JEDE COVID-19 weekend Update for September 4, 2020
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS
Blueprint for a Safer Economy: Governor Newsom released his Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which is a re-framing of the state’s re-opening guidelines and designed to streamline the 58 individual county-approach. The new framework has 4 color categories, under which every county is assigned a category based on risk-based criteria: widespread (purple), substantial (red), moderate (orange), minimal (yellow). Every county is now assigned to a color tier based on its rate of new positive cases to determine which sectors can operate. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/28/governor-newsom-unveils-blueprint-for-a-safer-economy-a-statewide-stringent-and-slow-plan-for-living-with-covid-19/ The Blueprint for a Safer Economy replaces the previous resilience roadmap. Businesses and workers can check out which of the 4 categories their county is assigned and learn more about allowable and restricted activities at https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/. This is the primary website for details about the Blueprint for a Safer Economy: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/COVID19CountyMonitoringOverview.aspx
Prohibitions on Price Gouging: Governor Newsom signed an executive order (EO N-78-20) extending consumer protections against price gouging through March 4, 2021. According to the announcement, the protections generally prohibit sellers of any kind from increasing prices on food, consumer goods, medical or emergency supplies, and certain other items by more than 10%. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/03/governor-newsom-signs-executive-order-in-response-to-covid-19-9-3-20/
Individuals and Businesses Impacted by Fires: The Employment Development Department announced that federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits are available for workers, business owners and self-employed individuals who lost their jobs or businesses or had their work hours substantially reduced as a result of the wildfires that began in several California counties on August 14, 2020. https://www.edd.ca.gov/About_EDD/pdf/news-20-43.pdf Disaster Unemployment Assistance applies to losses beginning the week of August 16, 2020, and individuals can receive up to $450 a week in benefits for a maximum period of 27 weeks. Applications are accepted through the California Employment Development Department on this webpage: https://www.edd.ca.gov/unemployment/UI_Online.htm
OneRD Guarantee Loan Initiative: The US Department of Agriculture announced that it was implementing the OneRD Guarantee Loan Initiative, which would provide new information on the rates and terms for Rural Development loan guarantees. This debt financing is intended to support rural businesses, support development of infrastructure and community facilities, and increase private investments in rural America. https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2020/08/31/usda-implements-onerd-guarantee-loan-initiative-encourages-private
GOOD NEWS ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FRIENDS
State Legislation Related to COVID-19, Marches for Social Justice, and Economic Recovery
Tenant and Landlord Initiatives: Governor Newsom signed AB 3088 (Chiu) the Tenant, Homeowner and Small Landlord Relief and Stabilization Act of 2020. The Governor also announced the launch of the “Housing is Key” campaign, which is intended to help connect renters and landlords experiencing economic hardship due to COVID-19 with helpful information and resources. The campaign will be run by the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and kicks off with a new website and social media ads targeting vulnerable communities. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/02/governor-newsom-announces-housing-is-key-campaign-to-inform-californians-about-states-new-tenant-and-landlord-protections/ Governor Newsom and the Legislature have also made available $331 million from the National Mortgage Settlement for housing counseling, mortgage assistance and renter legal aid services.
AB 5 Exclusion for Professional Services: Governor Newsom signed AB 2257 (Lorena Gonzalez), which “recasts and clarifies the business-to-business, referral agency, and professional services exemption to the 3-part ABC test for employment status and exempts additional occupations and business relationships. Bill addresses exemptions for a range of occupations and services under certain circumstances, including for a referral agency; a professional services agency, such as a content contributor, advisor, producer, narrator, or cartographer for specified publications; certain music industry services, including proofers and record directors; data aggregators; individuals who provide underwriting inspections, premium audits, risk management in connection with the insurance industry; home inspectors; certain business to business contractors that provide services at a single-engagement event; individual performance artists; manufactured housing salespersons; competition judges; and individuals engaged in international exchange visitor programs, as specified. http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2257
Small Business Tax Credit: Pending on the Governor’s desk is SB 1447 (Bradford, Caballero, and Cervantes) Small Business Tax Credit. The bill establishes a capped and allocated tax credit for qualifying small businesses who increase employment between July 1 and November 30, 2020. The businesses second quarter employment in used as a base for comparing full time equivalent employment. For small businesses that obtain a tax credit reservation, they may receive a $1,000 tax credit per additional person being employed for a maximum of $100,000. Total tax credits awarded are limited to $100 million. The tax credit may be used to offset income tax or sales and use tax liability. http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1447
DATA, SURVEYS, AND ANALYSES
State Unemployment Benefit Numbers Released: EDD released unemployment insurance data for California for the week ending August 29. https://www.edd.ca.gov/About_EDD/pdf/news-20-44.pdf Unemployment Benefits include Unemployment Insurance (UI), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PAU), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and FED-ED. Among other information, the weekly Unemployment Benefits report stated:
652,329 Unemployment Benefit claims were filed for the week ending August 29.
