Listening Tour with Fitness Industry: Governor Newsom continued his Economic Recovery & Reinvention Listening Tour on Wednesday with a digital roundtable with Californians who work in the fitness industry. Participants shared how they are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, how they are adapting their workplaces, and what opportunities they see to reinvent their businesses and our state's economy.
Volunteers Sought for Home Internet Study: The California Public Utilities Commission, in partnership with CSU Chico and CSU Monterey Bay are looking for volunteers to take part in the first statewide effort to collect quality internet speed measurements utilizing the new CalSPEED Home Measurement Device. According to the website, “volunteers will be asked to attach a small device to their home Internet router for a two-week period, during which speed and quality tests will be performed. The study will not monitor volunteers’ Internet use in any way, and volunteers will have access to their own testing results.”
CA Businesses Contribute to Emergency Efforts: Visit California produces an online magazine of California-focused articles. Earlier in the month, they published an article highlighting the wide range of activities California businesses and nonprofits are undertaking to meet local COVID-19 emergency needs. The article begins with Mr. Rogers' advice for hard times, "Look for the helpers," and then provides over 30 examples of both big and small businesses that have adopted what the article describes as a “good neighbor policy.” The examples range from high-end garment manufacturers shifting to sewing PPE and nonprofits intensifying their efforts to provide diapers and baby wipes to low-income mothers, to food producers and theme parks donating food to fire departments, food banks, and health care workers. The most recent article, Shop for Good: 14 Products That Make a Difference, also highlights California businesses making a difference in the time of COVID-19.
New Employee Credit for Manufacturers: CMTA is partnering with the California Employment Training Panel on a COVID-19 hiring credit of up to $2,000 per employee. According to the announcement, the employee has to receive four hours of training for the company to receive the credit and it is for select sectors and subsectors of manufacturing. https://cmta.net/multimedia/flyer_covid_trainingmay28.pdf
HEROS Act: The US House of Representatives passed the $3 trillion HR 6800 – HEROS Act on May 22, 2020, which approves additional direct aid to states, another round of Economic Impact Payments to individuals, and extension of unemployment insurance.
Changes to PPP: HR 6886 - The Payment Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 passed the US House of Representatives on May 28, 2020, on a 417-to-1 vote. The bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and has 65 co-sponsors. Among other changes to the Paycheck Protection Program, the bill: (1) Extends the term in which a business must expend loan proceeds in order to qualify for loan forgiveness from 8 weeks to 24 weeks; (2) Lowers the percentage of loan proceeds that must be used on payroll from 75% to 60% in order to qualify for the loan forgiveness; (3) Removes the restriction on loan terms beyond two years; and (4) Extends the rehiring deadline to offset the effect of enhanced Unemployment Insurance. The Senate is developing similar legislation and the US Treasury is reported to be supportive of making some changes to the PPP. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6886/text?r=32&s=1
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Federal and State Unemployment: Filings for unemployment benefits in the US since the start of the coronavirus emergency have topped 40 million with more than 2.1 million people filing jobless claims for the first time last week. The total number of unemployed individuals receiving benefits represented 14.5% of the US labor force. In California, 4.9 million claims were filed between March 14 and May 23, 2020, with 248,414 claims filed last week. These claims include both unemployment insurance (138,259) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (110,155). The number of people filing claims for assistance in California represents 25.4% of the labor force. The number of people receiving assistance in California represents 27.5% of the labor force, which includes individuals who applied for unemployment insurance prior to the pandemic.
April Personal Income Report: The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal income increased 10.5% (monthly rate) in April 2020. Disposable personal income increased 12.9% and consumer spending decreased 13.6% during the same term. The increases in personal income are attributed to an increase in government social benefits, including the Economic Impact Payments and Unemployment Insurance payments. file:///S:/ajed/2020%20-%20COVID-19%20Respoonse/06%20-%20Recovery%20Strategy/BEA%20April%20Personal%20Income%20Data.pdf
New Native CDFI Resource Bank: The Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund announced the launch of a Resource Bank for “Building Native CDFIs’ Sustainability and Impact II (BNCSI II)” Capacity Building Initiative. This initiative is part of the CDFI’s long-term commitment on targeting training and technical assistance to build the capacity of the Native CDFI industry.
Access Export Assistance: The US Commercial Service has released an e-brochure which provides an overview and links to assist small businesses in accessing export-related services and resources. This is a great addition to your organization’s online resource list.
Best Manufacturing Practices in the Time of COVID-19: The Manufacturing Leadership Council released a report on strategies and new operational practices being implemented by manufacturers to improve workplace and employee safety. All of the practices highlighted in the report meet or exceed guidelines and recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. https://3mauud1v537n3jeq0s4dqv5n-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Best-Practices.2020-V3.pdf
GGRF Funds for WorkforceTraining Activities: The California Workforce Development Board (Board) released draft Guidelines for California Workforce Development Board Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Administration (Guidelines). The Guidelines are available for public comment through 5 p.m. on Monday June 15, 2020. This document is intended to provide current grantees, potential grant applicants, state-level stakeholders, project-level participants, and members of the general public with an overview of the Board’s use of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) monies for high road workforce development programs. https://cwdb.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2020/05/Final-Accessible-CWDB-GGRF-Guidelines_ACCESSIBLE.pdf
Arts and Entertainment: Beacon Economics released a new report, COVID-19 and the Creative Economy: Bruised, Not Broken. The report states, “the creative economy as a whole is experiencing particularly alarming revenue and job losses in the wake of shelter-in-place orders across the country, with employment contracting by 54% year-over-year in the nation’s Arts and Entertainment subsector alone. The Leisure and Hospitality sector, which is made up of the Arts and Entertainment and the Accommodation and Food subsectors, contracted by 47.2% from April 2019 to April 2020, the worst job loss of any industry and more than double the next worst-hit sector, Other Services (21.2% contraction).”
Economic Impact Payments and Pre-Paid Debit Cards: The IRS released a reminder that the Economic Impact Payments are being sent through the mail in the form of a prepaid debit card. The debit cards arrive in a plain envelope from “Money Network Cardholder Services.” The determination of which taxpayers received a debit card was made by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a part of the Treasury Department that works with the IRS to handle distribution of the payments.
Small Dollar Loans: The California Office of the Small Business Advocate collaborated with IBank and CDTFA to provide, through a Zoom meeting, the most recent information on IBank’s $50 million small-dollar loan program and CDTFA's bridge loan/tax relief program.
CDFIs get Dedicated Access to PPP: The Small Business Administration, in consultation with the US Treasury Department, announced that it is setting aside $10 billion of Round 2 funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to be lent exclusively by Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). As of May 23, 2020, CDFIs have approved more than $7 billion ($3.2 billion in Round 2) in PPP loans. The additional $6.8 billion is intended to expand access to PPP funds to small business owners located in communities with more limited access to the financial system. https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/sba-and-treasury-department-announce-10-billion-cdfis-participate-paycheck-protection-program
CA Small Businesses Receiving Federal Loans: The SBA released aggregate small business loan totals as of May 17, 2020.
