BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2020
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
Oregon OSHA off ers COVID-19 videos to help farms
EO Media Group
SALEM — Oregon OSHA
announced it has launched
a free educational video to
help employers and workers
understand the require-
ments of a temporary rule that
strengthens protections against
the spread of the coronavirus
in employer-provided housing
and labor-intensive farm
operations.
The 12-minute video
— available in English
TAX
(https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=2VZB15dsxEo&fe)
and Spanish (https://www.you-
tube.com/watch?v=a9xQAo-
QYTwY&fe) — uses engaging
graphics and concise narra-
tion to give an overview of
the rule’s three key parts: fi eld
sanitation, labor housing and
transportation.
Roy Kroker, consultation
and public education man-
ager for Oregon OSHA, said
in a press release the agency
created the video to help
employers and workers who
operate in this industry to
understand the requirements of
the rule.
The video’s topics include
the appointment of physical
distancing offi cers and other
rule changes in fi eld sanita-
tion and housing operations. It
also addresses requirements in
transportation.
The video is intended to
supplement — not replace — a
careful reading of the rule.
The rule stems from a
March 20 request to imme-
diately adopt requirements
related to such housing and
operations. Instead, Oregon
OSHA treated the request as a
petition for rulemaking and put
it on a faster evaluation track
than normal.
The division reviewed more
than 120 comments as part of
the public process.
The division delayed
enforcement of the rule, most
of which took effect May 11,
until June 1 in response to
requests from employers for
more time to comply. The rule
will remain in effect until no
later than Oct. 24.
Learn more about the rule
at https://osha.oregon.gov/
covid19/Pages/default.aspx or
call 503-378-3272.
To learn more about Oregon
OSHA, visit osha.oregon.gov/
Pages/index.aspx.
Billions of dollars in aid for small businesses go unclaimed
Continued from Page 1B
By Joyce M. Rosenberg
allowing farmers to calculate their
cost of inputs by subtracting their
labor expenses from their overall
operating costs, rather than
using the “costs of goods sold”
defi nition.
Now, farmers will be able
to reduce their tax liability by
whichever expense is greater:
labor or inputs, Dresler said. “We
needed to create a mechanism that
actually worked.”
Aside from these revisions,
the bill has also clarifi ed that
crop insurance payments farmers
receive for lost crops aren’t con-
sidered taxable revenue, since
they generally don’t totally offset
fi nancial losses.
Sales to farm cooperatives
were exempt from the tax under
the original version of the law,
which excluded most revenues
earned by Oregon dairy farmers.
However, this provision left
out a handful of dairies that don’t
sell to cooperatives — under HB
4202, their milk revenues will
now also be exempt.
Despite these improvements
for farmers, Oregon corporate
activity tax remains “bad tax
policy” that reduces the com-
petitiveness of agricultural busi-
nesses, said Jeff Stone, executive
director of the Oregon Associa-
tion of Nurseries.
“We’re not an ATM,” Stone
said.
The organization had requested
an exemption for the farm
industry, which often operates
on thin profi t margins, or at least
a gradual phase-in of the tax,
neither of which was approved
during the special session.
“Is it what we asked for? No.
Does it solve all the problems we
foresee? No,” Stone said. “Are we
grateful it provides some relief?
Yes.”
CUTLER
Continued from Page 1B
journalism as a senior sports-
writer for Ontario’s Argus
Observer in 2000 before being
promoted to sports editor shortly
after in 2001. He then spent
time on the Boise State Univer-
sity sports beat for the Idaho
Press-Tribune before returning
to the Argus Observer in 2004
in a dual role as sports and news
editor.
Cutler later spent time as man-
aging editor of the Capital Journal
in South Dakota, where he and his
newsroom were awarded the 2008
South Dakota Newspaper Associ-
ation General Excellence Award
for the state’s daily newspapers
with a circulation under 16,000.
It was the fi rst time the Capital
Journal had earned the award in
126 years of existence.
Cutler was also a part of gen-
eral excellence award-winning
newsrooms at the Argus Observer
and Rapid City Journal, and he led
the La Grande Observer to a sec-
ond-place fi nish in general excel-
lence for the Oregon Newspaper
Publishers Association Division C
category.
While in La Grande, Cutler
spent three years in a joint role as
editor and publisher.
