More than $11.24 billion from the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund is set to go to the state of Texas and several of its cities and counties, according to guidelines the U.S. Department of the Treasury published this week based on U.S. Census Bureau population data.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act established the fund for states and also for governments with populations greater than 500,000 to cover expenses incurred due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

These governments must not have included these expenses in budgets they approved as of March 27. The timeframe for incurred expenses is between March 1 and December 30.

Texas cities and counties eligible for funds are:

●  Austin	●  El Paso County	●  Houston
●  Bexar County	●  El Paso	●  Montgomery County
●  Collin County	●  Fort Bend County	●  San Antonio
●  Dallas County	●  Fort Worth	●  Tarrant County
●  Dallas	●  Harris County	●  Travis County
●  Denton County	●  Hidalgo County	●  Williamson County

The amount of payments made to each state will be reduced by the aggregate amount of payments that will be disbursed to eligible local governments within that state that have provided the required certifications to Treasury.

Applications and certifications are due by 11:59 p.m. EST April 17 in order to receive funds within the 30-day period specified by the CARES Act.

More than 100 Texas mayors wrote to the state's Congressional delegation on April 15 seeking additional federal aid in response to the Coronavirus Relief Fund's population requirement that excluded cities with populations less than 500,000.

In their letter, which followed a similar April 13 letter from The United States Conference of Mayors to all members of Congress, the mayors sought passage of a fourth stimulus bill (HR 6467) introduced by Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo. The bill would appropriate $250 billion for direct fiscal assistance to local governments with populations below 500,000.

The mayors also encouraged the representatives to support a proposal to allocate $150 billion in funding to states and cities from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program that provides grants to help cities, counties, and states recover from Presidentially declared disasters, especially in low-income areas.

Mayors from Texas' larger cities expressed gratitude that their cities would receive assistance from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, but they requested the fourth bill correct the relief fund to allow their cities more flexibility in how they use the monies.

Among the mayors who signed the letter were Dallas' Eric Johnson, Houston's Sylvester Turner, Austin's Steve Adler, San Antonio's Ron Nirenberg, Arlington's Jeff Williams, and Fort Worth's Betsy Price.

Texas airports are set to receive more than $811.53 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Airport Grant Program, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced on April 14.

USDOT's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will deliver about $10 billion in CARES Act grants in April to eligible commercial and general aviation airports around the country affected by the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is set to receive the largest award of $299.2 million among the 210 Texas airports eligible for funding, followed by George Bush Intercontinental at $149.19 million. Houston's other airport, William P. Hobby, will receive $50.87 million while Dallas Love Field will get $53.81 million.

Austin-Bergstrom International will collect $58.74 million, and San Antonio will get $39.71 million.

Midland International Air and Space Port will receive $22.94 million, Harlingen's Valley International Airport will get $20.45 million, Laredo International will accept $18.51 million, Waco Regional will get $18.09 million, and El Paso International will receive $15.43 million.

Airports will be able to use the funds to support continuing operations and replace lost revenue resulting from the decline in passenger traffic and other airport business due to the pandemic. The funds are available for airport capital expenditures, airport operating expenses including payroll and utilities, and airport debt payments.

The CARES Act also provides funds to increase the federal share to 100 percent for grants awarded under the fiscal year 2020 appropriations for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) and Supplemental Discretionary grants. Under normal circumstances, AIP grant recipients contribute a matching percentage of the project costs.

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) is seeking competitive sealed proposals for the W-6 Upper Segment: Hwy 90 to SW Military Drive Sewer Main Project that will replace the existing sewer infrastructure that runs through Lackland Air Force Base.

 
Estimated project cost is $180 million. Proposals are due by 10 a.m. May 1.

SAWS anticipates awarding the contract and issuing a notice to proceed in July for the largest project in its Sanitary Sewer Overflow Reduction Program (SSORP).

Texas' gross domestic product (GDP) led the country as the fastest-growing among the states in 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction contributed the most to Texas' 4.4 percent GDP growth among industries included in the bureau's analysis of 2019. However, Texas' oil and gas extraction as well as manufacturing started to slow in the fourth quarter.

Washington achieved the largest increase in real GDP during the same period that saw the country's real GDP rise by 2.3 percent.

Nationally, utilities increased 23.3 percent and contributed to growth in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Retail trade increased 7.4 percent and finance and insurance rose 5.1 percent to contribute to growth in every state and the District of Columbia. Government increased 2.7 percent nationally and contributed to growth in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Members of the Baytown Hospitality Public Facilities Corporation approved a $63.6 million budget on April 9 for the Baytown Hotel-Convention Center Project on Bayland Island.

The conceptual development budget sets design-build hard costs at $27.63 million to construct a 208-key hotel and $14.3 million to build a 34,000-square-foot convention center.

