ACRA Member Letter to Federal Reserve and Treasury Department – Make Your Voice Heard!
It has been over 2 months since Congress passed the CARES Act, but one of the primary corporate support programs in the law for small and mid-sized businesses – the Main Street Program (MSP) – has not yet started to make loans. The Federal Reserve has promised to “operationalize” the MSP soon, but in the meantime, ACRA members continue to struggle with the economic consequences of the pandemic.
ACRA members interested in signing the attached letter (http://www.acraorg.com/wp- content/uploads/2020/06/6-9-attachment- 1.pdf) to the Federal Reserve Board Chairman and the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury should e-mail the following information to Greg Scott at gscott@merevir.com by COB on Wednesday, June 10, 2020: (1) the name of the person signing for the company; (2) the company’s name; (3) the company’s headquarters city and state; and, (4) and number of current employees. Hopefully, we can get scores of ACRA members (operators and associate members as well) of all sizes to sign this letter and it will help get the Fed and Treasury off the mark on the MSP in the coming days. If you have questions about signing the letter, please let Greg know at that e-mail address.
PPP Flexibility Act of 2020 Signed into Law
Congress passed and on June 6, 2020 President Trump signed the “PPP Flexibility Act of 2020” into law. As the name implies, the new law providers borrowers under the Paycheck Protection Program with additional flexibility in terms of the use of PPP loan proceeds and loan forgiveness. Check with your accountant or legal counsel on details, but attached is a brief summary of the law’s provisions provided by the Congressional Research Service (http://www.acraorg.com/wp- content/uploads/2020/06/6-9-attachment- 2.pdf).
Possible Stimulus 4.0 or CARES 2.0
Despite the fact that the House passed the $3 trillion “HEROES Act” as a follow-up to the CARES Act, the White House and Senate Republicans have been in no hurry to negotiate with the House on a CARES 2.0 bill.
ACRA continues to focus on four policy priorities with respect to the implementation of the CARES Act and a potential CARES 2.0
- Restoring Liquidity
The ACRA member letter in this newsletter and the CARES Act Main Street Program is ACRA’s primary focus in this area right now. - Airport Issues
working on two fronts: (1) ACRA members are working individually with airports on rent relief and/or abatement; and, (2) ACRA is working with other airport concessionaires (food and retail) to seek federal grants to airports to make up for reduced MAG payments from all concessionaires, including car rentals. - Liability Protection
ACRA is working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform on federal legislation to prohibit frivolous lawsuits associated with the pandemic. - Travel Tax Credit
ACRA is working with the U.S. Travel Association and other stakeholders on a federal tax credit or travel voucher to boost travel in general and car rentals specifically in the future.