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Small Business Federal and State Update on COVID-19

Business Sales and M&A Specialists

March 30, 2020

Thank you to Ashley Adams for sharing this information!

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the $2 trillion CARES bailout package on a voice vote Friday and it has officially been signed into law by the President. You can find more details in this helpful summary article.

small-business-owners-guide

 

Governor Ducey has announced additional measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic:

  • Executive Order 2020-16 requires hospitals to activate their facility emergency plans that were developed with guidance and funding from the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) in anticipation of a public health emergency. The order also requires hospitals to:
    • Implement processes to re-route non-critical patients to other providers;
    • Institute plans to optimize staffing levels;
    • Increase bed capacity by 50 percent by April 24, with half of that increase implemented by April 10.
    • Report to ADHS the number of current licensed medical-surgical beds, ICU beds and the amount of increases required under this order.
    • Requires pediatric hospitals to accept patients up to 21 years of age.
    • Requires Medicaid insurance plans to cover services provided through the expanded capacity and mandates insurers reimburse hospitals provided at rates equal to what would be provided without the expanded capacity.
  • Executive Order 2020-17 mandates state agencies and boards to defer requirements to renew licenses that have an expiration date between March 1, 2020 and September 1, 2020 by six months from the expiration date, unless those requirements can be completed online. Additionally, they will defer requirements to complete continuing education by six months, unless those requirements can be completed online. Full executive order is here.
  • Ducey and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) also announced today that ADEQ will waive emissions testing for vehicle owners 65 and older for up to one year to allow them to renew their vehicle registrations in continued efforts to flatten the curb and keep seniors safe.
  • $5 million in new funding to help Arizonans struggling to make rent due to COVID-19. The new dollars will be included as part of a Rental Eviction Prevention Assistance Program being launched by the Arizona Department of Housing and will help families and individuals who are facing a loss of income due to COVID-19 with monthly rent assistance. Rental assistance may be made available to households:
    • Whose primary residence is a rental unit located in Arizona,
    • And who have seen a reduction in income due to COVID-19, that when annualized, does not exceed 100 percent of the area median income adjusted for family size for the county in which they reside.
    • Application for assistance will be available Monday, March 30 via an online application system accessible from the Arizona Department of Housing’s website at www.azhousing.gov. Interested applicants who do not have computer access can call their local Community Action Agency to initiate an application over the telephone.

NOTE: A slight clarification on the Governor’s Executive Order on utility shut offs yesterday: his actual authority to do this is limited, as in Arizona that power rests in the Arizona Corporation Commission.

His EO was purely formal and related to helping drive awareness, as all of the utility companies had already made their announcement regarding the support for utility relief prior to this.

Lastly, the ACC had a hearing about this on March 16th  and already requested all utility companies to provide their emergency preparedness plans.

PARTNER RELIEF PRIORITIES:

From AZCEP: Attached is the pro-active policy agenda that the Arizona Center for Economic Progress will be advancing to help all Arizonans deal with the economic crisis of COVID-19. While we are grateful that both the Arizona legislature and Congress have acted in a bipartisan fashion to swiftly pass economic support legislation to address this crisis, there is still more work that needs to be done and we will be highlighting those needed steps in the coming days and weeks.  The report can also be found on their website.

SMALL BUSINESSES:

We also want to be sure you are aware of what the Small Business Administration (SBA) is doing to help small businesses in eligible states facing challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

In brief, the SBA is offering low-interest Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to help compensate impacted businesses for temporary lost revenue tied to COVID-19. Arizona is among the states eligible for the SBA EIDL program that will assist small business owners during this time.

The Phoenix IDA also announced a $2 million small business grant opportunity in response to the crisis. The grants will be up to $10,000 for each qualified business and will target minority-owned businesses that have 25 or fewer employees and operate in our hardest hit communities. More information will be provided soon. In the meantime, please explore the following links:

City of Phoenix: https://www.phoenix.gov/resources

Also check out: https://www.covid19businesscenter.com/

 

KEY FEATURES OF SBA EIDL LOANS:

  • Available to qualifying small businesses including nonprofits
  • Loans up to $2 million can be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills presenting challenges as the result of COVID-19
  • Interest rate of 3.75% APR for small businesses and 2.75% APR for nonprofits
  • Long-term repayment options, up to 30 years

Additional information about SBA EIDLs is available at sba.gov/coronavirus.

 

HERE ARE SOME ARIZONA SPECIFIC RESOURCES FOR COVID-19*:

  1. Stick to reliable sources of COVID-19 info:
  2. Food
  1. Kids
  1. Medication/Medical Appointments
  1. Entertainment
  1. Other resources
  2. Resources in Spanish:  unidosus.org/issues/health/articles/coronavirus-span

*Shoutout to Rep. Jennifer Jermaine, who had her staff compile the above list.