Daily Sitka Sentinel

Paycheck Protections Rule Now Includes Fish Crew

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of Alaska’s Congressional delegation are applauding a rule released by the Department of Treasury and Small Business Administration Thursday that will allow commercial fishing businesses to account for crew member payroll when applying for Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Alaska Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, also hailed passage of the new rules, and said he would work with the Alaska delegation to extend the deadline for applications.

Under the new rules, fishing businesses have until June 30 to apply for the PPP loans.

In their joint news release Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young, all Republicans, said they had been pressing the Trump administration for the change and had sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Administrator Jovita Carranza to request the solution that was published Thursday.

“The Paycheck Protection Program has provided direct relief, truly a lifeline, to Alaskan businesses to help weather the storm during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Murkowski said in the news release. “Unfortunately, many of our fisherman, the ultimate small businesses, were unintentionally left out of the mix due to the Treasury Department’s earlier interpretation of eligible payroll costs. I thank the Treasury Department for working with the delegation to ensure that fishermen have the same opportunity to fully take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program that so many American businesses have already benefited from. Enabling fishermen to secure the resources they need through PPP is not only fair, it means that these businesses so critical to Alaska have a fighting chance to stay afloat.”

The news release explained that before today’s fix these businesses were not fully able to take advantage of the PPP because of the Department of Treasury’s previous treatment of fishing crew members as self-employed independent contractors.

“Even though these crew members are functionally employees, the previous rules did not allow commercial fishing businesses to account for their employees’ wages when calculating payroll costs when applying for a PPP loan. This led to reduced loan amounts. Today’s rule allows these businesses to account for their crew member’s wages when applying for a PPP loan,” the delegation said.

In a statement from his office today, Stedman said he will “continue working with lenders and leaders to extend the deadline for those businesses who recently became eligible under this rule.”

“Many folks are currently out on the fishing grounds and will not be able to apply for this relief,” Stedman said. “My office will work with the Congressional delegation to seek an extension” beyond June 30.