In March, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law. The thing most people were excited about in the legislature was the third stimulus check, but the bill offers much more than that, including what could be another stimulus check.

That's because in the act is something called the State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund, which sees $350 billion in aid going to states, counties, cities and tribal governments with populations over 50,000. On Monday, the Department of Treasury released spending rules around those funds and in them, they allow for the money to be used as direct payments to households facing financial hardship due to the pandemic.

According to the rules, the amount of these cash assistance checks should be similar to the stimulus checks the IRS sent out, which means between $600 and $1,400 per recipient. The Treasury department added that the amount "must be reasonably proportional to the negative economic impact they are intended to address." They also warned, "Cash transfers that are grossly in excess of such amounts would be outside the scope of eligible uses under [the American Rescue Plan Act] and could be subject to recoupment."

As for who can get the check, it is a pretty broad definition - anyone who has had "a negative economic impact from the pandemic." The Treasury stated that means those who have "experienced unemployment or increased food or housing insecurity," or anyone who is "low- or moderate-income [and] experienced negative economic impacts resulting from the pandemic."

It's now up to the states to decide how to spend that money and, if they choose to put some of it towards stimulus checks, who might be eligible for them. Each state has their own timeline for making those decisions but hopefully they will announce their plans soon.

Photo: Getty Images

Kat Jackson

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