Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, 2020 (H.R. 266)

Bill #4 – Enacted April 24, 2020

Approximate appropriation: $484 billion

The primary purpose of this fourth bill is to provide additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), approved in late March as part of the CARES Act. The original $349 billion allocated to this popular program was quickly depleted, with many for-profit and nonprofit small businesses failing to get loan applications approved before the money ran out. The bill also provides new resources for hospitals and COVID-19 testing.

There are four reasons why this is important to the charitable sector.

Additional Money for the PPP

The bill amends the CARES Act by increasing the authorization level for the PPP from $349 billion to $659 billion (an increase of $310 billion). Of this additional amount, the bill creates $60 billion in set-asides for smaller lenders, including Insured Depository Institutions, Credit Unions, and Community Financial Institutions.

• Specifically, $30 billion is set aside for loans made by Insured Depository Institutions and Credit Unions that have assets between $10 billion and $50 billion.
• Another $30 billion is set aside for loans made by Community Financial Institutions, Small Insured Depository Institutions, and Credit Unions with assets of less than $10 billion.

“Community Financial Institutions” are defined as minority depository institutions, certified development companies, microloan intermediaries, and State or Federal Credit Unions. Nonprofits, particularly in smaller communities, that were potentially shut out from round one funding may now have opportunities with these smaller lenders.

Additional Money for EIDL Grants

The bill amends the CARES Act by increasing the authorization level of emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) grants from $10 billion to $20 billion. It also clarifies that agricultural enterprises (defined in Sec. 18(b) of the Small Business Act) with not more than 500 employees can receive EIDL grants and loans.

Additional Funding Specifically for Hospitals

• The bill provides an additional $75 billion for reimbursement to hospitals and eligible healthcare providers to support the need for COVID-19 related expenses and lost revenue (not otherwise reimbursed from other sources).
• This amount is in addition to the $100 billion provided in the CARES Act, and other provisions and language of the CARES Act remain the same.

For purposes of this section, “Eligible healthcare providers’’ includes public entities, Medicare or Medicaid enrolled suppliers and providers, and such for-profit entities and not-for-profit entities within the United States and its territories, that provide diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID–19. In this case, nonprofit organizations will still be competing with for-profit businesses.

Increased Funding for COVID-19 Testing

• The bill allocates $25 billion for necessary expenses related to research, development, validation, manufacture, purchase, administration, and expansion of COVID-19 testing capacity.
• Of this amount, $11 billion is specifically allocated for states, localities, territories, and tribes to develop, purchase, administer, process, and analyze COVID-19 tests, scale-up laboratory capacity, trace contacts, and support employer testing.
• Funds can also be made directly available to employers for testing. The bill will also require states, localities, territories, and tribes to develop a plan for how the resources will be used for testing and other COVID-19 community mitigation policies.