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Sen. Jeff Jackson: “We Just Spent $1.5 billion on COVID Relief in NC. Here’s One Sentence on Each of the 47 Items”

The federal government has given North Carolina $3.5b to spend on COVID relief. In our first week back in session, we spent $1.5b of it.

There were 47 different items. Here’s a sentence on each one:

 

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

$70 million for government operations including unemployment office staff, overtime costs, and IT needs (much needed, as you know if you’ve tried to file a claim)

$300 million to local governments

$20 million to offset revenue losses for state agencies

$300 million to NCDOT to replace funds lost from a collapse in gas tax revenue that otherwise would have indefinitely delayed roughly 100 projects that often come with dramatic re-start costs (and several bridges were on the list)

 

K-12 SCHOOLS

$75 million for school breakfast and lunch programs. Parents can text FOODNC to 877-877 to locate nearby pick-up and drive-thru free meal sites while schools are closed.

$1 million to purchase extended-reach hotspots and install them in school buses

$11 million to provide community and home hotspots

$30 million to purchase computers for students

$5 million to purchase computers for school personnel

$4.5 million increase cybersecurity for schools

$10 million to provide mental health and physical health services for students

$70 million to provide supplemental summer learning programs for students

$1.488 million to expand remote instruction software for local schools

$3 million to provide non-digital remote instruction resources to students with limited internet access

$15 million in grants for schools which have had extraordinary costs associated with providing extended services to exceptional children

$660,029 for school nutrition, cleaning, and sanitizing, and digital and non-digital remote learning resources for the Morehead School for the Blind, Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf and North Carolina School for the Deaf

$5 million for a high quality, validated program, and student support for at-risk students

 

UNIVERSITIES AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES

$25 million for the community college system (with another $120 million from the federal government)

$44.4 million for the UNC system (with another $180 million from the federal government)

$20 million for private colleges

 

HEALTH CARE

$50 million for personal protective equipment

$15 million to the Duke University Human Vaccine Institute to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine

$29 million to UNC’s North Carolina Policy Collaboratory for vaccine and treatment research and community testing initiatives

$15 million to Brody School of Medicine at ECU to treatment research and community testing initiatives

$6 million to the Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine for a community and rural-focused treatment and testing

$20 million to Wake Forest University Health Services to expand its COVID-19 study on contact tracing and antibody testing

$20 million to DHHS to support local health departments, rural health providers, the State Laboratory of Public Health and behavioral health and crisis services

$6 million for the 6 food banks in NC – prioritizing purchasing food from NC farmers and vendors

$290,000 for the LINKS program, a foster care support program

$25 million for financial assistance for facilities licensed to serve Special Assistance recipients

$50 million to provide for health and critical services for rural and underserved communities

$5 million to free and charitable clinics

$1.5 million to offset costs for prescription assistance

$5 million to North Carolina Community Health Centers Association to cover some health services

$25 million to DHHS for expanding testing, contact tracing and trends tracking

$20 million to DHHS to provide behavioral health and crisis services

$19 million to DHHS to fund increases in food, safety, shelter and child care services

$1.8 million for rural and African American communities outreach, health education and testing

$65 million for grants to rural hospitals

$15 million for grants to teaching hospitals

$15 million for grants to general hospitals

$2.25 million for supplemental payments to foster care

$100,000 to reimburse Wake Forest University Health Services research

 

SMALL BUSINESS

$125 million for small business loans through the Golden Leaf Foundation (with restrictions to make sure those funds are *actually* going to small businesses)

OTHER

$9 million to to expand broadband access

$5 million for visit NC research and marketing

More soon,

 
Sen. Jeff Jackson