Shaheen, Hassan detail ‘PPP 2’ to New Hampshire business owners

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen shown meeting in November with UNH students. (Rich Beauchesne/Foster’s.com)

Following the passage of the latest federal Covid-19 relief bill, $284 billion has been made available to businesses in the new Paycheck Protection Program.

Last Thursday, the day before the program was rolled out at New Hampshire’s smaller banks and credit unions, U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan held a virtual panel with business leaders to explain how the program, dubbed by many as ‘PPP 2,’ will be rolled out for small businesses and nonprofits.

PPP 2 attempts to prioritize directing financial relief to small businesses. Over the summer, one of the major complaints with the first PPP over was larger businesses, multinational corporations and tax-exempt organizations, like churches, obtained hundreds of millions of relief funds while many small businesses were left with inadequate aid relative to the financial losses they endured due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program is open to both first-time and returning borrowers, as long as they were open for business by Feb. 15, 2020.

To qualify, first-time applicants for a company or nonprofit, generally speaking, must have fewer than 500 or employees. Self-employed business owners, including independent contractors, are also eligible for PPP 2 loans but sole proprietorships must demonstrate they earned a profit on their 2019 tax return, per a Small Business Administration rule.

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