SC one step closer to spending plan for $668M remaining CARES Act money
Nearly $700 million in federal COVID-19 aid is headed to the S.C. House floor for debate this week.
The House Ways and Means Committee on Friday approved a plan on how to spend $668 million of federal CARES Act money.
Legislators are scheduled to return to the State House next week to consider whether to adopt a budget for the rest of the 2020-21 fiscal year or stick with the continuing resolution passed earlier this year that kept state spending at pre-pandemic levels. They also have to allocate how to spend the rest of the state’s CARES Act money.
House legislators are proposing $420 million go toward replenishing the unemployment insurance trust fund, which was used heavily as the amount of unemployment benefits paid spiked because of layoffs and furloughs during the pandemic.
To continue to pay for COVID-19 testing around the state, $73 million will go to the Department of Health and Environmental Control and $20 million to the Medical University of South Carolina.
The proposed legislation also allows the Department of Education to spend money it has left over from its Academic Recovery Camps and LEAP Day instruction on personal protective equipment, textbooks and materials for its Virtual SC program, tutoring, and school nurses, among other things.
The legislature originally allocated $210.7 million for the recovery camps and LEAP days. However, the Department of Education expects $60 to $75 million to be leftover, said DOE spokesman Ryan Brown.
House Ways and Means committee members also proposed sending $100 million to state and local governments. Lawmakers also want to set aside $10 million in relief grants for non-profits, and $45 million for minority-owned small businesses.
Grants to small businesses and non-profits would be up to $25,000 and cover up to two months of payroll. The entities must have been operating for at least six months prior to the start of the COVID-19 state of emergency.
While State Rep. Gilda Cobb Hunter, D-Orangeburg, did not object to including recently opened businesses in the program, she has concerns about businesses that have operated longer.
“That seems like we are letting businesses in who just kind of started up and while I’m not opposed to that, I’m really worried about our businesses that have been around three, five (or) however many years, (and) struggling,” Cobb-Hunter said. ”I’m wondering if by us putting that six-month timeline in there, whether or not we are really spreading the pie real thin.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "SC one step closer to spending plan for $668M remaining CARES Act money."
