Title: Coronavirus Community Relief Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Coronavirus Community Relief Act
This bill provides $250 billion for certain localities affected by the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.
Specifically, the bill provides funding for FY2020 for units of local government with a population of 500,000 or less. Payment shall be made within 30 days after submission of a specified certification by the locality. The amount of the payment is proportional to population.
Local governments shall use the funds provided to cover only those costs that (1) are necessary and related to the public health emergency caused by COVID-19, and (2) were incurred during the period of March 1-December 30, 2020.
The Office of Inspector General of the Department of the Treasury shall conduct monitoring and oversight of the receipt, disbursement, and use of funds.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6467 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6467

    To provide for an enhanced Coronavirus relief fund for units of 
    government with a population of 500,000 or less, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 7, 2020

    Mr. Neguse (for himself, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. 
  Malinowski, Mr. Clay, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Barragan, Ms. 
  Dean, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Pingree, Mr. McGovern, Ms. 
     Stevens, Mr. Hastings, Ms. Shalala, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. 
   Schakowsky, Ms. Speier, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Schneider, Mr. 
  Veasey, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Cisneros, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Crow, Mr. 
Rouda, Mr. Keating, Mr. Soto, Ms. Craig, Ms. Wild, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. 
   Stanton, Ms. Omar, Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire, Ms. Sherrill, Ms. 
     Mucarsel-Powell, Mr. Bera, Mr. Pocan, Mrs. Lee of Nevada, Mr. 
 Gottheimer, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. Underwood, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Deutch, Ms. 
Tlaib, Mr. Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Sires, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
 Blumenauer, Mr. Loebsack, Mr. Rush, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. Pressley, Mr. 
Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Gabbard, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mrs. Luria, Mr. 
   Cleaver, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Schrier, Mr. Delgado, Ms. Haaland, Ms. 
    Torres Small of New Mexico, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Lee of 
  California, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Welch, Ms. 
 Spanberger, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Ted Lieu of California) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for an enhanced Coronavirus relief fund for units of 
    government with a population of 500,000 or less, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Coronavirus Community Relief Act''.

SEC. 2. CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND FOR UNITS OF GOVERNMENT WITH A 
              POPULATION OF 500,000 OR LESS.

    Title VI of the Social Security Act (as added by section 5001 of 
Public Law 116-136) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 602. CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND FOR UNITS OF GOVERNMENT WITH A 
              POPULATION OF 500,000 OR LESS.

    ``(a) Appropriation.--
            ``(1) In general.--Out of any money in the Treasury of the 
        United States not otherwise appropriated, there are 
        appropriated for making payments to units of local government 
        with a population of 500,000 or less $250,000,000,000 for 
        fiscal year 2020.
    ``(b) Authority To Make Payments.--The Secretary shall pay to a 
unit of local government of the relative unit of local government 
population proportion amount within 30 days after a unit of local 
government of a State submits the certification required by subsection 
(e).
    ``(c) Payment Amounts.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the maximum 
        aggregate amount paid under this section for fiscal year 2020 
        to units of local government in a State shall be the amount 
        equal to the relative population proportion amount determined 
        for the State under paragraph (2) for such fiscal year.
            ``(2) Relative population proportion amount.--For purposes 
        of paragraph (1), the relative population proportion amount 
        determined under this paragraph for a State for fiscal year 
        2020 is the product of--
                    ``(A) the amount appropriated under paragraph (1) 
                of subsection (a) for fiscal year 2020; and
                    ``(B) the relative State population proportion (as 
                defined in paragraph (3)).
            ``(3) Relative state population proportion defined.--For 
        purposes of paragraph (2)(B), the term `relative State 
        population proportion' means, with respect to a State, the 
        quotient of--
                    ``(A) the population of the State; and
                    ``(B) the total population of all States.
            ``(4) Relative unit of local government population 
        proportion amount.--For purposes of subsection (b), the term 
        `relative unit of local government population proportion 
        amount' means, with respect to a unit of local government, the 
        amount equal to the product of the Relative State Proportion 
        Amount and the quotient of--
                    ``(A) the population of the unit of local 
                government; and
                    ``(B) the aggregate total population of local 
                governments determined by adding the population of each 
                unit of local government.
            ``(5) Data.--For purposes of this subsection, the 
        population of States and units of local governments shall be 
        determined based on the most recent year for which data are 
        available from the Bureau of the Census.
            ``(6) Other relief.--Nothing in this section shall affect 
        appropriated funds to units of local government as a result of 
        Public Law 116-136, nor shall payments in this section be 
        reduced by amounts paid to units of local government through 
        Public Law 116-136.
    ``(d) Use of Funds.--A unit of local government shall use the funds 
provided under a payment made under this section to cover only those 
costs of the unit of local government that--
            ``(1) are costs that--
                    ``(A) are reasonably deemed by the unit of local 
                government to be necessary; and
                    ``(B) directly or indirectly involve, relate to, 
                are, have been, or will be incurred due to, or are, 
                have been, or will be a response to circumstances 
                caused by, the public health emergency with respect to 
                the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19); and
            ``(2) were incurred during the period that begins on March 
        1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020.
To the extent that a unit of local government does not need all of the 
funds paid to it, it may transfer such funds to another unit of local 
government in the State for uses in paragraph (1) of this subsection 
and such transfer is deemed to be a cost of the transferor.
    ``(e) Certification.--In order to receive a payment under this 
section, a unit of local government shall provide the Secretary with a 
certification signed by the Chief Executive (or equivalent) for the 
unit of local government that the local government's uses of the funds 
are or will be consistent with subsection (d).
    ``(f) Inspector General Oversight; Recoupment.--
            ``(1) Oversight authority.--The Inspector General of the 
        Department of the Treasury shall conduct monitoring and 
        oversight of the receipt, disbursement, and use of funds made 
        available under this section.
            ``(2) Recoupment.--If the Inspector General of the 
        Department of the Treasury determines that a unit of local 
        government has failed to comply with subsection (d), the amount 
        equal to the amount of funds used in violation of such 
        subsection shall be booked as a debt of such entity owed to the 
        Federal Government. Amounts recovered under this subsection 
        shall be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury.
            ``(3) Authority of inspector general.--Nothing in this 
        subsection shall be construed to diminish the authority of any 
        Inspector General, including such authority as provided in the 
        Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
    ``(g) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Costs.--The term `Costs' includes but is not limited 
        to lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, 
        and increases in costs reasonably believed to be the direct or 
        indirect result of, or direct or indirect responses to 
        circumstances caused by, the public health emergency with 
        respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
            ``(2) Local government.--The term `unit of local 
        government' means any of the following that has a population of 
        500,000 or below: a county, municipality, town, township, 
        village, parish, borough, or other unit of general government 
        below the State level.
            ``(3) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
        of the Treasury.
            ``(4) State.--The term `State' means the 50 States, the 
        District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 
        United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.''.
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