On Monday, February 22, 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration released a Fact Sheet announcing changes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) intended to increase the accessibility of the Program for the smallest and most impacted small businesses. Although many of the changes will be fairly obvious to most borrowers, below is a summary of the items that are most likely to impact all borrowers: 

• As of Wednesday, February 24th, the Administration instituted a 14-day period during which only businesses with fewer than 20 employees can apply for a PPP loan. 

• Small Business Administration (SBA) approval of a PPP loan is now contingent on passing SBA fraud checks, the Treasury’s Do Not Pay database and other public records reviews. This may slow the approval of a new PPP loan.   

• For borrowers who have not yet applied for a new PPP loan, the Administration issued a revised application form to encourage improved reporting of demographic data. All updates should be reflected on the lender application forms.   

For the latest information on PPP, or to ask questions, please reach out to BPM’s Economic Recovery & Emergence Task Force members Terry Hill or Brett Hazlett.