Seabaugh: Small Businesses Should Get a Piece of COVID Relief

State Representative Alan Seabaugh talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about legislation that would clarify how the $1.8 billion coming to Louisiana in COVID 19 relief would be distributed.

Seabaugh tells KEEL listeners about SB 189, a bill, originating in the Senate, that would "divert $200 million of funding from the CARES Act that is meant to be reserved for local governments to create a small business loan program, above and beyond the existing federal assistance programs and pending state assistance programs for small businesses."

The CARES Act, which sets aside about $1.8 billion in Coronavirus relief for the state, also calls for municipalities (cities, towns and parishes) to receive 45% of that funding.

In a nutshell, SB 189 would set aside monies intended to go to governments around Louisiana and set up a loan fund to directly assist small businesses hurt by the stay-at-home order.

"The rules are the rules," says Seabaugh. "The Governor set out a little missive to to local governments last week with incorrect information on how the (CARES Act) money was going to be spent. I don't know why he tells people things that aren't true, but I can speculate. I believe what he was trying to do is...to tell local governments that they're going to get more money than they actually were. And I think he was trying to set it up so he could tell the locals that it was the mean Republicans who took it away."

Seabaugh also says that Governor Edwards told local leaders that he was in charge of how the CARES Act money is to be distributed "which is just not true."