House Passes Bill Relaxing PPP Loan Forgiveness Requirements

Last night the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7010 (Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020) by a vote of 417-1. The Bill proposes to loosen the requirements of loan forgiveness under the Payroll Protection Loan by:

1.    Extending the time borrowers have to use PPP loan proceeds from 8 weeks to 24 weeks;

2.    Reducing the amount that must be used on payroll costs from 75% to 60 %;

3.    Extending the deadline to rehire workers from June 30 to December 31, 2020; and

4.     Providing a safe harbor exemption that allows loan forgiveness to be calculated without regard to a                reduction in full-time equivalent employees, if the employer is able to document:

a.   an inability to rehire individuals who were employed on February 15, 2020, and

b.   an inability to hire similarly qualified employees for unfilled positions before December 31,                                     2020.

This Bill is now on to the Senate for markup and voting. With any luck, we should have an agreed upon Bill ready to be signed by the President by the end of next week.