Louisiana governor signs GOP’s $300M small business aid plan

BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a Republican-crafted plan to spend $300 million in federal coronavirus aid to help small businesses recover from the outbreak, agreeing to a grant program that peeled off dollars he initially planned to use elsewhere.

The dollars come from direct federal aid allocated to Louisiana by Congress to respond to the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus.

Edwards intended to steer about $811 million of the federal assistance to local government agencies — such as city councils, parish police juries, sheriffs’ offices and more — to reimburse them for virus-related expenses.

Republican state lawmakers chose to divvy that money up differently, carving out $300 million for small business grants and using the remaining $511 million to reimburse municipalities for their virus spending. The bill by Sen. Mack “Bodi” White passed during the regular session that ended June 1.

Edwards’ spokeswoman Christina Stephens confirmed Monday that the Democratic governor signed the measure into law.

While Edwards agreed to create the business grant program, he vetoed a separate measure that would have offered a new payroll rebate to virus-impacted businesses. The bill by Republican Rep. Mark Wright, of Covington, received final passage with overwhelming House and Senate support. But it could have cost the state millions, according to a financial analysis, and the exact drain on the treasury wasn’t clear.

The governor, who has unsuccessfully sought to raise Louisiana’s minimum wage, objected because the payroll subsidy wouldn’t have prioritized higher-paying jobs and instead would allow any business creating five new, minimum-wage jobs to qualify.

In his veto message, Edwards called such an incentive “contrary to the sentiment of the people of Louisiana that our workforce should be able to earn a true living wage.” He also said Louisiana shouldn’t be creating programs with a sizable price tag amid the economic uncertainties of COVID-19.