Businesses that shelled out hundreds or thousands of dollars to expand their operations outdoors during the second wave of COVID-19 this winter could soon get reimbursed by the state, under a bill that passed a key Senate panel on June 15.

The proposed Senate Bill 3740 would allow businesses to exempt from sales tax any purchases they made to “winterize” their operations–that is, to expand typically indoor operations to the outdoors during the fall and winter months.

During those months, indoor dining was limited to 25% capacity, and many businesses switched to offering outdoor dining. With colder weather, they shelled out thousands of dollars on tents, snow removal, igloos and space heaters.

All of those purchases would be tax-exempt, so long as they were bought between Sept. 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, and the business has less than 20 full-time employees.

“In order to stay open and promote safe dining, small businesses were forced to adjust and adapt multiple times over the past year,” said one of the bill sponsors, Sen. Joe Lagana, D-38th District, in a June 15 statement. “This became especially apparent during the winter months at the end of 2020 and early 2021.”

“For these reasons, they should be exempt from the sales and use tax on efforts to winterize outdoor dining during the colder months of the pandemic,” he said.

The Senate Economic Growth Committee approved the legislation in a 5-0 vote, and the full Assembly in March.

State officials have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars directly toward businesses over the past year to keep them afloat during widespread shutdowns and other restrictions.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority is overseeing $85 million in relief funds and has awarded $250 million worth of grants, loans and other aid to a combined 55,000 businesses in the past year. It will oversee a $235 million pool of grant funding, which Murphy sought from the Legislature and now awaits his approval.

Meanwhile, the proposed Senate Bill 2347 lets businesses delay payments on employment and other business taxes throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Businesses would have to apply to the NJEDA for this financial relief, which could extend to such levies as the income, sales and gas taxes, and contributions to unemployment, family leave, worker’s compensation and disability leave.

Assembly Bill 5218 meanwhile would allow restaurants, banquet halls, wedding venues and alcoholic beverage manufacturers to deduct on their tax bill up to $150,000 in expenses to adapt to COVID-19 safety measures.

During the worst of the COVID-19 closures last year and through the colder months this year, the U.S. Small Business Administration approved 157,405 forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program totaling $17.3 billion in 2020, and in 2021 approved 134,362 loans totaling roughly $8 billion.