PRLA Restaurant & Lodging Matters Summer 2021

Summer 2021 • PENNSYLVANIA RESTAURANT & LODGING matters • 21 Elections | Cocktails to-go & expanded outdoor premises | Budget | Coronavirus Minimum wage | Regulatory | Looking forward… Philadelphia | Pittsburgh | Allegheny County Restaurant Revitalization Fund | Replenishment | Entrée Act | PPP Forgiveness Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) | Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) | 80/20 Rule Federal Items RESTAURANT REVITALIZATION FUND The program officially opened on May 3 with about $26 billion allocated to the program. Initially, the SBA announced it would be processing and funding priority group applications for the first 21 days. On June 11, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that due to a recent court case, it was forced to suspend payments to RRF grant recipients who qualified under the “priority” designation of the Restaurants Act. About 3,000 “priority” recipients had their grants rescinded. The National Restaurant Association sent a letter urging the SBA to review all pandemic relief programs under its control to appropriate federal dollars to fulfill the prior commitment to these operators and launched an extensive Action Alert urging Congress to appropriate additional funding for the program. As expected, the fund was quickly over-subscribed, falling about $50 billion short of the applications submitted. The portal officially closed on July 14. Through June 30, the SBA approved 3,530 Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants to Pennsylvania businesses in a sum totaling more than $949 million. That’s slightly over one-third (35%) of the aid requested in the Keystone State, where 9,944 applications were submitted asking for almost $2.5 billion. The total amount in dollars ranks Pennsylvania seventh overall for what was approved. REPLENISHMENT The sponsors of the RESTAURANTS Act (Sens. Sinema/ Wicker, Reps. Blumenauer/Fitzpatrick) introduced the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act. Their bill would provide $60 billion in new money for the RRF program—enough to process the existing applications in the SBA queue. challenge to the validity of directives Wolf issued amid the pandemic. The State Supreme Court repeatedly upheld the governor’s emergency authority to issue those edicts. While case counts continue to increase because of the Delta variant, PRLA remains focused on urging vaccinations and not bringing back any previous mitigation orders that may have been in place. MINIMUM WAGE PRLA was invited to attend a stakeholders’ briefing by the Wolf Administration on proposed changes to existing regulations relating to Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Act. The Administration is currently finalizing the proposed regulatory changes and will submit them to the Attorney General for review. After that, they will submit the proposal to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) where there will be an opportunity for public comment. PRLA will share the proposed changes as soon as they are released by the Administration. REGULATORY In June, IRRC approved regulation that allows licensees to have their taps cleaned every 14 days instead of every 7. The regulation will now be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office for approval and will be made official in the PA Bulletin following that approval. Stay tuned to PRLA’s daily update for when the effective date is announced. LOOKING FORWARD… As the industry moves into recovery from the destructive pandemic, PRLA is revising our legislative priorities to look forward, such as: • Addressing unfinished COVID recovery legislation—creating and expanding grants, liability protection, cocktails to-go and allowing outdoor seating to continue seamlessly. • Recognizing that the workforce shortage is a much larger, longer-term problem and finding ways to help small businesses offer benefits they can’t usually afford will help them compete with large companies—inclusive of association health plan and retirement benefits. • Advocating for a tourism package that not only provides much needed funds to tourism now—but addresses tourism funding in the future. 