On October 2, 2024, The U.S. Small Business Administration provided a release entitled "SBA Provides Critical Disaster Assistance to Help Georgians Recover from Hurricane Helene" Below is the content of that release. To reference a Fact Sheet curated by the SBA, click here.
WASHINGTON – Low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are available to businesses and residents in Georgia following the announcement of a Presidential disaster declaration for Hurricane Helene that began on Sept. 25.
“SBA’s mission-driven team stands ready to help small businesses and residents in Georgia impacted by this disaster in every way possible under President Biden’s disaster declaration for certain affected areas,” said SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman. “We’re committed to providing federal disaster loans swiftly and efficiently, with a customer-centric approach to help businesses and communities recover and rebuild.”
The disaster declaration covers Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Echols, Emanuel, Evans, Glascock, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Lincoln, Lowndes, McDuffie, Montgomery, Pierce, Richmond, Screven, Tattnall, Telfair, Toombs, Treutlen, Ware, Washington and Wheeler; which are eligible for both Physical and Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the SBA. Small businesses and most private nonprofit organizations in the following adjacent counties are eligible to apply only for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs): Baldwin, Bleckley, Brantley, Bryan, Charlton, Dodge, Effingham, Elbert, Hancock, Long, McIntosh, Mitchell, Thomas, Tift, Turner, Twiggs, Warren, Wayne, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson and Worth counties in Georgia; Baker, Columbia, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison in Florida; Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell, Edgefield, Hampton, Jasper and McCormick in South Carolina.
Disaster survivors should not wait to settle with their insurance company before applying for a disaster loan. If a survivor does not know how much of their loss will be covered by insurance or other sources, SBA can make a low-interest disaster loan for the total loss up to its loan limits, provided the borrower agrees to use insurance proceeds to reduce or repay the loan.
Businesses and private nonprofit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets.
For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.
Disaster loans up to $500,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $100,000 to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed personal property.
Interest rates are as low as 4% for businesses, 3.25% for nonprofit organizations, and 2.813% for homeowners and renters, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not begin to accrue, and monthly payments are not due, until 12 months from the date of the initial disbursement. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.
Building back smarter and stronger can be an effective recovery tool for future disasters. Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase of up to 20% of their physical damages, as verified by the SBA for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements may include a safe room or storm shelter, sump pump, French drain or retaining wall to help protect property and occupants from future disasters.
“SBA’s disaster loan program offers an important advantage–the chance to incorporate measures that can reduce the risk of future damage,” said Francisco Sánchez, Jr., associate administrator for the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the Small Business Administration. “Work with contractors and mitigation professionals to strengthen your property, and take advantage of the opportunity to request additional SBA disaster loan funds for these proactive improvements.”
With the changes to FEMA’s Sequence of Delivery, survivors are now encouraged to simultaneously apply for FEMA grants and SBA low-interest disaster loan assistance to fully recover. FEMA grants are intended to cover necessary expenses and serious needs not paid by insurance or other sources. The SBA disaster loan program is designed for your long-term recovery, to make you whole and get you back to your pre-disaster condition. Do not wait on the decision for a FEMA grant; apply online and receive additional disaster assistance information at sba.gov/disaster.
Applicants may also call the SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or send an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Nov. 29, 2024. The deadline to return economic injury applications is June 30, 2025.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
On August 9, 2024, Capitol Beat News Service published a piece by Dave Williams entitled "Tort reform likely front-burner issue for 2025 General Assembly" Below is an excerpt.
(CAPITOL BEAT NEWS SERVICE) – Gov. Brian Kemp has made tort reform the main theme of his annual August address to Georgia political and business leaders two years running.
But his Aug. 7 speech at this year’s Georgia Chamber of Commerce Congressional Luncheon had a different ring to it than the 2023 version.
Kemp followed up last year’s pledge to make tort reform a top priority by essentially pulling out the rug on the issue when he addressed the chamber again at the beginning of this year’s General Assembly session. He said significant tort reform would require more than one year.
