Legislators approve spending portion of ARPA funds
STATE HOUSE – The General Assembly approved a plan for using $119 million of Rhode Island’s $1.13 billion American Rescue Plan Act State Fiscal Recovery Funds to help children, families, small businesses and the tourism industry, and boost affordable housing and broadband planning. The proposal was immediately signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee.
Legislators added $6 million further enhance support for child care needs to the plan that was initially proposed by Governor McKee. They kept intact the $38.5 million to support services to children and families; $32 million to assist small businesses impacted by COVID-19; $29.5 million to promote affordable housing, housing stability supports and broadband planning; and $13 million for hard-hit tourism, hospitality and event industries, but added reporting requirements, more specifics about the proposed uses of the funds, and other accountability measures to the bill (2021-H 6494A, 2021-S 1006A).
Said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ryan W. Pearson (D-Dist. 19, Cumberland, Lincoln), “Shoring up child care in particular was a very important priority for us in the Senate. The availability of high-quality, affordable child care is important for the safety and development of our children, and it critical for our workforce and business strength as well.
“We have a responsibility to spend this money in ways that help everyday Rhode Islanders move forward and ensure that our state and its institutions are able to weather the storm brought on by the pandemic.
Our goal has been to make sure the money is spent where it is most needed, particularly in hard-hit sectors like public health, housing and childcare, where resources were already thin before COVID hit,” said House Finance Committee Chairman Marvin L. Abney (D-Dist. 73, Newport, Middletown).
With the additional $6 million, the child care initiative allocates $18.7 million for retention bonuses for child care workers and $300,000 for family childcare start-up incentives and technical assistance grants to encourage much-needed growth.
Lawmakers kept the proposed $5.5 million the governor allocated toward Early Intervention Programs, and $7.5 million for pediatric health. In both cases, during committee hearings on the proposal, they added more specific wording to ensure the funding is allocated as proposed, and they also tweaked the allocation for Early Intervention to reflect an additional, separate $3.6 million that was recently made available from CARES Act funding for stabilization purposes.
To help ease the housing crisis, legislators kept the $29.5 million allocation the governor proposed, but added requirements that the administration work in conjunction with all other available funds, and linked the money’s use to the development of guidelines for the use of Housing Production Fund lawmakers created last year as a means of pushing for action in creating that framework.
They also added language specifying the allowable uses of $1.5 million included for housing stability for 500 people experiencing homelessness, and required monthly progress reports on the use of those funds and other included funds for housing to ensure accountability on this critical issue.
To support small business recovery, the Assembly added language specifying the intended uses of the $32 million they agreed to allocate toward businesses and tourism, and limiting grants to businesses that gross less than $1 million annually and can demonstrate negative impacts caused by the pandemic.
Lawmakers also required that 20 percent of the funds go toward minority-owned businesses.