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Trump, Congress Agree on New Stimulus Package by Dan McCaleb, The Center Square
President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have agreed on a new, nearly $500 billion stimulus package to help small businesses im-
pacted by stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The $484 billion deal includes $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program so businesses can continue paying employees. It also includes an additional $60 billion for a small business emergency grant and loan program, $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for a new coronavirus testing program. “I urge the Senate and House to pass the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act with additional funding for PPP, Hospitals, and Testing,” Trump wrote See New Stimulus Package, Page 3
Small Business Task Force Proposes Initial Plans to ‘Reopen Alabama Responsibly’ by Robert S. Ellerbrock III, Sierra J. Gray and David Carl Williams Jr., Ogletree Deakins
The Alabama Small Business Commission Emergency Task Force and the Subcommittee to Reopen the Economy on April 17 released “Reopen Alabama Responsibly,” a detailed report and series of recommendations on resuming business operations during the next stage of the fight against the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic. The subcommittee has released its “Phase One” recommendations for specific industries. The recommendations, which have been sent to
Gov. Kay Ivey for consideration, are intended to guide Alabama’s small business owners in implementing measures that align with the economic and health interests of the state “to balance both reduction in the spread of COVID-19 and an increase in economic activity.” Many of the safety measures recommended by the task force and subcommittee are similar across industries, such as: • Monitoring the health of employees and sending home any employee who See Reopen Alabama, Page 20
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AUTOBODYNEWS.COM Vol. 11 / Issue 3 /May 2020
Governor’s Task Force in Florida To Make Recommendations to Reopen Executives from a range of industries offered suggestions for how to end Florida’s statewide lockdown safely during a meeting of the governor’s Re-Open Florida Task Force. The first meeting of the Re-Open Florida Task Force did not include discussion about the health risks of returning people to work and the extensive testing requirements needed before returning people to normal life. The 90-minute meeting April 17 of the group led by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Chamber of Commerce focused on statistics about the state economy and business leaders
thanking DeSantis for his “thoughtful,” “decisive” and “proactive” leadership. When to lift the shutdown is still the subject of intense debate, with health professionals warning that reopening too quickly — and without proper testing and other public health measures in place — could lead to another wave of infections and deaths. Priority was given to the corporate-backed Chamber of Commerce, which advocated heavily for DeSantis not to shut down the state last month. Chamber CEO Mark WilSee Governor’s Task Force, Page 12
Most Shops Weathering The Storm – So Far by Gary Ledoux
On April 17, 18, and 19, Autobody News used its 19,000 shop email subscribers and also social media channels to conduct a survey of collision shops across the country to see how they were coping with the COVID 19 pandemic. The majority of shops responding were independently owned singe-point shops, those perhaps the most vulnerable to volatile market swings. Despite that, and a wide range of available work, (most shops operating at 25% to 75% capacity) most seem to be faring reasonably well. The majority of shops (59%) have not laid off any workers although 21% have laid off three-quarters of their people. Most shops have taken a number of precautions to protect employees and customers including use of gloves and masks, frequent hand-washing, etc. It is surmised that not many shops think the pandemic situation will last very long because only 19% have taken on work other than traditional collision repair.
The majority of shops have applied for financial assistance through the government’s CARES Act but have not received their funds yet. The sad truth is, those funds may never come because as of this writing, the funds have been exhausted. There are, however, other measures being debated to replenish the program (see related stories.) Wayne Stevens, owner of Stevens Collision in western New York is a single-point shop, certified with FCA, Hyundai, and Kia but with no DRP arrangements. At present he hasn’t laid-off any employees because he has a two-week backlog of work. He says, “My father always told me, ‘Take care of the people that come through your door, no matter what they want, and you’ll build your business.’” Doug Hassell owns Hassell Auto Body on Long Island in New York, another single-point shop that has been in business since 1963, and has enough work to stay busy—so far. The shop has no DRP arrangements and no dealer relationships although they See Body Shop Survey, Page 16
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