President Biden signs American Rescue Plan Act

Congress has recently approved, and the President has signed, the "American Rescue Plan Act," a new $1.9 trillion stimulus package. The new package provides direct funding to restaurants and bars, changes to PPP, EIDL and the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant Program (SVOG), jobless benefits and expands three tax credits.

Key Takeaways: 

• Under this new package, $25 billion will be awarded through grants to restaurants and bars that lost revenue due to the pandemic. 
• Individual restaurant owners can apply for grants for a maximum of $5 million and restaurant groups with multiple locations can apply for grants for a maximum of $10 million. 
• The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been expanded to include more non-profit entities, including 501(c) organizations and received an additional $7.25 billion in funding. The program is set to end on March 31.
• The Shuttered Venue Operator Grant Program (SVOG) received $1.25 billion in funding and a new amendment will allow businesses to apply for both SVOG and PPP.
• The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advance received $15 billion in funding. To qualify, businesses must be in a low-income community, suffered a loss of more than 30% and have less than 300 employees.

For more information on the new stimulus package, read our recent blog post or visit the National Conference of State Legislators summary.