Cooperative Extension Service to co-host Arkansas Business Navigator informational session

BRINKLEY, Ark. — Do you need help growing or expanding your business? Is your business looking for financial assistance, but you don’t know what your options are? Is your inner entrepreneur in need of some guidance? An upcoming event, co-hosted by the Arkansas Procurement Technical Assistance Center, likely has the answers you’re looking for.

FINDING THE WAY — Arkansas Business Navigator is the newest program from the Arkansas Small Business Technology and Development Center, a function of the federal Small Business Administration that works through land grant universities and other institutions. (Division of Agriculture graphic.)

Arkansas Business Navigator is the newest program from the Arkansas Small Business Technology and Development Center, a function of the federal Small Business Administration that works through land grant universities and other institutions.

The informational session will be held Jan. 26 at the Brinkley Chamber of Commerce, located at 217 W. Cypress St. in Brinkley. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the program will begin at 6 p.m. There is no cost to attend.

The program is focused on supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs across Arkansas with an emphasis on support for rural, women-owned, veteran-owned and minority-owned businesses. It’s a joint project of the Cooperative Extension Service’s APTAC, the Monroe and Phillips County extension offices, the Brinkley Chamber of Commerce and East Arkansas Enterprise Community.

Kamelle Gomez, economic development program associate for the Division of Agriculture, said the Cooperative Extension Service — the outreach arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture — is one of six partners supporting the program.

“We’re helping to provide no cost, one-on-one business consulting, business planning, market research, access to capital and industry-specific training,” Gomez said. “We want you to come learn how the Arkansas Business Navigator can help your business launch, grow, and plan for success.”

Interested individuals may contact Gomez at 501-671-2158 or kgomez@uada.edu.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

Tourism, Economic Development Leaders Partner To Recruit Return To Arkansas

By ROBY BROCK / TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS

While COVID-19 has impacted tourism and travel as well as business expansion, Arkansas is pushing forward to remain open and ready for business. Tourism and economic officials in Arkansas have spent many years trying to convince people to work, live and play in Arkansas.

Three people working hard on those efforts have new tools and new collaborations to conduct their business thanks to the Arkansas Legislature and a Gov. Asa Hutchinson executive order to develop more outdoor recreation businesses. Secretary of Parks, Heritage & Tourism Stacy Hurst, Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston, and Arkansas Tourism Director Travis Napper recently sat down with TB&P Editor-in-Chief Roby Brock.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/tourism-economic-development-leaders-partner-recruit-return-arkansas

(Clockwise) Arkansas Tourism Director Travis Napper, Talk Business & Politics Editor-in-Chief Roby Brock, Secretary of Parks, Heritage & Tourism Stacy Hurst and Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston discuss efforts to draw tourists back to Arkansas.

CREDIT TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS

Bill To Limit Governor’s Emergency Declarations Heads To Hutchinson’s Desk

By STEVE BRAWNER / TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS

The Arkansas House of Representatives passed a bill Monday (March 15) that would give the Legislature the power to end a governor’s declared disaster emergency. Another bill, opposed by the governor, would require state agencies to refund COVID-19-related fines levied on businesses.

The House also passed a bill allowing medical professionals to opt out of certain procedures, and it advanced a bill codifying COVID-19-related civil immunity.

Senate Bill 379, which would create processes for the Legislature to end a governor’s declared state of emergency, passed 78-16, with 1 voting present. The bill by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, and Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, has already passed the Senate.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/bill-limit-governor-s-emergency-declarations-heads-hutchinson-s-desk

Arkansas lawmakers approved legislation Monday that will give the legislature the power to end a disaster emergency issued by the governor.

CREDIT MICHAEL HIBBLEN / KUAR NEWS

AUDIO: Governor Hutchinson’s Weekly Address | PPP Loans’ Impact on Arkansas Businesses

LITTLE ROCK – Today I’d like to talk about the federal Payroll Protection Plan or PPP, which has kept many Arkansas companies alive during the pandemic.

Congress passed the CARES Act to help Americans navigate the pandemic. PPP was one of the programs Congress authorized to assist businesses with loans. The Small Business Administration (SBA) distributes the loans through local banks.

Little Rock business owners such as Vikita Eason and Chris and Samantha Tanner say that without the loan program, they may not have survived.

Vikita was able to pay the two employees of her boutique, and she assisted the three stylists in her salon by eliminating the rent for their booth. Vikita’s landlords have allowed her to pay rent as she can and didn’t raise the rent when she renewed her three-year lease.

The Tanners own three restaurants and employ about 130 people. Mr. Tanner said that “restaurants got pounded,” and the PPP loans allowed many to keep their doors open.

The SBA lent $3.3 billion to more than 42,000 Arkansas businesses and nonprofits, which saved more than 375,000 jobs. A second round of lending opened in January and closes on March 31.

On Monday, President Biden announced his administration has established a two-week window that opened Wednesday; during this period, only businesses with fewer than 20 employees can apply for the forgivable loans.

The SBA has also implemented a loan-forgiveness program that erases the PPP debt for businesses that followed all the guidelines and spent the money for payroll, mortgage, rent, and other eligible expenses. The SBA has forgiven nineteen percent of the loans.

Representative Les Eaves and Senator Jonathan Dismang introduced a bill in the 93rd General Assembly that would exempt a forgiven PPP loan from state income tax. It has broad support. The Department of Finance says this would cut the state’s general revenue by about $33 million this year and $179 million next year. If the General Assembly passes it, I will sign it into law, and this will provide needed relief for those who have received the PPP loans.

In Arkansas, the pandemic has been another opportunity for Arkansans to help one another. As usual, many Arkansans have shown their humanity. Bankers have helped struggling business owners, and business people have assisted their employees. In the midst of the losses, Arkansans have found new ways to reach out to those in need. Arkansans have lavished compassion on one another, grace upon grace as together we hope for the end of this pandemic.

Bills Would Exempt Businesses from Customers’ COVID-19 Violations, Protect ‘Right of Conscience’

Bills meant to exempt businesses from being penalized for their customers’ behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect medical providers’ “right of conscience” advanced through the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee Monday (Feb. 8).

Both were sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton.

Under Senate Bill 254, firms, persons and corporations would not be liable to Department of Health penalties during the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency if a violation occurs through the actions of a patron or customer. The bill passed on a voice vote with no audible dissenters.

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/02/bills-would-exempt-businesses-from-customers-covid-19-violations-protect-right-of-conscience/

photo courtesy of Walmart Inc.

Second Round Of Paycheck Protection Loans Open To Arkansas Businesses

By DANIEL BREEN

Arkansas businesses can now apply for a second round of loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP.

The second set of loans from the federal program opened to businesses getting loans from lenders with under $1 billion in assets late last week, and will open for all other businesses Tuesday.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/second-round-paycheck-protection-loans-open-arkansas-businesses

CREDIT NPR.ORG