Amendment #861 to H4000

Main Street Restaurant Business Covid-19 Relief

Mr. Walsh of Peabody moves to amend the bill by adding the following section at the end thereof:

Section XXXX

Said chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby further amended by inserting after section 2CCCCC, the following section:-

Section 2DDDDD.

(a) There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a Main Street Restaurant Business Covid-19 Relief trust fund. The fund shall be administered by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

(b)  There shall be credited to the fund: (i) revenue from appropriations or other money authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; (ii) interest earned on such revenues; and (iii) funds from public and private sources, including, but not limited to, gifts, grants and donations.  Amounts credited to the fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

(c) A business shall meet the following conditions for eligibility for funding from the Main Street Restaurant Business Covid-19 Relief trust fund:

(i) employs no more than 50 employees

(ii) is located within a current or former Transformative Development Initiative District as defined by MassDevelopment in the Commonwealth

(iii) was incorporated between July 1, 2019 and March 10, 2020.

(iv) is open and operational

(v) uses a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) number beginning with 72

(d)  Amounts credited to the fund may be expended, without further appropriation, by the Secretary to eligible businesses for the following purposes:

(i) payroll costs

(ii) interest on mortgages

(iii) rent

(iv) utilities

(v) construction and development costs

(e) costs shall have been incurred during the State of Emergency as declared by the Governor on March 10, 2021

(f)  Amounts received from private sources shall be approved by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development and subject to review before being deposited in the fund to ensure that pledged funds are not accompanied by conditions, explicit or implicit.  The review shall be made publicly available.

(g)  Annually, not later than November 1, the Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development shall report on the fund’s activities to the house and senate committees on ways and means, the chairs of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses and the house and senate clerks. The report shall include, but shall not be limited to: (i) the source and amount of funds received; (ii) the amounts distributed and the purpose of expenditures from the fund; (iii) recipients of funding; and (iv) anticipated revenue and expenditure projections for the next year.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #861 to H4000

Main Street Restaurant Business Covid-19 Relief