Murphy approves another $235M of business COVID relief

New Jersey businesses can now tap into $235 million of COVID-19 relief funds under a bill Gov. Phil Murphy approved June 22.

The aid is meant to hold businesses over as they navigate the latest pandemic reopenings and set sites on their recoveries.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority – an arm of the Murphy administration that oversees such funds – is already letting businesses pre-register through June 30 for the application process for this new money.

The state agency is in the midst of an $85 million round of grant funding to help businesses stay afloat. And a $135 million round of business aid is moving through both the Assembly and Senate budget committees Tuesday afternoon.

Businesses of all kinds – including restaurants, malls, retail, casinos, gyms, salons, theaters, entertainment and bars – had to shutter their doors for several months last spring, and then reopen at reduced capacity, with mask requirements and other restrictions for more than a year.

Over 2 million New Jerseyans filed for unemployment since those first restrictions went into effect in March 2020.

Murphy, at a June 22 bill-signing event at WindMill Hot Dogs at Long Branch on the Jersey Shore, estimated that his administration has given out more than $600 million in grants, low-interest loans and other forms of assistance since the COVID-19 closures first went into effect in March 2020.

Those funds, he said, “support our downtowns and small businesses and through them our communities and countless residents.”

“Today only further deepens our commitment,” he added.

This new round of pre-registration is meant to ensure that businesses “that missed the previous deadline to apply have another chance,” the NJEDA said in a prior statement.

Grants are capped at $20,000, and the total amount awarded varies based on the number of full-time employees. Business owners have to show that operations have suffered because of these past 15 months of pandemic closures and restrictions.

The NJEDA will set aside $20 million for bars and restaurants, $120 million for micro-businesses, $10 million for child care providers, and $50 million for businesses with up to 50 employees.

There would be $25 million for startups, and $10 million for the “Sustain and Serve NJ” program, which effectively pays restaurants to prepare meals for some of the state’s most in-need residents. But those two programs will be separate from these new grants, according to an NJEDA spokesperson.

Amid COVID-19 pandemic business closures and ensuing restrictions, businesses have relied on billions of dollars in state and federal aid, mostly grants, or forgivable or low-interest loans.

Under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, the U.S. Small Business Administration approved 157,405 forgivable loans totaling $17.3 billion in 2020, and in 2021 approved 134,362 loans totaling roughly $8 billion.