Last night, Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate Parliamentarian, ruled that a federal minimum wage increase would be ineligible under reconciliation rules, effectively killing it as a component of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. To be eligible for action in the US Senate via reconciliation under the so-called Byrd Rule (authored by and named for…
Read More »This week, the White House and Small Business Administration (SBA) announced significant changes were being made to the parameters of the Paycheck Protection Program. The changes largely serve to make the program even more attractive to small businesses with an extra focus on those located in underserved and minority communities. Primary amongst the changes is…
Read More »Notwithstanding the ruling by the Senate Parliamentarian, the US House is expected to give final approval to Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 as soon as today, with some questions still remaining as to what the final bill will ultimately include. As of this writing, the legislation, which cleared the House Budget…
Read More »Looking closer at the final COVID relief legislation, efforts by progressive democrats to incorporate the provisions of the Protecting the Right To Organize Act (PRO Act) in the American Rescue Plan Act were ultimately unsuccessful however, the legislation is not dead by any stretch. To the contrary, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that…
Read More »Staying on the broad subject of organized labor and its outsized influence in the current administration, President Biden last week officially nominated Jennifer Abruzzo for the post of National Labor Relations Board General Counsel. Abruzzo, who had previously served in a number of different capacities at the NLRB including acting General Counsel during the Obama…
Read More »Although even the President himself opined a few weeks ago that the minimum wage increase would likely be stripped out of the American Rescue Plan Act, the issue is still very much alive and could possibly be passed as part of the $1.9 trillion relief bill. Prevailing wisdom had the wage hike dead once Senator…
Read More »When Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed SB.1 into law last week, the Hoosier State became the most recent to enact a liability shield law to protect businesses from lawsuits regarding the coronavirus pandemic. The new Indiana law provides protection from frivolous lawsuits for businesses, schools, health care providers, governments and other entities from lawsuits alleging…
Read More »An ongoing problem with the acceptance of Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness has been with the tax treatment by a business’ home state of the forgiven monies and the expenses the PPP funds have paid for. While the federal government addressed the issue with the passage if the most recent COVID relief bill in December,…
Read More »While the COVID vaccine becomes more available and more states relax some of their onerous restrictions on business operations, both business and consumer confidence continue to play on the metaphorical see-saw. A survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found the outlook of small business owners improving slightly with 15% of its respondents reporting…
Read More »Perhaps its other programs have been overshadowed by the popularity of the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program, but the Small Business Administration is now offering an expanded menu of help for small businesses. When Congress approved an additional $284 billion for PPP loans in December, it also expanded the benefits…
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