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Arkansas Commerce outlines pandemic relief: $2.5 billion deployed, broadband push under way
Summary
Secretary Preston told the joint Insurance & Commerce committee the Department of Commerce and partner agencies deployed roughly $2.5 billion in unemployment benefits, loans and grants during the pandemic, described fraud-related backlogs in claims, and said the legislature has committed $125 million for rural broadband projects.
Secretary Jose R. Preston, representing the Arkansas Department of Commerce, told a joint meeting of the Senate and House Insurance & Commerce committees that the department and partner agencies have moved quickly to respond to economic damage from COVID-19.
Preston said state and federal programs have paid out roughly $1.3 billion in federal pandemic unemployment compensation, about $700 million in pandemic unemployment assistance for contract workers and roughly $19 million in extended-benefit payments. He added that the state has now stood up a fourth program — the Lost Wages Assistance program administered by FEMA — that will provide a $300 weekly supplement in place of the CARES-era $600 boost.
The secretary described additional state efforts to shore up…
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