Congress reaches deal on $900 billion Covid-19 relief package

As a follow up to yesterday’s News Alert regarding the COVID Relief Package that was passed last night see additional details below. We will continue to update you on issues that are in the five thousand plus page bill over the next few weeks.

$5.8 Billion – Education Stabilization Fund

$4B – Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, provides relief to K-12 public schools across the State of New York.

$1.4B – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, directs funds to New York’s university system, like SUNY and CUNY.

$313M – Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, the governor can use these funds at his discretion to support the state’s K-12 education and higher education needs related to COVID-19.

$200 Million – Emergency Transit Relief will support county bus services and upstate transit agencies.

$426 Million – Critical aid to the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to backstop declining revenues and support construction jobs.

$105.5 Million – Relief for New York airports to continue operating safely during the pandemic. Upstate airports will receive: $6.4M for the Hudson Valley, $6.5M for the Capital Region, $6.9M for Central New York, $4.8M for the Finger Lakes, $7.6M for Western New York, and $4.1M for the Southern Tier.

$1.6 Billion – Vaccine, Testing, and Tracing, and Flexible Local Health Funding.

$135M for NYC for vaccine distribution

$135M for NYS for vaccine distribution

$675M for NYC testing, tracing, isolation support and COVID mitigation

$675M for NYS testing, tracing, isolation support and COVID mitigation

$1.3 Billion — Emergency Rental Assistance funding. This is a historic and unprecedented federal emergency rental and utility assistance program. It will assist multiple New York government entities and by extension help provide critical aid to keep thousands of New Yorkers safely in their homes.

The CDC federal eviction moratorium will also be extended until January 31, 2021, and can be extended further by the next administration.

$465 Million – Child Care Development Block Grants (CCDBG) – These funds ensure that the child care sector will continue to assist essential workers and working families, and to support child care providers in meeting their increased operation costs during the pandemic

$1 Billion — FEMA estimates that in Fiscal Year 2021 New York will receive about $1 billion in FEMA aid for COVID-19 alone. Schumer just negotiated an increase of these funds in this Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) account

Over $6.5 Billion for NY in Enhanced Unemployment Compensation – This bill provides billions in additional federal relief for struggling New Yorkers by extending the historic unemployment insurance reforms established in the CARES Act through March 14, 2021. Importantly, it reinstates the critical lifeline of the enhanced unemployment assistance, providing an additional $300 per week on top of all state and federal unemployment benefits. The bill also:

Extends the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides unemployment benefits to the self-employed, freelancers, gig workers, part-time workers and other New Yorkers in non-traditional employment, and increases the number of weeks of PUA benefits an individual can claim from 39 to 50.

Provides 24 additional weeks of federally-funded unemployment insurance benefits to New Yorkers who have exhausted their regular state benefits.

Continues the full federal financing of state Shared Work programs, allowing thousands of New York employers to keep their valued employees on payroll during this downturn.

Delivers a federally-funded $100 per week additional “mixed-earner” benefit to New Yorkers who have a combination of traditional (W-2) and independent employment (1099) income and are disqualified from receiving PUA because they are still eligible for regular state benefits.

$9 Billion for New Yorkers – Direct cash payments to New Yorkers, including $600 for individuals making up to $75,000, $1,200 for couples making less than $150,000, and an additional $600 per child. This amounts to $2,400 for a family of (4).

$260 Million – FEMA’s funeral assistance – financial aid to those who have lost a loved one among the over 35,000 deaths in New York caused by COVID – which comes at no cost to the state. This historic use of FEMA’s funeral assistance program ensures those grappling with unspeakable loss are not also saddled with the financial burden of exorbitant funeral costs.

Over $20 Billion for New York– Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to provide a second round of forgivable loans to New York small businesses, including restaurants, nonprofits and grant assistance to very small, underserved businesses and live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions, as well as:

New dedicated set-aside for PPP lending through Community Development Financial Institutions, Minority Depository Institutions, and other community lenders to reach minority-owned and other underserved small businesses and nonprofits.

New dedicated set-aside for very small businesses to gain greater access to PPP.

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New larger forgivable loans for the restaurant and hospitality industries and the ability to use funds for PPE, outdoor dining enhancements, and more.

