GovWin SLED Coronavirus Recon

General

• 'Speed is expected' in government's post-coronavirus IT projects
  • Some stakeholders say the virus has permanently proved the “normal way” of administering long-term IT projects is obsolete, and that IT projects can actually be done quickly, remotely and efficiently.

Funding & Economic Impact 

• (Texas) Council approves $6.9M in agreements for remaining RISE funds
  • City Council gave nearly $6.9 million to 12 social services organizations, the remainder of the %15 million Relief in a State of Emergency (RISE) fund
• (Georgia) Financial pain from COVID-19 hits Georgia health agencies, hospitals
  • Sizable chunks continue to be taken out of the budgets of hospital systems and government health programs
• (Utah) Utah lawmakers prepare to cut state budget, use 'rainy day fund' later
  • State agencies were asked to submit plans outlining spending cuts anywhere from 2%, 5%, and 10%
  • Governor Stevenson recommends taking precautionary measures before accessing the state’s rainy day fund
• (Illinois) Illinois’ governor dismisses expense cuts as lawmakers continue crafting pandemic era budget
  • Governor Pritzker isn’t willing to cut spending, but instead wants to continue borrowing money to keep spending levels steady
• Analysts: COVID-19 economic impact on Montana worse than initially thought
  • Experts are reporting Montana's economy will be worse than initially thought due to coronavirus. Experts initially predicted a loss of about 50,000 jobs in the Treasure State this year; now that's up to 75,000. They predicted personal income will be down by $4 billion; now that's up to over $6 billion.
• Gov. Little to leverage COVID-19 federal relief funds for Idaho cash flow management
  • For first time in 38 years, the Idaho state government won’t borrow money to support cash flow. Governor Little announced Thursday his approval for a recommendation from his Coronavirus Financial Advisory Committee to leverage federal relief funds for cash management.
• (Maine) State gets $52.7 million in federal funding to expand COVID-19 response
  • More than $50 million in federal money will help Maine offer more COVID-19 testing from US CDC.
  • It will go towards expanding state and rural hospital lab capacity.
  • Some of it will also be spent on additional drive-through testing sites around Maine.
• (Wisconsin) Officials call for funding extension, continued COVID-19 aid from National Guard troops: ‘This is important’
  • The Wisconsin National Guard has 25 different teams spread out across the state currently, totaling roughly 1,400 service members on duty, to aid in COVID-19 response efforts.
  • The funding to cover those costs is coming from the federal government right now. On Thursday, May 21, Wisconsin's democratic congressional delegation urged President Donald Trump to extend that funding for a little while longer.
• Rhode Island hires $20,000-a-month DC lobbying firm to help secure COVID-19 funding
  • Gov. Gina Raimondo’s administration has hired a leading Washington lobbying firm to press Rhode Island’s case as Congress and the Trump administration steer billions of dollars to states to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To avoid 'catastrophic cuts,' Louisiana could use $1B in federal funds to balance budget
  • Louisiana state lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration found common ground as they started moving the state budget Thursday, with a House committee largely agreeing to the governor's proposal to use nearly $1 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds to stave off “catastrophic cuts.”
• New Mexico gets $77M for testing, tracing
  • New Mexico will receive $77.3 million in federal government funding for COVID-19 testing and contact-tracing efforts, the state's five congressional representatives announced.
• Missouri to ramp up COVID-19 testing but who’s paying for it?
  • State officials hope to complete about 7,500 coronavirus tests daily. During a briefing, Gov. Mike Parson says the plan will focus on three main testing strategies – box-in outbreaks, sentinel testing, ad community sampling.
• (Delaware) Virus impact on state revenue may be less than feared
  • New estimates show that the coronavirus epidemic’s impact on Delaware’s government coffers may not be as bad as officials initially feared.
• California To Spend $1.8 Billion More On Coronavirus Response
  • Gov. Newsom has taken an extra $1.8 billion to pay for more protective gear and extra hospital beds to aid the state’s response to the coronavirus.
• Oregon Projected To Lost $10.5 Billion Over Next Five Years
  • Oregon economists say the COVID-19 pandemic could hit hard across the state in the coming years.

Procurement

• Counties say IT spending remains a priority as budgets run dry
  • County officials from around the U.S. are saying that technology purchases helping their governments function remotely remain one of the most pressing investments, even as they stare into an abyss of depleted revenues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Florida made $283 million in deals because it feared COVID-19
  • Gov. Ron DeSantis has chastised the media for quoting public health modelers who predicted the state would run out of hospital bed space if he didn’t issue a state-wide stay-home order in April. But the governor’s emergency managers, using those same models, were so concerned they would run out of space that they signed $283 million in no-bid deals to build alternative hospitals to hold the overflow, a Times/Herald analysis has found.

