Earlier I wrote that federal relief for Washington’s governments, businesses, and individuals now exceeds $100 billion. Some of the funding for governments is fairly flexible—for example, the coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds. I reviewed reporting by the most populous governments in Washington on how they are spending those funds here. Little had been spent by July 31, but the funds may be used through Dec. 2024.

Other buckets of federal relief to governments are earmarked for specific purposes—for example, rental assistance and funding for school districts. Program and administrative complexities are slowing down the flow of these funds in some cases. Route Fifty reports,

Many state and local governments had to design emergency rental programs from scratch and it took time for them to craft eligibility rules and find partner organizations to spread the word to tenants. Some programs also adopted more stringent rules than others, which has slowed down the process of vetting applicants and approving payments.

Because of the slow roll out of the rental assistance money Congress directed the U.S. Department of the Treasury to begin reallocating excess funds from the first tranche of emergency rental assistance (ERA1). Treasury has said that governments that have not obligated at least 65% of their grants must submit program improvement plans by Nov. 15, 2021. Then, if the plans are inadequate, 10% of the government’s ERA1 grants will be determined to be excess funds.

Additionally, governments that have not obligated 65% of their ERA1 grants and have expenditure ratios (how much is actually provided to households) under 30% “will be determined to have excess funds equal to the difference between its reported expenditures and the amount of expenditure needed to reach the 30% threshold.” (The threshold will increase by 5% each month.)

Treasury will redistribute any excess funds to higher performing governments. Any unobligated ERA1 grants as of March 31, 2022 will be considered excess funds.

According to data from Treasury, through August, many ERA1 recipients in Washington could be in danger of having funds clawed back. As the table shows, only Spokane County had distributed at least 65% of its award by the end of August (Pierce County and the city of Spokane were close). Whatcom, Kitsap, King, and Yakima counties all have expenditure ratios under 30%. Indeed, King and Yakima counties had not paid out any rental assistance through August.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Times reports that school districts in Washington have spent just $337 million of the $2.6 billion they have received from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. Further, “The U.S. Department of Education has held back hundreds of millions in aid to Washington until the state can provide a satisfactory plan to spend the latest aid package.”

As part of the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal government sent each state two-thirds of its ESSER III allocation. To get the remainder, states were required to submit a plan by June 7 describing how they will use the funds. Washington’s plan still has not been approved by the U.S. Department of Education. (Only nine other states are in the same boat.) According to the Times,

Marguerite Roza, a Seattle-based education finance professor at Georgetown University, said the state’s original application was “thin” on details compared with other states.

“We’re perplexed by Washington state,” said Roza, whose team has reviewed state applications across the country.

Under the law, for example, states are supposed to require school districts to submit detailed spending plans. In other states, like California and Missouri, the state education agency asked school districts to provide detailed descriptions — and dollar amounts. But in Washington state, OSPI only required districts to share strategies they would use to support students’ academic and emotional progress.

Finally, Stateline reported recently that some small towns have refused federal relief on account of the heavy administrative burden. (It’s not clear if any in Washington have done so.)