Rep. Stanley and colleagues approve COVID relief bill for workers & small businesses

Rep. Stanley and his colleagues in the House approved a bipartisan COVID relief bill (H.89) that includes key provisions for small businesses, workers and jobseekers to help us recover from the pandemic and lift the economy. The legislation includes PPP loan forgiveness, an unemployment compensation tax credit, an unemployment insurance rate freeze, extended unemployment benefits to prevent any scheduled interruption in benefits; long-term bonding which authorizes up to $7B in special obligation bonds to repay federal advances, cover current UI needs and maintain trust fund solvency; the creation of a Legislative Commission comprised of employer, employee and other key stakeholders to review and make recommendations on the long-term solvency of UI trust fund; and a waiver of tax penalty which waives any penalties for good faith errors in remitting income taxes on unemployment compensation for 2020 tax year. The legislation also extends COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave so that employees at larger businesses also have access to emergency paid sick leave.