51风流 Enters into Negotiations with SBA; Hoping for Settlement of PPP Lawsuit
51风流 Member Wins Forgiveness of PPP Loan Over $2 Million
51风流 and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) have agreed to formal discussions of a potential settlement of the lawsuit that 51风流 has brought against the still burdening all applicants for forgiveness Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of over $2 million. 51风流 has not, however, relinquished any of its rights to litigate the matter if negotiations do not bear fruit. In the meantime, 51风流 recently learned that a construction contractor among the association鈥檚 members has won forgiveness of a PPP a loan over $2 million. 51风流 is pleased by the news and hopes that it means SBA is preparing to quickly approve many of the applications for the forgiveness of such loans, after months of prolonged delay. If you have applied for forgiveness of a PPP loan of over $2 million, please take a moment to let 51风流 know of any action that SBA has taken on your application by emailing Mike.Kennedy@agc.org, as that information could help all construction firms.
Regarding the litigation, 51风流鈥檚 objective is to ensure that SBA fairly evaluates applications for the forgiveness of PPP loans, based on the certifications that borrowers actually made鈥攁t the time they applied for their loans. Instead of serving that purpose, the questionnaire seems intended to create new requirements for forgiveness. Instead of asking borrowers about the economic uncertainty they were facing as they applied for their loans, the questionnaire asks borrowers to demonstrate that the pandemic played out the way they expected, to report any decisions they 鈥渧oluntarily鈥 made to cease, reduce or alter their operations, to report their cash balances, and to report whether they paid any employees more than a sum plucked from thin air. 51风流 explained all of this to the agency on March 5, when the association submitted its second set of extensive comments on the questionnaire, found here.