“Andrew Cutler’s knowledge
of Eastern Oregon, and his expe-
rience as both an editor and pub-
lisher, made him the logical suc-
cessor to head up the company’s
editorial team in this region and
take on the publisher role here in
Umatilla County as well,” Brown
said.
A 1990 graduate of Fruitland
High School, Cutler joined the
U.S. Army in 1991 and served as
a combat medic in Germany, Fort
Stewart, Georgia, and Honduras
before his discharge in 1995. He
went on to earn an associate of
arts degree from Treasure Valley
Community College in 2000 and
a bachelor of arts degree in mul-
tidisciplinary studies from Boise
State University in 2016.
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Billions of
dollars offered by Congress as a
lifeline to small businesses strug-
gling to survive the pandemic
were left on the table when a key
government program stopped
accepting applications for loans.
Business owners and advo-
cacy groups complained the
money in the Paycheck Protec-
tion Program was not fully put
to work because the program
created obstacles that stopped
countless small businesses from
applying. For those that did seek
loans, the ever-changing applica-
tion process proved to be an exer-
cise in futility.
“It was a fl awed structure to
begin with,” said John Arens-
meyer, CEO of Small Business
Majority, an advocacy group. “It
favored established businesses.
It was set up to give money to
people with strong banking
relationships.”
The program’s shortcomings
also made it more diffi cult for
minority businesses to get loans,
according to a report from the
Center for Responsible Lending,
a research group.
The loans were designed to
give companies devastated by
government-ordered shutdowns
money to pay staffers and sur-
vive. The money was aimed at
small businesses such as restau-
rants, retailers and salons that are
desperately trying to stay afl oat
as the U.S. economy reopens in
fi ts and starts.
As of late Friday, the Small
Business Administration had
approved more than 4.7 mil-
lion loans worth nearly $518
billion. Small businesses that
also included medical offi ces,
dry cleaners and manufacturers
obtained money that ultimately
saved jobs and eased the unem-
ployment rate from April’s stag-
gering 14.7% to May’s still-ex-
cruciating 13.3%.
But more than $140 billion in
loan money remained unclaimed
out of $659 billion allocated by
Congress. It will be up to Con-
gress to decide what to do with
any leftover funds, an SBA
spokeswoman said.
Some banks rejected any com-
panies that did not have multiple
accounts. Sole proprietors and
freelancers had to wait a week
before applying, and many found
they could not supply the kind of
documents the government and
banks demanded.
The program’s biggest appeal
was its promise that loans would
be forgiven, but confusion
abounded about requirements
owners had to meet to get that
forgiveness.
Those requirements and infor-
mation about the program kept
changing: Between March 31
and June 15, the SBA issued
35 changes to program rules
and its frequently asked ques-
tions, according to a Govern-
MOVE
Continued from Page 1B
their family.”
The 21-and-older section
includes shuffl eboard, tabletop
games and activities and slot
machines. Both sections will
receive full service from the
bar and kitchen.
The venue change also
marks the company’s fi rst
exploration into food service.
To start, Cornford said, the
menu mostly will be fried food.
As employees are trained on
the use of a brick oven, pizzas,
sandwiches and pasta will be
added, and eventually steaks
and burgers will make their
way onto the menu as well.
The plan for Friday’s
opening is to allow people to
sit and hang out. The opening
might not include the new
menu, however, as the hood for
Photo by Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune via AP
In this June 26 photo, Barber Mike McAndrew holds a mirror as customer Rob Verrastro looks at his new
haircut at Three Saints Barbershop and Shave Parlor in Jessup, Pennsylvania. Billions of dollars Congress
allocated as a lifeline to small businesses were left on the table when the government’s Paycheck Protec-
tion Program stopped accepting applications for loans Tuesday.
ment Accountability Offi ce report
issued last week. It was not until
May 22, seven weeks after the
program began, that the SBA and
the Treasury Department released
the fi rst instructions and applica-
tions for loan forgiveness.
“It’s been a moving target this
whole time,” Arensmeyer said.
In the dark and struggling with
the effect of shutdowns, many
owners said, “no thanks.”
Gabriella Borrero, co-owner
of The Vault, a Boonton, New
Jersey, recording studio, said
she was uncomfortable with the
possibility the business, which
had been shut for three months,
could be burdened with a loan if
it could not get forgiveness. And
she could not determine up-front
how much money might need to
be repaid.
