This is what we received from County Executive Pittman's office regarding a PPE grant being offered by the county.

It is a nice gesture that are providing assistance in re opening.  But it would be even greater gesture if he actually allowed the businesses to re open.  Our member businesses that were forced to shut down have had over 8 weeks to prepare for re opening and most are prepared and ready to move forward with a safe re opening plan. 

Below is press release information on the grant.  #PBAShopLocal

"Today Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced the Small Business Customer and Employee Protection Grant Program, which is designed to assist local businesses purchase products and services needed for safe reopening in compliance with COVID-19 regulations. The program is supported with $ 5 million from the county's allotment of funding from the federal CARES Act and will be managed by the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation (AAEDC). 

"Local government will never have the resources to prevent the economic disruptions brought on by this pandemic, but we can step in to help small local businesses meet the challenges they face in protecting both their customers and their employees from COVID-19." said County Executive Pittman. "This program not only helps our small businesses to reopen safely, but it allows them to implement best practices that will serve the future public health needs of our county." 

Through the program, a small business, particularly minority, women and veteran owned businesses, within the county or the City of Annapolis can apply for a grant of up to $10,000 to cover the cost of the following purchases: 

● PPE for employees 

● Protective shields/dividers 

● Sanitation products and services such as: 

o Disinfection UV lamps 

o Biocide/mold bomb foggers 

● Digital signage and floor/wall/window graphics 

● Technology (hardware, software, applications, online platforms) for the purposes of: 

o Wellness scans 

o Virtual meetings 

o Business website upgrades 

o Customer communications and marketing 

o E-commerce 

● Delivery vehicles and equipment 

● Professional consultation services such as legal and human resources experts to understand compliance regulations 

● Workforce training to help employees understand and act on compliance best practices 

The grant may be used as a reimbursement for eligible past purchases made after March 29, 2020. Businesses will be required to submit invoices to demonstrate proof of purchases. 

To be eligible for the program, an entity must be an Anne Arundel County based for-profit business with 50 or less employees and must be in good standing with the State of Maryland.

Applicants will be required to submit a budget detailing purchases and vendors as well as financial documents such as business tax returns, Schedule C, or a profit and loss statement. 

Preference for funds will be given to industries most directly affected by local/state/national quarantine rules. 

AAEDC is currently developing a portal on its website where businesses can create an account and complete the entire application process. To be notified of when the online application is available, interested businesses should get on AAEDC's notification list by sending an email to grants@aaedc.org.

Additional details such as application FAQs, industry safety guidelines and a list of local vendors are available on the GRANT PROGRAM PAGE"

PBA Directory Listing ProofS

Hello PBA members.  

It is once again the time of year to verify your listing information.  Sandy has once again worked diligently to put together the directory.  The alphabetical, cross reference and categorical listings are ready for your review. 

Normally, we would have these ready to review at our May membership meeting, but COVID-19 has prevented us from doing so this year.  

Please click the buttons below to go to the PDF of the listing as will appear in the directory.  If you have any changes to make, please email Sandi at pasadenabusinessassociation1@verizon.net ASAP. 

The information has already been pulled from the website, so if a change needs to be made, please email Sandi as well as updating your listing on the website.

CHECK YOUR PBA DIRECTORY ALPHA LISTING HERE   

CHECK YOUR PBA DIRECTORY CROSS REFERENCE LISTING HERE

CHECK YOUR PBA DIRECTORY CATEGORY LISTING HERE

The printed directory is one of the many valuable benefits of being a PBA member.   The directory finds its way into thousands of businesses and homes in the Pasadena area.  

It is more important now than ever to make sure that your business gets exposure to our community.  

The PBA is proud to be able to still provide our members with this valuable benefit of a printed directory.

Hogan Announces Plans For Reopening Being Made

I hope everyone is doing okay and holding up well through this madness. The Kipkes have enjoyed the quality time together but like everyone it's been very tough in other ways. My assistant Emily and I have been fielding scores of requests for help from constituents seeking assistance navigating unemployment insurance and from local businesses navigating the loans and grants to help them avoid bankruptcy. It's been an incredibly stressful time.

Governor Hogan announced that next week he will lay out plans for reopening Maryland's economy.  This is welcome news as Marylanders are suffering on many levels, especially financially. On Thursday along with other legislators I spent several hours discussing ideas and concerns by teleconference with the administration and on Friday I spoke directly with the Governor by phone discussing how we can safely begin to lift or ease restrictions.

Thursday evening the Trump administration also released guidelines for Governors to use as they make plans to reopen their states.  

