Recovery Resources: PA rules change, vaccine sites and tax filing extensions

State relaxes pandemic restrictions, gathering limits
Gov. Wolf announced earlier this week that the state is relaxing restrictions on restaurants and other businesses and gathering limits it had imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, effective April 4. The state is permitting restaurants to resume bar service and serve alcohol to patrons who don’t buy food, as well as lifting the curfew for removing alcoholic drinks from tables. Additionally, it is increasing the indoor dining capacity to 75 percent for restaurants that are self-certified, which involves agreeing to strictly comply with all public health safety guidelines and orders, and 50 percent for restaurants that aren’t self-certified. Restaurants still must maintain six feet between diners and require patrons to wear masks. They still are encouraged to offer outdoor dining and curbside takeout. The state also is allowing gyms and entertainment facilities, such as movie theaters, casinos and malls, to operate at 75 percent capacity and increasing occupancy limits to 25 percent of maximum occupancy for indoor events and 50 percent of maximum occupancy for outdoor events, as long as workers and attendees can comply with the six-foot physical distancing requirement.

PA DOH offers to set up two regional vaccine sites in apparent compromise
The Pennsylvania Department of Health said Friday it has offered to set up two mass vaccination sites to serve Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, according to a report by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The sites would split 42,000 vaccine doses a week. The offer appears to be a compromise by the DOH in response to a joint statement made Thursday by elected officials from the four counties expressing their disappointment that the DOH was planning to open one mass vaccination site for their counties rather than let the counties distribute the Johnson & Johnson vaccine themselves. County leaders, including elected state and federal officials, have been complaining about the amount of vaccine allocated to them by the DOH since an analysis by the Inquirer showed that the counties were among the lowest recipients of vaccine allocations from the state on a per capita basis.

Main Line Chamber signs letter in protest of vaccine distribution disparities
The Main Line Chamber of Commerce and eight other chambers in Berks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties earlier this month wrote a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf and Acting Secretary of Health Allison Bream expressing concern over what they called “blatant inequity of vaccine distribution.” The DOH is not following its own formula for distributing the vaccine, the letter stated.

PA follows IRS in moving back tax filing date
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue said Thursday it has moved the deadline for taxpayers to file their 2020 Pennsylvania personal income tax returns and make final 2020 income tax payments back to May 17 from April 15. The announcement follows an announcement by the Internal Revenue Service that it was moving the federal tax filing deadline back to the same date.

Chesco, Delco, Montco accepting CHIRP grant applications
Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties are accepting applications for grants from hospitality businesses for money they were allocated under the state’s COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP). Chester County was allocated $5.9 million and has information about it available in a recorded webinar. Delaware County was allocated $6.4 million, which it is distributing through its Delco Strong program. Montgomery County was allocated $9.4 million, which it is distributing through its MontcoStrong 2021 Hospitality Industry Recovery program. A video about the MontcoStrong program is available on YouTube. To be eligible for grants under CHIRP, businesses must be in North American Industry Classification System subsectors 721 (Accommodations) or 722 (Food Services and Drinking Places); have fewer than 300 full-time-equivalent employees; be worth no more than $15 million; be able to demonstrate a decline of at least 25 percent in quarterly revenue between 2019 and 2020; and have been in operation on Feb. 15, 2020 and not intend to cease operating within one year of applying for a grant.

House extends deadline for PPP, which got American Rescue Plan funding
The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 415-3 to approve a bill that would move back the deadline for applying for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program to May 31 from March 31 and give the Small Business Administration an additional 30 days to process loans. The Senate is expected to approve the bill, according to CNBC. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which President Biden signed into law on March 11, includes $7 billion to expand the PPP. According to CNN Business, the American Rescue Plan Act also allocates:

· $10 billion for the State Small Business Credit Initiative, under which state governments can use the money to help leverage private capital and make low-interest loans and other investments to help their small businesses;

· $15 billion for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, which targets small businesses, especially minority-owned ones, in underserved areas;

· $29 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund;

· $15 billion for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program;

· And an additional $1.325 to the SBA.

In addition, EIDL loan recipients will get more time to repay the loans under a change in SBA rules.