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Hello friends,
I hope this message finds you all healthy and safe. I wanted to provide you with some key updates on the ongoing public health situation and the resources being made available, in addition to recent legislative actions.
First of all, in the month since the Governor's Stay Home, Save Lives order was signed, researchers have estimated that Oregonians have prevented as many as 70,000 infections and 1,500 hospitalizations. We recognize the difficulty of this time but your efforts really are saving lives and I hope you take solace in that fact. The Governor and her office are working closely with OHA and other experts to create a plan for reopening business once that becomes feasible. I want to be clear: we are not yet at that point. However, when the time comes, it will likely be a slow, regional approach based on data. You all will hear more as this develops.
Legislative Response: Emergency Board
The Emergency Board is established by the Oregon Constitution to handle emergency state funding in between legislative sessions. I am a member of the Emergency Board and last Thursday, April 23rd, we met to further respond to the COVID-19 crisis. While we had limited funds (about $50 million, wanting to leave about $20 million for wildfire response), we were able to accomplish some important work. Here is a summary of what we passed:
- Safe Shelter and Rent Assistance - $12 million
- $3.5 million for safe shelter/social distancing alternatives for vulnerable populations, such as individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness and farmworkers.
- $8.5 million for rent assistance for individuals who have lost income due to the pandemic.
- Small Business Assistance - $10 million
- Grants or loans through community lenders for small businesses with no more than 25 employees that are impacted by the pandemic restrictions and have not received support from the federal CARES Act.
- Note: The $10 million is made up of $5 million from the Emergency Fund matched with $5 million from existing funds in the Oregon Business Development Department.
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Oregon Worker Relief Fund - $10 million
- Community-based wage assistance program for laid-off workers who do not qualify for unemployment benefits due to immigration status or other factors.
- I was glad to introduce a letter to the Emergency Board on behalf of the legislature's People of Color Caucus supporting the Oregon Worker Relief Fund.
- Domestic Violence Housing Support - $2 million
- Emergency housing for victims of domestic and sexual violence.
- Long-Term Care Worker Training and Testing - $3.35 million
- Coronavirus training and testing resources for workers serving very vulnerable Oregonians. This allocation may be replaced by federal response dollars.
Business Support
Federal Developments
The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (PPP HCE Act) expands upon the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act). Unfortunately, the PPP funds within the CARES Act ran out very quickly. Among the PPP HCE Act funds, an additional $320 billion are designated for the PPP. Thanks to advocacy from Senator Wyden, $60 million of the loans are designated to be allocated by small banks and credit unions (rather than large banks), which have a better track record at serving businesses owned by women and people of color. The applications for this second round of PPP opened on Monday, April 27th.
The PPP HCE Act also provides $75 million for health care facilities to be reimbursed for costs related to COVID-19 including loss of revenue. It also put $25 million towards the development and expansion of COVID-19 tests including the development of a national strategy to help states with testing guidelines and enhancing testing capacity.
State Resources
As mentioned in the last newsletter, the Secretary of State's Office of Small Business Assistance is standing by to assist at business.sos@oregon.gov. Newly, at the direction of the Governor’s office, Business Oregon has also established a Small Business Resource Navigator to assist with business questions and provide help accessing existing resources. They have staff available to respond to emails and calls Monday through Friday from 8am-5pm via the resource hotline at 833-604-0880 or biz.covid19@oregon.gov. Nearly 600 businesses had contacted them in the last few weeks and they recently sent out an email to those businesses with information on the new federal resources, which you can view here. If you have questions about Business Oregon’s response to COVID-19, please visit oregon4biz.com/Coronavirus-Information/.
Unemployment Insurance
We continue to receive your comments and questions regarding unemployment insurance concerns. The Employment Department has processed over 230,000 initial claims in the last five weeks, not counting this last week. Here are some FAQs shared with us by the Employment Department:
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I received a message that no valid claim was received even though I applied. What do I do now?
- If you recently filed a new claim for benefits, please allow time for our staff to process it. If you received a confirmation number at the end of the claim application, you have filed a claim. Once we process the claim, you can view the status online. In the meantime, you should make weekly claim reports for any weeks you want benefits.
