Local governments and health and human services providers can expect a second wave of grant money for infrastructure and construction projects after state lawmakers finalized a plan for how to spend the state’s roughly $124 million remaining American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion federal package created to help U.S. states, tribes and territories recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of ARPA, Wyoming was granted $500 million in direct relief money from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Unlike other kinds of federal money made available through the relief package, the state has broad discretion in deciding how to spend that $500 million.
Lawmakers worked out where most of the money would go during last year’s legislative session. But when they convened in January for the 2023 session, there was still $124 million on the table.
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This session, lawmakers had to pass an additional bill — House Bill 195 — outlining what to do with all that leftover money.
And there was no shortage of ideas. Over the course of its six-week journey through the House and Senate, House Bill 195 underwent a total of 10 amendments, according to the Wyoming Legislative Office’s website.
The proposed legislation on Monday was still waiting for final approval from Gov. Mark Gordon.
For the most part, the amendments outlined in House Bill 195 mainly dish out more ARPA money to grant programs created by last year’s ARPA budget. That’s partly because many of those existing programs received way more applications than the state could accommodate, Renny MacKay, Gordon’s policy director, told lawmakers in a Joint Appropriations Committee meeting in October.
Plus, there are strict deadlines attached to ARPA money — it has to be earmarked for a specific purpose by 2024 and spent by 2026. Many lawmakers were reluctant to stand up new programs knowing the state would only have a couple years to get the money out.
Infrastructure grants
By far the biggest slice of leftover ARPA money — $40 million — will be funneled toward a preexisting capital construction grant program for health and human services providers. The State Loan and Investment Board originally received $85 million to create the grant last year.
The Legislature decided to earmark $15 million of that additional $40 million in supplementary money for projects approved during last year’s grant cycle. That extra funding will be used to help grantees with unexpected costs caused by inflation, the bill says.
The Legislature also set aside additional $30 million for grants for water and sewer projects, and another $20 million for a general infrastructure grant for local governments.
Like the health and human services grant, those programs are overseen by the State Loan and Investment Board. They each received $50 million in the original ARPA budget adopted by the Legislature last year.
Through House Bill 195, board is set to receive an additional $5 million for a new housing infrastructure grant for local governments. Communities will be able to use the funds to help pay for things like expanding or repairing water, sewer and utilities.
Other grants
There’s more to the bill than infrastructure.
Barring any further changes from Gordon, the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources will receive an additional $12 million for “products, projects and grants,” so long as they meet federal ARPA guidelines. The agency got $10 million from last year’s ARPA budget.
The amendments also set aside $3 million for one-time grants to Wyoming organizations involved in hunger relief efforts. The Wyoming Department of Family Services will oversee awarding the grants. That sum will join another $200,000 allocated to the agency “for the purpose of planning a system to maximize state and local food distribution” for children, families and seniors in need, the bill says.
Lawmakers also included language in the bill that would let the Wyoming Supreme Court use any of the $150,000 in ARPA money originally earmarked for its coronavirus response efforts to also be used for diversion programs for defendants with mental illnesses and substance abuse problems.
If any project funded by the ARPA bill is completed under budget, a provision in House Bill 195 will allow the leftover funds to be reallocated to the health and human services construction grant program and the local water and sewer grant program.
New programs
Much smaller slices of the money will go toward new grants and projects.
The Department of Health will receive $5 million to help reorganize its behavioral health system. In 2021 and 2022, the Legislature passed laws changing how the state funds its mental health and substance abuse services, which the Department of Health is still in the process of implementing.
According to the bill, $2.75 million will go to the Department of Family Services “to provide grants, collect and monitor data and provide technical assistance” to help communities create or improve their family resource centers.
The agency can expect an additional $4 million for “educational, behavioral health, child welfare and delinquency services” for kids struggling with things like severe mental health and behavioral issues, and intellectual disabilities.
The Department of Family Service will also receive $2.25 million to develop a new system for helping people who are looking for work, but are difficult to employ.
In a separate employment assistance program, the Department of Workforce Services will be getting $2 million in ARPA dollars to fund initiatives including:
- apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships;
- healthcare and early childhood workforce programs;
- assistance for Wyoming residents who don’t qualify for other kinds of workforce programs, like people in prison or on parole; and
- economic development training.
Finally, $100,000 will be going to the Wyoming Supreme Court to help with court-supervised substance abuse treatment programs.
