DevelopOhio

If you were living your life fully in late December 2022, you can be excused for having missed a big deal in the world of the American Rescue Plan Act. Your “B-sides” authors, however, grew excited at the prospect of new eligible funding categories (i.e., additional buckets of use) for recipients’ ARPA allocations. For more, read the full article.

Federal energy policy is making many new incentives available for local governments to fund energy-related assets. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted in 2022, established a set of energy-related asset categories that are now being directly subsidized by the federal government. Under the IRA, nearly any advanced or renewable energy asset constructed by a local government is eligible for some kind of federal cash subsidy. For more, read the full article.

The eight states surrounding the Great Lakes have a new federal commission to “govern the economic and environmental challenges” they face, The Chronicle-Telegram reports. Proposed by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo), the Great Lakes Authority “will oversee Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York in trying to advance the Great Lakes,” the article reports. The authority “can use grants to fund workforce training, employment-related education, entrepreneurship, technology and business development in the eight states, as well as projects benefitting transportation, telecommunications and public infrastructure.” For more, read the full article.

With the U.S. Treasury’s January 2022 release of its Final Rule in the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, we began publishing this series of articles reviewing the lesser publicized aspects of that guidance (hence, the “B-sides” moniker). In this edition, we address the Treasury’s presumed eligible use of federal stimulus funding in the development of affordable housing, and the limited scope under which private, for-profit entities may receive transfers of ARPA funds to carry out such ends.  

For more, read the full article.

Much ballyhoo has accompanied the U.S. Treasury’s publication in January 2022 of its Final Rule in the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Local governments across the country are scrambling to deploy their stimulus funds in response to the pandemic, pay essential workers, provide government services, and invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. Buried in the Final Rule and its 403-page clarifying guidance is an express authorization to use funds to address vacant and abandoned buildings, including commercial and industrial structures.  

For more, read the full article.