New Senate Committee on COVID-19 Response: Senate pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins announced the creation of a special committee on California’s COVID-19 emergency response. The special committee will be chaired by Senator Lena A. Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), vice-chaired by Senator Patricia C. Bates (R-Laguna Niguel), and will include the following Senators: Andreas Borgeas (R-Fresno), Anna M. Caballero (D-Salinas), Bill Dodd (D-Yolo), Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), Brian W. Jones (R-Santee), Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana), and Scott D. Wiener (D-San Francisco). The Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response, a bipartisan committee of eleven senators, is tasked with reviewing the state’s response to the COVID-19 health crisis – what has gone right and what could be improved. The committee also will make findings and recommendations for future preparedness if the coronavirus returns later in the year, or if the state faces a subsequent pandemic. https://sd39.senate.ca.gov/news/20200415-new-bipartisan-senate-special-committee-focus-california’s-pandemic-emergency-response
Governor Outlines Critical Indicators for Lifting Stay-at-Home Order: Governor Newsom outlined the six key indicators that will guide decisions about when and how to modify the stay-at-home and other orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor noted that the state’s progress in flattening the curve and the increased preparedness of the health care delivery system, among other actions, are yielding positive results. While he acknowledged that these actions have also impacted the economy, he said that any consideration of modifying the stay-at-home order must be done using a gradual, science-based and data-driven framework.
Guidance and Deadline for State and Local Funding: U.S. Department of the Treasury issued guidance and application materials for eligible state and local governments that can apply for the newly created $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund, established through the CARES Act. Funding is available to help governments navigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Funds can be used for expenses incurred between March 20, 2020, and December 30, 2020. All states, as well as local governments with populations of 500,000 or more, are eligible to apply for funding. Governments must submit completed applications no later than11:59 PM EDT on April 17, 2020.
Unemployment Insurance Payments: At the Governor’s direction, the Employment Development Department (EDD) will launch a new call center on April 20 that will operate 7 days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Unemployment Insurance Branch will be up-staffed with 1,340 employees, including 740 EDD employees and 600 employees from across state government.
The Governor also directed EDD to expedite access to the Work Share program to avert layoffs.
EDD will also stand up a one-stop shop for individuals applying for unemployment insurance and the new federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program starting April 28. The PUA will provide federally funded benefits distinct from UI program for certain individuals out of work or partially unemployed due to COVID-19. This includes the self-employed, independent contractors, and individuals who may be employees but lack sufficient work history.
$75 million in statewide Disaster Relief Assistance funding will be going to provide financial support for immigrant workers affected by COVID-19. Philanthropic partners commit to raising an additional $50 million to support undocumented Californians. Those interested in supporting this fund can donate at www.immigrantfundCA.org.
Temporary Rule Deferring Real Estate Appraisals: The federal banking agencies today issued an interim final rule to temporarily defer real estate-related appraisals and evaluations under the agencies' interagency appraisal regulations. The Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are providing this temporary relief to allow regulated institutions to expedite financing to creditworthy households and businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 national emergency. The deferral of certain appraisals and evaluations is up to 120 days after closing of residential or commercial real estate loan transactions. Transactions involving acquisition, development, and construction of real estate are excluded from this interim rule. These temporary provisions will expire on December 31, 2020, unless extended by the federal banking agencies. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) will consider a similar proposal on Thursday, April 16. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/bcreg20200414a.htm
COVID-19 Assistance to Airlines: The US Treasury reached an agreement with US airlines on $25 billion in CARES Act funding, which was authorized to help off-set some payroll costs incurred by the airlines during the coronavirus pandemic.