“SAVE OUR STAGES” ($15B NATIONALLY) –Dedicated relief for Broadway, comedy halls, music venues, other live entertainment, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions—New York is positioned to get a large share of the $15 billion.

Housing cooperatives, tourism organizations, and local newspaper, TV and radio stations made eligible for PPP.

$10,000 SBA grants will be available for very small and underserved businesses in low-income communities.

Provides $3.5 billion to resume debt relief payments of principal and interest (P&I) on small business loans guaranteed by the SBA under the 7(a), 504 and microloan programs.

Includes $2 billion to enhance SBA’s core programs, including 7(a), Community Advantage, 504, and the Microloan program, by making them more affordable and useful to small businesses.

SBA Microloan Program is funded at $57 million to provide technical assistance and leverage about $64 million in microloans for minority-owned and other underserved small businesses.

The bill also extends and expands the refundable Employee Retention Tax Credit. The extension of this tax credit, through July 1, 2021, will help keep thousands of additional New Yorkers on payroll and small and mid-size employers all across New York afloat.

$7 billion — Emergency Benefit for Broadband Service to provide free or low-cost broadband service to low-income families or those who have been recently laid off or furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New York will receive sizable share of these funds.

$1 billion to New York in support and relief for hospitals, mental health, community health centers and providers.

$13 billion nationally in Nutrition Assistance (NY will get a sizable share), which includes:

A 15% increase in SNAP benefits from January 2021 through June 30, 2021 to support the nearly 2.8 million New Yorkers who receive benefits

Increased access to nutrition benefits by waiving college student work requirements

Provides $5 million to add additional retailers to online SNAP, including for farmers markets and direct to consumer sales

Additional funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to fund the continued work of New York’s food banks

Funding for senior nutrition through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) and Meals on Wheels program

Includes critical improvements to the Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program, which provides additional nutrition benefits for families with children who are eligible for free school lunches to help cover the cost of meals children would have otherwise received at school

Allocates $4.6 billion nationally to expand P-EBT by extending the program to help cover cost of meals for kids enrolled in childcare programs

Nutrition assistance grants for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Funds to support the food supply chain through food purchases, donations to food banks, and support for local food systems

$13 billion nationally in Agricultural Assistance (NY will get a sizable share), which includes:

$400 million set aside to support dairy product donations to encourage donations of dairy products and minimize food waste

$325 million set aside for specialty crops, including $225 million for supplemental payments to producers of specialty crops for losses in 2019 and $100 million for Specialty Crop Block Grants (SCBG) to support investments in specialty crop marketing, increasing training, and research investments

$100 million for the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP), which supports the development and expansion of local food businesses and markets, and helps increase consumer access to locally and regionally produced agricultural products

$28 million in state block grants to support farmer and rancher stress management and mental health

$300 million nationally in fisheries assistance, which includes:

$300 million available nationally for assistance to fisheries participants to help mitigate coronavirus-related economic impacts

$30 million set aside for Tribal fisheries of federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Native groups

$15 million set aside for fishery participants in states bordering the Great Lakes

Read the full article HERE

Read the full article HERE

Read the full article HERE

Read the full article HERE

Last night the House of Representatives and the US Senate passed the latest COVID relief bill – the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021. Section 286 of this bill strikes the FFCRA leave provisions expiration date of December 31, 2020 and inserts an expiration date of March 31, 2021. President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.

This section extends the refundable payroll tax credits for paid sick and family leave, enacted in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, through the end of March 2021. It also modifies the tax credits so that they apply as if the corresponding employer mandates were extended through the end of March 2021.

In short, covered employers will continue to provide – and be reimbursed for – leave to eligible employees under the FFCRA paid sick leave and paid FMLA programs.

Despite the effects of the pandemic on employers, particularly upstate employers, the NYS Department of Labor is proceeding with scheduled increases to the state’s minimum wage effective December 31, 2020. While there is no change for New York City employers, Long Island, Westchester and the remainder of upstate New York will see increases. As you know, this will also impact the minimum salary levels to be paid to Executive and Administrative exempt employees. The new minimum wage and minimum salary levels can be found below.