I am proud to have been able to\nwork with Governor Dunleavy to expand eligibility for the state grant program\nfor CARES act financial assistance for businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effective on Monday, August 31, 2020, businesses that\nreceived any amount of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury\nDisaster Loan (EIDL) funds will become eligible to apply for AK CARES grants,\nas will businesses that are secondary sources of income. These businesses can\napply through the online application portal (www.akcaresonline.org<\/a>) starting Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the beginning of the CARES act aid distribution\nprocess, small businesses who received $5,000 or more in aid from the federal\ngovernment were then ineligible from also receiving aid through the state.\nWhile this measure was initially put in place to prevent large corporations\nfrom swallowing up all of the available aid, it created problems for businesses\nin Alaska and prevented them from receiving grants from the state to help their\nbusinesses weather health mandated closures and economic downturn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Legislative Budget & Audit Committee, which I\nserve on, approved the governor\u2019s request to fix these problems at our meeting\non August 27, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n