American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("Federal Stimulus Bill")
The Federal Stimulus Bill was signed into law by President Obama in February 2009, and contained provisions intended to stimulate the U.S. economy and the economy of the states. The Federal Stimulus Bill includes federal tax relief, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions, and funding for clean energy projects, public infrastructure projects, education and the science and technology sectors. These measures are collectively worth approximately $800 billion.
Federal Stimulus Funding - "Pieces of the Pie" - The funding available pursuant to the Federal Stimulus Bill (i.e., not including the value of various tax cuts) is divided into individual pieces of the total funding pie that can be summarized as follows: A. Formula-Based Allocations - These are non-competitive awards based on a pre-determined formula (e.g., Medicaid allocations to the various states). B. Federal Competitive Piece - These are dollars appropriated by Congress for specific federal agencies and divided into separate funding buckets. For example, there is a funding bucket containing dollars appropriated for the Army Corps of Engineers for local water infrastructure projects. These dollars are not allocated to the States, but rather, are awarded directly by the federal agencies for specific projects.
State Discretionary Piece - The State and its agencies will have significant discretion over how these dollars in specific buckets are spent (within the rules set forth in the Federal Stimulus Bill). For example, there are specific funding buckets established for roads and bridges, renovations to federal buildings and health care information technology. The largest bucket (roughly $970 million according to some published reports) is for roads and bridges, approximately $160 million of which will be distributed through metropolitan planning organizations and the rest of which will be distributed through Ohio Department of Transportation procedures.
Local Governmental Piece - This money is awarded to local governments, which then pass it along to end users. This money is focused on local energy efficiency projects, local social welfare programs, infrastructure and education.
- Scott J. Ziance
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP