On Monday, February 22, 2021, President Biden announced changes to the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) aimed at providing relief to particularly small businesses and promoting equitable access to the PPP. Specifically, beginning on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 9:00 A.M. EST, the Small Business Administration established a two-week exclusivity period where only businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 20 employees will be able to apply for a PPP loan. In addition, there are four other changes to the PPP that will go into effect the first week of March, opening the program to more underserved small businesses. These include:

• a revised PPP funding formula for sole proprietors, independent contractors and self-employed individuals to allow them to receive more financial support;

• eliminating a restriction on PPP access for small business owners with prior non-fraud felony convictions to allow them to receive funding;

• eliminating student loan debt delinquency as a disqualifier to participating in the PPP; and

• ensuring access for non-citizen small business owners who are lawful U.S. residents by clarifying that they may use an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to apply for the PPP.

It is not clear yet if there will be any regulations implementing or providing more details on these additional changes. 

Vincent Indelicato, Patrick D. Walling, Grant R. Darwin, Lara B. Miller, Seok Whee (Jason) Nam and Perry A. Laub contributed to ths article.