Updated March 29, 2021:

Small Business Administration Funding

Funding for PPP: $840M

Available: Until expended

Method of Award: SBA Loan

Uses: To carry out the Paycheck Protection Program and other initiatives to aid small businesses during COVID-19. Funding provided in this section of the American Rescue Plan may not have a clear IT component but could still yield funding opportunities related to IT modernization, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure.

Additional PPP Provisions

Larger Nonprofits: Some nonprofits that currently qualify for PPP loans, such as 501(c)(3) groups, can’t have more employees than the SBA’s size standards for the relevant industry and are subject to the agency’s restrictions for affiliated entities. The measure would replace those rules, allowing 501(c)(3) groups with as many as 500 employees per physical location to participate without further restrictions.

Online News Publishers: Internet-only news publishers that were previously ineligible can receive PPP loans if they have 500 or fewer employees or a size set by the SBA per location. They would have to certify that the funds will be used to support local news. SBA affiliation rules and a ban on publicly traded companies would be waived for online news outlets seeking loans.

Loan Forgiveness: The measure expands PPP loan forgiveness to include payments made for premiums on behalf of individuals who qualify for COBRA health insurance continuation coverage. This would apply to loan forgiveness applications received following the measure’s enactment.

Funding for Disaster Loan Program: $460M

Available: Until expended

Method of Award: SBA Loan

Uses: $70M for the cost of direct loans and $390M for administrative expenses to carry out SBA’s Disaster Loan Program. Funding provided in this section of the American Rescue Plan may not have a clear IT component but could still yield funding opportunities related to IT modernization, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure.

Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance Program

Available: $15 billion

Method of Award: EIDL Advance Program

Uses: Additional advance payments to eligible entities under the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. The SBA will allocate $10 billion to covered entities that didn’t receive their full eligible advance payments under the year-end relief package. Those entities include recipients with 300 or fewer employees and economic losses of at least 30% over eight weeks compared with a similar period before the pandemic. The remaining $5 billion would be set aside to make new supplemental payments of $5,000 to covered entities with 10 or fewer employees that had economic losses of more than 50% during the covered period. Advance funds provided through the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and restaurant grants created by the bill would be excluded from gross income for tax purposes.

Funding for Community Navigator Program: $100M

Available: Until September 30, 2022

Method of Award: Unknown. SBA has posted a notice on the Community Navigator Model.

Uses: For the SBA to establish a community navigator pilot program for small businesses. It includes an additional $75 million for the SBA to promote community navigator services to small businesses. Funding provided in this section of the American Rescue Plan may not have a clear IT component but could still yield funding opportunities related to IT modernization, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure. 

Tax Provisions

Small Business Grants Exclusion: Advance funds provided through the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and restaurant grants created by the bill would be excluded from gross income for tax purposes.

Tax-Exempt Groups: The measure expands eligibility rules to cover more tax-exempt groups, including 501(c)(5) labor organizations, 501(c)(7) social and recreation clubs, and 501(c)(8) fraternal benefit societies. Religious educational groups that might otherwise be barred under SBA rules would be permitted. 501(c)(4) social welfare groups, such as AARP, the ACLU, Americans for Prosperity, and the National Rifle Association, would still be prohibited.

The additional tax-exempt groups couldn’t employ more than 300 employees per location or spend more than $1 million annually or 15% of their time on lobbying activities.

Department of the Treasury

State and Local Aid: $350B

Available: December 31, 2024

Allocation: Allocations to states, counties, and cities can be found hier.

Method of Award: Grant

Uses: State and local recipients could the funds to cover costs incurred by Dec. 31, 2024, to:

• Respond to the Covid-19 emergency and address its economic effects, including through aid to households, small businesses, nonprofits, and industries such as tourism and hospitality.
• Provide government services affected by a revenue reduction resulting from COVID-19.
• Make investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.

The measure would create state funds that would provide:

• $219.8B for States, territories, and Tribal governments 

• $195B for states and Washington DC
• $20B for federally recognized tribal governments
• $4.5B for territories
• $50M for use of the Secretary to administer the funds—available until expended.

The measure also provides $130B for cities and local governments.

The measure would distribute $25.5 billion equally among states and the District of Columbia. Other funds would be allocated based on each state’s share of unemployed people. The measure also would provide funds to compensate D.C. for the money it would have received as a state under the CARES Act, which grouped it in with territories. Funding for local governments would include $60.1 billion for counties, $42.1 billion for metropolitan cities, and $18 billion for towns with fewer than 50,000 people. The measure would set 60-day deadlines to distribute most funds to state and local recipients. A second tranche of funds would be distributed to localities 12 months after the initial allocation. States would have to distribute funds to smaller towns within 30 days of receiving a payment from the department, with extensions permitted. States that miss the deadline would have to pay back any undistributed funds. A town couldn’t receive more than 75% of its budget as of Jan. 27, 2020.

