This post summarizes recent federal legislative and other actions to allocate funding to respond to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Federal Legislation and Actions Provided for Coronavirus-Related Funding. Recent federal legislation has directed funding to states, local governments, and other entities to respond to the COVID-19 emergency. This legislation includes: the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Act; the Families First Coronavirus Response Act; and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In addition, the federal emergency declarations also provide additional funding to states and local governments to reimburse them for certain costs. In recent days, Congress also passed the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, however, we have generally not included the effects of this most recent legislation in this post.
How Federal COVID-Related Funding Will Flow to Californians. As shown in Figure 1, we categorize federal funding according to the two major channels through which they reach Californians. These channels are:
Estimates in This Post Reflect Our Current Understanding. The tables in this post reflect our best estimates and current understanding. Where possible, we rely on estimates from a relevant state department or directly from the federal government. However, in many cases, the estimates of amounts that will flow to California are still unknown or could continue to change. For example, in some cases, federal funding will be provided on a competitive grant basis, meaning that the eligible entities will not know how much funding they will receive until the grant applications are accepted. In other cases, the amount of funding will depend on unpredictable factors, like the number of individuals who participate in a program or broader economic or public health conditions.
This section displays our estimates of the amount of funding that will pass through a public entity in California (illustrated on the right side of Figure 1). The first section describes funding allocated to public entities in the state, for example, the state government, local governments, other public entities like school districts and tribal governments. The second section describes funding that passes through a public entity but is ultimately used by private entity, like a business or an individual.
This section is organized according to the user or beneficiary of the funds, not the initial recipient. For example, some federal funds provided for education will be passed through California’s Department of Education—at the state level—but will be used by school districts. Those funds are included in the figure describing funds used by “other public entities.” Similarly, cash and cash-like benefits that pass through the state government, but are allocated to individuals—such as unemployment insurance benefits—are shown in the figure related to “individuals.”
Funding to State Government. Figure 2 shows our estimate of federal COVID-19-related funding that the state will use for administration of state programs and state-provided services. Our current estimate of the total, quantifiable funding to the state government is roughly $20 billion. This amount is likely to evolve substantially in the coming months. The two largest allocations provide the broadest budgetary benefit for the state. First, we estimate the state will receive about $9.5 billion from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) to respond to the costs of the public health emergency (which we discussed in more detail in this post). The federal government has released specific guidance on the possible uses of these funds. Second, the state anticipates receiving about $5.3 billion in federal reimbursements for the currently estimated $7 billion in direct costs of COVID-19 (reflecting a 75 percent reimbursement rate). The state will receive these reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pursuant to the federal disaster declarations. The precise amount of these funds will ultimately depend on the state’s actual costs to respond to COVID-19.
Funding to State Government for Administration and State‑Provided Services
