Governor Mark Gordon has added a dedicated page to the Wyoming Sense budget transparency website that illustrates how CARES Act funds are being distributed.
As of August 6, the Governor has allocated more than $710 million of the $1.25 billion in federal funds Wyoming was provided by Congress to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CARES Act spending page breaks down spending into nine categories: Economic/Business Relief ($327.3M); Education Resilience ($110.5M); Broadband and Communications Infrastructure ($100M); Testing and Contact Tracing ($60M); Unemployment and Workers Compensation ($42.2M); Local Governments ($35.9M); Eviction Prevention and Support ($15M); State Agencies COVID Response ($12.2M); and Judicial and Legislative Branches ($7M).
During a Special Session in May, the Wyoming Legislature provided guidelines as to how that money can be spent, splitting the funds into three disbursements. The first, amounting to $450 million, was available for allocation on May 25. The second, amounting to $400 million, was available for allocation on July 15. The third, amounting to another $400M, will not become eligible for allocation per legislation until September 15.
The Web page will be updated regularly as additional funds are allocated.