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Updated May, 12, 2020: Today the House Democrats released a $3 trillion stimulus package to further respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The House Rules Committee will meet Thursday to approve the plan, allowing lawmakers to cast votes remotely for those who cannot travel to Washington amid the outbreak. A record 20.5 million U.S. jobs were lost in April as COVID-19 continues to affect the U.S. economy.

Update April 9, 2020: Federal Reserve took additional actions to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy. This funding will assist households and employers of all sizes and bolster the ability of state and local governments to deliver critical services during the coronavirus pandemic. This includes bolstering the effectiveness of the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), additional details can be found below:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20200409a.htm

Update April 7, 2020: Treasury Secretary Mnuchin requested a supplemental appropriation of $250 billion for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Within that request, $125 billion is requested to be channeled through community-based financial institutions that serve farmers, family, women, minority and veteran-owned small businesses and nonprofits in rural, tribal, suburban and urban communities across our country, and improvements to ensure all eligible small businesses can access this critical funding and are not turned away by banks.

No progress to report on the Senate side regarding this request. Senate is will meet again on Monday April 13, 2020.

Download the CARES Act Summary 

Download the CSBA Flow Chart

Small Business Provisions in CARES ACT

Paycheck Protection Program: $350 Billion

• This provision is to create a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that will provide small businesses and other entities with zero-fee loans of up to $10 million. Up to 8 weeks of average payroll and other costs will be forgiven if the business retains its employees and their salary levels.
• Principal and interest is deferred for up to a year and all borrower fees are waived. This temporary emergency assistance through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Treasury can be used in coordination with other COVID-financing assistance established in the bill or any other existing SBA loan program.
• The bill requires the SBA Administrator to set a cap on how much a bank can earn to process loan applications and prioritize underserved borrowers, including those in rural communities, minorities, women and veterans.

SBA Disaster Relief Lending: $562 Million

• The recent stimulus included an additional $562 million for SBA’s disaster relief lending program.
• SBA is offering designated states and territories low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses suffering substantial economic injury as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
• Upon a request received from a state’s or territory’s Governor, SBA will issue under its own authority, as provided by the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act that was recently signed by the President, an Economic Injury Disaster Loan declaration.
• Any such Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance declaration issued by the SBA makes loans available to small businesses and private, non-profit organizations in designated areas of a state or territory to help alleviate economic injury caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance will coordinate with the state’s or territory’s Governor to submit the request for Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance.
• Once a declaration is made for designated areas within a state, the information on the application process for Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance will be made available to all affected communities as well as updated on our website: www.SBA.gov/disaster.
• SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans offer up to $2 million in assistance per small business and can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing.
• These loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact.
• The interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses without credit available elsewhere; businesses with credit available elsewhere are not eligible.
• The interest rate for non-profits is 2.75%.SBA offers loans with long-term repayments in order to keep payments affordable, up to a maximum of 30 years.
• Terms are determined on a case-by-case basis, based upon each borrower’s ability to repay.
• For additional information, please contact the SBA disaster assistance customer service center.
• Call 1-800-659-2955 (TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or e-mail disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Emergency Economic Injury Grants (including Nonprofits): $10 Billion

• Provide an advance of $10,000 to small businesses and nonprofits that apply for an SBA economic injury disaster loan (EIDL) within three days of applying for the loan.  Click here to apply
• EIDLs are loans of up to $2 million that carry interest rates up to 3.75 percent for companies and up to 2.75 percent for nonprofits, as well as principal and interest deferment for up to 4 years. The loans may be used to pay for expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred, including payroll and other operating expenses
• The EIDL grant does not need to be repaid, even if the grantee is subsequently denied an EIDL, and may be used to provide paid sick leave to employees, maintaining payroll, meet increased production costs due to supply chain disruptions, or pay business obligations, including debts, rent and mortgage payments.
• Eligible grant recipients must have been in operation on January 31, 2020. The grant is available to small businesses, private nonprofits, sole proprietors and independent contractors, tribal businesses, as well as cooperatives and employee-owned businesses.
• A business that receives an EIDL between January 31, 2020 and June 30, 2020 as a result of a COVID-19 disaster declaration is eligible to apply for a PPP loan or the business may refinance their EIDL into a PPP loan. In either case, the emergency EIDL grant award of up to $10,000 would be subtracted from the amount forgiven in the payroll protection plan.

Debt Relief for Existing and New SBA Borrowers: $17 Billion

• Provide immediate relief to small businesses with standard SBA 7(a), 504, or microloans. Under this provision, SBA will cover all loan payments for existing SBA borrowers, including principal, interest, and fees, for six months.
• This relief will also be available to new borrowers who take out an SBA loan within six months after the President signs the bill.
• The measure also encourages banks to provide further relief to small business borrowers by allowing them to extend the duration of existing loans beyond existing limits; and enables small business lenders to assist more new and existing borrowers by providing a temporary extension on certain reporting requirements.
• While SBA borrowers are receiving the six months debt relief, they may apply for a PPP loan that provides capital to keep their employees on the job.
• The six months of SBA payment relief may not be applied to payments on PPP loans.
• The stimulus also includes a permanent fix that allows SBA to waive fees for veterans and their spouses in the 7(a) Express Loan Program, regardless of the President’s budget. Under current law, SBA may only waive fees on 7(a) Express loans to veterans when the President’s budget does not project a cost above zero for the overall 7(a) loan program.

