ALBANY – State Senator Pete Harckham (D, Mt. Kisco) and Assemblyman Steven Otis (D, Port Chester) announced Tuesday that they are introducing legislation that will earmark up to $100 million of federal disaster relief funds sent to the state for an emergency small business grant program.
The new bill (S.4688) would utilize a fraction of the next coronavirus pandemic disaster relief funds that Congress and the Biden / Harris administration are expected to disburse soon to the states; Governor Andrew Cuomo has requested that New York receive $15 billion.
Once the federal government sends the funding to New York, the new bill would then authorize a state agency to set up the parameters for the emergency small business grant program, focusing on those businesses that had been asked by the state to remain closed during the pandemic.
This new legislation is part of a package that includes two earlier introduced bills that will offer small businesses and not-for-profit organizations additional financial resources to help keep them afloat while they grapple with the financial devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The first bill, S.3406, will establish a state of emergency loan program and will also guarantee loan repayment to the certain financial institutions that eligible small businesses statewide have been turning to for help. The second bill, S.2993, will allow small businesses and small landlords to defer certain taxes during the Covid-19 declared state of emergency and permit installment payments later on.
Harckham and Otis noted that this legislative package will help ensure employment for countless New Yorkers. As the pandemic spread through New York last spring, it was mandated that residents stay at home unless their occupations were deemed essential and businesses across the state were temporarily closed. This has had a devastating effect on the state’s economy, impacting small business owners and their employees, as well as their vendors and other associated small businesses.
