Provide grants to businesses to cover up to two months of payroll and operating costs to be used once it is safe for people to move freely in public. Also, be sure that these grants go only to businesses that are small based on both employee count and annual income, and that, due to COVID-19, temporarily closed or had significantly reduced income-producing activity.
Why is this important?
The current PPP program is of no use to businesses that have already temporarily shut down, which, along with laying off employees, also entailed cancelling or reducing coverage for vehicle and other insurance policies, etc. It makes no sense to keep employees on payroll if there is no way to gain income. However, businesses will need funds to pay employees, renew insurance policies, catch up on rent, purchase materials or goods, and more upon reopening or adding back staff and taking on more work. Loan forgiveness is key. Small businesses typically operate with some level of debt, and business owners will be going into more debt on a personal level just to survive until able to reopen or otherwise get back to operating at full capacity.
