Jan 12, 2021
TEXAS’ 2021 LEGISLATIVE SESSION BEGINS TODAY
Texas’ 2021 legislative session begins today, and your Business Advocacy Team will be updating, listening and watching on behalf of the Abilene business community every step of the way. The 87th Legislature will officially start at noon with the swearing in of House and Senate members. For the remainder of the week, lawmakers will adopt rules and procedures for dealing with COVID and committee structure.

We updated membership a few week's ago on the Chamber's Legislative Agenda and you can find that message that shares more on the categories we will be monitoring and acting on again here.

Click here to view the entire agenda and click here to reach out to our Business Advocacy Team.
$112.5 BILLION AVAILABLE - REVENUE ESTIMATE RELEASED
The day before the 87th Legislature convenes, Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar provided his estimate that Texas lawmakers will have $112.5 billion in revenue available for general-purpose spending during the 2022-23 biennium. This is a slight decrease from the 86th Session start of session when lawmakers were given an estimate of $119.1 billion for general-purpose spending during the 2020-21 biennium. Of note, the ending 2020-21 balance will be close to a negative $1 billion.

The Biennial Revenue Estimate and visuals from today’s press conference are available on the Comptroller’s website.
COMPTROLLER DISTRIBUTES $783 MILLION IN MONTHLY SALES TAX REVENUE TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $783.2 million in local sales tax allocations for January, 2.6% more than in January 2020. These allocations are based on sales made in November by businesses that report tax monthly. Details on January sales tax allocations to individual cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose districts can be found here.
PANDEMIC RELIEF INFORMATION AND RESOURCES
In yesterday's Monday Morning Memo, we shared that the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) would reopen this week. As part of the COVID-19 relief package signed into law at the end of 2020, $284 billion of funding was allocated to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for the PPP loan program.

To make it easy for you to access the application and find the information you need, we wanted to share some important links. Applications must be submitted through a regional or community bank, Farm Credit System lender, credit union, fintech, community development financial institution (CDFI), or minority depository institutions (MDI), so it is imperative you work with one of these lenders to access PPP funds.
Updated First Draw Forms
Second Draw Forms
Guidance & Resources

For more information and updates, visit SBA.gov/PPP or Treasury.gov/CARES. We hope this information helps you in accessing the information you need, and we look forward to continuing to provide helpful resources and tools to keep Abilene's businesses operating and successful!
TEXAS BUSINESS LEADER SURVEY
Texas 2036 wants to hear from business leaders across the state on what your top issues are. This anonymous survey will be available until end of day on Tuesday, Jan. 12. To take the survey, follow the link below.
CONNECT ABILENE COMMUNITY SURVEY
The City of Abilene is currently updating its Comprehensive Plan. This document helps the City set priorities for infrastructure and other improvements over the next 5 to 10 years. Help us make Abilene an even better place to live, work, and play. As a concerned citizen, the City takes your views very seriously. Please take some time to answer this survey and help guide future decisions. Your answers will remain anonymous. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes.
WHAT WE'RE READING

Will Oil Demand Recover In 2021?

Oil prices are rallying aggressively on the back of Saudi Arabia’s surprise cut and optimism over the rollout of vaccines across the world. News of a new strain of COVID19, however, has hurt the prospect of a demand recovery in Europe. The big question now for analysts is what does 2021 hold for oil markets?



Use Kindness Instead Of “Niceness”

The phrase “Nice guys finish last” is 1000% true. This is why it’s such a struggle for sensitive and caring people to operate out of kindness. When you don’t fully understand what Kindness is, you’re likely to get stepped on.
You don't want to miss these upcoming event for
your business.

JAN 13 INTRODUCTION TO GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING The Federal Government spends over half of a trillion dollars on goods and services each year. States and local governments spend 1.5 trillion dollars on goods and services cumulatively each year. This webinar covers the basics of doing business in the public sector at all levels. Register here.

JAN 14 UPDATES ON PPP LOAN AND EIDL PROGRAM Join SBDC CARES Act Coordinator, Kenny Heaton as he covers the basics of what is required to qualify and apply for the PPP loans plus, the extension of the EIDL program. Register here.

JAN 26 CYPERSECURITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES: THE FUNDAMENTALS This "Cybersecurity for small business: The Fundamentals" webinar is intended to share the "how to's" of cybersecurity as recommended by NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology. You, your team, company or community group will learn the steps for understanding cybersecurity, the risks and steps to mitigate them. Presented by SBDC Business Counselor, Manzel McGhee and CARES Act Coordinator, Kenny Heaton. Register here.

JAN 26 SBA SURETY BOND GUARANTEE PROGRAM WEBINAR We would like to invite you to attend our upcoming Surety Bond Guarantee Program Webinar that will be held Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. This one hour webinar will cover details regarding our SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program and how it can help small contractors and subcontractors obtain bonding on reasonable terms. Please click here to join the meeting.