Toward that end, lawmakers passed a Kemp-backed bill this year directing the state insurance department to gather data on legal trends affecting premiums and prepare a report by Nov. 1.
“The governor very smartly decided to take a step back and look at the data,” said Nancy Palmer, vice president of government affairs for the Georgia Chamber. “Lawsuit reform is a huge wide-ranging topic. We’re talking about the entirety of the civil justice system.”
Tort reform has been a goal of Georgia Republicans and their allies in the business community for decades. But the most significant reform legislation to make it through the General Assembly came way back in 2005, a bill that imposed a $350,000 cap on non-economic damage awards in medical malpractice and product liability lawsuits.
The cap immediately came under fire in the form of lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. The Georgia Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs and threw out the cap in 2010.
Calls for tort reform have come like clockwork virtually every year since, with Republican lawmakers and conservative policy groups warning that huge jury verdicts from frivolous lawsuits are hurting job creation by forcing companies to close their doors.
“I hear stories every week from business owners who can’t get insurance or can’t afford it,” said Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a think tank that advocates free-market approaches to public-policy issues. “There’s got to be more balance.”
Palmer said improving access to insurance is just as important to businesses as the premiums they have to pay for coverage.
“We have insurers who are leaving the marketplace,” she said. “What we want is for businesses not only to pay lower rates but to have more choices. … There should be more competition in this marketplace.”
One reform Republicans are expected to pursue in 2025 is in the area of premises liability. Business owners have long complained about being drawn into lawsuits after injuries or deaths occur on their properties that are not their fault and, in many cases, occur at night when the business is closed.
“When someone shows up and decides to commit a crime on your property without your permission, how much do you have to do to prevent that?” Wingfield said. “That ought to be a common-sense place to start.”
Two bills pertaining to the premises liability issue were before the General Assembly this year, but neither passed.
Palmer said the chamber is looking to Kemp for direction on which tort reforms lawmakers should pursue in 2025. Next year begins a new two-year term in the legislature, so whatever is considered has to start from scratch.
On July 16, 2024, WABE published a piece by Marlon Hyde entitled "Workforce Shortages and Talent Development Remain Top Issues Among Georgia Small Businesses." Below is an excerpt.
(WABE) – In between panels and presentations at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural “Future of Small Business” summit, attendees discussed the trends impacting business owners across the state, as well as their concerns about their futures as workforce and talent development remain top issues.
According to the US Small Business Administration, small businesses in Georgia employ over 1.7 million people.
“The larger companies in Georgia, we’ve surveyed, say workforce is an issue now, but 25 years from now, it’s gonna be technology,” said Chris Clark, the CEO and president of the Georgia Chamber.
“Small businesses said the workforce is an issue now and it’s still gonna be an issue 25 years from now.”
Earlier this year, the Chamber surveyed Georgia business executives, who also echoed that maintaining proper staffing and recruiting skilled workers has been an obstacle for some time.
Another major challenge, Clark adds, is the funding gap between white-owned businesses and businesses run by people of color, with the former having more access to banking systems and resources.
Melvin Coleman, president and CEO of the Atlanta Black Chambers, says investments in underserved communities are critical to growth in the small business sector.
“We won’t be able to do that without loving and supporting each other and understanding that it’s time for us to be together as one,” Coleman said.
He says that with the rise of artificial intelligence, a critical amount of opportunities lie in the hands of Black entrepreneurs.
“The time is now for us to become educated, the time is now for us to become skilled, certified, whatever, and really understand ending artificial intelligence because it looks like it is going to adversely impact our community, which is consistent with how other things are,” Coleman said.
On July 11, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution published an article by Vanessa McCray entitled "Free Emory University class looks to put more Georgians at ease with AI." Below is an excerpt.
(AJC) – Sukari Johnson showed up to a Henry County Parks & Recreation classroom looking for ways to use artificial intelligence to boost her small business.