“We decided to simply tough it
out ourselves and make it through
by dipping into our savings,”
she said. “I’d rather not have this
looming thought, ‘Are we going
to have it forgiven or will it come
back to bite us?’”
For many small business
owners, a big drawback was
the law’s original requirement
that companies use loan money
within eight weeks, with a June
30 spending deadline. That gave
businesses such as restaurants
two undesirable choices: recall
laid-off workers immediately and
risk having to lay them off again
after eight weeks, or wait to use
the money and then have to repay
part of the loan.
“We knew it was a problem
a week after the legislation was
signed, when we looked at the
shutdown orders,” said Karen
Kerrigan, CEO of the Small Busi-
ness & Entrepreneurship Council,
an advocacy group. At that point,
it was clear businesses were going
to be closed longer than initially
thought, and the impact of the
virus would be felt well after June
30, she said.
Not until June 3, less than four
weeks before the deadline, did
the Senate give fi nal approval to
extending the time frame to 24
weeks.
The law also required com-
panies spend 75% of their loan
money on payroll to get for-
giveness. But some businesses,
including closed restaurants,
needed money for rent and costs
to reopen. They also worried
about being stuck with a loan.
Congress did not lower the pay-
roll requirement to 60% until
June.
“It was too late for many com-
panies,” said Todd McCracken,
CEO of the advocacy group
National Small Business Asso-
ciation. He summed up the pro-
gram as “poorly designed from
the start.”
The program did not account
for the vast differences among
small businesses. Many hire
freelancers or independent con-
tractors rather than employees
and under the program could
not include those workers’ com-
pensation in calculations for
loan amounts. Even when these
owners were able to get loans,
they were of little help.
“It seemed to be structured by
people who might not know how
small businesses are run,” said
Frank Groff, co-owner of Port-
land’s White House, a bed and
breakfast in Portland. The B&B’s
workers, including cleaning ser-
vices and landscapers, are inde-
pendent contractors. Groff got
$12,000, but it only covered two
managers’ salaries. The bed and
breakfast has remained open
during the outbreak, but its rev-
enue is down nearly 75%.
Also at a disadvantage: Sole
proprietors who don’t have
employees, owners who work
the fryer still is being installed.
Plans to move began for-
mulating in October 2019 and
became a reality a week ago,
Cornford said.
While there have been some
bumps, such as securing con-
tractors, Cornford said he is
excited to see this place coming
together with the help of the
building’s owners, the Penning-
tons, who have done a majority
of the construction work.
“With the customer service
that we have, I feel most of our
customers will follow us down
here, and I am hoping to bring
in new ones,” Cornford said.
Cornford said they are set-
ting up the new location with
returning back to Phase 2
opening in mind but will
follow all state guidelines for
COVID-19 safety, including
spacing out diners and
requiring employees to wear
masks.
Seth Pennington works on the outside awning at the new location of
Tap That! Growlers, 1106 Adams Ave., La Grande. The business has
moved and is venturing into food service at the new location, which
opens Friday.
as freelancers and brand-new
businesses.
Sole proprietor Michael Gips
started his security consultancy
at the end of 2019, had no revenue
and so did not have the required
tax return showing his business
income. The fi rst bank he applied
to never reviewed his applica-
tion. He then applied to an online
bank, providing documents to
show he was making money in
early 2020.
“My application was denied
for insuffi cient proof of salary
payments,” Gips said. As of
Monday, he was waiting to hear
about a third application.
Tiffany Joy Murchison, who
owns a New York-based pub-
licity fi rm, submitted her applica-
tion April 3, the day the program
began. The bank rejected the
application on mistaken grounds
that her account had not been
open long enough, then took three
weeks to correct the problem.
It took another three weeks
before Murchison learned that her
application was denied because
it “didn’t show we needed that
amount of money.” As the dead-
line approached, she was trying
to get paperwork together that
would get a loan approved, but
was afraid she was running out
of time.
Many businesses have gotten
the message that the program isn’t
for them.
When Akosua Ayim looked
at the requirements, the CEO
of Equal Space realized her
co-working space in Newark,
New Jersey, was unlikely to get
much help. All its workers are
independent contractors. But
what convinced her not to apply
was news that companies such as
restaurant chain Shake Shack and
the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers
were easily able to get millions
in the fi rst round of funding.
Photo by Sabrina Thompson/EO Media Group