GovWin SLED Coronavirus Recon

General

• (South Carolina) SC gov. extends state of emergency to continue state’s response to COVID-19
  • South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has extended the state of emergency another 15 days during the coronavirus pandemic.
• (Massachusetts) Baker Provides Updates on State’s Response to COVID-19
  • Governor Baker said that more than 540,000 tests have been performed in Massachusetts, and the state “remains a top 5 player” per capita in the country for testing. He said that they are looking to bring more mobile and site based vendors to the state to increase testing even further.
• New York City, once the U.S. epicenter of coronavirus, eyes June reopening
  • Officials in New York City, which was once the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus, are making plans to lift restrictions as the number of new cases there levels off.
• Georgia Gov. Kemp renews state of emergency; rolls out opening dates for more businesses
  • Governor Brian Kemp laid out Georgia's plan to reopen more businesses while maintaining social distancing and continuing its fight against COVID-19.
• (Virginia) Following months of workplace complaints, Northam proposes on-the-job safety rules for COVID-19
  • Gov. Ralph Northam has directed the state labor commissioner to develop emergency workplace regulations addressing on-the-job safety concerns that have prompted thousands of employee complaints since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
• Study says Houston will be hardest-hit city in Texas by COVID-19
  • A new report from Rice University's Kinder Institute shows that the city of Houston will be the hardest hit city in Texas by the coronavirus pandemic. That means city leaders will need to make tough choices in the future that could ultimately affect city services and pensions.
• More measures to keep COVID-19 infections low announced in Montana as restrictions are eased
  • In an attempt to provide enough health security to ramp up to the next stage of reopening Yellowstone, the park is participating in a surveillance testing pilot project. “Park County, Montana, health officials have begun testing frontline employees and partners with 50 tests this week (viral, not antibody tests),” the agency said.
• (Iowa) Rep. Axne tracks more than $9B in COVID-19 response efforts in Iowa with new data tool
  • U.S. Representative Cindy Axne has launched a data tracker to provide accountability for state and local federal agencies to provide a detailed account of COVID-19 response efforts
  • Axne has tracked more than $9 billion meant for Iowa families and communities
• Ige To Extend For Mainland, International Travelers Beyond June 30
  • The governor says a mandatory, 14-day quarantine for mainland and international travelers will be extended beyond June 30. The decision effectively rules out a reopening of the tourism industry by July 1 — a date some had eyed as possible given the state’s low number of new COVID-19 cases.

Funding & Economic Impact

• (Hawaii) County to spend federal funds on COVID-19 plans
  • Maui County plans to spend the $66.6 million it’s receiving in federal relief funds on social services, protective equipment, the construction of quarantine sites and other needs to help the county combat and recover from COVID-19.
• (Michigan) Whitmer calls on federal government to prioritize funding for states
  • Governor Gretchen Whitmer called on the federal government to prioritize funding for states during the coronavirus pandemic.
• (Pennsylvania) $25.8 billion short-term state budget approved by General Assembly
  • The state General Assembly sent the governor a $25.8 billion spending plan intended to provide funding to run most government agencies for five months, as state leaders push off long-term decisions while trying to get a better sense of how bad the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic will be.
  • In addition, lawmakers approved a plan to spend $2.6 billion in federal stimulus funding to help the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• (California) County releases details on $97M in Covid costs
  • Santa Clara County has released a detailed account of its pandemic-related spending; county finance director has identified 2,300 expenditures from at least seven different departments
• (Colorado) Colorado’s $30.3 billion coronavirus-sickened state budget explained in 10 numbers
  • The state budget includes a $200 million IOU for unspecified legislation that will eliminate tax breaks or raise fees, leaders said

Higher Education

• Higher Ed Groups Write to Congress for COVID-19 Liability Protections to Colleges
  • The American Council on Education and dozens of other groups representing higher education institutions wrote to Congress on Thursday urging the quick enacting of temporary and targeted liability protections related to the COVID-19 pandemic for colleges and universities.
• California college students fear pandemic will derail graduation, new poll shows
  • An Education Trust poll found 77% of college students nationally and 75% of California students had concerns about staying on track to graduate because of the coronavirus. This is just the first glimpse into how students are feeling about online learning and keeping them on track.
  • With students extending their tenure at college this could give the university more money in tuition, cost the government more in financial aid, and hurt the university’s reputation on graduation rates and job success.

