AGC urges SBA to revise Paycheck Protection Program eligibility guidelines

Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) CEO Stephen Sandherr has called on the Small Business Administration (SBA) to revise its eligibility guidelines for the new Paycheck Protection Program.

The program, which is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll, will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities.

According to AGC, the SBA is delaying the loan applications of thousands of construction firms that would meet the statutory threshold of 500 employers or less because the agency appears to have added a secondary qualification that is not part of the statute.

“This error appears to severely undermine the purpose of the new loan program by endangering the survival of many construction firms – the vast majority of which are family-owned businesses – that Congress intended to qualify for the program,” says Sandherr. “As a result, tens of thousands of construction professionals will be forced to suffer new economic hardships because agency officials are misstating the law and subsequent eligibility guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.”

Sandherr has urged President Trump and the administrator of the SBA to immediately clarify the eligibility standard for the program so that all construction firms that employ fewer than 500 people are able to take advantage of this measure.