Dear Clients and Friends,
We understand that your business is multifaceted and new federal, state and local government actions are impacting your daily operations. In response to this crisis, we've established a statewide, multidisciplinary COVID-19 team working collaboratively to provide you with government updates, alerts on critical topics, and resources in a timely manner.
Together, we are dedicated to helping you navigate the full range of issues impacting your business and providing clear, practical, forward-thinking strategies to adapt to this rapidly changing environment.
All actions described below are as of March 25, 2020 at 11:30am. We have done our best to include significant, timely information, although new orders and actions are being introduced continuously.
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RECENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ACTIONS
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Paid Sick and Emergency Leave: President Trump signed the
Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a multibillion-dollar package that provides paid sick and emergency leave to employees who become infected with COVID-19 or are dealing with family members who are infected. View our Labor and Employment Group
update for more information on how this new law affects employers.
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Economic Relief and Assistance: Senate leaders and the White House agreed on a $2 trillion economic stimulus package early Wednesday morning. Previously, Senate Republicans had filed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). While updated bill text is not yet available, a summary is available of the most recent version. The proposed stimulus package is expected to impact all sectors of the economy and could provide needed economic relief by sending $1,200 checks to many Americans, creating a $350 billion loan program for small businesses and setting up a $500 billion fund for industries, cities and states. Other provisions include a boost to unemployment insurance, $150 billion for state and local stimulus funds, and $130 billion for hospitals. The Senate is expected to vote on the agreed stimulus package as early as Wednesday. House leaders have said that they would give their members 24 hours' notice before they take action on the bill, likely through a voice vote.
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Small Business Loans: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is providing low-interest disaster loans to help businesses and homeowners recover from declared disasters. For Florida, Governor Ron Desantis provides the request for funds to the SBA. More information on these SBA Loans below.
- Federal Tax Filings: Federal taxes filing deadline for individuals and corporations automatically postponed to July 15. In addition, the IRS has created a special website for Coronavirus Tax Relief.
- Are you Essential?: As we are faced with numerous shelter in place orders, work restrictions, curfews, etc., a common question that arises is "Who is an essential critical infrastructure worker?" Last week, the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provided Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce. This Guidance describes and lists the worker categories that are essential to ensure the continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security. The Director emphasizes that the list is advisory in nature, and is not, nor should it be considered to be, a federal directive or standard in and of itself.
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RECENT STATE OF FLORIDA GOVERNMENT ACTIONS
Executive Orders:
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Travel: Restriction and quarantine placed on some Florida visitors. Air travelers from areas with substantial community spread (namely NY-NJ-CT) are directed to isolate and quarantine for 14 days and notify anyone they have come into direct contact with. Click for more.
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Healthcare: Medically unnecessary, non-urgent, or non-emergency procedures and surgery (including dentistry) are prohibited during the state of emergency. Click for more.
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Restaurants and Gyms: Restaurants and food establishments are required to suspend on-premises food and alcohol consumption during the state of emergency. Take-out and delivery are permitted with special permission to deliver alcohol during the on-premises suspension. Most gyms are required to close their doors until the state of emergency is lifted. Click for more.
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Local Government Meetings: To ensure municipalities can continue to operate, local governments are temporarily allowed to meet via telephonic or video conference. Click for more.
- State and Local Government Agency Power: State of emergency declared through April 8 that covers all of Florida and gives broad powers to state and local government agencies. Click for more.
Pursuant to this order, various government agencies and departments have released emergency orders, including, but not limited to:
Orders Impacting Our Court System:
Business Resources & Opportunities:
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Small Business Loans:
The Department of Economic Opportunity began implementation of the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program to provide short-term, interest-free loans to small businesses experiencing economic injury. The application period is open through May 8, 2020. Click for more.
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Recommended Business Strategies
: The Florida Department of Health has provided recommended strategies for businesses during the COVID-19 public health crisis. These recommendations include: encouraging sick employees to stay home; separating sick employees; performing routine environmental cleaning; and advising employers before traveling to follow CDC guidance. Click for more.
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RECENT COUNTY AND CITY GOVERNMENT ACTIONS
The actions taken by Local Governments have varied from taking no action to issuing Stay At Home Orders. A correlation between the stringency of the emergency orders and the total confirmed COVID-19 cases is emerging.
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| Photo Source: Florida's COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard, Florida Department of Health, Division of Disease Control and Health Protection, March 25, 2020 |
Many of the Local Governments in high-population areas have imposed Stay At Home or Work At Home Orders while Local Governments in lower-population areas are relying on Federal and State Guidance and Orders at this time.
As of March 24, 2020, the following Local Governments have issued a Stay At Home or Work At Home Order:
- Alachua County
- Duval County/Jacksonville
- Leon County
- Miami-Dade County (residents "urged" to stay home)
- Miami Beach
- Orange County
What do these Stay At Home/Work At Home Orders mean for you and your business? Click for more
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In addition to the above Local Governments, the following Local Governments have ordered all nonessential businesses to close:
- Boca Raton
- Broward County
- Miami
- Miami-Dade County
- And more...
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