by Senator Lyman Hoffman
Good morning,
Today is day ninety-five, the Legislature is trudging along at a snail’s-pace! In the meantime, the sun has finally made an appearance. This week the Senate Finance committee heard and worked on the following bills, SB 71: Council on the Arts, Plates and Manage Art, SB 20: Out of State Teacher Reciprocity, SB 55: Employer Contributions to PERS, SB 10: Free/Reduced Tuition for Essential Workers, SB 101: Advisory Commission on Federal Management Areas, SB 25: State Government Finance Website, and SB 88: State Insurance Catastrophe Reserve account.
SB 71, SB 20, and SB 55 moved out of the Finance committee and is awaiting scheduling to come before the full Senate.
The Senate Community& Regional Affair committee heard and worked on the following bills, SB 72: Secondary School CIVICS Education, SB 81: Village Public Safety Officer Grants, SB 46: Law Enforcement Registry, Use of Force, and SJR 13: Improve Broadband Internet Access. SB 72 moved out of committee and has been referred to the Senate Finance committee.
The Senate Special Committee on World Trade held a joint meeting with the Senate Resource committee receiving a presentation on the Barriers to Global Seafood Trade by the At-Sea Processors Association.
FEMA Assistance for COVID-19-Related Funeral Expenses
Under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun processing applications for funeral assistance through its call center. There is no online application portal. Applicants may apply by calling 844-684-6333 (TTY: 800-462-7585) from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. Multilingual services are available. To be eligible for funeral assistance, applicants must meet the following conditions:
•The death must have occurred in the United States and funeral expenses must have been incurred after Jan. 20, 2020.
•The applicant must be a U.S. citizen, noncitizen national or qualified alien. There is no requirement that the deceased be a U.S. citizen.
•The death certificate must indicate the death was attributed to COVID-19.
SB 81 – Village Public Safety Officers Grant (Sen. Olson) Thursday April 29th in Community Regional Affairs public testimony will be heard on SB 81. SB 81 recommends nine short term changes to the current VPSO program. Call in number to testify— 1-844-586-9085
1. Update VPSO Statutes to provide clear public safety vision and mission with clear law enforcement duties and powers
2. Create more financial flexibility for the VPSO grantee organizations
3. Restore VPSO funding levels to FY 18 levels
4. Fund unfunded mandates
5. Pay grantee organizations their full indirect costs.
6. Move grant management to DCCED
7. Maintain operational advisory, training, and experience requirement oversight at the Department of Public Safety
8. Create a Tribal/Grantee organization consultation process before the Department can change training and experience requirements. (Grandfathering prior VPSO’s)
9. Revise current VPSO regulations in statute in order to operationalize the VPSO program and to facilitate the grant management moving to DCCED
