Time is of the essence. COVID-19 is surging in Pennsylvania with cases rising daily. People continue to get sick, workers continue to lose their jobs, businesses continue to close, and our educational system continues to be disrupted. Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians are suffering and need support now.

Unemployment Compensation Protection: Covers 509,000 individuals currently collecting federal PEUC and PUA benefits that are set to expire on December 26 unless extended by Congress.  Claimants would receive $350/wk. for six weeks.

Business Assistance: Targeted funding for bars/restaurants/hospitality industry; additional funding for the current DCED/CDFI program for Main St. and Historically Disadvantaged Businesses; targeted funding for barbers/salons/personal care businesses, nonprofit organizations, and tourism/arts and culture organizations.             

Local Government Assistance: Funds for counties and municipalities that have seen reduced local revenues due to the pandemic.

Education: Additional funding to address the needs of the Pre-k thru 12 and Higher Education system.

DHS Programs: A second round of funding for certain DHS programs funded in Act 2A of 2020.  Funding would be at 40% of the Act 2A amount.

Transportation Systems: New funding for mass transit and commonwealth airports based on a percentage of that received from the federal government under the CARES Act.

Hazard Pay: Additional funding for hazard pay for frontline workers.  Over 100,000 frontline workers could benefit.

Hospital Assistance: Funding for hospitals that serve our Medicaid population.

Housing: New funds for housing and rental assistance Utility Assistance: Funds to help individuals in arrears on utility payments

Child Care: Additional funding for child-care providers to continue operating.

Food Security:  Additional funding for food banks, anti-hunger programs, and the agriculture industry.

Public Safety: Additional funding for EMS and Volunteer Fire Companies that have been impacted by the pandemic. 

PPE/Vaccine Issues: Funds to create a commonwealth PPE stockpile and to cover costs associated with uninsured individuals receiving the vaccine.

Mental Health Programs: Funding to ensure adequate programs exist to address the mental health impacts the pandemic is having on Pennsylvanians. 

Pennsylvanians continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic.  With federal CARES funds, we focused on getting money into people’s pockets, protecting our health care system and frontline workers, ensuring the viability of our education system, and assisting our small businesses.  We continue that commitment with PA CARES 21, while expanding to areas that have shown a real need for assistance. 

Where appropriate, this proposal utilizes the programs created under Act 24 of 2020 to drive out the funds.  If proposed funding does not fit into an existing program (e.g., utility assistance), a new program will be created. 

Additionally, we support fixing programs created by Act 24 (e.g., PHFA’s rental assistance program) as requested by stakeholders to maximize program effectiveness.

The funds will be allocated as grants to entities that are providing the goods and services we need.  Funds will not need to be repaid.

PA CARES 21 funds are designed to be flexible.  However, they must be used for costs incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Unlike federal CARES funds, counties and municipalities may use these funds to replace local revenue lost due to the pandemic.  

Amount:                                  $4,000,000,000
Issuer:                                     Commonwealth Financing Authority
Proposed Term:                      25 years
Estimated Debt Service:         $190,000,000/yr.

This is the approximate amount the commonwealth received under the federal CARES Act.  We wanted to match that amount to provide substantial relief to Pennsylvanians.

Annual debt service can be paid from any of the following sources:

• Liquor Control Board revenues
• Gaming revenues
• Dedication of Personal Income Tax or Sales Tax revenues
  • The recently enacted budget included a one-time transfer of $200M in PIT revenue to the Property Tax Relief Fund. Beginning next year, that same amount can easily be shifted to debt service payments for this program

No.  We do not believe a referendum is required based on the purpose and structure of the proposed bond issue.

In May, the Senate, House of Representatives, and Governor Wolf worked together to drive out more $2.6 billion in federal CARES funds to help Pennsylvanians deal with the impacts of the coronavirus.

Acting quickly, we provided a lifeline to families, small businesses, counties, and others struggling through the pandemic. Our work reflected the best of bipartisanship as we came together to produce results for Pennsylvanians.

At that time, we also made the collective decision to retain some of the CARES funds (approximately $1.3 billion) to address unanticipated costs that could arise through the summer and fall. This was the right decision in May. However, circumstances have changed.

First, Pennsylvanians can’t wait any longer for the financial assistance provided through the CARES Act.   People continue to suffer.  Businesses continue to close.  Pennsylvania’s COVID case numbers are rising again.  The end of the pandemic is nowhere in sight.  We need to act now.

Second, the Trump Administration and Mitch McConnell have failed Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians.  Today marks 155 days since House Democrats passed the HEROES Act, which provides close to $1 trillion to assist state and local governments.  Trump and McConnell have done nothing but offer inadequate half-measures that effectively punish state and local governments for the Trump Administration’s inept response to the pandemic. 

Third, some Republicans in Washington oppose more federal funding because they claim state and local governments have not spent their CARES funding.  Refusing to support more federal funding for Pennsylvania because we used a bipartisan approach and were cautious in spending our CARES funds is both ridiculous and disgraceful. 

However, if that argument continues to hold sway and we are being punished for being both bipartisan and prudent, then Pennsylvania needs to spend the remaining funds now so Washington has no excuse for not doing its job.    

We learned a lot. 

First, the financial pain people are suffering was crystallized.  We see this from the sheer volume of requests received in programs created with CARES dollars: 

• $225 million small/historically disadvantaged business program received over $850 million in funding requests;
• $50 million essential worker hazard pay program received over $900 million in requests;
• $25 million cultural and museum grant program received over $50 million in requests.

Second, more pain is on the horizon.  Thousands of Pennsylvanians currently protected by moratoriums on evictions, foreclosures, and utility shutoffs due to loss of work face dire consequences when the moratoriums are lifted if there is no safety net in place. 

Third, Act 2A and Act 24 left out many in need.  Our small, historically disadvantaged businesses and the restaurant, tavern and hospitality industry have been devastated.  Barbers, hair salons, personal care businesses, nonprofits and arts and culture organizations have closed or are on the verge of shutting their doors for good.  Childcare providers and our emergency medical services community are suffering.  The list is large; the need is great. 

Our proposal allocates approximately $1.3 billion from the Coronavirus Relief Fund in the following areas:

Business Assistance                                                $575 million

Child Care                                                                  $75 million

Food Security                                                            $15 million

General Fund Reimbursement                              $150 million

Hazard Pay                                                                 $100 million

Higher Education                                                      $141 million

Hospital Assistance                                                   $125 million

Public Safety                                                               $25 million

Utility Assistance                                                       $125 million

Pennsylvanians continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic.  In Round 1 we focused on getting money into people’s pockets, protecting our health care system and frontline workers, ensuring the viability of our education system, and assisting our small businesses.  We continue that commitment in Round 2 while expanding to areas that have shown a real need for assistance. 

Like Round 1, the funds will be allocated as grants to entities that are providing the goods and services we need.  Funds will not need to be repaid.

No. This money is not nearly enough.  It will help some people only temporarily, and it most cases not fully.  It is insufficient to address big issues like K-12 education and local government financial struggles.  We need more help from the federal government.  State and local governments cannot respond to the pandemic and the needs of our citizens on our own.  The financial challenges are too large and state and local resources too limited. 

We don’t know but we can’t wait any longer for them to act.  If another round of stimulus funding comes at some point in the future, we will address it.

We’ve had preliminary conversations at the senior staff level about allocating the remaining funds.  Some bills have moved out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Conversations are ongoing. 

We don’t consider this a partisan issue.  The Senate, the House, and the Governor must come together like we did in May and again produce results for the people of Pennsylvania.  Time is of the essence.

Our proposal allocates approximately $3.9 billion from the Coronavirus Relief Fund over the following 10 areas:

                        Individuals/Families                                                    $1.1 billion

                        School Districts/Local Government                            $750 million

                        Health Care, First Responder & Frontline Workers    $650 million

                        Small Business                                                             $425 million

                        Historically Disadvantaged Communities                   $300 million

                        Higher Education                                                        $250 million

                        Child Care/Early Education                                         $150 million

                        State Government Infrastructure                               $100 million

                        Agriculture                                                                  $25 million

                        Election Security                                                         $25 million

The proposal also allocates $100 million from education-related funds for K-12 schools for expenses related to shifting to distance learning, including costs of equipment.

Good question. Appropriations Committee staffs and the Budget Office have had preliminary discussions. No decisions have been made or timelines for action set. Certainly, a lot will depend on revenue collections. As mentioned, The Trump Administration for the most part has prohibited Coronavirus Relief Funds from being used to replace state and local tax revenues.

Even if Coronavirus Relief Funds could be used to fill our budget hole, or if another round of federal stimulus funding for state and local governments comes from Washington D.C., these are one-time funds. The IFO has projected that the permanent revenue loss in tax revenue for the commonwealth to be approximately $2.7 billion for FY 20-21 and 21-22. We need to be careful of using one-time revenues to plug recurring revenue holes. We also should not repeat the mistakes of the past by relying on massive budget cuts to fix our problems. That was the route taken coming out of the Great Recession in 2011 and the impacts were devastating on the commonwealth and its residents.