Sisolak lists federal cash to Nevada to fight the pandemic

The Sisolak administration on Monday released documents laying out the CARES Act and other federal money Nevada has received to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The total is more than $2.5 billion in funding from a laundry list of programs, including an estimated $1 billion that will be distributed directly to entities including health care providers and other front line workers.

Local governments get a significant share of the direct CARES Act funding of $1.25 billion. But when their share was distributed, the state still had $687.5 million to spend through the Coronavirus Relief Fund. But that money comes with restrictions including that he cannot be used to backfill budget shortfalls. He said the state has used the money to support immediate public health responses and to respond to the secondary effects of the pandemic.

“These funds have proved incredibly valuable for Nevada’s response to the public health crisis,” he said.

But, unfortunately, he said they aren’t available to protect critical services for Nevadans. He said he is still calling on the federal government to provide more flexible funding going forward.