CARES Act funds for Washington’s school districts
The CARES Act (one of the federal relief bills) included a $30.75 billion education stabilization fund. Of that, Washington received $216.9 million for elementary and secondary schools. Districts will receive $195.2 million of that allocation. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has announced how much will go to each school district, based on an […]
12th of May 2020
88,570 paycheck protection loans have been approved for Washington businesses, and could more local news organizations become eligible?
Updated data from the Small Business Administration (SBA) shows that Washington businesses received $12.354 billion in loans through May 8 under the paycheck protection program. From May 1 to May 8, the number of loans to Washington businesses increased by 7,861 and their amounts increased by $352.7 million. As of May 8, the program has […]
8th of May 2020
Washington’s counties and cities will get $296.6 million of the state’s federal aid funds
The state Department of Commerce has announced how federal relief funds will be distributed to Washington’s local governments. Under the federal CARES Act, our state government received $2.167 billion in COVID-19-related aid. King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Spokane counties and the city of Seattle split another $786 million from the federal government. Of the $2.167 billion, […]
80,709 paycheck protection program loans have been approved for Washington businesses
The federal CARES Act included $349 billion for forgivable paycheck protection loans for businesses with fewer than 500 employees. That funding ran out on April 16, after 1.7 million loans had been made nationwide. A subsequent federal aid bill added $310 billion to the program. The Small Business Administration has released data on the approved […]
6th of May 2020
How Pierce County will use its federal aid funds
Pierce County is one of five local governments in Washington that was eligible for direct federal relief funds under the CARES Act, and it received about $158 million. The Pierce County Council has decided to use the funds for these purposes: $67 million for public health emergency response (including testing, virus surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine […]
28th of April 2020
Washington will give $300 million of federal relief funds to localities (and other federal allocations have been announced)
The CARES Act provided $2.953 billion for Washington and the counties and cities in our state that have populations over 500,000. (The table provides an estimate of how the funds will be allocated.) The funds must be used for new spending related to COVID-19 response. (Treasury has allowed some flexibility in the use of the […]
23rd of April 2020
CARES Act funds for state and local governments still cannot be used for revenue shortfalls
When the latest federal aid bill was passed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, it did not include additional funding for state and local governments. Sen. Schumer said, “We got a commitment from President Trump and [Treasury] Secretary Mnuchin that they will be able to use their state and local money to deal with revenue […]
17th of April 2020
Allocations for Washington from federal aid bill
The third federal aid bill (the CARES Act) includes funding for various programs in the states. Federal agencies have begun to release information on the allocation amounts by state: Governor’s emergency education relief fund: The U.S. Department of Education has announced how this $3 billion fund will be allocated. Washington will receive $56.8 million. Elementary […]
15th of April 2020
18,906 Washington small businesses have received paycheck protection loans
Yesterday the Small Business Administration (SBA) released some data on the paycheck protection program. The program offers forgivable loans to small businesses, and it was funded with $349 billion in the third federal aid bill. Nationally, 1,035,086 loans have been made in the amount of $247.5 million. (The data is through April 13.) Loans made […]
Treasury releases more information on aid for state and local governments
This week Treasury released more information on the $150 billion relief fund for state and local governments. Treasury confirmed that the total allocation for Washington (state and qualifying local governments) is $2.953 billion. Eligible local governments are King County, Seattle, Pierce County, Snohomish County, and Spokane County. They must apply for the funds by April […]