Here are the Trump Administration guidelines to begin reopening:

(The entire plan can be seen here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/)

A key trigger in lifting restrictions in Trump's plan is a 14 day decrease in symptoms, cases, and hospitalizations.  You should know that Maryland is still seeing single day deaths and hospitalizations increase, in fact we saw our deadliest two days so far earlier this week.  However, the numbers so far do not show sharp increases like what was predicted. This gives us hope that the spread has slowed to a level, through everyone's sacrifices, that it bought us the time to acquire the supplies necessary to save lives and prevent intensive care units from being overrun beyond capacity.  It also gives us hope that we are near the peak and we may be about to see the decline in numbers that we are all praying for.  Here are yesterday's COVID-19 statistics:

COVID-19 Statistics in Maryland 04/18/2020

Number of Confirmed Cases: 12,308
+736 cases in last 24 hours

Saturday's numbers of people currently hospitalized for COVID is 1,288, including 488 in ICU. That's a 7.2% increase over the prior day.

Number of negative test results: 53,062
+2,625 in last 24 hours

Number of Deaths: 463
+38 in last 24 hours

Number of Probable Deaths: 71
+2 in last 24 hours

Hospitalizations: 2,757 ever hospitalized
+145 in last 24 hours

Released From Isolation: 771
+35 in last 24 hours

More information available at: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/

After the teleconference with the Governor and his administration, we sent to him the memo below that outlines some of the ideas we presented about safely easing restrictions and reopening the economy.  For example, I encouraged him to ease the restriction on recreational boating. I can understand not allowing a "bumper bash" right now but a family should be allowed to use their boat following safe social distancing guidelines. It would be good for their physical and mental health and also support the economy. In my opinion, businesses who can operate within CDC guidelines should be allowed to operate at least in areas of the state where they have little or no active COVID-19 cases as long as that business is not a magnet for out of area tourism. We can't just shut everything down indefinitely, so some sensible consideration needs to be made to responsibly begin easing restrictions soon.  There are many right now who are saying to just open everything up now but not even President Trump supports that and his guidelines would not allow for it. However, steps can be taken now to safely ease restrictions week by week to ultimately get our economy open and return to a more normal way of life.   

I welcome your thoughts on the situation and I am available to you should you need any assistance. Be well and healthy!  

Sincerely,

Delegate Nic Kipke

Face coverings are required for retail shopping beginning April 15th.

We just received notice from county executive Steuart Pittman's office that beginning April 15th, face masks will be required by customers and employees of retail shopping establishments.  

The press Release is below.

Office of the County Executive

Steuart Pittman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: 

Chris Trumbauer, Office of the County Executive, ctrumbauer@aacounty.org, 410-279-7577

Elin Jones, Anne Arundel County Department of Health, hdjones@aacounty.org, 410-570-2106

 

Anne Arundel County Requires Retail Shoppers and Employees to Wear Masks to Prevent Spread of COVID-19. 

Annapolis, MD (April 14, 2020) County Executive Steuart Pittman and Anne Arundel Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman jointly announced today an Order for Public Safety that requires shoppers to wear face coverings in retail stores beginning Wednesday, April 15. Similarly, employees of retail stores will be required to wear face coverings when in any area of the establishment where they are likely to come in contact with coworkers or the public. 

“Our most effective tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is for each of us to act as though we are carriers of the virus, because we could be,” said County Executive Pittman. “Face coverings in retail businesses by both shoppers and staff will save lives. I fully support Dr. Kalyanaraman’s decision to require this protection.”

The order was signed by Dr. Kalyanaraman, acting on the authority granted to him as county health officer by Governor Larry Hogan’s April 5th executive order. It affects all retail establishments allowed to remain open as essential businesses under the Governor’s stay at home order of March 30. The order does not apply to children under 2 years old or those who could not wear a mask without inhibiting their health. Face coverings may be made of cloth or other materials and need not be surgical grade masks such as N95 masks, which should be reserved for health workers.

“Masks protect you and those around you,” said Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman. “It’s an important way each of us can slow the spread of the virus.”

In addition to the face covering requirements, the order also requires retail businesses to:

• limit customer capacity
•  to 50% of normal capacity;
• maintain six feet
•  between customers in checkout lines;
• make aisles one-way
•  wherever possible;
• clearly mark social
•  distancing restrictions, including six-foot separations and one-way requirements, on the floor;
• provide access to
•  sanitary restrooms and soap and or hand sanitizer for customers and workers; 
• discontinue all self-service
•  food counters; and
• the installation
•  of a physical barrier or shield (e.g., clear Plexiglas or heavy plastic sheeting) between cashiers and customers is highly encouraged.

