Chamber Members:
We hope that all of you are doing well and staying healthy as we begin the first full week of the Coronavirus “shelter in place” mandate. There has not been much action to report out in comparison to the last five days. However, we do have some very important information to still share and can also take this time to provide some review.
Here we go – First a request from Barry Kolanowski at Senior Services Center of Will County. “We are trying to collect all sorts of food and toiletries. This week we are able to put together enough for 300 and next week we already have 250 lined up. What we need is the plastic conference bags people usually put their logo on and hand out. We are packing up toiletries.” If you are interested and able to assist, Barry can be reached at 630-392-1953. They are planning a delivery run with drivers gathering on Friday at 11am. Everyone who arrives should practice distancing and they will work with them to keep low risk.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the CARES Act has stalled unfortunately, but discussion continues. As a refresher, this bill (S 3548) addresses economic impacts of, and otherwise responds to, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. The “Phase 3” bill authorizes emergency loans to distressed businesses, including air carriers, and suspends certain aviation excise taxes. With respect to small businesses, the bill:
- establishes, and provides funding for, forgivable bridge loans; and
- provides additional funding for grants and technical assistance.
The bill also provides funding for $1,200 tax rebates to individuals, with additional $500 payments per qualifying child. The rebate begins phasing out when incomes exceed $75,000 (or $150,000 for joint filers).
The bill establishes limits on requirements for employers to provide paid leave.
With respect to taxes, the bill
- establishes special rules for certain tax-favored withdrawals from retirement plans;
- delays due dates for employer payroll taxes and estimated tax payments for corporations; and
- revises other provisions, including those related to losses, charitable deductions, and business interest.
With respect to health care, the bill
- provides additional funding for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19;
- limits liability for volunteer health care professionals;
- prioritizes Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of certain drugs;
- allows emergency use of certain diagnostic tests that are not approved by the FDA;
- expands health-insurance coverage for diagnostic testing and requires coverage for preventative services and vaccines;
- revises other provisions, including those regarding the medical supply chain, the national stockpile, the health care workforce, the Healthy Start program, telehealth services, nutrition services, Medicare, and Medicaid.
With respect to education, the bill
- temporarily suspends payments for federal student loans; and
- otherwise revises provisions related to campus-based aid, supplemental educational-opportunity grants, federal work-study, subsidized loans, Pell grants, and foreign institutions.
Attached is a very detailed summary from HR 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that was recently passed which may answer some questions for a number of businesses.
Attached is a slide presentation with notes and a quick step infograph from the SBA and their announced loan program. Please review carefully to determine, if you have not already, if your organization is a candidate to apply. If you have questions that need to be answered, please reply back to mpaone@jolietchamber.com and we can reach out to the administration and then share back answers with all as many of you may have the same issues. Here are some quick bullet points:
- Loans for business operations/expenses lost because of disaster
- 75% small business
- 75% for non profit
- nonprofit still MAY be eligible for this program
- Terms up to 30 years
- 12 months instead of 4 months
- Use for payroll, other bills would have if disaster hadn’t occurred
- Can’t refi loans with the $
- Business operations is what the money can only be used for
- Eligibility
- Some businesses not eligible
- Ag businesses are eligible
- Have to qualify as a small business
- Look at loan history – not like other loan decisions – still will pull credit reports, and repayment history, FICO scores – to ensure business in a healthy state would have been able to pay bills
- Recommend business pull personal credit report to make sure nothing derogatory on it and correct what you can if there is anything on there.
- If asking for more than $25k, will look for collateral
- System is running a little bit slow with so many applying. SBA is working on increasing capacity. Expect experience to improve.
- Can decline loan w/o adverse impact.
- Even if have existing disaster loan, can qualify again for this disaster
- No limit for disaster loan limits like regular SBA loans
- $2 million dollar total limit per person no matter how many businesses you own.
The Illinois Manufacturers Association will match industrial companies that are prepared to shift production to items such as masks and ventilators with buyers and help them navigate often onerous federal rules. IMA President Mark Denzler cited several examples of connections and conversions that already have occurred, with one liquor producer now making hand sanitizer, a plastics company working with Argonne National Lab to make test kits, a dozen firms interested in producing ventilators and a clothing manufacturer that’s ready to switch from garments to masks. Firms that are interested in producing or donating products should go to IMA’s website.
A note from Illinois Department of Employment Services from our friends at the Workforce Center of Will County: In order to protect everyone through social distancing, IDES offices are closed to the public until further notice. you can file an unemployment claim online using the link below, or by calling the toll-free number listed below. You may also use this number for questions about Unemployment Insurance.
800.244.5631
In an effort to prevent the U.S. economy from spiraling into a depression, the Federal Reserve launched an unprecedented effort to keep money flowing to companies, small businesses, households and even cities, who are facing an economic crisis that threatens to surpass the Great Recession.
Finally, a reminder form the office of Senator McGuire: DCEO is pleased to announce the release of three Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) for grants using funds from the Rebuild Illinois capital plan. These NOFOs will provide investment opportunities in public infrastructure and economic development. The $80 million investment will offer communities throughout Illinois the opportunity to repair crumbling infrastructure and prepare sites for new development while creating new job opportunities. For a description of these grants, visit https://www2.illinois.gov/Pages/news-item.aspx?ReleaseID=21225. Attached are Q&A documents that can be used to address questions interested entities may have. Also, please note that any entity interested in applying for grant funds from the State must be Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) pre-certified.
https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/GATA/Grantee/Pages/default.aspx
Attachments:
HR 6201 summary Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Rebuild Public Infrastructure NOFO QA
Rebuild Regional Econ Dev NOFO QA
Three_Step_Process_SBA_Disaster_Loans