COVID-19 UPDATE
Governor Extends Public Health Emergency

Yesterday’s proclamation by Governor Reynolds extends the Public Health Emergency until May 27, 2020. All current relief measures will remain in force until that date. This includes agricultural truck weight limits and penalties for late payment of property tax.

The full proclamation is online in its entirety:  Part 1 ,  Part 2 , and  Part 3 . 

Press release summarizing the proclamation can be found here .
Important Instructions for the Pesticide Applicator Online System

Registration is required to use the new pesticide Self-Service Portal for License and Certification. Until you register, you do not have an account and will not be able to log in and access the system.

Note that registration is not instantaneous and registrations which are started outside of Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) regular business hours (8:00 AM to 4:30 PM) will not progress until the next work day begins. 

The process for registration is as follows:
  • Click here to access the registration page.
  • Fill out the required information.

Note: If you are an Applicator and currently have a Certification number, you must enter that number when you register. This will allow IDALS to link you to your information record. 

If you are accessing records on behalf of a business, you will enter the License number of the business. 

DO NOT skip the Certification or License number if you have one or it will cause delays and require contacting the Pesticide Bureau to manually activate your account.

For extra information about the Registration process, click here.

The help guide starts with instructions for an applicator or business without a certification or license. If you already have a certification number or license, use pages 1 and 4 of the guide to complete your registration.

After you submit, this could take up to an hour, or will be sent the next business day if you are registering outside of business hours. A link will be sent to your email which you can click to set up your password.

Once your registration is completed, you can sign in using the main login page.

If you have issues registering or questions about the system, please contact pesticides@iowaagriculture.gov or Pesticide Bureau Chief, Gretchen Paulch at Gretchen.Paluch@Iowaagriculture.gov. 

Paycheck Protection Program SBA Loans Reopened

Last Friday, the President signed a bill that provides additional money to the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The program began taking applications again on Monday of this week.

SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program allows companies with 500 or fewer employees to seek loans of up to $10 million from banks, which are forgivable if the companies use 75 percent of the loan amount to keep employees on the payroll for eight weeks or hire back positions before July 1, 2020 to restore employment and salary levels for any changes made between Feb. 15, 2020 and April 26, 2020.

The bill also includes $50 billion for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program loans and $10 billion for EIDL grants. EIDL loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact.

The $484 billion package that includes the additional PPP funding also includes $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion to “research, develop, validate, manufacture, purchase, administer, and expand capacity” for COVID-19 tests.

If you have any specific concerns about how the COVID-19 response is affecting your business, please contact AAI staff .