Any complaints or violations of this order will be investigated by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. Violations are subject to a maximum $500 fine. The department has the authority to issue closure orders to businesses who violate this policy if necessary, but Dr. Kalyanaraman has indicated it will first issue warnings. 

The Order for Public Safety is available on the county website: https://aahealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Health-Officer-Order-Face-Coverings.pdf  

For up-to-date information and guidance about COVID-19, visit www.aahealth.org/coronavirus. For general questions about the disease, residents are encouraged to call 2-1-1 or the COVID-19 phone line at 410-222-7256. For non-health related questions, call 410-222-0600.  Individuals concerned about medical information should call their healthcare provider. 

CARES ACT BRINGS THE Paycheck Protection Program To help Your Business

Beginning today, April 3rd, small businesses are eligible to start applying for the Paycheck Protection Program loans.

These loans are designed to help small businesses with their payroll related expenses.  Details for the program can be found on the US Treasury Website at: https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/top-priorities/cares-act/assistance-for-small-businesses

You business could be eligible to borrow up to two and a half months worth of payroll expenses and then have that loan fully forgiven if you meet the federal guidelines for the forgiveness. 

The loan is designed to help you either keep existing staff on your payroll or hire them back by the current deadline of June 30th.  Below are informational documents and the application to give to your bank.  

Documents:

• Paycheck Protection Program Application
• Paycheck Protection Program Fact Sheet
• Paycheck Protection Program Overview
  
• Coronavirus Emergency Loans Small Business Guide

Please reach out to your lender to see if they are going to be an approved lender for this program.  Your lender may require that you have a business relationship with the m to facilitate the loan.

Please keep following the PBA blog as we will make additional posts as information becomes available to help the Pasadena business community.

Thank you to our local small businesses for all you do.  We could not be a community without you!

Employee Notice on Families First Coronavirus Response Act

For the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) passed into law last week, the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division requires all covered employers to now post a notice of the FFCRA requirements in conspicuous places on their premises. Important note: The FFCRA’s paid leave provisions are effective on April 1, 2020, and apply to leave taken between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Important note for employers with teleworkers: the DOL says employers "may satisfy this requirement by emailing or direct mailing this notice to employees, or posting this notice on an employee information internal or external website." The FFCRA requires employers with 500 or fewer employees to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. Special note for small businesses (with fewer than 50 employees): these companies "may qualify for exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or child care unavailability if the leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern." We are still waiting for specific guidelines regarding this exemption.

Primary DOL guidelines in posting the required notice in your workplace are: You are not required to post this notice in multiple languages (but DOL is working now on translations) The FFCRA poster applies only to your current employees You need to give notice of the FFCRA requirements to new hires This poster and all DOL workplace posters are free of charge and downloadable anytime More key resources about the FFCRA: The FFCRA Poster Main employer requirements of the FFCRA FFCRA Poster – Frequently Asked Questions FFCRA – Questions and Answers

The PBA received the following message from the Comptroller of Maryland office.

With strict social distancing measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this is understandably a very difficult time for businesses across Maryland. On behalf of Comptroller Franchot, I want to reach out and make sure you were aware of some of the actions our agency is taking to help businesses during this unprecedented situation.

·       Extension of Business Tax Filing Deadlines: The Comptroller has extended business-related tax filing deadlines to June 1^st, 2020. The June 1st extension applies to certain business returns with due dates during the months of March, April and May 2020 for businesses filing sales and use tax, withholding tax, and admissions & amusement tax, as well as alcohol, tobacco and motor fuel excise taxes, tire recycling fee and bay restoration fee returns. Business taxpayers who file and pay by the extended due date will receive a waiver of interest and penalties.

·       Extension of Income Tax Filing Deadline: Following the national decision to extend the federal income tax payment deadline to July 15, 2020, Comptroller Franchot applied the same relief to Maryland income taxpayers. No interest or penalty for late payments will be imposed if 2019 tax payments are made by July 15, 2020.

·       Rainy Day Fund Relief for Small Businesses: Comptroller Franchot has called for Governor Hogan and legislative leaders to use at least $500 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund for additional support. He’s been as strong an advocate as anyone for maintaining this account over the years, but during a torrential downpour, now is the time to use those funds to help our friends and neighbors.

·       Easing Alcohol Regulations: To help our craft brewers and distilleries, our agency has suspended the enforcement of limits on how much beer and distilled spirits customers can buy from Maryland-based craft breweries and distilleries for carryout and delivery. The Comptroller also helped the Governor’s Office craft an Executive Order that allows restaurants, bars, breweries, wineries, distilleries and other licensed alcohol manufacturers to deliver off-premises.

