PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island is on track to spend every dollar of the state’s $1.25 billion slice of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds, and before the Dec. 30 deadline, said Gov. Gina M. Raimondo Tuesday during her weekly coronavirus press conference.
On Monday evening, Congress passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package after a months-long debate about what such a bill would include. After pleading from states to extend the deadline to spend states’ original stimulus funds, Congress did so Monday.
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However, Rhode Island won’t likely need the extension as the state has already spent or allocated all of our CARES Act funds.
Rhode Island’s $1.25 billion was spent on six main categories throughout the pandemic so far, including its COVID-19 health response, business and economic support, individual support, education support, municipal support and COVID-19 related state government operations.
The governor said one of the most challenging aspects of the pandemic is that it has impacted almost every part of daily life and the economy. However, she said the state could not distribute this money with only one angle in mind as health care workers needed personal protective equipment, school leaders needed the support to continue in-person learning and small businesses owners, many of whom were forced to shut down, needed economic support.
Of the $130 million the state has spent on the health response to combat COVID-19, $23 million was spent on the alternative hospital sites, $6 million was spent on contract tracing and case investigations, $24 million on personal protective equipment, $33 million on testing and $44 million on community mitigation and other direct health care responses.
These funds are in addition to Federal Emergency Management Agency funds that the state has used to support these efforts.
In addition, the state also spent $489 million on business and economic support. The governor said about half of that went to hospitals to ensure that they were able to keep their doors open during the peak of the crisis when revenues were down and COVID-19 hospitalizations were increasing.
Nearly $125 million, or 10% of the state’s stimulus, was spent to support local businesses, which Raimondo said she was most proud of. These funds were dispersed through grants such as the Take It Outside campaign, the Pause grants, Restore RI, and the HArT relief program designed for hospitality, arts and tourism organizations, among others. Most of these grants were administered by R.I. Commerce Corp.
Raimondo said Rhode Island spent more than five times as much as Connecticut and more than 15 times as much as Massachusetts on small business relief.
“But I will be the first to say that it’s not enough,” said Raimondo. “Survival is the name of the game.”
She added, “I know it’s cold comfort to say that we’ve done better than other states.”
On Monday, Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor told Providence Business News that the state’s small-business grant programs rolled out throughout the pandemic were a success, but acknowledged that there is “more to do” to help struggling small businesses.
The governor’s press conference comes as the Rhode Island Coalition of Wedding and Event Professionals rallied on Francis Street in Providence outside of the Veterans Memorial Auditorium where the Raimondo was speaking. They demanded Raimondo to release any leftover CARES Act money to small businesses alongside Lt. Governor Dan McKee.
The coalition was joined by other small business owners and advocates, including Chris Parisi, who leads the R.I. Small Business Coalition, and Rick Simone, the president of the Federal Hill Commerce Association.
On Dec. 18, McKee’s office allegedly sent a letter to Stephen Kavanagh, director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs in the governor’s office, to urge the administration to publicly share its plan to ensure all CARES Act funds allocated for small business relief were equitably distributed to businesses before the Dec. 30 deadline.
“It would be unacceptable to allow these funds to expire or be reallocated away from struggling small businesses,” said McKee in a statement by his office.
PBN could not confirm if Kavanagh received the lieutenant governor’s letter.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com. You may also follow her on Twitter at @AlexaGagosz.
