Senator Stern and Bipartisan Legislative Coalition Send $9.2B Covid Relief Plan to Governor Newsom

For Immediate Release: February 22, 2021
Contact: Faith Pulido at faith.pulido@sen.ca.gov

SACRAMENTO – Today Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) and his Senate colleagues voted overwhelmingly to send a $9.2 billion stimulus package designed to help working families and small businesses left behind by federal COVID-19 relief to the Governor’s desk.

“We need to rise to the challenge of helping our small businesses and nonprofits that have been deeply impacted by COVID-19,” said Stern. “Our small businesses will be feeling the impacts of coronavirus for months and years to come. We need to prioritize this heavily impacted space not just to safeguard our economy, but to ensure that people have the opportunity to get back up on their feet.”

Over 88% of California small accommodation and food service businesses applied for federal assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), yet only 27% received any support. For other federal programs like Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Small Business Administration (SBA) Loan Forgiveness, less than half of the businesses in hard-hit industries that requested funding received any assistance.

The new robust stimulus package includes:

·         SB 87, which provides $2.1 billion to provide grants to small businesses and nonprofits.

·         SB 88, which awards $600 stimulus checks to people who received the state’s earned income tax credit (EITC) last year and $600 to anyone who filed taxes last year and earned less than $75,000.

“We need to do more. We need to reopen our schools safely, give workers the protections they deserve, and help anyone who has been left behind by federal relief,” said Stern. “There is much work to do to ensure that COVID-19 relief is meeting the needs of all our communities, but this is a great start and a great way to get money directly in the hands of those who need it.”

The two bills noted above are part of a six-bill recovery package sent to the Governor’s desk this afternoon.

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