·       Encouraging Carryout: Comptroller Franchot and our office compiled a county-by-county list of area restaurants and other facilities that are offering carryout, curbside or delivery service at www.marylandtaxes.gov

We want to be of help to you during this difficult time. If you have any feedback about how we can better support businesses in your jurisdiction, please don’t hesitate to respond to Awalinskas@marylandtaxes.gov. If you have questions about the extended business filing deadline, please email taxpayerrelief@marylandtaxes.gov or call the Ombudsman at 410-260-4020.

Delegate Nic Kipke wrote to the PBA with the following information and resources.

I hope you are doing well and handling the current situation as well as can be expected.  Our situation is hard on all of us in many ways. Our family is self-quarantining at home but I am available by email, phone, and through social media to answer questions and help in any way possible (nicholaus.kipke@house.state.md.us is the best way to contact me).

Many are financially hurt, stressed, and a growing number of people are becoming ill with COVID-19 in our area. The number of people infected with COVID-19 saw its biggest single-day increase today, and more people are beginning to need care in a hospital. This leads our health officials to tell us that this is about to get a lot worse. 

Fortunately, slowing the spread has allowed for medical preparations that other areas of the world did not have time for.  In Maryland there are thousands of new hospital beds available in temporary hospitals that have been built by the Maryland National Guard.  Companies like Ford, Tesla, GM, Everlywell, and 3M have taken on the challenge of increasing supply of respirators, tests, and personal protection supplies like face masks which are finally beginning to reach the market.  Even Sagamore Distillery has suspended making Rye Whiskey and is now making hand sanitizer for Johns Hopkins.

While some continue to think that the risk is overblown, I want everyone to know that we can't allow what is happening to people in countries like China, Italy, and Spain to happen here.  If we have to deal with a deadly health pandemic, we are very fortunate that we are dealing with it in the United States of America and we all need to pull together to get through this. Everyone needs to do their part to make sure they are equipped to hunker down and survive several more weeks or longer like this.  Please take special care to quarantine yourself if you have any health conditions or are at risk.  If you think you may be infected CALL your doctor before going so that they can prepare for your visit.  To learn more about that click here:   https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/#Background. Please remember that even if you are young and healthy and not experiencing any symptoms you could still be a carrier, so we all must stay home and follow social distancing guidelines when you must go out.

I've also seen many ways that people are coming together to help one another out.  There are scores of people sewing masks for health workers (click here for a free pattern to use), free food being made available to the homeless and the needy, just yesterday Chairman of the Maryland GOP Dirk & Councilwoman Jessica Haire offered $10,000 to support local Anne Arundel County restaurants with free meals for locals, and Pasadena Boat Works donated 14,000 medical face masks which are critically needed.

 

Congress is working on a package to support states, employers, and individuals deal with the financial effects of this.  The plan seems to be close to final passage and I am hopeful it will provide much needed relief. Also the state has stepped up with many resources, here are some helpful links that may be of interest to you:  

Helpful links: 

Executive orders & legal guidance for businesses:

https://governor.maryland.gov/covid-19-pandemic-orders-and-guidance/

Health Information & Maryland COVID-19 #s: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/

School meal site locator for students:  https://mars.msde.maryland.gov/mars_sitesearch/ 

Want to volunteer to help? 

https://governor.maryland.gov/marylandunites/

To report safety concerns about hospitals and other health care facilities, contact the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality: 

https://health.maryland.gov/ohcq/Pages/home.aspx   

The University of Maryland Medical System has opened a free call line that is open to the public 24/7 to answer questions related to COVID-19. Calls will be answered and routed by an Operator. A Registered Nurse will then connect with callers to answer their questions. The call line number is 1-888-713-0711. For more information, visit

https://www.umms.org/coronavirus/nurse-call-line.

Business resources

General business questions:

https://businessexpress.maryland.gov/coronavirus

Unemployment questions: 

https://www.dllr.state.md.us/employment/uicovidfaqs.shtml

Layoff aversion:

https://www.dllr.state.md.us/employment/covidlafund.shtml

Grants & loans for employees with 50 or fewer employees:

https://commerce.maryland.gov/

For employers with 50 employees or larger:

https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance

So many people have contacted me recently with questions and I can tell there’s tons of anxiety, stress and uncertainty right now; I feel it too. Remember, other generations faced hardships like this and some far worse including many that went on for years. We know this will be short lived and we have incredible national resources to help us overcome the challenge. We will get through this.

Stay healthy!

Sincerely,

Delegate Nic Kipke