UPDATE
May 29, 2020
FEDERAL UPDATE


Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Payroll Protection Program Flexibility Act. The act includes several key issues that ACEC and ACECL asked of Congress including:

  • Extend the PPP loan forgiveness period to include costs incurred over 24 weeks after a loan is issued or through Dec. 31 (whichever comes first); businesses that received a loan before the measure is enacted could keep the current eight-week period.
  • Extend to Dec. 31 from June 30 a period in which loans can be forgiven if businesses restore staffing or salary levels that were previously reduced. The provision would apply to worker and wage reductions made from Feb. 15 through 30 days after enactment of the CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27.
  • Maintain forgiveness amounts for companies that document their inability to rehire workers employed as of Feb. 15, and their inability to find similarly qualified workers by the end of the year. Under the modified bill, companies would be covered separately if they show that they couldn’t resume business levels from before Feb. 15 because they were following federal requirements for sanitization or social distancing.
  • Extend the deadline to apply for a PPP loan to Dec. 31 from June 30.
  • Require at least 60% of forgiven loan amounts to come from payroll expenses.
  • Repeal a provision from the CARES Act that barred companies with forgiven PPP loans from deferring their payroll tax payments.
  • Allow borrowers to defer principal and interest payments on PPP loans until the SBA compensates lenders for any forgiven amounts, instead of the current six-month deferral period. Borrowers that don’t apply for forgiveness would be given at least 10 months after the program expires to start making payments.
  • Establish a minimum loan maturity period of five years following an application for loan forgiveness, instead of the current two-year deadline set by the SBA. That provision would apply to PPP loans issued after the measure is enacted, though borrowers and lenders could agree to extend current loans.
Read full act here .

ACECL submitted the attached letter via email to our state's congressional delegation ahead of the vote in support of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act and requested for additional consideration for problem areas that may require congressional action. Read letter here .
ACEC joined other industry members in a letter to the administrator of the Office of Management and Budget requesting that federal guidance be clarified such that treatment of PPP loan forgiveness for small business government contractors who have properly qualified for the loan forgiveness based on demonstrated financial need not be required to provide a credit to direct or indirect costs in contracts with government. The Department of Defense in guidance issued relative to the CARES Act, stated that loan forgiveness received by a government contractor under a PPP loan must be treated as a credit to cost-based government contracts. Read letter here .
ACECL UPDATE
Join ACEC of Louisiana and Congressman Garrett Graves on Monday, June 1, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m . to discuss federal legislation including COVID-19 relief packages and transportation and water infrastructure recovery funding.

Register for the ZOOM meeting by visiting the following link:



1 PDH certificate will be emailed to those participants registered and in attendance.
STATE NEWS
Governor Edwards is expected to make an announcement Monday, June 1 relative to whether Louisiana will move to Phase II of reopening the state's economy. As of Thursday, May 28 the state has recorded 38,802 positive cases and 2,6
ACEC of LOUISIANA WEBINARS
For those of you who may have been unable to attend the Transportation Conference in March or the subsequent presentations by DOTD relative to the consultant selection changes effective with advertisements issued after July 1, ACECL is hosting a virtual presentation with DOTD staff on June 4 at 1:30pm . This meeting will be recorded and available after the meeting for those with a conflict.
Topic: DOTD Consultant Selection Process Changes
Time: Jun 4, 2020 01:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 865 1050 0281
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,86510500281# US (Germantown)
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ACEC WEBINARS
Upcoming ACEC webinars:

The ACEC Research Institute will host three virtual expert roundtables over the coming two months exploring the post-COVID-19 engineering industry and the challenges and opportunities for engineering firms. Click here to learn more.

June 18 Panel:  The Impact of Technology on Engineering  (12:30 pm)
June 25 Panel:  The Buildings We Live and Work In  (2:30 pm)

July 16 Panel:  Funding in the New Normal  (13:30 pm
Past ACEC Webinar information:
PPP Loan Forgiveness: What You Need to Know

Held Wednesday, May 27, 2020, 12:30 PM

You can click here to stream the recording
MODEL SAFE AT WORK/RETURN TO WORK POLICY

Working with the HR Council, ACECL developed the attached  Safe at Work / Return to Work Policy/Infectious Disease Policy  template for firms to customize according to your standard operations and office culture. We know you are already making plans for how to transition to more employees working at the office. This policy is simply offered as a resource to complement your own planning as the state moves toward easing of stay-at-home restrictions. There is both a version that can be edited as well as a PDF version which activates all the hyperlinks so you can access the resources. To activate the links in your own final policy document - if being distributed electronically or posted online - simply save your version as a PDF. The links are not active in the word document.

You are welcome to call me if you have any questions. These suggestions are consistent with recommendations identified through extensive research. However, they should not substitute for your own management decision-making. This document is intended to be tailored to fit your individual circumstances.