Heads Up! Hearings on Future After Reopening Online, Paycheck Protection Program Extended

Monday, June 8, 2020

I hope this finds you well.

On June 5 and continuing today, the Board of Supervisors held special hearings on the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We heard from 92 leaders in 22 major sectors of our community and economy about what they need to reopen their businesses or organizations and what assistance they need from all levels of government in order to reopen successfully and thrive going forward.

The presentations were extremely informative. You can view the video from the June 5 hearing, and see copies of the Power Point presentations that each of the panelists made, here.

Today’s Power Point presentations and video can be seen here.

Paycheck Protection Program Extended Through 2020

On Friday, the federal Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act became law providing some additional assistance to small business owners who have been impacted by the pandemic.

This bipartisan legislation not only extends the Paycheck Protection Program from June 30 to the end of 2020, but also provides some much-needed fixes to the original program that was passed as part of the CARES Act in March.

The fixes include:

Extending the loan term from 8 weeks to 24 weeks.
Lowering the percentage of loan proceeds that must be used on payroll from 75% to 60%.
Extending the repayment term for the portion of the loan that is not forgiven from 2 years to 5 five years.

The Small Business Administration has a web page with more information about the Paycheck Protection Program, as well as a link to find a lender to apply for the program, here.

County May Lose More Than $140 Million to State

Santa Clara County could see its budgetary funds cut by more than $140 million this week by the state Legislature. These funds are necessary to support vital programs such as immigration services, supportive housing, respite care for foster families, intimate partner violence services, universal access to child care, re-entry services, and many more.

The proposal before the Legislature would retroactively shift property taxes from counties, cities, and special districts to the State of California. This would have a direct budget impact on five Bay Area counties: Santa Clara, San Francisco, Marin, Napa, and San Mateo.

In a time when our County is already experiencing record unemployment and reduced tax revenues due to COVID-19, losing these millions to would further harm our already precarious financial situation.

Please make your voice heard and let the Legislature know how crucial these funds are to Santa Clara County by going here: www.bit.ly/ERAFAdvocacy.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education is currently conducting a survey of parents and guardians in the County about their experiences with distance learning since schools were closed in March.

The survey also covers what concerns they may have about school campuses and classrooms reopening for the 2020-2021 school year.

The survey is available in English here.

It is available in Spanish here.

It is available in Vietnamese here.

The deadline for taking the survey is June 12.

The Office of Education has also released preliminary guidance for the County-wide reopening and recovery of schools in the fall. The Stronger Together Resources include a guide, frequently asked questions, an action planning template, and other elements important to the process of reopening schools. It can be found here.

Be well,

Cindy

Santa Clara County COVID-19 Case Numbers, Hospital Capacity, and Testing Dashboards Can Be Found Here

In This Edition:

Video of Hearings on Reopening Available Online