ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) has announced its support of the passing of H.R. 7010, the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act.

As the name suggests, the bill gives small business owners who are participating in the PPP more flexibility in how they use and repay their PPP loans. The main points of the bill include:

• Reducing in the portion of the loan that must be spent on payroll from 75 percent to 60 percent, which would allow up to 40 percent of the funds to be spent on certain qualified non-payroll items such as rent, mortgage interest, and utilities
• Changes the eligibility for loan forgiveness by extending the time period for businesses to spend the loan proceeds from the current eight-week period to 24 weeks
• Increasing the minimum loan term from two years to five years
• Permitting businesses seeking loan forgiveness to defer payroll taxes without penalty
• Giving businesses an additional six months to rehire employees or restore payroll levels. Moves date from June 30, 2020 to December 31, 2020
• Providing exemptions in eligibility for loan forgiveness for employee unavailability when an employer is unable to rehire an employee or hire a replacement (the SBA’s interim final rule provides for a similar exemption), and for the inability to return to the same level of business due to compliance with certain COVID-19- related orders or other circumstances

These changes address several concerns that ACCA has heard from contractors who are PPP participants.