COVID–19 Relief for Small Businesses Act of 2020

Bill: 116-hr-6312
Sponsor: Rep. Velazquez, Nydia M. [D-NY-7]
Introduced: 2020-03-19 in the House
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Appropriations
Bank accounts, deposits, capital
Banking and financial institutions regulation
Business investment and capital
Business records
Cardiovascular and respiratory health
Commuting
Competitiveness, trade promotion, trade deficits
Computers and information technology
Congressional oversight
Credit and credit markets
Disaster relief and insurance
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Employee benefits and pensions
Employee hiring
Employee leave
Employment taxes
Executive agency funding and structure
Financial crises and stabilization
Foreign language and bilingual programs
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government information and archives
Government lending and loan guarantees
Health promotion and preventive care
Industrial facilities
Infectious and parasitic diseases
Interest, dividends, interest rates
Life, casualty, property insurance
Manufacturing
Minority and disadvantaged businesses
Museums, exhibitions, cultural centers
Public contracts and procurement
Sales and excise taxes
Self-employed
Small Business Administration
Small business
State and local finance
State and local taxation
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
User charges and fees
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Veterans' loans, housing, homeless programs
Wages and earnings
Women in business

Summary:
action_date: 2020-03-19
text: 

COVID-19 Relief for Small Businesses Act of 2020

 
This bill establishes measures to support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).
 
Specifically, the SBA must
 
 
temporarily make or guarantee loans for specified uses to small businesses in a state or territory with a case of COVID-19, up to 50% of which may be forgiven;
 
pay the principal, interest, and associated fees owed on certain small business loans for a six-month period;
 
provide grants to small businesses suffering substantial economic injury because of COVID-19;
 
provide grants to small business development centers, women's business centers, and chapters of the Service Corps of Retired Executives for specified purposes;
 
reimburse grant recipients under the State Trade Expansion Program for an amount of losses related to COVID-19;
 
provide SBA resources and services in the 10 most commonly spoken languages, other than English, in the United States, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean. 
 
 
In addition, the SBA may make economic injury disaster loans to small businesses in response to COVID-19 and waive certain requirements on such loans.
 
The bill also
 
 
temporarily increases guarantee amounts and loan sizes for certain SBA loans, temporarily waives or reduces certain fees on SBA loans, and permanently waives the guarantee fee on SBA loans for veterans;
 
revises the Microloan Program;
 
provides additional leverage for small businesses affected by COVID-19;
 
reestablishes the New Markets Venture Capital Program; and
 
requires a federal agency to provide additional performance time to small business contractors and to pay such contractors regardless of delay due to COVID-19. 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2020-03-19
text: Referred to the House Committee on Small Business.
action_date: 2020-03-19
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2020-03-19
text: Introduced in House