Advocacy News – December 22, 2020
Yesterday, the Michigan House put the legislature’s final stamp of approval on a year-end spending bill that includes several relief provisions for certain businesses.
As seen in the other relief packages, $55 million will be appropriated to help small businesses impacted by COVID-19 through grants of up to $20,000 made available through local economic development organizations. The legislation also includes $3.5 million for grants of up to $40,000 each for live music and entertainment venues. As mentioned in previous articles, $5 million will go towards covering penalty and interest on unpaid summer 2020 property tax bills.
To cover the cost of continuing to extend unemployment benefits from 20 to 26 weeks, $220 million was deposited in the Unemployment Trust Fund to avoid unemployment tax increases on already struggling businesses. Full coverage of this effort can be found here.
The last provision of interest to Michigan Chamber members was the inclusion of $45 million to be provided to workers effected by forced shutdowns and capacity restrictions. $1,650 will be made available per individual. It is not yet known how this money will be directed towards those who qualify.
For more information on the year-end supplemental budget, please contact Dan Papineau at dpapineau@michamber.com