PPP Funding for Ohio Businesses Totals $18.15B

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ohio businesses have received $18.15 billion through both rounds of the Paycheck Protection Program, the Small Business Administration announced Monday. 

In total, 132,731 businesses in the state have received money through the program as of June 1. 

In the Great Lakes region of the federal agency, Ohio ranks second in both the number of businesses receiving funds and the total amount of funding approved, behind only Illinois. There, 188,227 businesses have received a combined $22.1 billion.

The matter of disclosing which businesses received funds, and how much, is currently the center of a battle between Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Last week, Mnuchin said his department would not disclose that information, calling it “proprietary information.”

On Monday, however, the House subcommittee sent letters to Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza demanding that the agencies – along with banks – turn over that information “so American taxpayers can understand whether federal funds are helping vulnerable businesses and saving jobs, or are being diverted due to waste, fraud, and abuse.” 

The SBA, in conjunction with the Treasury Department, issued new guidance for the Paycheck Protection Program over the weekend, including an interim final rule to align the program with the PPP Flexibility Act and a revision that prevents funding from being provided to businesses owned by those who have been convicted of fraud, bribery, embezzlement or a false statement in a loan application or application for federal financial assistance within five years. For any other felony, the time period is one year.

Previously, the interim rule held that all convicted of a felony within five years could not receive PPP funds, regardless of their crime.

The ruling “is more consistent with Congressional intent to provide relief to small businesses and also promotes the important policies” laid out in the coronavirus relief bill authorizing the Paycheck Protection Program, the SBA wrote. The full interim final rule can be read HERE.

The interim final rule to align the program with the PPP Flexibility Act can be read HERE.

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