Governor Signs COVID Funding Bill

Declaring it a “happy day,” Gov., DeWine signs legislation…directing about $2.2 billion dollars in federal COVID-19 relief to children’s behavioral healthcare, water and sewer infrastructure projects, local government budgets and paying off the state’s unemployment insurance loan. The bill allocates all but $500 million dollars of Ohio’s first payout from the American Rescue Plan Act, with decisions yet to be made on how the rest will be spent. It includes $84 million for pediatric behavioral health initiative, $250 million for water and sewer infrastructure, $422 million for more than 2,000 local governments and roughly $1.5 billion to repay a federal loan that shored up the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.