GOP lawmakers lukewarm on Beshear’s plan to give direct aid to KY small businesses
As Gov. Andy Beshear formally revealed his proposed state budget Thursday night, it came with another request: immediately pass a fund to provide relief for Kentucky’s small businesses.
“This represents the single largest relief fund of its kind in generations, and it cannot wait,” Beshear said. “So I’m asking the General Assembly to pass this funding in a separate bill to make it available immediately.”
The bill will likely wait.
Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, said it’s a given that businesses need relief, but that lawmakers are still processing the proposal.
“It’s an interesting proposal, we’ve been talking about something similar to that, at least on the House side,” Petrie said. “It’s a question of where the relief can be most effectively given for short, medium and long term purposes.”
Beshear’s proposal would provide small businesses — those that have fewer than 50 full time employees, have a physical presence in Kentucky, earn most of their revenue from Kentucky, are not publicly traded and have lost revenue over the course of the pandemic — a maximum of $20,000. If the business did not lose more than $20,000 in revenue, it would be eligible for the amount of revenue it lost.
The proposed relief fund sets aside $220 million for a wide array of small businesses — theaters, race tracks, barber shops, roller skating rinks and more — unlike the $40 million bar and restaurant relief fund Beshear’s administration set up in November.
The proposed bill says businesses that have already received direct aid are not eligible, but the Beshear Administration said the restriction is intended to only apply to direct federal aid, not state aid that used federal money.
Non-profits would be eligible for up to $10,000 from a $20 million relief fund, but only if they provide services to the people who were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including services to people of color, the homeless, older people and people with low incomes.
It is unlikely that Beshear’s proposal will pass as written. Republican lawmakers opened up the legislative session targeting Beshear’s executive powers, upset after months of being sidelined as he imposed restrictions on businesses in order to slow the spread of COVID 19. One of their top priority bills is intended to let businesses stay open for the duration of the pandemic through language that prevents Beshear from shuttering businesses that follow the CDC’s safety recommendations.
Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, said its likely that any relief for small businesses would come when the legislature passes the other aspects of the budget.
“I’m more focused on making sure that we don’t start doing things we simply can’t afford,” McDaniel said.
In a joint committee meeting Friday, lawmakers expressed concern over the way Beshear’s budget proposal used “one time” money from a revenue surplus.
“There’s a lot of talking to do,” Petrie said. “This is a difficult process.”
Not all of the proposed relief Beshear presented in his State of the Commonwealth address Thursday night requires legislative approval.
Using money from the federal CARES Act, his administration plans to use $48 million to provide direct payment to unemployed Kentuckians. Around 24,000 Kentuckians who filed for unemployment but haven’t received any money yet and are still unemployed will get one-time payments of $1,000. Another 60,000 people will get one-time payments of $400 if their unemployment benefits were less than $176 a week and they missed out on money from a lost-wages assistance program the state gave out this summer.
Herald Leader reporter John Cheves contributed reporting to this article.
This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 2:33 PM.
