Agenda - Council - 09/13/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1. GENERAL PROVISIONS: STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS Background: Sections 602(c)(1)(A) and 603 (c)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act establish that recipients may use funds "to respond to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality. " The interim final rule established three categories within this eligible use: 1) public health responses for those impacted by the pandemic, including the general public; 2) responses to the negative economic impacts that were experienced by those impacted as a result of the pandemic; and 3) additional services, either as a public health response or a response to the negative economic impacts of the pandemic, for disproportionately impacted communities. The interim final rule established the method to determine which specific programs or services may be eligible to respond to the public health emergency or to respond to the negative economic impacts of the public health emergency within this framework. The interim final rule included multiple enumerated uses that are eligible within each of these categories when provided to eligible populations, including populations that the interim final rule presumed to have been impacted (in the case of public health responses and responses to negative economic impacts) or disproportionately impacted (in the case of disproportionately impacted communities). Finally, the interim final rule also allowed recipients to designate additional individuals or classes as impacted or disproportionately impacted. The standards for each of these criteria under the interim final rule are discussed below. To assess whether a program or service would be eligible to respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts, the interim final rule stated that, "the recipient [is required] to, first, identify a need or negative impact of the COVID-19 public health emergency 14