The Senate Republican COVID-19 relief legislation unveiled this week, the HEALS Act, contains CUNA-supported liability protection, as well as other Paycheck Protection Program reforms. The House passed its COVID-19 relief bill, the HEROES Act, in May.

The HEALS Act contains a provision providing no enforcement action could be taken against a lender who in good faith relied on a certification or documentation submitted by a borrower of a covered loan.

Other PPP improvements include:

• Making certain operations, property damage, supplier and worker protection expenses forgivable;
• Simplifying the forgiveness process for loans under $150,000 and for loans between $150,000 and $2 million, but not to the extent CUNA seeks in the PPP Forgiveness Acts in the House and Senate;
• Allows eligible businesses to take a second PPP loan;
• Expands PPP loan eligibility to certain 501(c)(6) organizations, chambers of commerce and destination marketing organizations;

The bill also creates a limited refundable payroll tax credit equal to 50% of an employer’s costs of protecting employees from COVID-19 and cleaning workspaces.  However, this does not include federal instrumentalities, which CUNA will seek to change.