House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

The federal government is already discussing a cash stimulus of up to $1000 per individual. To complement that, the State should look at its Property Tax/Rent Rebate program as a way to provide additional liquidity to those in need.

Right now, rebates are distributed starting July 1st. Given the crisis we are facing, that is too late.

Therefore our legislation proposes two things to get money to Pennsylvanians as soon as possible.

First, it will direct the Department of Revenue and Treasury to process 2019 rebate payments for all homeowners and renters who received a 2018 rebate, and to issue those payments immediately. This saves the bureaucratic paperwork and just gets the payments out. Also, people's eligibility for the program rarely fluctuates from year to year - no one gets any younger, almost no one recovers from their long-term disability, and very few of the applicant pool see massive jumps in their income year-to-year.

Second, for anyone who became eligible in the past year, issue rebates immediately upon receipt of their application instead of waiting until July 1. Many of these people, in fact, have already applied for their rebate.

The more money we quickly get back to Pennsylvanians, particularly the elderly, the disabled, and the poor, the better chances our state has of weathering this crisis.

Please join Rep. Solomon and myself in supporting this critical legislation.