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I put in a return to work date but we will still be under Stay Home, Stay Alive orders. How can I fix it?
- We are clearing out the return to work dates on claims as our employees process them. Just keep claiming benefits each week.
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I got a letter saying my claim was denied. What happened? What do I do now?
- Some people were denied because they said they weren’t looking for work with other employers. We made an automatic fix for that. Those claims will be processed and people should continue filing weekly claims. If you were denied because you are self-employed, we are working to incorporate newly received guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor into our claims system to bring self-employed and 1099 contract workers into the benefits system. If there is another reason for the denial, you can appeal the decision by following the instructions in the letter.
Here are some further resources for you:
Please know that you can and should continue to send specific questions about your claim to OED_COVID19_info@oregon.gov. Using this address will ensure that your question gets seen in the order it is received and you do not have to call in and wait for a representative or risk getting the common line-busy signal. Further, it allows for phone lines to remain free for those who are not otherwise able to file or contact the Department. Though please do check their online FAQs to make sure that your question is not already answered there, as they would like to reserve their email inbox for specific case concerns. They also ask for your patience and understanding as they obviously have considerable work at this time.
On Tuesday, April 28th, the Employment Department launched the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. The PUA program provides the self-employed, contract workers and gig workers who are not already eligible along with those not usually eligible due to too few hours or earnings, and those who were going to start work but could not, with benefits never before available. First-time filers for these new benefits should use the instructions and initial application form on the top of the CARES Act page. The page also has information about the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC for the 13-week extension) and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC, for the $600 weekly "pay up"). If you are a worker covered under the new PUA program and have already filed initial and weekly claims and have an established PIN, you should complete the PUA application and certification process here (o haga clic aquí para español). Frequently asked questions for PUA and additional updates are available at the Department's COVID-19 page.
The Employment Department continues adding capacity to process claims and is getting even more benefits to Oregonians. As of this week, the Employment Department has 520 employees now dedicated to taking unemployment claims (compared to 100 before the crisis) and have planning underway for an additional contact center facility. They have also added more workspaces and shifts as they add people to create safe social distancing work environments, added a Saturday shift, and filed emergency rules to allow them to better process COVID-19 related unemployment insurance claims.
Work Share Program
The Work Share program has information online and the Employment Department is advising to start there (www.oregonworkshare.com) with application information. This program has increased in popularity and is a labor-intensive type of claim. Federal legislation is providing full federal reimbursement for Work Share benefits for late March through December 2020. Work still needs to be done to put this into the Employment Department's systems after other new programs are set up. However, this is a program that can be applied for before any required system coding occurs. The Employment Department is looking at what they need to do to increase its resources to meet demand. Here is the contact info for Work Share:
- Email: OED_WorkShare@oregon.gov
- Phone: (503)-947-1800
- Toll-Free: (800)-436-6191
Usually, benefits paid out under the Work Share plan would impact an employer’s future unemployment insurance tax rate the same as any traditional unemployment insurance benefits would. Under recent federal legislation, however, there is an additional benefit to employers to use Work Share. Work Share benefits for March 29 through December 26, 2020 are being reimbursed by the federal government, which means they will not impact the employer’s tax rate.
As always, please feel free to contact my office. As you can imagine, we are keeping very busy during this time so please be patient as we get back to you. We read every email that comes to our inbox but must prioritize questions and individual concerns so if you do not get a response to your comment, please know that your message was seen. We are not currently in the office so email is the best way to contact us; voicemails are checked periodically but phone calls are not the best way to reach us, especially for timely matters.
You can help us focus on the important work of serving you during this busy time by checking or contacting one of the resources mentioned above if they would be better suited to address your issue and you are able; more than likely, if you contact our office with a coronavirus-related concern we will either direct you to one of those resources or contact them on your behalf.
Again, your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated and I wish the very best of health to you and your family. By staying home, you are saving lives. And don't forget to wash your hands.
Yours truly,
Senator Lew Frederick
Senate District 22
email: Sen.LewFrederick@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1722
address: 900 Court St NE, S-419, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/frederick
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