SSI Recipients Will Receive Automatic Economic Impact Payments: The Social Security Administration announced today that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will receive automatic Economic Impact Payments directly from the Treasury Department. Treasury anticipates these automatic payments no later than early May. SSI recipients who have qualifying children under age 17, however, should not wait for their automatic $1,200 individual payment. They should now go to the IRS’s webpage at www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here and visit the Non-Filers: Enter Your Payment Info section to provide their information. For more information, please visit https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/
$20 billion in PPP Loans in California: The San Francisco District Office of the SBA announced that SBA lenders in California had approved more than 54,000 PPP loans in under 10 days in California for a total of $20 billion. These loans are 100% forgivable to the extent that the business uses the moneys to retain workers. All loan payments are deferred for six months. Nationally, the PPP has approved more than one million loans for a total of more than $247 billion. Total funding for the PPP is $349 billion. https://content.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/PPP%20Report%20SBA%204.14.20%20%20-%20%20Read-Only.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
New Inland Empire Recovery Fund: The Inland Empire Economic Partnership announced the formation of the Inland Empire Business and Employment Recovery Fund for the purposes of providing real-time research for economic recovery and resource coordination, supporting the Inland Empire’s vulnerable small business community, and bolstering the region’s workforce and educational efforts needed for economic recovery and resiliency. Among other activities, the new fund will re-grant corporate, philanthropic, and government financial assistance specifically provided to small businesses for recovery efforts, technical assistance, access to economic data, and direct operational support. http://ieep.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IE-Business-and-Employment-Recovery-Fund.docx04142020PDF1.pdf
Changes to the EIDL Cash Advance: SBA Office of Disaster Assistance announces modifications to the cash advance portion of the Economic Injury Advance Program. To ensure that the greatest number of applicants can receive assistance, the amount of an applicant's advance will be determined by the number of their pre-disaster (i.e., as of January 31, 2020) employees. The Advance will provide $1,000 per employee up to a maximum of $10,000. This information was provided during an SBA webinar.
New CA Small Business Page: California has launched a new Small Business and Employer page on the state’s main COVID-19 disaster page. On this page, there are links to a wide range of resources including information on accessing capital and updates on tax requirements. https://covid19.ca.gov/business-and-employers/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#top
How Congress Can Fix the Paycheck Protection Program: EIG has issued a report that provides program improvement recommendations, including, but not limited to:
Authorize substantially more funding, while also providing explicit assurances that the program will not “run out” of money as long as relief is needed.
Double the current loan limit of 2.5 times the average monthly cost of payroll to 5 times average monthly payroll costs.
Status Report on PPP Funds: The SBA released a PowerPoint on program outcomes from the Payroll Protection Program covering its launch on April 3 through April 13. During this time period, $247.5 billion of the $349 billion in CARES Act funds were committed. California businesses received 54,922 loans for a total of $20.8 billion, ranking the state as having the second highest number of loans and loan dollars committed. Businesses in Texas received the greatest amount of money with 88,434 loans for a total of $21.7 billion. New York ranked third (40,975 loans for $11.7 billion) and Ohio fourth (38,016 loans for $10.3 billion ). https://content.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/PPP%20Report%20SBA%204.14.20%20%20-%20%20Read-Only.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Mapping Vulnerable Populations: The Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley has released an updated interactive platform that maps vulnerable populations. The site has a number of datasets which can be applied, including hospital beds per 1,000, coronavirus cases by geography, areas with high concentration of free and reduced lunches, seniors living in poverty, high concentrations of non-essential jobs, poverty, and limited English proficiency. This could be an important tool in targeting COVID-19 investments and measuring outcomes. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/covid-19-mapping-vulnerable-populations-california?mc_cid=ef10a83406&mc_eid=7a88ff4f34
Seasonal Farm Workers Significantly Impacted by COVID-19: The University of New Hampshire released a study on the occurrences of COVID-19 in rural areas. The study found that within rural counties with high percentages of seasonal housing, the average cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 are twice as high as in other rural places. https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/snapshot/rural-areas-seasonal-homes-hit-hard-COVID
GRANT AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Distressed Cities Technical Assistance program (DCTA): The DCTA supports small units of general local government (UGLGs) that are distressed and have recently been impacted by a natural disaster with the objective of improving the fiscal health and administrative capacity of small UGLGs.
