As predicted, there has already been further movement toward major Payment Protection Program policy change. Earlier this afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act. It did so by an overwhelming 417 to 1 margin. If approved in the Senate, this new law would:

• Change the Small Business Administration’s unilaterally imposed 75/25% ratio between payroll cost and non-payroll cost PPP expenditures to 60/40%.
• Extend the time for a borrower to spend its PPP monies from eight weeks to the earlier of (1) 24 weeks from loan origination or (2) December 31, 2020.
• “Double down” on the relief the SBA recently afforded employers unable to hire back laid off employees and provide similar relief to employers unable to find and hire “similarly qualified” employees before December 31.
• Extend the time to repay an unforgiven PPP loan from two to five years from the date of origination.

In short, the new law would make it vastly easier for most PPP borrowers to achieve full forgiveness.

These changes are not yet law. The House bill now must be approved, in whole or in part, by the Senate and signed into law by President Trump.

David A. Robinson is President and Founding Shareholder of Enterprise Counsel Group, a full-service business litigation, transactional and appellate law firm located in Irvine, California. For more information, please visit www.ecg.law.

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