Today, Nevada Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee agreed to allocate more than $96 million in federal grant funding to implement a comprehensive community-based testing, laboratory analysis, and contact tracing plan to manage and limit the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
“As Nevada’s economy reopens, it is critical that we test, analyze, and trace COVID-19 to ensure the health and safety of Nevadans and visitors to our state,” said Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson. “The funding allocated at IFC today will support our state-managed and locally executed response to COVID-19 – and make sure our state can continue to safely reopen and stay open during the pandemic.”
“The money allocated at today’s IFC meeting will help Nevada modernize and streamline case investigation and contact tracing of COVID-19,” said Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro. “With increased staffing to identify and notify those who might have come into contact with COVID-19, we will be able to better protect Nevadans and visitors as our state re-opens.”
The funds are part of the CARES Act, a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Funding, as well as reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance Program.
Approving the funds will support a strategy approved by Governor Sisolak for local, statewide, and tribal efforts to safely reopen Nevada’s economy – and keep it open.
The Interim Finance Committee (IFC) is composed of members of Nevada’s Senate Committee on Finance and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means from the preceding session. IFC functions within the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB) and administers a contingency fund set up to provide provisional funds for state agencies when the Legislature is not in session, in the “interim” between sessions.
For more information about the Nevada Legislature, visit their website: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/
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