Senate Passes 8 Badly Needed PPP Fixes
Posted: June 4, 2020 in IHRSA
IHRSA: Success By Association
BOSTON, MA – On Wednesday evening, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that aims to provide fixes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The bipartisan bill, known as the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act was passed almost unanimously by the House last week. The bill now heads to President Trump for his signature. The bill would:
- 1. Extend the PPP loan forgiveness period to include costs incurred over 24 weeks after a loan is issued or through December 31, 2020, whichever comes first. Under the CARES Act legislation, the current program only allows expenses over an eight week period and would expire on June 30;
- 2. Extend the period in which loans can be forgiven to December 31 from June 30—if businesses restore previously reduced staffing or salary levels. The provision would apply to worker and wage reductions made from February 15 through about April 26th (law states 30 days after enactment of the CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27);
- 3. Maintain forgiveness amounts for companies unable to rehire employees or resume business levels as of February 15, or find similarly qualified workers by the end of the year;
- 4. Increase the current limitation on non-payroll expenses—such as rent, utility payments, and mortgage interest—for loan forgiveness from 25 to 40 percent;
- 5. Extend the program from June 30 to December 31;
- 6. Extend loan terms from two to five years;
- 7. Ensure full access to payroll tax deferment for businesses that take PPP loans; and
- 8. Make the changes retroactive to the March 27 enactment of the CARES Act.
IHRSA supports these changes to the PPP and have worked with our federal lobbyists to petition Congress to make the program more effective for health clubs.
