Unspent COVID relief funds to be used for infrastructure, disaster relief

AUSTIN (KXAN) – On Friday, U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) said the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act was signed into law.

Cornyn said the law would provide additional flexibility to spend Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds on improvements such as infrastructure investments and disaster relief.

“Under this legislation, the cap on how much of the COVID money can be spent on these new purposes would be the greater of $10 million or 30% of the funds,” Cornyn said.

The bill for the law was first introduced by Cornyn in October 2021.

“It’s been almost three years since COVID-19 brought the country to a halt, and now state and local governments need the flexibility to spend unused pandemic funds on critical projects before they expire,” Cornyn said. “I’m grateful to my House and Senate colleagues for pushing this legislation across the finish line, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have for communities across Texas.”