News Flash

U.S. Treasury Provides Guidance on Coronavirus State and Local Recovery Funds

Yesterday, the U.S. Treasury adopted implementation rules for the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund established under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).Please see the League’s recent blog pos...

Shuttered Venue Operator Grants

The American Rescue Plan includes funding for shuttered entertainment venues. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program appropriates over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues. The application portal started accepting applications on April 24...

President Biden Announces American Family Plan

Wednesday evening, during a socially-distanced address before Congress, President Joe Biden proposed a 10-year, $1.8 trillion American Family Plan which includes $1 trillion in new spending and investments and $800 billion in tax cuts and tax credits.For ...

American Rescue Plan – Preparation for Municipalities that Will Receive Direct Payments

This week, the U.S. Treasury sent a directive for entities with a population above 50,000 that are to receive direct payments of funds stating they should prepare information including a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and an active registra...

Urge Congress to Restore Full SALT Deductibility, Congressional SALT Caucus Established

This week, New Jersey congressional members Bill Pascrell (D-9), Josh Gottheimer (D-5), Mikie Sherrill (D-11), and Tom Malinowski (D-7) joined with seven other congressional members from New York and California to establish the bipartisan Congressional SA...

The House Announces Federal Community Projects Process

The House Appropriations Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro announced that they will be accepting Members of Congress’ requests for Community Project Funding in appropriations bills for the upcoming 2022 fiscal year. This announcement is ...

Census Announces Delay in Apportionment Data to States

The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced that redistricting data to all states will be delivered by September 30, 2021. This is a six-month delay from the announced date of March 31, 2021 to deliver the data. The Census Bureau will deliver information al...

American Rescue Plan Update

President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on March 11. The U.S. Treasury Department has 60 days to promulgate rules for the program and send federal aid directly to entitlement cities and to the state to be sent, unencumbered, to the mu...

Legislative Preview: Federal Front Week of March 15

This week, the House will consider H.R. 1620, the Violence Against Women Act and H.J. Res. 17, to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.Additionally, the House will consider two bills to address the immigration system, includi...

CISA Issues Emergency Directive

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) partners have observed active exploitation of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange on-premises products. Please review CISA issued ED 21-02 for Microsoft Exchange on-premises products to update ...

EPA Announces Extension of the Revised Lead and Copper Rule (LCR)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that it is extending the effective date of the Revised Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) to seek further public input, particularly from communities that are most at risk of exposure to lead in drinkin...

USDA Announces Extension for Summer Meals Program

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the nationwide extension of several waivers that allow children to continue to receive free nutritious meals this summer when schools are out of session. They are available now through September 30, ...

American Rescue Plan Signed Into Law

President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law on Thursday, which includes $350 billion funding for state and local governments.New Jersey is expected to receive $9.4 billion in federal aid. $6.4 billion for the state and $2.9 ...

Senators Menendez & Booker Discuss American Rescue Plan

On Thursday, League President, Clinton Town Mayor Janice Kovach, and League staff joined more than 200 elected officials discussed the American Rescue Plan with U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker on a virtual call. The Senators gave an overview of...

House Oversight and Reform Passes Reconciliation Bill that Includes State and Local Government Aid

Last Friday, after a series of amendments were offered, including ones designed to limit and hinder state and local aid distribution, and were defeated, the House Oversight and Reform Committee reported favorably the state and local government ai...

House Oversight and Reform Committee Holds Reconciliation Hearing Aid on State and Local Government

The House Oversight and Reform Committee met Feb. 12 to consider details on the state and local government aid section under the Covid-19 emergency aid reconciliation package. While this is a fluid situation and provisions can change, this information is ...

CALL TO ACTION: Support Congressman Pascrell’s Legislation to Eliminate Cap on SALT Deduction

This week, New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell introduced H.R. 946, the Stop the Attack on Local Taxpayers (SALT) Act, which eliminates the $10,000 cap and fully restores the deduction for state and local taxes. The measure also eliminates the cap retroa...

Congressman Pascrell Introduces SALT Cap Elimination

New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell introduced H.R. 946, the Stop the Attack on Local Taxpayers (SALT) Act, which eliminates the $10,000 cap on property tax deduction. The measure also eliminates the cap retroactively.The measure is co-sponsored by New J...

Congressional Activity on SALT Deduction

The entire New Jersey House delegation sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer requesting the repeal of the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction cap. They stated that:

“the SALT Deduction has historically streng...

President Biden Issued Various Executive Orders

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed a total of 17 executive orders on a variety of issues including COVID-19 federal response, environmental, homeland security, immigration, a foreclosure moratorium, and civil rights issues. You can vie...

President Biden Releases COVID-19 Action Plan and Takes Related Executive Action

On Thursday, Jan. 21, President Joe Biden released the “National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness” that outlines seven specific goals to combat the pandemic: 

• Goal 1: Restore trust with the American people
• Goal 2: Mount ...

U.S. Department of Treasury Announces Emergency Rental Assistance Program

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has published information for state and local governments about the new $25 billion Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program that was enacted as part of the most recent COVID-19 emergency relief package. In general, fu...

Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) Announces Activities

On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris will be sworn in as the next President and Vice President of the United States. The scaled-back inaugural activities will include a National Day of Service, COVID-19 Mem...

Larger Stimulus Checks Unlikely

As of Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader McConnell has not posted the CASH Act for a Senate vote. This legislation would provide an additional $1,400 stimulus check to the previously authorized $600 for a total of $2,000. The CASH Act passed the Hou...

State and Local Aid Excluded From COVID Relief Legislation

Congress continues to negotiate the details of a $900 billion COVID relief package, which will be attached to the $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package that funds the government through September. The current funding bill expires at midnight tonight and ...

Spending Updates

This week, the House and Senate passed a one-week extension of the Continuing Resolution. This gives negotiators one additional week to finalize the details of a spending plan by December 18.Since last week, momentum on a bipartisan COVID-19 funding agree...

Federal Election Rumor vs. Reality Page Posted

To provide citizens with factual information, as they vote and await election results, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is continuously posting updates on its 2020 Election Security Ru...

Hopes for Federal COVID Aid Package Dim ... Again

On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the administration’s point person on COVID relief, stated, “At this point getting something done before the election and executing on that would be difficult, just given where we are in the level of details....

Federal COVID Relief Bill Adds Local Governments

House Democrats on Monday unveiled a scaled-back $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, in the hope of kick-starting negotiations for a bipartisan deal before the elections.This pared-down HEROES Act — $1.2 trillion less than the original bil...

NJ Delegation Challenges FEMA Sanitation/PPE Policy Change

Bipartisan Members of New Jersey’s Congressional Delegation are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reverse a new policy stipulating the agency will no longer provide emergency reimbursement to school systems and local gover...

Bipartisan Problem Solvers Look to Break Coronavirus Logjam

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives’ bi-partisan Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC) released the March to Common Ground, a framework for COVID relief designed to reignite negotiations on a critically important Coronavirus Relief bill.The 50-member Pro...

Call to Action: Transportation Programs Expire Sept. 30

On September 30, the federal surface transportation law, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, expires and immediate Congressional action is needed to keep transportation projects moving across the U.S.America’s trans...

NLC Seeks Clarity on Permitted CRF Funding Uses

The March CARES Act provided direct Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) assistance to the State of New Jersey and the State’s nine most populous counties. The law allowed those direct recipients to ‘sub-allocate’ some or all of tho...

No Congressional Coronavirus Relief Forthcoming

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate failed to advance a scaled-down Coronavirus Relief measure when a procedural motion to invoke closure was defeated on party lines.The $500 billion proposal would have provided zero support for local and state governments. It wou...

Federal Election Risk Profile Tool Released

On Wednesday, the Federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released the Election Risk Profile Tool, a user-friendly assessment tool to equip election officials and federal agencies in prioritizing and managing cybersecurity risks to...

Local Aid Crucial for Economic Recovery

In a recent article, originally appearing in the August 13 ‘Bond Buyer,’ Mark Zandi, Chief Economist for Moody’s Analytics, predicts a ‘double-dip’ recession for the U.S. economy if Congress and t...

FEMA Announces Funding for Hazard Mitigation Grants

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has posted funding notices for two hazard mitigation grant programs for more than $660 million. The two grant programs, the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant and the Building Resilient Infrastructure an...

9th Circuit Mostly Upholds FCC Order Preempting Local Authority Over 5G Deployment

On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit largely upheld a series of Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Orders aimed at expediting the deployment of small cell and 5G technology at the expense of local control and autonomy. Although many provisions of the Order...

Time is Running Out for the 2020 Census

This week, the U.S. Census Bureau began its full, nationwide follow up, with households that have not yet responded to the 2020 Census. Up to 500,000 census takers across the country will go door to door to assist people in responding to the 2020 Census. ...

President’s Supplemental Unemployment Compensation Plan Poses Problems

As reported in our Monday Daily Update, President Trump took action last weekend, to address a few aspects of the economic crisis, caused by the Coronavirus. His Memorandum on Authorizing the Other Needs Assistance Program for Major Disaster Declarations ...

President Trump Takes Steps to Address COVID-19 Relief

On Saturday, President Trump signed an Executive Order and three presidential memorandums after talks between the Administration and Democratic leaders on a new COVID-19 relief package broke down. The Democratic leaders are pushing for the HEROES Act ($3 ...

Census Bureau Moves to Cut Data Collection Phase Short

Late last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released information on a number of steps being taken to shorten the time for field data collection, to the end of September, and to provide reapportionment data to the Congress by the end of the year. Until this ann...

Local Aid Among Many Issues Delaying Federal Help

Negotiations over Washington’s next response to the COVID-19 continue, with no end in sight, as Congressional Leaders meet with the White House bargaining team. Meanwhile, and also with no end in sight, municipalities across the Nation, and all ...

New Federal COVID Relief Bill Offers No Relief for New Jersey Municipalities

Yesterday in Washington, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unveiled a new COVID Relief bill. The product of negotiations within the Senate Republican caucus, and between it and the White House, the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protecti...

