On Thursday, Governor Mike Parson announced updates are now available on the State’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) website, which originally went live in mid-May. The updates include the addition of several new grant programs that were signed into law by Governor Parson on June 30, as well as a detailed overview of all planned uses of ARPA State Fiscal Recovery Funds as provided for in HB 3020.
At the time of the website’s launch in May 2022, the only grant programs that were accepting applications were water, wastewater, stormwater, and lead service line inventory grant programs. Several additional grant programs anticipate accepting applications in the coming weeks, including grants for agriculture innovation and workforce development, private MoExcels projects, workforce training, and broadband infrastructure. The remaining grant programs will begin accepting applications over the next couple of months.
With the Governor’s signing of HB 3020, five new grant programs that were added by the General Assembly have also been added to the website, including: grants to port authorities ($25M), grants to local county law enforcement and county prosecutors ($1M), grants to innovative projects to promote agriculture in urban/suburban communities ($50k), Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority biofuel grants ($4M), and county jail improvement grants ($10M). Additional information on these grant programs, including application timeframes, will added to the website in the coming weeks as program details are developed.
“With this historic funding, we owe it to the people of Missouri to make sure it will be used strictly for the purpose of serving all Missourians effectively,” Governor Parson said. "These grants have the potential to set our people, infrastructure, and workforce development up for the future. People will be able to follow along throughout the process by accessing our website, which is a transparent one-stop shop to view our spending efforts and ensure these funds are being used most appropriately.”
ARPA and associated federal regulations outline specific categories of allowable spending for the ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. The eligible categories of spending include projects or programs that support public health expenditures; address negative economic impacts caused by COVID-19; replace lost public sector revenue; or invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.
Signed into federal law on March 11, 2021, ARPA includes funding for states and local governments to mitigate the negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic (State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds). Missouri was allocated approximately $2.7 billion in State Fiscal Recovery Funds under ARPA.
Per federal law, all ARPA funded programs and grants must be allocated by December 31, 2024, and spent by December 31, 2026.
No comments:
Post a Comment