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COVID-19 Relief Paycheck Protection Bill Passes Senate for Presidential Signature

The Senate passed on Wednesday (6/3) the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act, which tweaks the CARES Act’s program that provided forgivable loans to small businesses if they spent them on keeping workers employed, according to a report in Broadcasting+Cable.

The bill, which previously passed in the House, is now expected to be signed into law by the the President.

While the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act does not allow for news outlets – TV and radio stations and newspapers – that are part of larger media groups to qualify individually for the forgivable small business loans, it does make changes that affect the small media outlets that do qualify.

That includes 1) allowing forgiveness for expenses beyond the eight weeks covered by the first bill, 2) eliminating the 25% limit on loan proceeds that can go to non-payroll expenses, 3) full access to payroll tax deferment, and 4) extend the deadline for rehiring beyond June 30 so that it dovetails with the expiration of enhanced unemployment payments.

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