The offices of U.S. Representatives Antonio Delgado and Lee Zeldin, along with U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have proposed new legislation to provide "local governments with direct federal relief that can be used to pay for essential services and offset lost revenues and increased costs from the COVID-19 emergency," according to a statement released May 7. Under the Direct Support for Communities Act, the local relief fund would be split 50/50, half committed to cities, towns and villages, and half committed to counties. Of the portion allocated for municipalities, 70 percent would go to Community Development Block Grant entitlement communities. The remaining 30 percent of would be sent to the states, which would be required to distribute the entire amount to all non-entitlement communities based on population. The emergency fiscal assistance for counties would be distributed across all counties based on population. “Upstate New York is facing an urgent, immediate funding crisis. Our counties and municipalities are laying off employees and the lack of funding going directly into local communities is jeopardizing the livelihood of our first responders, our emergency medical services, cops, teachers and more. We need to provide local government with funding expediently and I am glad to introduce a bipartisan, bicameral solution,” Delgado said. Read the full press release at binghamtonhomepage [dot] com.