II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 34 

To provide funding for cities, counties, and other units of general local 

government to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 22, 2021 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BROWN, and 

Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations 

A BILL 

To provide funding for cities, counties, and other units of 

general local government to prevent, prepare for, and 

respond to coronavirus. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Direct Support for 

5 Communities Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 The following sums are hereby appropriated, out of 

8 any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 


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1 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, and for 

2 other purposes, namely: 

3

4 DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN 

5 DEVELOPMENT 

6 COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

7 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FUND

8 For an additional amount for the ‘‘Community Devel9 opment Fund’’, such sums as may be necessary, to remain 

10 available until expended, to prevent, prepare for, and re11 spond to coronavirus, which shall be in addition to any 

12 other amounts available for such purposes, of which— 

13 (1) 50 percent shall be allocated to metropoli14 tan cities and other units of general local govern15 ment (as those terms are defined in section 102 of 

16 the Housing and Community Development Act of 

17 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)), of which— 

18 (A) 70 percent of such sums shall be dis19 tributed, not later than 30 days after the date 

20 of enactment of this Act, pursuant to the for21 mula under section 106(b)(1) of the Housing 

22 and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 

23 U.S.C. 5306(b)(1)) to metropolitan cities that 

24 received allocations pursuant to such formula in 

25 fiscal year 2020; and 


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1 (B) 30 percent of such sums shall be dis2 tributed, not later than 30 days after the date 

3 of enactment of this Act, to States (as defined 

4 in such section 102) for use by units of general 

5 local government, other than counties or par6 ishes, in nonentitlement areas (as defined in 

7 such section 102) of the State, in amounts 

8 equal to the relative sum of the populations of 

9 such units of general local government in a 

10 State as a proportion of the total population of 

11 all such units of general local government in all 

12 States: Provided, That a State shall pass13 through the amounts received under this sub14 paragraph within 30 days of receipt to such 

15 units of general local government: Provided fur16 ther, That if a State has not elected to dis17 tribute amounts allocated under section 

18 106(d)(1) of the Housing and Community De19 velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5306(d)(1)), 

20 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop21 ment shall distribute the applicable amounts 

22 under this subparagraph to such units of gen23 eral local government in the State not later 

24 than 30 days after the date on which the State 


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1 would otherwise have received the amounts 

2 from the Secretary; and 

3 (2) 50 percent shall be distributed, not later 

4 than 30 days after the date of enactment of this 

5 Act, directly to counties and parishes of States, the 

6 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

7 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the 

8 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 

9 and American Samoa, in amounts equal to the rel10 ative sum of the populations of the counties and par11 ishes in a State or such other jurisdiction as a pro12 portion of the total population of all the counties 

13 and parishes in all States and such other jurisdic14 tions: Provided, That in calculating the populations 

15 of counties and parishes for purposes of this para16 graph, the District of Columbia shall be treated as 

17 a county: Provided further, That no county or parish 

18 that is an urban county (as defined in section 102 

19 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 

20 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)) shall receive less than the 

21 amount the county or parish would otherwise receive 

22 if the amount distributed under this paragraph were 

23 allocated to metropolitan cities and urban counties 

24 under section 106(b) of the Housing and Commu25 nity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5306(b)): 


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1 Provided further, That the amounts otherwise deter2 mined for counties and parishes under this para3 graph shall be adjusted on a pro rata basis to the 

4 extent necessary to comply with the preceding pro5 viso: Provided further, That the District of Columbia 

6 may spend the amount received under this para7 graph as if it were a county: Provided further, That 

8 in the case of an amount allocated to a county or 

9 parish that does not have a governing body, the 

10 amount shall be distributed to the State or such 

11 other jurisdiction of the county or parish which, not 

12 later than 30 days after the date of enactment of 

13 this Act, shall distribute the amount to units of gen14 eral local government within the county or parish in 

15 amounts equal to the relative population of each 

16 such unit of general local government as a propor17 tion of the total population of the county or parish: 

18 Provided further, That, notwithstanding any other provi19 sion of law, funds made available under this heading may 

20 be used to cover costs, or to replace lost, delayed, or de21 creased revenues, stemming from the public health emer22 gency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID– 

23 19), including revenues lost, delayed, or decreased during 

24 or after the end of such public health emergency as a re25 sult of the global and national economic decline caused 


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1 by the outbreak and response to COVID–19: Provided fur2 ther, That amounts distributed under paragraph (1) or (2) 

3 shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, any non4 Federal funds that a State or such other jurisdiction 

5 would otherwise provide to cities, counties, parishes, or 

6 other units of general local government of the State or 

7 other jurisdiction: Provided further, That nothing in para8 graph (1) or (2) shall be construed as prohibiting a metro9 politan city and a county or parish that have formed a 

10 consolidated government from each receiving a distribu11 tion under paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable: Provided 

12 further, That for purposes of this heading, the population 

13 of an entity shall be determined based on the most recent 

14 year for which data are available from the Bureau of the 

15 Census: Provided further, That, except as provided in 

16 paragraphs (1) and (2), no requirement or limitation ap17 plicable to funds provided under title I of the Housing and 

18 Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et 

19 seq.) shall apply to funds made available under this head20 ing and distributed under such paragraphs: Provided fur21 ther, That such amount is designated by Congress as being 

22 for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 

23 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

24 Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A)(i)). 

Æ 


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