Small Business Week: The Northern California Small Business Development Center Network released a new video commemorating National Small Business Week from the Northern California Small Business Development Centers. https://youtu.be/zWgGYaOf_5k
American Recovery Fund: American business associations have come together asking for additional federal financial support. It is called the American Recovery Fund – no specific amount of dollars is identified. America’s Recovery Fund Coalition brings together more than 100 members across retail, restaurants, theaters, the travel industry, and financial services to advocate for a fund to help businesses recover. Together, they represent 58 million American workers – 45% of the American workforce. Many California chambers are participating, including, but not limited to, chambers representing the cities of Corona, Tulare, Beverly Hills, Brea, Calabasas, Century City, Culver City, Encino, Fresno, Hesperia, Hollywood, Long Beach, and Santa Monica, as well as the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce Greater and San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Funding for Native American Tribes: US Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin and Secretary of the Interior Bernhardt reached an agreement with tribal leaders regarding a path forward to awarding Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars to Native American Tribes. Under the agreement, 60% of the $8 billion will be allocated based on population data used to distribute the Indian Housing Block Grant, and the remaining 40% will be allocated based on the total number of persons employed by the Indian tribe and any tribally-owned entity. The announcement includes more specific details about the awards. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm998
NBER Study on PPP Distribution: The National Bureau of Economic Research released a study on the distribution of first round loans under the CARES Act-funded Paycheck Protection Program. https://www.nber.org/papers/w27095
Workers Compensation: Governor Newsom signed an executive order (N-62-20) that creates a time-limited rebuttable presumption for accessing workers’ compensation benefits applicable to Californians who must work outside of their homes during the stay at home order.
Property Tax Penalty Waiver: Governor Newsom signed an executive order (N-61-20) that waives penalties for property taxes paid after April 10 for taxpayers who demonstrate they have experienced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic through May 6, 2021. This applies to residential properties and small businesses. The executive order also extends the deadline for certain businesses to file Business Personal Property Statements from May 7, 2020, to May 31, 2020, to avoid penalties.
Liquidity Relief for Big Lenders: Federal bank regulatory agencies announced an interim final rule that modifies the agencies’ Liquidity Coverage Ratio in an effort to support the flow of credit to households and businesses. These changes will support banking organizations’ participation in the Federal Reserve’s Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility and the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility. The LCR rule requires large banks to hold a buffer of high-quality liquid assets so that they can meet their short-term liquidity needs. These modifications will neutralize the LCR impact associated with the non-recourse funding provided by these facilities. The rule is effective immediately and comments will be accepted for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/bcreg20200505a.htm
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Manufacturing Listening Tour: Governor Newsom continues his Economic Recovery & Reinvention Listening Tour. On Tuesday, he hosted the second virtual roundtable with manufacturing workers and small business owners on their experiences and insights for what recovery can and should look like in a new economic landscape coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor also met with a small business owner in Sacramento to discuss how businesses are adapting to reopen while continuing to preserve public health.
Trade Needs in Tariff Relief: The California Chamber of Commerce, the Pacific Northwest International Trade Association and the Washington Council on International Trade shared their support and principles for trade rebound this week in a joint letter to President Donald J. Trump with copies to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, and the congressional delegations of California, Oregon and Washington. https://advocacy.calchamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/West-Coast-Joint-Trade-Message-5-4-2020.pdf
G7 Finance Ministers: US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin held a call with his counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the European Commission, and the Eurogroup. As directed by G7 leaders, G7 finance ministries are in regular contact to coordinate on timely and effective actions in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm993
US and UK Trade Agreement: US Trade Representative Lighthizer and United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Trade Truss announced the formal launch of trade agreement negotiations between the US and the UK. According to the announcement, the first round of negotiations will be conducted virtually, with US and UK negotiators engaging in discussions over the next two weeks in nearly 30 different negotiating groups covering all aspects of a comprehensive trade agreement. https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2020/may/statement-ustr-robert-lighthizer-launch-us-uk-trade-negotiations
African Free Trade Agreement on Hold: Due to the coronavirus emergency, the implementation of an African free trade agreement will not begin on July 1, the New York Times reports. When this agreement goes into force, it will create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc comprised of 1.3 billion people in 55 nations. https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/28/world/africa/28reuters-health-coronavirus-africa-trade.html
Update from the Port of LA: The Port of Los Angeles reports that it is open and operating and provides the following updates:
The Port of Long Beach had 10 ships in port today– 8 container, 1 liquid bulk and USNS Mercy.
Volumes for April 2020 were up 53% from March 2020, however these volumes are 6.45% lower than April 2019. April loaded imports increased 2.6% to 370,111 TEUs compared to the previous year. Loaded exports decreased 16.2% to 130,321 TEUs. Empty containers declined 14.4% to 188,567 TEUs. In total, April volumes totaled 688,999 TEUs. In a news briefing earlier today, POLA Executive Director Gene Seroka detailed the April volumes and indicated that that he expects lower volumes throughout the second quarter due to 28 voided sailings and soft retail orders. Watch news briefing here
The Port of Los Angeles states, “We are excited to see the Legislature returning this month! We wish our friends and colleagues a safe return and look forward to continuing to work with you on issues related to the nation’s goods movement infrastructure and industry.”
Logistics Victory Los Angeles (LOVLA) continues to provide essential personal protective equipment to hospitals. Please direct vendors of PPE or hospitals in need to www.lovla.org
