United States S 91: Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act

Bill Text

II
117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 91
To amend the Social Security Act to include special districts in the
coronavirus relief fund, to direct the Secretary to include special districts
as an eligible issuer under the Municipal Liquidity Facility, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY 28, 2021
Ms. SINEMA (for herself, Mr. CORNYN, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend the Social Security Act to include special districts
in the coronavirus relief fund, to direct the Secretary
to include special districts as an eligible issuer under
the Municipal Liquidity Facility, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Special Districts Pro-4
vide Essential Services Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S91.IS S91pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

2
•S 91 IS
SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS IN THE 1
CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND. 2
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 601(a) of the Social Secu-3
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 801(a)) is amended by adding at the 4
end the following new paragraph: 5
‘‘(3) FUNDS FOR SPECIAL DISTRICTS.—If an 6
amount in excess of $150,000,000,000 is appro-7
priated for payments made under this section, spe-8
cial districts shall be eligible for payments from the 9
portion of such excess amount paid to States in ac-10
cordance with subsection (c)(6).’’. 11
(b) AMOUNT FOR SPECIAL DISTRICTS.—Section 12
601(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 801(c)) is 13
amended— 14
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through 15
(8) as paragraphs (8) through (10), respectively; 16
and 17
(2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol-18
lowing new paragraphs: 19
‘‘(6) SPECIAL DISTRICTS.— 20
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a portion of any ex-21
cess amount described in subsection (a)(3) is 22
paid to a State, the State shall allocate at least 23
5 percent of such portion for distributing pay-24
ments to special districts in the State that sub-25
mit to the Governor of the State or the entity 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S91.IS S91pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

3
•S 91 IS
designated by the Governor to distribute such 1
payments (referred to in this paragraph as the 2
‘designated payment entity’) a request for a 3
payment during the COVID–19 emergency and 4
information described in subparagraph (B) 5
demonstrating the need for the payment, which 6
the Governor of the State or the designated 7
payment entity has determined, on the basis of 8
a good faith effort, is accurate. 9
‘‘(B) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—Infor-10
mation described in this subparagraph is writ-11
ten documentation demonstrating with respect 12
to a comparable period before the COVID–19 13
emergency that the special district has experi-14
enced or is likely to experience during the 15
COVID–19 emergency— 16
‘‘(i) reduced revenue or operational 17
funding derived from provided services, 18
taxes, fees, or other sources of revenue; 19
‘‘(ii) reduced indirect funding from 20
the Federal Government, the State, or a 21
unit of general government below the State 22
level; or 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S91.IS S91pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

4
•S 91 IS
‘‘(iii) as a result of the COVID–19 1
emergency, increased expenditures nec-2
essary to continue operations. 3
‘‘(C) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 4
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clauses 5
(ii) and (iii), the amount of the payment 6
for a special district shall be determined by 7
the Governor or the State or the des-8
ignated payment entity, taking into consid-9
eration the extent of a projected budget 10
shortfall for the special district during the 11
COVID–19 emergency and the need of the 12
special district to supplement projected 13
revenue. 14
‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—Except as pro-15
vided in clause (iii), the amount paid to a 16
special district shall not exceed the amount 17
of expenditures made by the special district 18
for any quarter of calendar year 2019. 19
‘‘(iii) EXCEPTION FOR PROVIDERS OF 20
ESSENTIAL CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 21
SECTOR SERVICES.—If a special district 22
provides essential critical infrastructure 23
sector services (as defined by the Cyberse-24
curity and Infrastructure Security Agency 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S91.IS S91pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

5
•S 91 IS
of the Department of Homeland Security), 1
the amount paid to the special district may 2
exceed the limit applicable under clause 3
(ii). 4
‘‘(iv) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 5
Nothing in the preceding clauses of this 6
subparagraph shall be construed as requir-7
ing payment of an amount suffic