COVID-19 Relief Funds: State Experiences Could Inform Future … – Government Accountability Office

What GAO Found

Budget office staff in eight states told GAO they worked with state legislatures, agencies, and other stakeholders to plan the use of COVID-19 relief funds. While budget staff said state legislatures typically were responsible for appropriating the funds, some legislatures allowed state officials to make or change plans when the legislatures were not in session. Budget staff in selected states said they were generally responsible for implementing newly created programs, while state agencies implemented pre-existing programs. Staff also said they used existing structures and processes to implement the funds, such as those for natural disasters or reimbursement. According to state auditors, selected states used existing processes to mitigate fraud and improper payments.

State budget staff told GAO they used a variety of actions to address challenges when planning, using, and reporting on the COVID-19 relief funds.

GAO identified several experiences from the selected states that could inform future federal relief.

The federal government provided over $4.6 trillion to help the nation respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. A substantial portion of that amount went to state governments, which had to manage the influx of federal relief and quickly determine priorities to respond to the public health and economic emergency.

The CARES Act includes a provision for GAO to conduct monitoring and oversight of the use of funds made available to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. This report describes (1) how selected states planned for, used, and reported on COVID-19 relief funds; (2) challenges selected states experienced in using COVID-19 relief funds and any actions taken to address those challenges; and (3) how the experiences of the selected states could inform future federal relief funding.

This report is part of a series of reports on COVID-19 relief funds to the states. GAO reviewed previously issued reports on individual COVID-19 relief programs. GAO also interviewed federal agency officials who implemented COVID-19 relief programs that received $10 billion or more for Tribes, states, localities, and U.S. territories.

GAO reviewed plans for the use of the COVID-19 relief funds for eight statesCalifornia, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washingtonand interviewed staff from state budget offices and auditor offices. GAO selected these states based on total COVID-19 relief funding, population size, and geographic region.

For more information, contact Jeff Arkin at (202) 512-6806 or arkinj@gao.gov.

Read more:

COVID-19 Relief Funds: State Experiences Could Inform Future ... - Government Accountability Office