Take a look at this week’s federal report for the most up-to-date information about:
- Congress Examines Next Stimulus Package
- Small Business Administration Issues Guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program
- ACF Issues Memorandum Concerning the flexibility of grantees
- Children’s Bureau Letter on Judicial Hearings
- Technologies Solutions from Children’s Bureau
- Telehealth is a part of Telemedicine. Telemedicine guidelines to be used with Medicare and Medicaid
- New guidance from the CDC on the Child care Programs that are open
- ACF Announces New TANF Guidance
Congress Examines Next Stimulus Package
Congress is expected to begin work on a second stimulus update in the coming weeks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would like to advance a major infrastructure package that would include broadband expansion as well as other priority areas. Initial reports have highlighted several key areas of focus, including the state’s solvency, investments in infrastructure as well as the addition of SNAP benefits, additional hospital funding as well as hazard payments, the local and state taxes (SALT) cap and many more. But, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared that he’s not going to rush into the work of drafting legislation for the next session and would first like to study the effects of the current legislation. Congress will return on its way to Washington D.C. on April 20. Congress is currently in pause.
The Alliance is currently beginning to advocate for legislation that will be introduced in the near future in support of community-based human service organisations and those they assist. The Alliance would like your feedback for determining how we can best represent our members in the next session of legislation. Please fill out this quick poll before the close of business on April 7th. It only takes 5 minutes to complete and will determine the next steps for our advocacy.
Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Extend the Financial Aid for Nonprofits
Representative Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts) and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) introduced legislation, H.R. 6408, which would provide the public charities financial relief. The bill stimulus update has already eight cosponsors. Its “Save the Organizations that Help America Act” aids nonprofits at the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak with crucial financial support. The $60 billion relief package will increase financial aid direct to all nonprofits and eliminate the 500-employee limit for 501(c)(3) organisations seeking Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, and will enhance the universal above-the-line charitable deduction by removing the cap, and permitting the taxpayer to deduct deductions on 2020 and 2019 as well as in the future. The Alliance was pleased to endorse the legislation and has been working together with Moulton office Moulton office to see it implemented.
Small Business Administration Issues Guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program
On April 2nd on April 2, the Small Business Administration released new guidelines regarding The Paycheck Protection Loan Program. Further information is accessible via the Small Business Administration website . Some quick notes on this, with thanks to our good friends with the National Council of Nonprofits:
Interest Rate: Unlike earlier announcements by SBA that this rate of interest for PPP loans is now fixed to 1.0 percent, an increase from 0.5 percent announced earlier in the week.
Application: Borrowers need to fill out their form 2483 of the SBA (Paycheck Protection Program Application Form) and provide the payroll documentation.
The definition of payroll costs is: As this is crucial so we’ll refer to what SBA states in full: “Payroll costs consist of payments to employees (whose primary residency is in the United States) in the form of wages, salary commissions, payment; cash tips, or equivalent (based on records from employers of previous tips or, in the absence of documents, a reasonable, honest estimate by the employer of these tips) or payments for parental, vacation medical, family or sick leaves; allowance for termination or separation or dismissal; payment to cover the cost of employee benefits , including group health insurance as well as insurance premiums and retirement benefits; payments of state and local taxes on compensation for employees as well as for an individual sole proprietor or contractor wages, commissions or income, or net earnings from self-employment , or comparable compensation.”
- Exclusions from payroll costs comprise payments to employees who are located outside the U.S and compensation that exceeds $100,000 (prorated) as well as federal payroll taxes, and qualified paid leave in accordance with the Families First Act.
Calculating Payroll Costs rule provides an orderly five-step procedure for calculating costs of paying employees for PPP loans:
- Costs of payroll for the entire year (see the above) for the last 12 months;
- Subtract the pay of any employee who earns more than $100,000;
- Divide step 2’s total number by 12 months, to obtain the average monthly;
- Multiply step 3’s total by 2.5 Then
- Add any outstanding amount due to an EIDL loan that was made between the 1st of January between 3/1/2020 and 4/3/2020 “less that amount for any advance in the terms of an EIDL COVID-19 loan (because it does not have to be paid back).”
The amount of scrutiny a lender can conduct should be minimal. The interim final rule says: “The lender does not have to conduct any kind of verification when the borrower has submitted documents supporting the request to forgive loans and attests that it has verified the amount of payments to cover eligible expenses. The Administrator will indemnify any lender who is relying on the documents of a borrower and attestation from the borrower.”
75%-25% Rule of Forgiveness: A different decision that was that was made official by this new policy will be that SBA will set the maximum amount of a loan is cancelled based on how the borrower will use the money. SBA declares that loan forgiveness is contingent on at minimum 75% of the loan sum be used for payroll, and not greater than 25 percent for other expenses that are eligible (rent/mortgage and utilities). The restriction isn’t part of the statute , however SBA states that it is imposing the requirement to encourage the creation of jobs.
We will monitor the progress of this program and will provide further information.
ACF Issues Memorandum on Grantee Flexibility
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued an information memo on the 30th of March concerning grant flexibility when the conduct of human service activities that are related to COVID-19. This offers short-term relief from administration, management of finances, and auditing obligations to ACF Grantees and applicants.
Source: Children’s Defense Fund
Children’s Bureau Letter on Judicial Hearings
The Children’s Bureau released a letter on the 27th of March discussing court-related and legal concerns during the COVID-19 public health crisis. The letter provides guidance to the courts, Court Improvement Programs (CIPs), and administrative offices regarding areas where courts are able to make decisions regarding the services they require. The letter also offers guidance to courts on how to maintain family time during crises and ensuring that parents are able to access essential services and treatments.
Technologies Solutions from Children’s Bureau
The Children’s Bureau has provided a list of free or low costs technology alternatives that can be utilized to aid in communication with children during the COVID-19 crisis. The list includes information platforms, costs, as well as a list of the top internet companies that offer free services to low-income households as well as households with students.
Telehealth as well as Telemedicine guidelines to be used with Medicare and Medicaid
To limit the growth of COVID-19 to limit the spread of COVID-19, it was decided that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services increased the availability of telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries. In accordance with the 1135 waiver authority stimulus update, the providers such as doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well as nurses midwives certified nurses anesthetists, clinical psychologists clinical social professionals, registered dietitians and nutrition specialists – are able to currently bill Medicare for hospital, office and other appointments that are made via Telehealth. The provider must utilize the latest audio and video telecommunications system that permits communication between the remote site and the patient in the home. HIPAA regulations for compliance are now relaxed to allow an expanded range of platforms to provide telehealth services, such as Apple FaceTime, Facebook Messenger video chat, Google Hangouts video, or Skype, (Public-facing platforms such like TikTok and Facebook live are not permitted.) Medicaid already offers telehealth that is in place as well as states have a wide ability to cover telehealth with Medicaid with no approval from the Federal government.
New guidance from the CDC on Children’s care Programs that are open
This week the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published new guidelines on child-care facilities that need to remain open during the COVID-19 outbreak. The guideline includes new measures to reduce co-infection with COVID-19. They include sanitation practices, altered drop-off procedures, and many more.
ACF Releases New TANF Guidelines
The Administration for Children and Families has released new guidelines for the program for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program last week. The document addresses concerns about TANF flexibility related to COVID-19, the funding process, and changes in the timing of approval of plans. The document also discusses application process changes, work requirements and more.See more articles themagazineweb
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