Posts Tagged ‘COVID-19 Resource Portal’

The Small Business Administration (SBA), together with the Department of the Treasury, continue to offer additional guidance regarding the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), established by section 1102 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The guidance is offered in a Frequently Asked Questions format (see link below). Paycheck Protection Program Loans FAQs This resource is reliable since it contains SBA’s interpretation of the CARES Act and of the Paycheck Protection Program Interim Final Rules (see link below). The U.S. government will not challenge lender actions that conform to the PPP guidance found on… read more »

While the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) continues to be in effect for most municipal entities, its function has been temporarily suspended for the Commonwealth due to the current COVID-19 emergency. Pursuant to Section 901 of the law, all requests must receive a response within five business days – excluding days closed for business. If an agency faces “bona fide issues” related to this pandemic, the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records’ (OOR) advisory permits temporary suspensions exceeding the scope of that law. The OOR recommends the agency seek their solicitor’s advice before taking this recourse. Under Act 15, municipalities operating under an… read more »

Article by: Attorney Timothy Bupp and Paralegal Cori Spisak Earlier this week, our Legislature acted to make Pennsylvanians safer by strengthening the use of remote notarization in the Commonwealth. Act 15 of 2020, signed by Governor Wolf on April 20, gives statutory support to the Governor’s previous Executive Orders on remote notary. Notaries can now assist with the signing, witnessing and notarization of legal documents without the signors physically appearing before the notary agent.  Act 15 also expands the use of remote notary to a wider range of documents and to signors outside of the boundaries of our Commonwealth. These protections will… read more »

On Monday, April 20th, 2020, Governor Tom Wolf signed Act 15 2020 (the “Act”), which, among other things, has significant implications for the administration of local government in Pennsylvania for the duration of the Disaster Emergency that was declared on March 6th, 2020.Specifically, the Act addresses three issues relevant to local government: The Act allows municipalities, for the duration of Disaster Emergency, to conduct business through telecommunication devices, provided that public participation is permitted to the maximum extent possibleThe Act tolls the time limits for applications received by a municipality or pending before the municipality for a period of 30… read more »

COVID-13 Update: Filing for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – Expanded Eligibility for Benefits Pursuant to the CARES Act, unemployment compensation benefits are now available for individuals in Pennsylvania who cannot work as a direct result of COVID-19, but who are not normally eligible for unemployment benefits (i.e. independent contractors, self-employed, workers with limited work history, and others). The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program has been created to extend temporary, federally-funded benefits to these previously ineligible groups. An applicant is eligible if any of the following apply: Independent contractor, self-employed, 1099 filer, or farmer and affected by COVID-19,Someone in the household… read more »

COVID-19 Update: Save Small Business Fund A new small business grant program offering $5,000 grants has just been announced by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The name of the grant program is the Save Small Business Fund. The application for a $5,000 grant goes live at 3 PM on Monday, April 20th on the website: www.savesmallbusiness.com. All that is needed to complete the application is the company’s W-9 form. The grant application is short and takes approximately 10 minutes to fill out. Eligibility Criteria: 1) To be eligible, the business must have between 3 and 20 employees. (This includes owners… read more »

COVID-19 Update: Main Street Lending Program The Federal Reserve has established the Main Street Lending Program to provide an additional $2.3 trillion in loans to support small and mid-size businesses. Loans in this program may be in addition to loans granted through the Paycheck Protection Program (although these loans are not forgivable). To qualify, a business must have no more than 10,000 employees and a 2019 annual revenue that does not exceed $2.5 billion. The business must also be created and have significant operations in the United States. A loan through this program will have the following terms: Minimum loan… read more »

COVID-19 Update: Your Business May Be Eligible for Federal Loans CGA Law Firm has created a COVID-19 Business Resource Portal on the CGA website with consistently updated information on government loan offerings. The site has easy-to-read charts, articles on specific topics, answers to the most frequently asked questions, and links to targeted loan applications. Follow the links below to learn more about loans that can bring relief to your business. For small businesses (under 500 employees) in need of capital to cover payroll, utilities, rent, insurance, and loan payments:  Paycheck Protection Program. The SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is enabling small… read more »