Between March 14 and August 29, EDD received 9.7 million Unemployment Benefit claims.
$77 billion has been paid to out-of-work Californians since start of pandemic.
National Unemployment Data Released: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released national unemployment figures for August 2020, showing total US nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million and the unemployment rate fell to 8.4%. These numbers reflect 13.6 million unemployed people in the US with a labor participation rate of 61.7%. The largest increase in employment was in the government sector, which accounted for one-fourth of the over-the-month gain in total nonfarm employment. Among other data, August shows a significant drop in the number of individuals temporarily laid off (decrease of 3.1 million for a total of 6.2 million). However, the number of individuals who permanently lost jobs increased by 534,000 for a total of 3.4 million. For comparison, the number of individuals who have permanently lost jobs has risen by 2.1 million since February 2020. National data for September 2020 will be released Friday, October 2, 2020, and state-level data for August 2020 will be available on or around September 15.
UPDATES ON COVID-19 RESPONSE AND RECOVERY PROGRAMS
Small Business Procurement Scorecard: The US Small Business Administration (SBA) released its annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard. The Scorecard is an assessment tool used to (1) measure how well federal agencies reach their small business and socio-economic prime contracting and subcontracting goals, (2) provide accurate and transparent contracting data and (3) report agency-specific progress. The prime and subcontracting component goals include goals for small businesses, small businesses owned by women, small disadvantaged businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and small businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones). The SBA works with each agency to establish annual contracting goals. Each agency’s overall grade will show an A+ for agencies that meet or exceed 120% of their goals, an A for 100-to-119%, a B for 90-to-99%, a C for 80-to-89%, a D for 70-to-79% and an F for less than 70%. https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/G-W.pdf
Women-Owned Business Certification FAQ: The US Small Business Administration released a new FAQ about certification options available to Women-Owned Small Businesses and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses. https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/SBA_WOSB_FAQ_508_v10.pdf
COVID-19 Main Street Lending Program: The Federal Reserve issued its required report to the US Congress on the activities of the Main Street Lending Program. As of August 1, 2020, the total outstanding amount of loans was $76,855,000, backed by $37.5 billion in pledged collateral. “The Board continues to expect that the MSLP will not result in losses to the Federal Reserve.” https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/mself-msnlf-msplf-20200806.pdf
COVID-19 PPP Aggregate-Level Data Update: The US Small Business Administration released program utilization information for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As of August 8, 5.2 million PPP loans have been approved in the US for a total of $525 billion. In California, 623,360 PPP loans have been approved for a total of $68.6 billion.
COVID-19 EIDL Aggregate-Level Data Update: The US Small Business Administration released program utilization information for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). As of August 24, 3.5 million EIDL loans have been approved in the US for a total of $188 billion. In California, 543,366 EIDL loans have been approved for a total of $33.5 billion. Link to a PowerPoint displaying data for loan activity through 08/24/2020: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/EIDL%20COVID-19%20Loan%208.24.20-508.pdf
SBA Weekly Lending Reports: The US Small Business Administration (SBA) released its weekly lending report for the week ending August 28, 2020. Information includes race, ethnicity, gender, and veteran participation in the SBA 7(a), 504, and Advantage Loan Programs. https://www.sba.gov/document/report-2020-weekly-lending-reports
CA Small Business Loans: The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services received updates from the US Small Business Administration on small businesses that are utilizing the two federal disaster loan programs, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program.
US Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance
CA Loans (EIDL) Approved (as of 8/15)
533,876
Dollar Amount of CA Loans (EIDL) Approved (as of 8/15)
$33,022,133,987
CA Loan Advances (EIDL) Approved (as of 7/15)
809,792
Dollar Amount of CA Loan Advances (EIDL) Approved (as of 7/15)
*Data received from Great Plates Data Portal updated twice per week.
FREE WEBINARS
JEDE maintains a list of on-demand webinars on our website. You can access this list at https://ajed.assembly.ca.gov/content/demand-webinars-available-24-7. Webinars cover a range of topics, including federal disaster programs, marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and accessing international markets.
