ttax for tax year 2020 asks if i received a state refund in 2020. Are they referring to a refund for tax year 2019, (which I did receive in 2019)?

You cannot possibly get a refund for the 2019 tax year in 2019 since you cannot file until 2020.  So did you get any state refund in the tax year 2020 for any filed tax return... that is what is being asked. 

Yes, It would be for a state refund for 2019 or a prior year that you received in 2020.  But you might not need to enter it.

A State Tax Refund is taxable if you itemized deductions on that prior year's federal return and took a deduction for state income taxes instead of the sales tax. You got a deduction benefit for it so now you have to include it as income. If you took the Standard Deduction it is not taxable and you don't need to report it.

You need to check your 2019 1040 line 9 to see which deduction you took. How much is on line 9?

Thanks clear now