On March 11, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, creating relief programs and direct funds for individuals and businesses hit hard by the pandemic. Restaurants were specifically targeted this time (unlike in the CARES Act of 2020), with $28.6 billion allocated to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The fund, which will take the form of various-sized grants to chains as well as independent restaurants, comes at a time when the State of Colorado is also looking to make additional money available to small businesses.
On March 10, Governor Jared Polis held a press conference with a bipartisan group of Colorado legislators and business owners to announce that $700 million is being made available for a proposed stimulus package called the Colorado Recovery Plan. Polis said that the money is available in the budget now because last year "we were prepared for worse," and officials were expecting "greater devastation to the state budget."