The Relief and Economic Securities Act is designed to help Arizona blunt the economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Gov. Doug Ducey is planning to put federal cash given to the state for COVID-19 relief into the soon-to-be-insolvent unemployment trust fund to save companies from having to replenish the account on their own.
But unemployed Arizonans will have to continue to live on no more than $240 a week. Before taxes.
Daniel Scarpinato, the governor’s chief of staff, said his boss believes that the state’s $1.8 billion allocation from the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities Act is designed to help Arizona blunt the economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of that has gone directly to local governments, schools, the state health department and local hospitals.
He said, though, that the virus also has affected the unemployment rate, which is why the trust account from which jobless benefits are paid is going broke. And that, he said, makes it appropriate to use the CARES funds rather than put the burden on employers.