City leaders said Baytown will contribute $21.1 million to the public-private partnership to finance construction of the convention center and private developers will put in $42.5 million for the hotel portion.

Baytown will issue bonds for $17.1 million and draw $4 million from the city's Hotel Occupancy Tax fund to pay for the convention center.

Construction is estimated to take 18 months.

UT Austin Health recently debuted a new home health monitoring service to assist doctors and health care practitioners with treating patients through telehealth technology.

The new platform remotely tracks the health of people with COVID-19 using the company's technology platform originally designed to monitor blood pressure and oxygenation of stroke patients.

Platform capabilities will support health care systems, government agencies, and employers in monitoring, evaluating risk, and providing real-time alerts to providers when escalation of care is required for patients with COVID-19.

In the vast majority of cases, the physical impact of COVID-19 is "mild to moderate." But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 21 percent to 31 percent of COVID-19 patients in the U.S. between February 12 and March 16 were hospitalized, with 5 percent to 12 percent being admitted to an intensive care unit.

Under the Home Health Monitoring program, people who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus may be provided with a digital thermometer that integrates into the platform. Users are prompted to answer questions about their symptoms and to record their temperature.

The program's algorithms then identify any rise in temperatures and worsening of symptoms that would require the attention of a medical professional. In that event, an alert is sent to the provider and the patient can be triaged for escalation of care, ranging from a call with their doctor for telehealth evaluation or a visit to the hospital.

In addition, a zero-touch, drive-through testing management system enables health care systems to track the results of patients tested for COVID-19 with the use of a scannable barcode.

The governor's Public Safety Office will provide $38 million to local governments from the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program for public safety use.

The $8.3 billion Emergency Appropriations for Coronavirus Health Response and Agency Operations Act signed into law in March established the program that is the source of these funds that local jurisdictions may use to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus.

Examples of permitted projects and purchases include overtime, equipment such as personal protective equipment (PPE), supplies, training, travel expenses, and addressing medical needs of inmates in local jails and detention centers.

Any other costs associated with the implementation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Guidance documents are eligible.

The Governor's Public Safety Office is composed of the Criminal Justice Division, Homeland Security Grants Division, and Child Sex Trafficking Team.

To register and apply for funding, jurisdictions may visit https://eGrants.gov.texas.gov.

The state of Texas will conduct an Emergency Preparation Supplies Sales Tax Holiday from April 25-27.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar is asking Texans to shop online or follow strict social distancing measures for in-store shopping during the sales tax holiday that starts at 12:01 a.m. April 25 and ends at midnight April 27.

Shoppers may purchase certain emergency preparation supplies tax free during the sales tax holiday. No limit will be applied to the number of qualifying items that may be purchased. Exemption certificates are not required in order to claim the exemption.

These emergency preparation supplies qualify for tax exemption if purchased for a sales price:

• Less than $3,000 - portable generators;
• Less than $300 - emergency ladders and hurricane shutters;
• Less than $75 - axes and hatchets, batteries, nonelectric can openers, carbon monoxide detectors, nonelectric coolers and ice chests for food storage, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, fuel containers, ground anchor systems and tie-down kits, reusable and artificial ice products, portable self-powered light sources such as candles, flashlights, and lanterns, mobile telephone batteries and mobile telephone chargers, portable self-powered radios including battery-operated, two-way, and weather band radios, smoke detectors, and tarps and other plastic sheeting.

The sale of emergency preparation supplies purchased online or by telephone, mail, custom order, or any other method other than in person qualifies for sales tax exemption when either the item is both delivered to, and paid for, by the customer during the exemption period; or the customer orders and pays for the item and the retailer accepts the order during the exemption period for immediate shipment, even if delivery is made after the exemption period.

Rice University researchers have created an interactive map showing all cases of COVID-19 across Texas by using public health data from the Texas Department of State Health Services and a health care data provider.

The Center for Research Computing's Spatial Studies Lab developed the map that updates automatically on a daily basis at www.coronavirusintexas.org.

It includes cases by county as well as the number of people tested across the state, current hospital bed use rate, and the numbers of staffed beds and intensive care beds in Texas hospitals.

Project leaders said the team is working on another layer to add to the map to show the number of available nurses. They also created interactive maps of COVID-19 cases in Brazil and Lebanon.

A Texas vendor reported a phishing email received April 13 claiming to come from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The message had the subject "The State of Texas Contract RFQ 2020" and asked the recipient to click on a link to review a purchase order. This email did not originate from the Comptroller's office, and agency officials believe it is an attempt to steal login credentials, products, or personal and financial information fraudulently from the vendor. 

Additional information may be found on the Comptroller's Fraud Alert page.