Portal Bridge Replacement Project Progress

On Monday, NJ Transit’s Board of Directors approved a project development agreement with Amtrak, moving the Portal Bridge replacement project one step closer to a start. The project, which is expected to cost $1.8 billion, is now scheduled to be...

Negotiations Continue on the Second Federal Coronavirus Relief Package

Efforts in Washington continued this week as Federal legislators attempt to negotiate a second round of pandemic relief aid. While many were hopeful to have a Senate bill proposal released before the end of this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel...

CARES Act CRF Guidance Permits use of Funds for TANs Costs

The U.S. Treasury has been using FAQs to expand permissible uses of Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) monies, distributed pursuant to the CARES Act. You can view the latest (July 8) at Treasury CRF FAQs.

On page 7, that guidance states (emphasis added):

&ls...

Local Aid to be Debated as Congress Reconvenes

On Monday, Congress will return to Washington. Press reports indicate that leaders in both Houses and in both political parties will seek bipartisan agreement on a new legislative response to the economic impact of the Coronavirus.

As the next COVID respon...

Feds Allow State & Counties Flexibility in CARES Act Aid

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury again updated its Coronavirus Relief Fund Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) web page. With this update, Treasury is again giving states and qualifying local governments greater flexibility in the use...

NLC to Host Northeast & Mid-Atlantic Issues Update

Join our federal partner the National League of Cities for timely information via a webinar focused on issues affecting the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

The last few weeks have been turbulent and challenging for local leaders. From fighting a global ...

House Committee Can Increase Local Share of Transportation Funding

On Wednesday, the House Transportation Committee began consideration of their transportation reauthorization proposal - "Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America" (INVEST in America) Act. For further in...

150 Economists Call For State & Local Funding in Next Package

A letter urging more Congressional action in response to the economic impact of the pandemic calls for "new assistance to states and localities" as part of new legislation. "An adequate response must be large, commensurate with the...

Sen. Menendez, Mayor Passanante Join Colleagues on National Briefing

Our partners in Washington, the National League of Cities (NLC) hosted a ‘Protecting and Growing America’s Economic Recovery’ virtual Hill briefing. This is a part of NLC’s ‘Cities Are Essential’...

FCC Approves Order to Streamline Deploymnet of 5G Equipment onto Macro Towers

Earlier this week the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC), in a 3-2 vote, adopted a Declaratory Ruling clarifying the FCC’s 2014 rules regarding the so-called “streamlined review” of deployment of 5G w...

Congress Looks to INVEST in America's Infrastructure

We have received a summary of a soon-to-be-introduced bill – the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act. Among other provisions, the bill would dedicate $19 billion, over five years, in L...

Surgeon General Urges Continued Precautions

The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs has been conducting weekly briefings on the Federal government’s COVID response and recovery efforts. League staff has been monitoring the weekly calls for state, local, and tribal leaders. Thi...

Portal Bridge Replacement Funding Coming

On Monday, New Jersey’s U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, along with our state’s Members of the House Transportation Committee, Representatives Bill Pascrell Jr., Albio Sires, Donald Payne Jr., and Tom Malinowski, announced t...

Local Budgets Await Federal LIfeline

Responding to the public health crisis, and its impact on workers and businesses, Congress has passed, and President Trump has signed, four COVID-19 response bills. All of those bills addressed important priorities. But none of them prioritized the impact...

Call for Federal Lifeline

New Jersey Main Streets will not recover their vibrancy, without effective local services. Programs for Senior Citizens will suffer, without the support of municipal government. Youth recreational opportunities will shrink, without local assistance. But t...

National Guidance at Your Fingertips

Local leaders are on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic. On their website, you will find National League of Cities generated tools and best practices, updates on federal guidance, resources from the state municipal leagues around the country and from...

Bipartisan Local & State COVID Assistance Bills Introduced in Both Houses of Congress

On Monday, Senator Bob Menendez introduced in the Upper House S.3752, the State and Municipal Aid for Recovery and Transition (SMART) bill. Yesterday, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill introduced its companion, H.R. 6954, in the House.

We thank Senator Menendez...

Representative Sherrill to Sponsor House SMART Companion

New Jersey Representative Mikie Sherrill, along with New York’s Peter King, announced that they will introduce a bipartisan House companion to S.3752, Senator Menendez’s bipartisan State and Municipal Aid for Recovery and Transition (S...

Senator Menedez to Introduce Municipal Aid Bill

Sometime this week, New Jersey’s senior Senator Bob Menendez and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D., will formally introduce legislation that could help all New Jersey local governments. It would create a $500 billion fund to help states and a...

House Passes HEROES Bill with Local Aid Provision

On Friday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6800–the HEROES Act. The vote, largely along party lines, was 203-199. Though declared ‘dead on arrival’ in the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, this ac...

Experts See Local, State, Federal Cooperation Key to Election Security

On Oct. 3, 2018, in Washington, federal election watchdogs conducted an election security briefing with state officials and members of Congress. William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, and Christopher Krebs, the ...