The North Carolina General Assembly House Finance Committee met on Tuesday, April 28 at 1:00pm.

The Committee considered the two bills that were approved by the House COVID-19 Economic Support Working group. Each bill had small changes to the bill language that was approved previously.

HB – 1034 Small Business Emergency Loans

This bill appropriates $75 million to the the Golden Leaf Foundation for small businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill is similar to the small business loans currently offered by the Golden Leaf Foundation with non-state funds. This bill differes from the bill passed in the COVID-19 Working Group because it does the following:

  • Allocates federal funds to the program instead of using State funds
  • Makes technical corrections to the two entities providing the loans

Importantly, the bill states that for the first 6 months after loan closing, the loans would have no payments due and an interest rate of up to 4%. Thereafter, repayment would commence and the interest rate would increase to not less than 5.5% for the rest of the loan term, which is capped at a total of 66 months and capped in amount at $50k per recipient.

This bill passed unanimously in the Finance Committee.

HB 1039 – COVID Response Act

This bill waives the interest on individual, corporate and franchise tax returns from April 15 to July 15. The relief would apply to partnership and estate and trust tax returns, as well as estimated tax payments for 2020 due on or before April 15, 2020.

This bill affirms the flexibility in administering the State’s unemployment compensation laws, as provided in Executive Orders 118 and 131, and provides a SUTA credit equal to the amount of contributions payable by the employer on the SUTA report due on or before April 30, 2020.

The bill also makes three changes recommended by the Division of Employment Security and remove the July 1, 2023, date that would sunset the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Unemployment Insurance. This part of the bill is also a recommendation of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Unemployment Insurance.

This bill passed unanimously in the Finance Committee.