This report analyzes the language contained in § 1607 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), which provides that federal funds can be made available to a state by the federal government either after certification by a governor that such money will be requested and spent or after the adoption of a concurrent resolution by a state legislature. This report evaluates the authority of state legislatures to, by concurrent resolution, provide for the acceptance of federal funds. Section 1607 may be a congressional response to statements by several state governors who indicated a disinclination to seek, or have entities in their state seek, and receive funds provided under the Recovery Act. The act requires that, in order to be eligible for such funds, a governor must first either certify that such funds will be requested, or, if that does not occur within 45 days of enactment, then a state legislature may fulfill the same condition by passing a concurrent resolution (which does not generally require a governor's signature). Specifically, § 1607 of the Recovery Act provides that: (a) Certification by Governor- Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: (1) the State will request and use funds provided by this Act; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth. (b) Acceptance by State Legislature- If funds provided to any State in any division of this Act are not accepted for use by the Governor, then acceptance by the State legislature, by means of the adoption of a concurrent resolution, shall be sufficient to provide funding to such State. (c) Distribution- After the adoption of a State legislature's concurrent resolution, funding to the State will be for distribution to local governments, councils of government, public entities, and public-private entities within the State either by formula or at the State's discretion. The language of § 1607 contains significant ambiguities, and the terms used may not be easily reconciled with either other portions of the act or with existing statutory law. Section 1607(a), for instance, requires a governor to, within 45 days, "certify" that the state will, at some unspecified future time, request and use funds provided by this act to create jobs and promote economic growth. The language does not specify to whom such certification shall be made; nor does it specify whether, in making the certification, the state will be accepting all the funds that the state is eligible for under the act, or only some portion of the funds. Further, this subsection does not specify whether a governor's office will be the political entity requesting the funds at some time in the future, or whether such a request will come from a state agency, a local government, or other public or public-private entities within a state. Section 1607(b) provides that if funds "in any division of the Act" are not "accepted" for use by a governor, then it "shall be sufficient to provide funding to the state" for a state legislature to "accept[]" such funds by a concurrent resolution. However, the term "concurrent resolution" is not defined, and not all states appear to have this legislative vehicle. Further, "accepting funds" is not a precise term of art, and it would appear to be a description of only a portion of the process usually used to distribute federal funds. Finally, it is not clear if the language which provides that a concurrent resolution shall "be sufficient" to provide funding to the state is intended only to fulfill the "certification" requirement of § 1607(a), or whether it is intended to be a waiver of all the requirements for receiving grant monies, such as submitting a grant application or providing supporting data or required assurances. Finally, section 1607(c) provides that, after the adoption of a state legislature's concurrent resolution, funding to the state "will be for distribution to local governments, councils of government, public entities, and public private entities within the State either by formula or at the State's discretion." In general, federal funds are by distributed by formula or by discretionary grants, depending upon the criteria specified in federal law governing a particular grant program. Thus, it is not clear if this language is intended to direct state and local officials to accept and spend these monies, or merely to indicate that the normal grant process may move forward after a state's adoption of the specified concurrent resolution. As noted, § 1607(a) of the Recovery Act provides that in order to receive federal funds, "the Governor of the State shall certify that: (1) the State will request and use funds provided by this Act; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth." Under a broad interpretation of this language, one could argue that a governor would need to request and use all funds provided in this act. Under this interpretation, the language of § 1607(a) should be read as follows (added text in italics): (a) Certification by Governor- Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: (1) the State will request and use all of the funds provided by this Act for which the state is eligible ; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth. It should be noted, however, that § 1607(b) provides that a state legislature can take action "if funds provided to any State in any division of this Act are not accepted for use by the Governor." This would seem to strongly imply that a Governor could reject some of the funds in the Recovery Act, while accepting others. Thus, a better interpretation of the language of § 1607(a) would be as follows (added text in italics): (a) Certification by Governor- Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: (1) the State will request and use some or all of the funds provided by this Act; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth. It should also be noted that this certification by the governor is neither a present request for, nor a present acceptance of, federal funds. Rather, it is merely an indication that the state "will" request and use funds. Since the use of the term "will" indicates an event that is going to occur in the future, a more accurate interpretation of § 1607(a) would appear to be (added text in italics): (a) Certification by Governor- Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: (1) the State at some t ime in the future will request and use some or all of the funds provided by this Act; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth. The final ambiguity is the use of the term "State." Although the governor is the chief executive officer of a state, he is generally not the only officer vested with legislative power to apply for and accept grants. That power may be distributed to various state and local officials, who are authorized to act on behalf of the state without approval of the governor. Thus, while the governor is required to certify that the "State" will request and use funds, it does not appear that the application for those funds need come from the governor in all instances. Consequently, the certification does not necessarily appear to be statement of a governor's intent to apply for funds. Rather, such certification would appear to be an acknowledgement by the governor that, based on available information, the governor, or other state or local officials are planning on applying for funds under the Recovery Act. Thus, a more accurate interpretation of § 1607(a) would appear to be (added text in italics): (a) Certification by Governor- Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: (1) the Governor, state or local officials at some t ime in the future will request and use some or all of the funds provided by this Act; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth. A more difficult question is how to interpret § 1607(b) of the Recovery Act. Although many of the terms and phrases used in that subsection are ambiguous, perhaps the most significant ambiguity is the meaning of the term "acceptance" and the phrase "shall be sufficient to provide funding." Without considering the context of the rest of the Recovery Act, the "acceptance" language in §1607(b) might at first be read to authorize the state legislature, by concurrent resolution, to accept the federal funds on behalf of the relevant state agency, and by doing so to waive all federal program requirements which would otherwise need to be followed for a state or local entity to apply for and receive federal funds. It might even be argued that this language could be interpreted to direct state entities to spend such monies consistent with a state legislature's concurrent resolution. If this "accept, waive and spend" interpretation is correct, then the language of § 1607(b) might be read as follows (added text in italics): (b) Acceptance by State Legislature- If funds provided to any State in any division of this Act are not accepted for use by the Governor, then acceptance by the State legislature, by means of the adoption of a concurrent resolution, shall be sufficient to provide funding to such State waive all federal program requirements , and direct that relevant state entities will accept and spend those funds.