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

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funding is provided to individuals or entities that did not themselves experience a negative economic impact during the pandemic. Treasury Response: The final rule maintains the standard articulated in the interim final rule. For clarity, the final rule re -articulates that when assessing whether a program or service is an eligible use to respond to the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency, Treasury will consider the two eligibility requirements discussed below. First, there must be a negative economic impact, or an economic harm, experienced by an individual or a class. The recipient should assess whether, and the extent to which, there has been an economic harm, such as loss of earnings or revenue, that resulted from the COVID-19 public health emergency. A recipient should first consider whether an economic harm exists and then whether this harm was caused or made worse by the COVID-19 public health emergency. This approach is consistent with the text of the statute, which provides that funds in this category must be used to "respond to the public health emergency with respect to... its negative economic impacts." While economic impacts may either be immediate or delayed, individuals or classes that did not experience a negative economic impact from the public health emergency would not be eligible beneficiaries under this category. As noted above, the interim final rule permitted recipients to presume that households that experienced unemployment, increased food or housing insecurity, or are low- or moderate -income experienced a negative economic impact from the pandemic. For discussion of the final rule's approach to this presumption, see section Populations Presumed Eligible. The final rule also maintains several provisions included in the interim final rule and subsequent guidance that are intended to ease administration of identifying that the beneficiary 24