Higher Education

• CARES Act: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund
  • The US Department of Education issued a statement regarding HEERF and its guidance. The Department has stated on its guidance portal that “guidance documents lack the force and effect of law.” In addition, the Department reiterates its guidance that emergency financial aid grants under Section 18004(c) of the CARES Act may only be awarded based on eligibility in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, but emphasizes that that guidance is specific to the distribution of emergency financial aid grants. This does not apply to the use of HEERF institutional allocations to cover any costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus.
  • The Department also stated that it continues to consider the issue of eligibility for HEERF emergency financial aid grants under the CARES Act and intends to take further action shortly.
• (Colorado) Uncertainty Looms As CU System Prepares Budget For New Fiscal Year
  • CU regents decided that student fees and tuition rates will remain largely unchanged but is also facing a proposed 58 percent cut to higher education funding, a $493 million decrease approved by the state legislature’s Joint Budget Committee.
• Idaho’s Higher Education Earthquake?
  • Gov. Little’s budget contained a provision requiring universities to undertake “budget reduction” and “cost containment” meaning the legislature wants schools to prioritize reducing “administrative overhead” and to eliminate spending that is “not integral to each institution’s core instructional mission.”
  • This is directed at that “institutional support,” or administrative costs, are on the rise, citing Boise State University’s rise from 5.6 percent of BSU’s budget in 2004 to 8.8 percent in 2018, while the percentage of the budget dedicated to teaching has fallen from 32 percent to 26 percent in the same period.
• (California) UCs ditch the SAT and ACT — set out to make a “fairer” standardized test
  • The landmark decision reverses more than 50 years of the UC’s reliance on standardized tests to determine who gets into the vaunted public-university system, whose nine undergraduate campuses regularly appear on lists of the top institutions in the country. The decision also parts with the recommendations of the influential Academic Senate, which supported use of the SAT and ACT earlier in the spring.
  • This is likely going to happen throughout most of higher education this coming academic year, as well as coming years, with students facing cancelled SAT and ACT exams from COVID-19.

K-12 Education

• Colorado’s K-12 budget: Does COVID-19 suddenly make the unpalatable possible?
  • The prospect of school budget cuts the likes of which have not been seen since the Great Recession is reigniting longstanding debates about the way Colorado funds K-12 education.
• (Utah) State School Board recommends up to $382 million in budget cuts in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic
  • Utah schools will potentially be facing significant budget cuts, ranging from small trims to elimination of entire programs.
• Anne Arundel Board of Education reviews funding priorities for coronavirus pandemic response
  • Anne Arundel County public schools will apply for federal funding to help with recovery efforts in response to the pandemic and to aid school reopening plans in the fall.
• Coronavirus hurt NC school budgets. Now they’ll get $431 million in relief funds.
  • North Carolina public schools will soon get access to more than $431 million in federal aid to help them deal with costs related to the coronavirus pandemic.
• (North Carolina) Istation, mCLASS, or another tool? Districts will get to choose
  • State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson announced at the Board meeting that school districts will be able to use whatever K-3 reading diagnostic tool they want next year. This comes after a long period of strife over what diagnostic tool the state should be using.
• (Los Angeles, CA) LA Charter Schools Explore COVID-19 Relief Loans Aimed At Small Businesses
  • At least three Los Angeles charter schools have received money through a $660 billion federal loan program originally intended to help small businesses weather the coronavirus crisis since they’re eligible for the federal Paycheck Protection Program, or “PPP.”

Health Care

• (Virginia) Virginia Medicaid announces approval of emergency waiver for COVID-19
  • The Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services announced that it has received approval for an emergency waiver giving the Medicaid agency the authority to take additional steps to ensure access to care for its members and address priority needs identified by health care providers
• Honolulu Developing A Major Expansion Of COVID-19 Testing
  • The city is working with health centers across Oahu to expand testing in targeted communities, hoping to augment the state’s programs.
• Pennsylvania is combining results of different coronavirus tests. That could be a big problem
  • Pennsylvania is blending results from two entirely different types of coronavirus tests, an approach that boosts state testing numbers but that experts say can paint a skewed picture of COVID-19 infection rates, cases, and testing capacity.

Social Services 

• (Ohio) Personal data used in COVID-19 unemployment claims exposed in breach
  • Deloitte, which administers the program, notified the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) that about a dozen people were able to view other claimants’ data in that state
• COVID-19 Has Staggering Impact on Tennessee Unemployment
  • Newly released data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development revealed the state’s highest-ever unemployment rate amid the COVID-19 health emergency. The preliminary seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for April 2020 is 14.7%, which is an unprecedented spike of 11.4 percentage points when compared to March’s revised rate of 3.3%.
• 4 million Southern California jobs may be at risk because of coronavirus, report finds
  • Southern California faces a dire economic outlook over the next two years, with high unemployment rates expected to linger through 2021 and many more jobs at risk than unemployment data may suggest, according to two new reports.
• Unemployment Rate In Colorado Jumps To Record 11.3 Percent In April
  • As the state lost over 323,000 jobs due to the economic shutdown in response to the coronavirus outbreak, the largest job losses were in sectors including leisure and hospitality, education and health services, trade, transportation and utilities, professional and business services and construction sectors.

Transportation

• Nevada DMV releases reopening guidelines, but no date for reopening set
  • The DMV will only offer services that directly impact a person's ability to drive within 30 days of reopening. The DMV will only accept walk-in customers at that time and all previously held appointments have been canceled.
• South Carolina Department of Transportation could lose $293M over the next two years
  • State roads officials said that South Carolina is projected to miss out on $293 million in gas and car sale tax revenue over the next two years because motorists traveled less in the past few months amid the restrictions put in place to slow COVID-19’s spread.
• The 2020 Global Fleet Conference Will Be Hosted Online
  • The Global Fleet Conference will be presented this year in various digital formats through the month of June 2020, and with topics tailored to meet today’s needs under the title “Preparing for the New Normal.”
• Webinar: Remarketing Strategies to Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Automotive Fleet hosted its fifth webinar on the COVID-19 pandemic titled “Remarketing Strategies to Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which can now be viewed on demand.
• What’s normalizing first for transit? Fare collection
  • Suspending fares served as an added safety precaution on some systems, but with other safety enhancements in place and stay-at-home orders beginning to lift, fares are starting to return.

Public Utilities

• Tracking the impact of coronavirus on the US power sector (recently updated)
  • The U.S. power sector, like everything else, is experiencing an unprecedented disruption as a result of the novel coronavirus. Changes to utility operations, lost business for solar, storage and other vendors are among many industry concerns. Utility Dive will continue reporting the pandemic's impact and will regularly update this tracker with their reporting and other valuable resources.