Clarification Regarding Small Business Administration Loan Assistance as the Result of COVID-19
To be clear, Nebraska is not yet qualified for actual claims to be filed with the SBA. These forms are a procedural hurdle to get the declaration made so that an SBA application process can begin for loan assistance in Nebraska.
Here is the procedure for the series of events that will occur:
- The Governor must first be in a position to submit a request to the SBA for a disaster declaration along with at least 5 qualifying economic injury worksheets (attached) which need to be fully completed by injured small businesses, with all questions answered regarding business revenues, whether there was any business interruption insurance, as well as the comments section.
- The beginning date of the incident should be listed as of January 31, 2020 and a revenue comparison between this year’s and last year’s revenues is required to demonstrate the damage. Damages can and should include projected damages out through April and May 2020 based on the new policies being imposed due to the coronavirus.
- In the comment section the person filling out the form should provide a detailed commentary on how these actual and projected damages are related to the coronavirus.
- The SBA will then review the worksheets and the Governor’s request and upon their approval, the county from which each of these qualified worksheets are filed from, plus all contiguous counties will be declared an economic disaster area qualified for the programs. As additional economic injury worksheets are received, additional counties may be added upon review.
- While 5 qualifying worksheets are needed to get started we are looking for at least 1 worksheet to be filled out in as many counties as possible TODAY. SBA might reject some of the worksheets so extras are useful too.
- These forms are purely a procedural hurdle to get the economic disaster declared. Once that has occurred the forms have no additional purpose and businesses will still apply to the SBA and the formal application process to receive any loan assistance.
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Thus, for now, our first order of business is to help SBA and DED identify companies that can fill out worksheets showing significant economic consequences from COVID-19 since January 31. These are likely to be hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, as well as perhaps some manufacturing entities that experienced supply chain issues.
Completed worksheets can be sent to khassebrook@nechamber.com and the Nebraska Chamber will bundle them up and send them to the Department of Economic Development.