In a letter to Senator Schumer, Assemblyman Santabarbara, Assembly Chair of the Commission on Rural Resources seeks to address concerns regarding the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on rural communities and requests that the next federal economic stimulus bill to include funding based on the Rebuild Rural America Act.

Rural New York is home to approximately 17 percent of New Yorkers, or 3.3 million people. The essential role they serve, rural areas are notoriously forgotten and critically underfunded. Even before the current pandemic, rural communities were struggling to fund and operate aging health care and transportation systems. Broadband service is inefficient or nonexistent, which puts rural residents at a disadvantage in accessing information, obtaining health and legal services, advancing education, and even working.

In the letter, Santabarbara urges the leaders in Washington DC to include robust funding for states and localities in its next COVID-19 economic relief package with a focus on rural communities and is requesting $50 billion based on the Rebuild Rural America Act introduced in October 2019. Administered through flexible block grants, this funding would allow small towns, counties, and rural communities to rebuild their economies and to continue to battle COVID-19. Assemblyman Santabarbara also endorses the idea that the United States Department of Agriculture should form a rural task force to prioritize the needs of rural communities.

Please click here to view the letter to Senator Schumer.