May 14, 2020

via email The Honorable James C. Justice Governor State of West Virginia 1900 Kanawha Boulevard East Charleston, WV 25305

Dear Governor Justice:

On April 21, 2020, Secretary Dave Hardy replied to a letter from Delegate Mick Bates, Minority Chair of the House Finance Committee, and said that CARES Act funds must be expended for necessary COVID-19 related expenditures, but that the Department of Revenue was still waiting for the issuance of these guidelines.

The next day, on April 22, 2020, the Federal Treasury did issue guidance to states about how they can use CARES Act monies.

Section Five, Point 1 of these guidelines states that the stimulus money may be used for “Expenses associated with the provision of economic support in connection with the COVID-19 public health emergency, such as: Expenditures related to the provision of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures.”

In Secretary Hardy’s letter, he also noted that the Governor has the express statutory authority to spend the funds without legislative appropriation pursuant to WV Code §4-11-6 which deals with Federal funds made available to the state for costs and damages resulting from occurrences declared by the Governor as a state of emergency.

In 2014, the House and Senate both passed HB 4175 unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Tomblin. This legislation, known as the “West Virginia Small Business Emergency Act,” helped small businesses through the economic hardships caused by the chemical spill in the Elk River. The bill provides a framework to the governor giving him wide latitude to distribute emergency relief funds for small businesses on a case-by-case basis whenever a state of emergency is declared.

That framework is still active in code. As such, the Democratic Caucus of the House Finance Committee respectfully requests that you immediately allocate a portion of the $1.25B that West Virginia has received but not yet used for our states’ coronavirus aid, relief, and economic security. That stimulus money is stimulating nothing by sitting in a bank account while our West Virginia small businesses are dying.

Sincerely,

Delegate , Jr. Delegate Jason Barrett Delegate Mick Bates Delegate Delegate Bill Hartman Delegate Linda Longstreth Delegate Dave Pethtel Delegate Larry Rowe Delegate Delegate John Williams

cc: Secretary Dave Hardy, Department of Revenue Mr. Brian Abraham, General Counsel to the Governor The Honorable , Speaker of the House The Honorable , House Minority Leader The Honorable Mitch Carmichael, Senate President The Honorable Roman Prezioso, Senate Minority Leader The Honorable , House Finance Committee Chair The Honorable Craig Blair, Senate Finance Committee Chair