This week's Illinois State Association of Counties (ISACo) News and Views e-newsletter includes a list of new public acts relevant to counties, provides an update regarding federal transportation infrastructure and budget resolution bills, reminds counties that August 31 is a key deadline for submitting relevant American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) reports, announces that federal census data will become available on August 12, conveys information about the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) eviction order for areas of substantial and high COVID transmission, reports on Governor Pritzker's announcement of a mask requirement for pre-K-12 schools and long-term care facilities, provides a link to the National Association of Counties' (NACo) comments on the Treasury's interim final rules for State and Local Fiscal and Recovery Funds, announces an upcoming NACo webinar opportunity, spotlights ISACo corporate partner Comcast and invites counties to join ISACo.

New Public Acts Relevant to Counties Signed into Law by the Governor

HB 121 - Work Authorization Status (P.A. 102-0233)

SB 273 - Public Funds Investment Act (P.A. 102-0285)

SB 294 - Wipes Labeling Act (P.A. 102-0286)

SB 317 - Illinois Promotion - Local Government (P.A. 102-0287)

SB 561 - PFAS Reduction Act (P.A. 102-0290)

SB 667 - Law Enforcement - Immigration (P.A. 102-0234)

SB 919 - Broadband Advisory Council Membership (P.A. 102-0247)

ISACo's updated Bills Approved by Both Chambers report is available via this link.

U.S. Senate Democrats Release Information about Transportation Infrastructure, Budget Resolution 

On August 9, 2021, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) issued a letter to his colleagues in the Senate Democratic Caucus outlining plans to consider a transportation infrastructure bill immediately followed by a Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Budget Resolution.  

Senators were unable to get an agreement to pass additional amendments for the transportation infrastructure bill. This includes the Cornyn/Padilla Amendment that would have allowed American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) funds to be used for infrastructure. The Senate is expected to pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA) by Tuesday morning.

Along with the letter, Majority Leader Schumer's office released a FY2022 Budget Resolution Agreement Framework. 

The full text of the initial FY2022 Budget Resolution is available via this link.

A one-page summary of the initial FY2022 Budget Resolution is available via this link.

It should be noted that the FY2022 Budget Resolution is not the budget bill itself but sets the table for a later bill focused on the remaining aspects of the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan. This later reconciliation bill could include $3.5 trillion in federal spending.   

August 31 Deadline for Counties to Submit ARP Reports

For the US Treasury American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) county funds, August 31, 2021, is the deadline for counties to submit both an Interim Report (all counties) and Recovery Plan Performance Report (counties with populations 250,000 and above). An important update is below:

Recovery Plan Performance Report Resources:  Treasury has released a template for the Recovery Plan Performance Report, which is required ONLY for counties above 250,000 population.  Treasury Department is hosting a technical webinar on the evidence and evaluation requirements for the Performance Plan on Wednesday, August 11 at 2:30PM CST.

To register, click here.

The webinar will cover evaluation basics including how to define evidence, how to identify evidence-based interventions, how to effectively implement such interventions, how to use evaluations to generate new evidence, resources that are available to assist jurisdictions in performing evaluations and related topics.

U.S. Census Bureau Releasing Redistricting Data on August 12

On Thursday, August 12, 2021, at noon (CST), the U.S. Census Bureau will hold a news conference to discuss the release of the first local level results from the 2020 Census. Additional information is available via this link.

CDC Issues Eviction Order in Areas of Substantial and High COVID Transmission

On Tuesday, August 3, 2021, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed an order determining that the evictions of tenants for failure to make rent or housing payments could be detrimental to public health control measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. This order will expire on October 3, 2021, and applies in counties experiencing substantial and high levels of community transmission levels of COVID-19.

Click on this link to view the official order.

Click on this link to view the full CDC press release.

Governor Pritzker Announces Mask Requirement for Pre-K-12 Schools, Long-Term Care Facilities, to Prevent Spread of Highly Transmissible COVID-19 Delta Variant

As COVID-19 infection rates across the state continue to increase and with a number of school districts not yet adopting CDC guidance on masking, on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, Governor JB Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike announced masks will be required for students, teachers and staff at pre-kindergarten-12th grade schools and daycares across the state. The new requirement formalizes CDC guidance released in July on universal masking for both unvaccinated and vaccinated people in schools.

The governor also announced his intent to require all state employees working in congregate facilities to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by October 4, 2021.  The state is informing the unions representing these employees of its intention to move forward with this requirement, which covers employees working in congregate facilities at the Department of Human Services (IDHS), Department of Veterans' Affairs (IDVA), Department of Corrections (IDOC) and the Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ). The state is also requiring universal masking in private long-term care facilities and strongly encourages owners of private facilities to join the state in adopting vaccination requirements.

Click on this link to view the full press release. 

NACo Submits Comments on Treasury’s Interim Final Rule for State and Local Fiscal and Recovery Funds

On July 16, NACo submitted comments on the U.S. Treasury’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) for the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal and Recovery Funds established under ARPA. Since the enactment of ARPA, America's counties have been working hard to develop implementation plans for utilization of the funds. Local governments are using these critical recovery funds to invest in public safety, vaccine distribution, housing, and rental assistance, local economic support, economic and workforce development, broadband expansion, social safety-net services, hospitality and tourism development and hazard pay for public employees.

Since the U.S. Treasury IFR was published, NACo surveyed its membership to identify outstanding questions on eligible uses, desired spending and implementation of the Recovery Fund. Over the last two months, NACo received over 1,000 questions, comments, recommendations and case studies from hundreds of counties across the country, which helped shape NACo’s comments submitted to the U.S. Treasury.

Click on this link to view the submitted comments.

Upcoming NACo Webinar

NACo has announced the following upcoming webinar opportunity:

Modernization of County Financial Operations – Key to Resiliency and Continuity

(Thursday, August 12, 2021, 1:00pm-2:00pm CST)

Accuracy and risk mitigation have long been the primary focus of finance operations, but it’s time to expand that horizon. County leaders can no longer afford to ignore inefficiencies around invoices and employee discretionary spend that are draining productivity in their organizations. Working in the finance department of a state or local government has always meant working under pressure. But now, when many are working from home, those pressures are greater than ever. Simply reducing a step here or automating a process there won’t deliver the far-reaching optimization that organizations need to succeed today and in the future. Now is the time for Counties to invest in the people, processes, and technology that will fuel their digital transformation. During this webinar SAP Concur will discuss how digitizing County finance operations can save money, increase productivity, and improve delivery of government services.

Click on this link to register for this event.

CORPORATE SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

 

This week's corporate partner spotlight highlights ISACo's partnership with Comcast.

Comcast Corporation is a global media and technology company with three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast Cable is one of the United States’ largest video, high-speed internet, and phone providers to residential customers under the Xfinity brand, and also provides these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation services to residential customers under the Xfinity brand. NBCUniversal is global and operates news, entertainment, and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures, and Universal Parks and Resorts. Sky is one of Europe’s leading media and entertainment companies, connecting customers to a broad range of video content through its pay television services.  It also provides communications services, including residential high-speed internet, phone, and wireless services.  Sky operates the Sky News broadcast network and sports and entertainment networks produce original content and has exclusive content rights. 

With more than 6,000 local employees, Comcast’s Greater Chicago Region (https://chicago.comcast.com) serves customers in central and northern Illinois, including the Chicago area, northwest Indiana, and southwest Michigan.

More information about the services provided by Comcast is available via this link.

Click on this link to learn more about the benefits and opportunities available through ISACo's Corporate Partner Program.

Become an ISACo Member!