Upwards of 40 states have invested a total of nearly $32 billion in Coronavirus Virus State Fiscal Recovery Funds, according to a just-released report issued by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Those funds have been used to target any number of water, sewer, broadband, and general infrastructure projects, notes the NCSL report Road to Recovery.
The CSFRF funds were folded into the larger $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in early 2021 by the President and was designed to hasten the country’s recovery from the impact of Covid 19 and the national economic shutdown.
As defined by the Treasure Department, states were given wide latitude in how they wanted to use their CSFRF funds. The idea behind the Treasury Department rules was that states should be allowed to spend money on what the agency described as “necessary” projects.
The Treasury Department rules have also encouraged the funding of infrastructure projects employing local workers or those “from historically underserved communities.”
Project funding to date has included everything from the $3.2 billion spent in California on the construction of a statewide open-access middle mile broadband network; to the $225 million in Alabama for water infrastructure projects; and the $317 million in North Dakota used for state, county, and township road and bridge work.
Colorado has seen $182 million going for the building of a variety of transportation-related projects, as well as the purchasing and development of the 58-acre Burnham Yard Rail Property in Denver.
Arizona and Colorado are among the states that have allocated CSFRF money on infrastructure projects, while both New Mexico and Texas have not yet made official their allocations, according to the NCSL report.
While many of the projects are underway, the NCSL report notes that all of the states, territories, and District of Columbia “must obligate their federal recovery funds by December 2024 and spend them by December 2026.”
By Garry Boulard