She’d like to automate some of her email tasks so that she can quickly respond to customers who contact her travel and events company. At a nearby desk, a real estate agent wondered about using AI programs to enhance images. Both came to the small class hosted by Emory University’s Center for AI Learning for a better understanding of the emerging technology.
“A lot of people are afraid of this,” said the center’s founding director Joe Sutherland, as he demonstrated various uses for AI. “My contention is that it’s going to be just like the internet. It’s going to be another tool.”
The free course, offered on a hot July evening in McDonough, over 30 miles south of Emory’s Atlanta campus, is aimed at exposing a broader audience to the advantages of AI. It was one of nearly 20 free community classes Emory will hold in locations around Georgia, from Rome to Macon, Columbus, Savannah, Athens and Augusta and points in between. The two-hour “AI + You” sessions are scheduled through mid-September through a partnership with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Rowen Foundation.
Sutherland said the use of AI has so far been mostly confined to high-tech industries and academia. For Georgia to continue to grow its economy and remain competitive, a broader swath of the workforce needs training.
“I think that this AI revolution is something that everybody should have a chance at being a part of,” he said in an interview.
The courses provide a primer on artificial intelligence and introduce tools such as ChatGPT. That program launched publicly in late 2022 with the ability to generate essays, emails, business plans, computer code and perform other tasks.
The statewide learning push comes as Georgia lawmakers wrestle with the potential and the pitfalls brought by AI. It can make work more efficient, but it also poses data security risks and has been used by bad actors to manipulate images and sound and create deepfake videos, among other concerns.
A Senate Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence met for the first time in late June to discuss if and how Georgia should regulate AI technologies. That panel also will examine the impact on jobs, education and public safety, among other areas. The committee’s chair, state Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, told lawmakers he wants to find a framework “that does not stifle innovation” but provides protections.
“The opportunities in front of us will cure some of the world’s greatest issues and crises,” he said, and added: “However, it also has the propensity to do great harm and evil.”
A recent National Society of High School Scholars survey of more than 10,000 Generation Z students found 62% are worried about job displacement because of AI. And almost as many of those students, born after 1997, think the technology will have a more negative than positive impact on society over the next decade, the report said.
Sutherland said those who adapt to AI earlier will be more competitive for jobs, earn more and have more free time. He told the McDonough class he thinks the technology will help automate manufacturing work, for example, but questioned if it will replace as many jobs as some estimate. He highlighted a need for more workforce development efforts to train people everywhere, including in rural areas, to use AI programs.
“My mission through this tour is making sure that it’s not just a small pocket of people who have access to these technologies first while everybody else is waiting around,” he said in an interview.
Said Daniela Perry, vice president of the Georgia Chamber Foundation: “People talk about what could happen to the workforce because of AI. We really see the opportunity for individuals to really move into really meaningful careers and move upward.”
Those who attend one of Emory’s summer courses will get three months of access at no cost to ChatGPT through the university’s AI platform. This fall, Emory also will launch a new continuing education certification program in AI that’s geared to nontraditional students.
The 50 participants at the first community AI class held in Valdosta ranged from small-business owners and chief executives to local elected officials and retirees. About 70 showed up to a Monday class in Sandy Springs.
Only a few people turned out for the McDonough session on July 2, but organizers expect classes to grow at upcoming events. Johnson had used ChatGPT before but didn’t know that she could go back and forth with the program, entering additional information and telling it what to focus on, to refine and customize the responses.
“I didn’t know that you could speak to it in that way, so that was good to know,” she said.
At that class, Sutherland wowed the small group by asking ChatGPT to create a detailed social media marketing plan to sell a house. The program spit out a weekly schedule for posting content to Instagram and Facebook and suggested focusing on the house’s unique features.
“You don’t even have to think,” marveled one audience member, partly in jest.
Sutherland countered with a word of caution, urging users to still review and edit any AI-generated output.
“You do have to think still,” he said.
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