Paid Leave for Government Contractors

• The stimulus includes a provision that provides paid leave for employees working on small business contracts with the federal government. The measure allows agencies to modify the terms of a contract to reimburse small business contractors for the cost of providing paid leave, including sick leave, to employees or subcontractors unable to perform work on-site due to a facility closure and cannot telework.

Resources for Business Counseling Services for Minority, Veteran, and Women-Owned Businesses: $275 Million

• Many large companies are struggling to respond to the unprecedented economic disruption our nation is facing, so small businesses that have even fewer resources to dedicate to navigating the economic impacts of COVID-19 must have access to reliable counseling and mentorship services.
• The stimulus provides grants to the nation’s network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), as well as the Minority Business Development Agency’s Business Centers (MBDCs), to provide mentorship, guidance and expertise to small businesses. The funding will allow SBDCs, WBCs, and MBDCs to hire staff and provide programming to help small businesses and minority-owned businesses respond to COVID-19.
• The bill also provides funds for the associations that represent SBDCs and WBCs to create a joint platform that consolidates information and resources related to COVID-19 in order to provide consistent, timely information to small businesses.
• The SCORE mentoring program and Veterans Business Outreach Center program are encouraged to use the platform and participate in the COVID-19 education sessions for their volunteer mentors and small business counselors.

Resources for Minority Business Development Agency: $10 Million

• The stimulus authorizes $10 million for the Minority Business Development Agency within the Department of Commerce to provide grants to Minority Business Centers and Minority Chambers of Commerce for the purpose of providing counseling, training, and education on federal resources and business response to COVID-19 for small businesses.
• The package also eliminates the Minority Business Center program’s non-federal match requirement for a period of three months and allows for centers to waive fee-for-service requirements through September 2021 to reduce barriers to those seeking assistance.

Zusätzliche Ressourcen

• Under the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), $50 million to be distributed among the 51 MEP centers to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers recover from the economic impacts of coronavirus. The bill also waives the statutory cost-match requirements for all FY2020 funding.
• The stimulus bill also allows DoD the ability to waive certain restrictions on the usage of other transaction authority in contracts to improve defense industrial base liquidity, particularly among small businesses, in its response to COVID-19.
• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting received $75 million for stabilization grants to maintain programming services and to preserve small and rural public telecommunication stations.
• Provisions were also included for Small Business Bankruptcy Enhancement as allows for additional small businesses to qualify for streamlined processes in the Bankruptcy Code. Under this section, the threshold will increase to $7.5 million to help American small businesses that will need to reorganize due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Updated Information as of Tuesday March 31, 2020

The U.S. Treasury Department just released guidance on CARES Act for Small Businesses: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm961

Additional information below from the U.S. Department of Treasury

https://home.treasury.gov/cares

ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

The Paycheck Protection Program prioritizes millions of Americans employed by small businesses by authorizing up to $349 billion toward job retention and certain other expenses.

Small businesses and eligible nonprofit organizations, Veterans organizations, and Tribal businesses described in the Small Business Act, as well as individuals who are self-employed or are independent contractors, are eligible if they also meet program size standards.

• For a top-line overview of the program CLICK HERE
• If you’re a lender, more information can be found HIER
• If you’re a borrower, more information can be found HIER
• The application for borrowers can be found HIER

 Small Business Interruption Loans

• The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have issued FAQs on tax credits for family leave for small and mid-size businesses.
• The FAQs provide more information on refundable tax credits that reimburse businesses, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing their employees paid sick and family leave wages related to COVID-19
• See the full FAQ sheet hier.

States:

Kalifornien

On April 2, 2020 Governor Newsom held a press conference and announced new resources for small businesses in California that can be found here:

https://covid19.ca.gov/business-and-employers/#top). This link also includes questions and answers.

California is providing broad assistance to small businesses and employers impacted by COVID-19. This includes:

• Small business interest free deferral of sales/use tax up to $50,000 for businesses with less than $5 million in taxable sales.
• Federal small business stimulus programs:
  • Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance
  • Paycheck Protection Program
  • Small Business Debt Relief
• 90-day extension on all businesses filing a return for less than $1 million in taxes
• California Small Business Loan Guarantee Program (via IBank) $50 million in state funding, providing potential capital for individuals who do not qualify for federal funds.

To see a list of all the assistance available, please visit the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development website and for information on tax relief, visit the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration website.