Reports

Since March 2020, the restaurant industry has been hit very hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mandatory closures, stay-at-home and social distancing orders, the onset of a severe economic recession, and travel restrictions have resulted in unprecedented upheaval for the industry. As a result, many restaurants and bars have closed or significantly reduced their operations. Since these establishments often operate on tight margins in the best of times, there are growing fears that many will be forced to close permanently if financial support is not forthcoming.

In March and April 2020, Congress passed four stimulus bills to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the public health system and the economy. As Congress debates additional relief measures, it is worth reviewing the targeting of the initial funding in order to inform new policy to counter the virus and its economic effects. In the third stimulus bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Congress appropriated $150 billion to the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) to provide direct funding to state and local governments. The use of CRF funds is restricted to...

This letter report identifies 18 state agencies that will each be responsible for managing a portion of the federal COVID‑19 funds. Before finalizing our determination to add this issue to the state high risk list, we notified the 18 responsible state agencies about our preliminary determination and invited them to provide their perspective on the issue. We received responses from 12 of the 18 state agencies, and we summarize those responses at the end of this letter.

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Among its provisions, the CARES Act provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas.This report presents the DOI’s progress as of July 31, 2020, in spending CARES Act appropriations. Specifically, the DOI’s expenditures to date total $502,312,984 and its obligations total $599,016,669.We are also monitoring the DOI’s progress on reporting milestones established by the CARES...

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) comments on the Wildland Fire Response Plans (WFRP) that were developed in order to more safely and effectively combat wildland fires during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of June 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

We intended to report on DOH’s contact tracing process, primarily to filter through the varying, confusing, and often conflicting information and to provide a clearer, objective, and up-to-date understanding of the department’s efforts. However, instead of cooperation and assistance, we encountered barriers, delays, and ultimately were denied access to those responsible for leading the department’s contact tracing: the Disease Outbreak Control Division (DOCD) Chief and the Disease Investigation Branch (DIB) Chief, who recently took over that task.

The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) and the General Services Department (GSD) issue this Risk Advisory to alert all governmental entities, including school districts, throughout the State of New Mexico of risks related to the management and expenditure of CARES Act funds, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The OSA advises reviewing CARES Act and ESSER requirements in conjunction with internal controls to aid in the proper use of the funds and prevention and detection of risks that may lead to waste, fraud, and abuse