News

The PPP Extension Act, signed by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, extends the deadline for PPP applications to May 31, 2021. The Act also provides that the SBA will have until June 30, 2021 to process applications. While applicants now have an additional two months to apply for a first or second draw PPP loan, the Act does not provide any additional funding for the current round of PPP. As of March 28, 2021 the SBA has disbursed around $734 billion of the $806 billion appropriated by Congress to the program.

Beginning today, under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide financial assistance for COVID-19 related funeral/cremation expenses incurred after January 20, 2020.

The Arkansas Hospitality Association hosted a webinar to educate their members on potential loans available through the Paycheck Protection Program. Friday, Eldredge & Clark Attorneys Robert T. Smith and Madeline O. McElhanon addressed recent updates to the program and discussed its application to the travel and tourism industry.

The extended Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is of particular interest to those in the tourism industry because it addresses specific issues businesses like hotels, restaurants and bars are facing and have faced during the pandemic. Below is a summary of two recent articles that explain the loan program in more detail.

Attorneys Mike Moore and Katherine Campbell discuss the most pressing COVID-issues in the workplace and give an update on new legislation that includes unemployment rates. The webinar is part of the firm's monthly Lunch and Learn Webinar Series. (March 4, 2021)

In December 2020, as part of the larger National Defense Authorization Act, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)) was enacted with intentions of increasing transparency into companies to combat money laundering and criminal behavior. The CTA requires that certain companies (each a “reporting company”) disclose their ultimate beneficial ownership and control. If not exempt, all new entities and all existing entities will need to comply with these new regulations. Though the CTA is not effective immediately, the Treasury Department expects within one year to issue the regulations detailing how the act will be implemented.

On October 7, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a rule proposal to provide a safe harbor exemption permitting an individual acting as an unregistered broker or dealer, or “finder,” to engage in capital-raising activities on behalf of smaller private companies without registering as a broker-dealer. The SEC’s proposal (Release No. 34-90112; File No. S7-13-20) aims to address concerns that have been raised by small businesses when attempting to identify “finders” to engage potential investors while raising capital. In today’s capital markets, the SEC has not previously recognized a “finders” exemption or exception, nor has the SEC provided general guidance on “finders”, other than interpretive positions taken by the SEC staff in no-action letters, prompting some to observers to refer to the use of finders as the “gray market.”