Today, Calif. Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new portal to help parents, including essential workers, find safe, reliable and accessible child care options. This announcement builds on previous executive action the Governor has taken to expand child care subsidies and after-school programs for essential workers. The new portal is available at covid19.ca.gov/childcare and…
On April 1, UBS Financial Advisors issued a comprehensive summary of the COVID-19 relief programs contained in the recently-enacted CARES Act stimulus package. The programs are broken down into four buckets: Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Loans for Larger Businesses, and Tax Credits and Deferrals. Small businesses in the WG membership, ...
Yesterday, Western Growers joined its partner associations in the California specialty crop industry in sending a letter to Congressmen Kevin McCarthy and Devin Nunes outlining industry funding priorities from the CARES Act relief package. The letter highlights three specific USDA program requests: direct payments to growers, a food purchase program and a PACA trust claim ...
WG invites you to participate in an Ag Employer Crisis Management webinar for Western Growers members, presented by the Ag Labor Team at The Saqui Law Group. This webinar will take place on Thursday, April 9, 2020, from 2:00 – 3:00 PM. The topics covered during the webinar will include: Critical Infrastructure Ag Businesses under ...
Today a bipartisan group of 108 members of the U.S. House of Representatives – led by Congressmen Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Jim Costa (CA-16) and Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) – sent a letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue echoing the Produce Market Stabilization Program proposal presented by a coalition of produce organizations from across the country. The ...
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued additional guidance to address borrower and lender questions concerning the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program, which was authorized in the CARES Act. Borrowers and lenders may rely on the guidance provided in this document as SBA’s interpretation of the program. In reviewing the FAQs, note that Question ...
As part of the ongoing effort to provide accurate and timely information to the Colorado agriculture industry, the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) will be hosting a virtual public town hall gathering this Thursday, April 9, from 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. CDA will update the industry on its latest work surrounding COVID-19 and answer ...
Based on new recommendations from the CDC and FDA, workers on farms, and in food production, processing and retail settings who do not typically wear masks as part of their jobs, could consider the use of a cloth face covering to slow the spread of COVID-19. Based on new recommendations from the CDC and FDA, ...
In order to connect industry growers, packers, storage facilities, and other agricultural entities with suppliers of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), CDFA is compiling a list of potential vendors. To the extent they can, CDFA is verifying the vendor on a surface level. However, because CDFA cannot fully vet the vendors, the buyer has an obligation ...
California employers are required to establish and implement an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) to protect employees from all worksite hazards, including infectious diseases. Cal/OSHA has now released guidance for agricultural employers on how to update their IIPPs to include preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. This guidance does not introduce any ...
Over the weekend, Calif. Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order to ensure that essential critical infrastructure workers can obtain necessary child care to continue working to assist the State’s response to COVID-19. The order allows for the reopening of state-subsidized before and after school childcare facilities. Essential workers will now have priority in arranging for ...
WG joined 80 agriculture groups in sending a letter to National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue asking them to encourage the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to adopt a rule curtailing unfair detention and demurrage penalties by ocean carriers and terminal operators. According to the letter, ocean carriers and terminal ...
As farmers across America are facing severe economic hardship due to the coronavirus, Western Growers President and CEO, Dave Puglia, appeared on America’s Newsroom on Fox News today to discuss the collapse of the foodservice sector and the economic uncertainties facing the industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to watch the ...
Yesterday, in response to a letter sent by Western Growers and a coalition of California agricultural organizations, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Congressman Devin Nunes sent a letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue urging him to develop a spending plan specifically for specialty crop growers. The letter states that California is the largest agriculture ...
In response to Calif. Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent Executive Order allowing for the reopening of state-subsidized before and after school child care facilities for essential workers, the Calif. Department of Education (CDE) issued a Management Bulletin prioritizing children of workers in the food and agriculture industry. Farm workers and others in agriculture will now have ...
USDA has posted a set of FAQs on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a guaranteed loan program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The purpose of the program is to support small businesses and help support their payroll during the coronavirus situation. The PPP provides small businesses with funds to pay up to 8 ...
Businesses with up to 10,000 employees or less than $2.5 billion in 2019 annual revenues may be eligible for new or expanded financing under the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program. Small to mid-sized businesses that were in good financial standing before the crisis may be eligible for 4-year loans; principal and interest payments will ...
On Monday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) led a bipartisan group of 29 Senators in calling on USDA to ensure that specialty crop producers receive financial aid for financial losses related to COVID-19. In a letter to Secretary Sonny Perdue, the group of Senators asks that as USDA specifies how the $9.5 billion disaster fund from ...
Last Thursday, April 9, Western Growers hosted an Ag Employer Crisis Management webinar, presented by the Ag Labor Team at The Saqui Law Group. The webinar covered a range of timely and relevant topics, including: California’s Shelter-in-Place Order and Critical Infrastructure Exception Immigration Updates for H-2A Employers Labor Update Public Relations Workplace FAQs Workers’ Comp ...
According to a news release issued yesterday, Caltrans will temporarily issue special permits for overweight trucks transporting emergency supplies in support of COVID-19 relief and prevention efforts. Caltrans will issue permits for overweight trucks on the State Highway System and will help support transportation operators in obtaining permits from local agencies for local roads. These ...