To:
National Indian Gaming Association Member Tribes
From:
Ernest L. Stevens, Jr., Chairman Jason Giles, Executive Director
Re:
Treasury Issues Final Rule for ARPA $20 Billion Tribal Set Aside
Date:
January 7, 2022
Yesterday, the Department of Treasury (Treasury) issued a Final Rule on the Fiscal Recovery Funds (FRF) established within the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), which was signed into law in early March last year. The Act established a $20 billion set aside for Tribal Governments within the FRF, which was intended to aid in the ongoing impacts of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The Rule provides increased flexibility for Tribal Governments to spend the $20 billion set aside for a broader range of uses and simplifies the guidance for governments. Some key provisions for Tribal Governments within the Rule include: • Public Health and Economic Impacts - The Final Rule clarifies that recipients can use funds for capital expenditures that support an eligible COVID-19 public health or economic response. As examples, Treasury has stated that FRF recipients can use funds to build certain affordable housing, childcare facilities, schools, hospitals, and other projects consistent with the Final Rule. Tribal Governments are exempt from the requirement to complete a written justification for capital expenditures. • Expands the set of households and communities that are presumed to be “impacted” and “disproportionally impacted” by COVID-19: This allows FRF recipients to provide responses to a broad set of households and entities without requiring additional analysis. Households and communities served by Tribal governments are presumed to be disproportionally impacted communities, which allows Tribal Governments to provide them with a wide range of services without requiring additional analysis. Examples of eligible uses of FRF funds include, but are not limited to the following— o Cash and food assistance; o Health insurance coverage expansion and paid sick and family leave; o Financial services for the unbanked and underbanked; o Affordable housing development and permanent supportive housing; o Childcare; o Early learning services;
o Addressing learning loss for K-12 students; and o Improvements to vacant or abandoned property.
• Small Business Assistance: Small businesses operated by Tribal governments, or on Tribal Lands, are also presumed to be disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19
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