Regular Session 2021-2022 House Bill 2359 P.N. 2773

PRINTER'S NO. 2773

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

No.

2359

Session of

2022

INTRODUCED BY FIEDLER, INNAMORATO, KRAJEWSKI, FRANKEL, HILL-

EVANS, A. DAVIS, KENYATTA, SIMS, DELLOSO, SCHLOSSBERG,

SANCHEZ, O'MARA, GUZMAN, CEPHAS, FREEMAN, KINKEAD, GUENST,

CURRY, KINSEY, D. WILLIAMS AND FITZGERALD, MARCH 8, 2022

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, MARCH 8, 2022

AN ACT

Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), entitled

"An act relating to the finances of the State government;

providing for cancer control, prevention and research, for

ambulatory surgical center data collection, for the Joint

Underwriting Association, for entertainment business

financial management firms, for private dam financial

assurance and for reinstatement of item vetoes; providing for

the settlement, assessment, collection, and lien of taxes,

bonus, and all other accounts due the Commonwealth, the

collection and recovery of fees and other money or property

due or belonging to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,

including escheated property and the proceeds of its sale,

the custody and disbursement or other disposition of funds

and securities belonging to or in the possession of the

Commonwealth, and the settlement of claims against the

Commonwealth, the resettlement of accounts and appeals to the

courts, refunds of moneys erroneously paid to the

Commonwealth, auditing the accounts of the Commonwealth and

all agencies thereof, of all public officers collecting

moneys payable to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,

and all receipts of appropriations from the Commonwealth,

authorizing the Commonwealth to issue tax anticipation notes

to defray current expenses, implementing the provisions of

section 7(a) of Article VIII of the Constitution of

Pennsylvania authorizing and restricting the incurring of

certain debt and imposing penalties; affecting every

department, board, commission, and officer of the State

government, every political subdivision of the State, and

certain officers of such subdivisions, every person,

association, and corporation required to pay, assess, or

collect taxes, or to make returns or reports under the laws

imposing taxes for State purposes, or to pay license fees or

other moneys to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,

every State depository and every debtor or creditor of the

Commonwealth," in American Rescue Plan Rental and Utility

Assistance Grant Program, providing for additional funding.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Article I-E of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343,

No.176), known as The Fiscal Code, is amended by adding a

section to read:

Section 106-E. Additional funding.

Notwithstanding a provision of this act to the contrary, the

sum of $500,000,000 shall be transferred from the COVID-19

Response Restricted Account to the department to be distributed

to counties as follows:

(1) No later than 30 calendar days after the effective

date of this section, each county shall certify to the

department, on a form and in a manner prescribed by the

department, the total number of applications to participate

in the program that the county has received, as of the

effective date of this section, for which the county does not

have sufficient funds directly from the following sources to

provide assistance:

(i) the Federal Government under the Consolidated

Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260, 134 Stat.

1182) or the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law

117-2, 135 Stat. 4); and

(ii) the department under Article I-D and this

article.

(2) If a county certifies that it does not have

sufficient funds under paragraph (1), the county

certification shall include an estimate of the number of

applications for which the county does not have sufficient

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funds to provide assistance and an estimate of the total

amount of funds necessary to provide assistance to those

applications. The estimate of the total amount of funds

necessary to provide assistance to those applications shall

be determined by multiplying the number of applications which

the county has certified under paragraph (1) by the average

amount of assistance provided per funded application in the

county. If a county does not certify within the time frame

described under this section, the county shall be ineligible

to receive additional funding under this section.

(3) No later than 30 calendar days after receipt of the

certification from counties under paragraph (1), the

department shall distribute funds received under this section

to the counties that have certified a need for additional

funding. The certification from the county shall be used by

the department to determine the total amount requested by the

county. To the extent possible, the department shall provide

funds to the counties that are unable to provide assistance

to at least 25% of their outstanding applications that have

been determined otherwise eligible for a payment as of the

date of the county's certification under paragraph (1). If

the total amount of funds requested from counties exceeds the

total amount of funds available, the department shall

distribute the funding under this section on a pro rata

basis.

(4) The department shall require counties that receive

funds under this section to submit a quarterly report on the

amount of funds spent and, if any, remaining funds. The

report shall be in a form and manner determined by the

department, and, to the extent possible, the department shall

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ensure that the reporting requirements align with reporting

requirements under Article I-D or this article.

(5) Distribution of the funds under this section shall

be expedited and occur no later than 90 days after the

effective date of this section . The funds remaining after

June 30, 2023 , shall lapse and be deposited into the COVID-19

Response Restricted Account.

Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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