal share requirements 

for certain Surface Transportation projects or to repay a Transportation Infrastructure 

Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan. The requirements of titles 23, 40, and 49 of the 

U.S. code generally apply to this eligible use category.

Title I Projects

The IFR outlines how recipients may use SLFRF funds for activities that are eligible 

under section 105(a) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (Title I 

projects), which are the activities eligible under the Community Development Block 

Grant and Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) programs. The eligible 

activities under the Title I projects eligible use category are broad and enable recipients 

to undertake a wide range of projects. The requirements of title I of the Housing and 

Community Development Act of 1974 generally apply to this eligible use category.

Interim Final Rule Effective Date and Timeline for Use of Funds

The IFR was submitted for publication on August 9, 2023 and will become effective 

when published. Recipients may use SLFRF funds for the new eligible uses for costs 

incurred beginning December 29, 2022. Consistent with the existing eligible uses, 

recipients must obligate SLFRF funds for the new eligible uses by December 31, 2024. 

Recipients must expend SLFRF funds obligated to provide emergency relief from 

natural disasters by December 31, 2026. Recipients must expend SLFRF funds 

obligated for Surface Transportation projects and Title I projects by September 30, 

2026.

Pursuant to Executive Order 13175, President Biden’s Presidential Memorandum for 

Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, and Treasury’s 

Action Plan for Tribal Consultation and Collaboration, Treasury is commencing 

consultation to engage Tribal governments on Treasury’s implementation of the 

amendments to the SLFRF program made by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2023. 

Specifically, we hope to receive your feedback on the following questions: 

1. The IFR provides a framework for using SLFRF funds to provide emergency 

relief from natural disasters. Recipients must first identify a natural disaster that 

has occurred or is expected to occur imminently, or a natural disaster that is 

anticipated to occur in the future, and then identify emergency relief that 
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

responds to the physical or negative economic impacts, or potential physical or 

negative economic impacts of the natural disaster.

a. In identifying a natural disaster, does your Tribe have any comments, 

questions, or concerns with the definition of “natural disaster” provided in 

the IFR to incorporate the Tribal perspective?

b. The IFR provides that, to provide emergency relief from a natural disaster, 

the natural disaster must be (or have been) the subject of an emergency 

declaration or designation applicable to the recipient’s geography and 

jurisdiction. An emergency declaration by a Tribal government satisfies 

this requirement. Does your Tribe have any questions, comments, or 

concerns with this approach? 

c. The IFR provides a non-exhaustive list of eligible emergency relief from a 

declared or designated natural disaster that has occurred or is expected to 

occur imminently, and also provides for recipients to provide emergency 

relief in the form of mitigation activities to lessen or avert the threat of a 

future natural disaster. Are there uses identified in this non-exhaustive list 

your Tribe has questions, comments, or concerns about? Are there uses 

not identified in this non-exhaustive list your Tribe would like to see 

included?

2. The IFR specifies three pathways for using SLFRF funding for Surface 

Transportation projects: (1) Outlines how recipients may use SLFRF funds for 

projects receiving funding from DOT, (2) Outlines how recipients may use SLFRF 

funds for projects that are not receiving funding from DOT, and (3) Outlines how 

recipients may use SLFRF funds to satisfy non-federal share requirements for 

certain Surface Transportation projects or to repay a TIFIA loan.

a. What questions, comments, or concerns does your Tribe have regarding 

any of these three approaches? 

3. Recipients may use SLFRF funds for Title I projects, which include ICDBG 

projects, subject to requirements and limitations.

a. What questions, comments, or concerns does your Tribe have regarding 

this use of funds, including the Primary Objective and other Title I 

requirements?

4. What comments, questions, or concerns does your Tribe have about the IFR that 

may have not yet been covered and what else should Treasury include in the 

final rule to incorporate the Tribal perspective?
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

Register here for the consultation.

We respectfully request that each Tribe register one person to participate in the 

consultation. All others are welcome to register as listen-only participants.

Please note that consultations are off the record and not for press purposes.

Treasury will send out an agenda and a list of registered speakers before the date of the 

consultation. 

The deadline to submit written comments is Friday, October 13, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. AKT. 

Written comments should be sent to tribal.consult@treasury.gov. 

We hope that you will be able to join us for this important discussion and value your 

participation.

Sincerely,

Chief Lynn Malerba

Treasurer 

Point of Contact for Tribal Consultation 

U.S. Department of the Treasury