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COVID-19 pandemic. Small businesses rely on their business for personal income. Loans for <br />small businesses, especially during an emergency, provide access to basic necessities, safeguard <br />the health of their owners, their families, and other Minnesotans, and provide vital economic <br />support to help overcome temporary revenue losses. Currently, resources are available for such a <br />program, but law and regulations prevent the Depailinent of Employment and Economic <br />Development ("DEED") from providing immediate relief to small businesses during the <br />COVID-19 pandemic. <br />For these reasons, I order as follows: <br />1. Effective immediately, I direct DEED to develop a forgivable loan program to award <br />grants to nonprofit corporations to fund forgivable loans to small businesses (the <br />"Small Business Emergency Loan Program"), regardless of such business's <br />organizational form (Le., independent contractor, sole proprietorship, limited liability <br />company, etc.). <br />2. Under the Small Business Emergency Loan Program, nonprofit corporation lenders <br />participating in the loan program under Minnesota Statutes 2019, Chapter 116M will <br />be allowed to make zero percent interest loans during the period of emergency. <br />3. Any business will be able to receive a loan through the Small Business Emergency <br />Loan Program at the discretion of the DEED Commissioner. The business must <br />demonstrate to the lender that it was directly and adversely affected by the COVID- <br />19 peacetime emergency Executive Orders 20-04 and 20-08. Under the Small <br />Business Emergency Loan Program, small businesses are required to have claimed all <br />applicable private insurance and utilized all other sources of applicable assistance <br />available from other private and public sources. <br />a. The minimum loan is $2,500 and the maximum is $35,000. <br />b. No matching contribution is required. <br />c. A nonprofit corporation that receives funds under the Small Business <br />Emergency Loan Program may not use such funds to provide a loan to a <br />related business. <br />d. The loan must not be used to refinance debt that existed at the time of the <br />COVID-19 peacetime emergency declaration. <br />e. If additional financing is received from other sources, the Small Business <br />Emergency Loan Program funds will be repaid to DEED in an expeditious <br />manner. <br />f. Loan applications received during the COVID-19 peacetime emergency <br />declaration will be eligible to be approved under these conditions. <br />2 <br />