When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law on February 17, 2009, it marked the beginning of a 45-day window for each state to claim the funds allocated to it by the act.

In order to receive funds from the ARRA, governors have 45 days to certify that they will first of all "request and use" funds from the ARRA and second of all use them to create jobs and promote economic growth.

If a governor does not accept funds allocated to his or her state before that window expires, the state's legislature then has the option of certifying those two conditions itself.

Check out the list/map below to see the certifications submitted by states.

View Territory Certifications: American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam

Show Tabular View

For your reference, here is the relevant language from the legislation regarding state certifications.

Text of Section 1607:

SEC. 1607. (a) CERTIFICATION BY GOVERNOR..Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: (1) the State will request and use funds provided by this Act; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth.

(b) ACCEPTANCE BY STATE LEGISLATURE..If funds provided to any State in any division of this Act are not accepted for use by the Governor, then acceptance by the State legislature, by means of the adoption of a concurrent resolution, shall be sufficient to provide funding to such State.

(c) DISTRIBUTION..After the adoption of a State legislature's concurrent resolution, funding to the State will be for distribution to local governments, councils of government, public entities, and public-private entities within the State either by formula or at the State's discretion.