K-12 Education

• (California) Cash-strapped Bay Area school district braces for cuts in state funding
  • West Contra Costa Unified School District was already spending beyond its means prior to COVID-19, and now has an estimated deficit of $48 million by 2022.
• (Michigan) Whitmer: Congress can prevent deep cuts; K-12 is priority
  • Governor Whitmer says that protecting K-12 funding is her priority as Michigan seeks federal bailout to avoid steep spending cuts during the pandemic
• (Oklahoma) K-12 school budget built on one-time funding
  • Board members were informed that the state appropriation for schools in the 2020-2021 school year includes $73.1 million redirected from the state teachers’ retirement system, $38.8 million redirected away from state law enforcement and firefighter pension systems, $180 million redirected from a state transportation fund, $30 million taken from medical marijuana sales, and $243.6 million from the Constitutional Reserve Fund (the state’s “rainy day” savings fund).
• Philly schools avoid budget cuts despite COVID-19 economic pain
  • Philadelphia’s Board of Education unanimously passed a $3.5 billion budget for the 2020-21 school year without making any drastic budget cuts.
  • That counts as a small victory for the School District of Philadelphia, which just a month ago thought it would have a budget hole of nearly $40 million dollars for the upcoming fiscal year.
• Secretary DeVos Approves First Wave of Perkins Career and Technical Education State Plans
  • U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the Department of Education has approved six career and technical education (CTE) state plans. Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire are the first six states to have their CTE plans approved under the new, bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V), which was signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on July 31, 2018.
  • CTE programs are a huge initiative for schools, states, and cities to ensure students are employable and are something likely to increase activity with the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Health Care

• (New York) Schumer, Gillibrand announce nearly $3.5 million in federal funding for telehealth services
  • U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced $3,460,645 in federal funding to provide telehealth services for New Yorkers affected by the coronavirus outbreak. The seventh set of telehealth funding was allocated through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) COVID-19 Telehealth Program as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
• Senator Proposes $20B to Help Long-Term Care Facilities Create COVID-19 Cohorts
  • U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) is calling for increased funding to help long-term care facilities and nursing homes better cohort patients with the virus, while also managing the costs of testing and personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Oregon is hiring dozens of contact tracers, skill set is hard to find
  • All but two Oregon counties have started to ease coronavirus restrictions. To join the rest of the state, Washington and Multnomah counties are rushing to hire dozens of people to work as contact tracers.

Social Services 

• As unemployment fraud spreads, Washington state recovers $300M
  • The Washington Employment Security Department announced Thursday it recovered $300 million in funds fraudulently diverted by scammers, while many jobless workers affected by business closures during the COVID-19 pandemic wait for assistance. The department also reported that the number of initial unemployment claims it received for the week of May 17 declined 65 percent from the previous week.
• (Wisconsin) More than 25-percent of child care providers in the state expected to shut down permanently
  • With tighter regulations, rising expenses and low enrollment numbers during the pandemic, some child care facilities will have to shut their doors permanently.
  • The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families says even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the state was already in the midst of a child care crisis with how many centers were available, and now they say more than a quarter of them will end up closing.
• As unemployment fraud spreads, Washington state recovers $300M
  • As a wave of unemployment fraud slows the ability of states to deliver funds to legitimate claimants, Washington state reports that recent tweaks to its systems are helping it reclaim stolen money and process claims faster.
• (Ohio) 'This is unacceptable': Ohio's unemployment system overwhelmed by COVID-19 closures
  • Currently, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is answering less than 40% of calls, and just 42% of unemployment compensation claims are processed within 21 days
• 2.1M more Americans file for unemployment, bringing 10-week total to more than 40 million amid coronavirus
  • About 2.1 million Americans filed initial unemployment benefit claims last week, the Labor Department said Thursday
• California’s Employment Development Department Hiring 1800 To Process Unemployment Claims
  • The department is hiring both full- and part-time staff to help others impacted by the public health crisis. As of May 16, the EDD processed more than 5 million unemployment claims and paid more than $16 billion in benefits to workers since the pandemic began.

Justice/Public Safety

• Ford’s Latest Tech Helps Police Vehicles Neutralize COVID-19
  • Ford has designed a new heated software enhancement to pilot with its Police Interceptor Utility — one that law enforcement agencies across the country can utilize to help reduce the footprint of the COVID-19 virus.

Transportation

• (Texas) TX: Auditors paint a grim financial forecast for San Antonio's VIA bus service, expansion
  • VIA faces a deficit of $126 million over the next five years, even including the $93 million it will receive this year in federal stimulus funds through the CARES Act.
• (California) CA: BART financial future: 'Balanced but precarious'
  • Officials have settled on a plan they call "balanced but precarious" and despite challenges and unknowns, the budget introduced Thursday has support from the majority of the board.
• (Pennsylvania) PennDOT estimating nearly $1 billion in revenue losses due to COVID-19 shutdowns
  • The COVID-19 pandemic could end up having a massive impact on Pennsylvania's infrastructure. Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) estimate nearly $1 billion in losses. The total estimated dollars lost are based on an impact into late summer.

Public Utilities

• Rethinking utility customer engagement in trying times
  • Stay-at-home orders across the U.S. are creating a unique situation for energy providers. While overall energy usage is down with many non-essential businesses still closed, residential usage is up nearly 20%, especially at peak hours, raising consumers' energy bills.

Natural Resources/Environment            

• (Wyoming) Yellowstone To Open Montana Entrances June 1; Wyoming Entrances Already Open
  • Yellowstone says COVID-19 mitigation efforts are being implemented in the park and include: providing additional protective barriers where needed, encouraging the use of masks or facial coverings in high density areas; metering visitor access in certain locations; increasing cleaning frequency of facilities; adding signage on boardwalks and other public spaces; and messaging to visitors through a variety of methods.