Recipients may expend Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF) to meet the
public health and economic needs of those impacted by the pandemic in their communities, as well as
address health and economic disparities.
The eligible use category is organized according to the different types of assistance a recipient may provide and includes several sub-categories. In making expenditures under this category, recipients should first determine the sub-category where certain expenditures may fit. Each sub-category has specific nuances with which the recipient should become familiar prior to obligating CSLFRF funds to a specific project or program. The sub-categories include:
• Responding to the public health emergency,
• assistance to households,
• assistance to small businesses,
• assistance to nonprofits,
• aid to impacted industries, and
• public sector capacity.
Treasury has provided a non-exhaustive list of enumerated eligible uses within each sub-category that are presumed respond to pandemic impacts. Treasury also presumes that certain populations were “impacted” or “disproportionately impacted” by the pandemic and are therefore eligible for responsive services. Thus, recipients pursuing a project or expenditure included in the list of enumerated eligible uses to populations that are presumed to be impacted or disproportionately impacted by the pandemic are clearly operating within the Final Rule.
RESPONDING TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
The eligible uses enumerated under this sub-category include expenditures related to Covid-19 mitigation and prevention; medical expenses to households, medical providers, and others that incurred medical costs during the pandemic; behavioral health care, substance use treatment, and other behavioral health services; and supporting programs that respond to violence, especially gun violence. A complete list of the enumerated eligible uses is available in Treasury’s Final Rule Overview.
Projects outside of these safe harbors must address a specific negative public health impact or harm experienced by an individual or class, as well as be reasonably designed and proportional to the extent of harm experienced.