The House has passed legislation to help businesses with PPP loans

Last week, I blogged here about a couple of bills in Congress that could relax some of the more stringent rules associated with Paycheck Protection Program loans.

This week, one of those pieces of legislation called the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 just cleared the House by a vote of 417-1. Here is a copy of the bill. And courtesy of this press release from co-sponsor, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), here is a concise bullet-point summary of what the new legislation accomplishes:

• Extends the forgiveness period to 24 weeks
• Replaces the 75/25 rule with a 60/40 rule
• All new PPP loans will receive a 5-yr maturity. Existing loans will remain at a 2-year maturity.
• Allows businesses that receive forgiveness to also receive payroll tax deferment
• Ensures small businesses won’t be penalized by high unemployment benefits
• Creates a safe harbor for businesses that are required to open at only 50 percent capacity

The Senate is expected to consider the bill next week.

I may have more to say about this during today’s Zoom chat at Noon EDT. But, more likely, I’ll let my special guest Steve Browne do most of the talking during a truly “HR” edition of The Employer Handbook HR COVID-19 Chat.

If you’ve waited until the last minute to register, well, hurry up and register here.

And I’ll see you at noon.