• Repeal of the one-week waiting period for unemployment insurance for all (this part was a WH&LA ask), which would continue after the emergency is over (not sought by WH&LA)
• Allowing WEDC to retain $25 million in their general fund that was going to “lapse” (go away) in their budget, allowing them increased internal operational funding that can help them in processing grants, and helping businesses with information
• Enabling the Public Health Emergency declared by the Governor, currently restricted by law to 60 days total, to extend by Governor Order to as long as needed.
• As part of a $100 million grant program under the Dept. of Administration (DOA), they would have monies to pay for temporary sites not only for testing for COVID-19 but also for added treatment beds or isolation or quarantine of affected individuals. The wording does give the DOA secretary the authority to “direct local units of government and eligible providers to operate a temporary site”, which is language we will look into further relating to “eligible providers” as this may imply a mandated situation.

• Enables state and local governments to waive interest, penalties, or payments on governmental loans, during the emergency
• Protection for businesses that their UI rates will not be raised due to the significant increase in unemployment benefits needed (WH&LA had requested this)
• Waive the minimum number of employees for a business to participate in the Work Share program, opening it up to businesses with under 20 employees
• Expand the $25 million WEDC Small Business 20/20 Grant program to $150 million total. This program, already approved at the smaller level, should be ready to roll out soon, and provides grants of up to $20,000 to use for rent and payroll expenses, including paid sick leave relating to COVID-19. The enhanced amount must wait for legislation to pass. Included in the enhanced funding would be an unspecified portion for a new “Restart 72” grant program helping small businesses to re-open by funding buying perishable inventory, helping employees return to the workforce, or convincing customers to return. (WH&LA had requested a significant expansion to the 20/20 grant program)
• Waive interest and penalties on delinquent property taxes for 2019 and enable municipalities to implement multiple payment installments for 2020 property taxes. While we believe this will include commercial properties – not just residential properties, this needs to be verified when the bill language is released.
• An increase in Broadband Expansion grants.
• $2 million for funding new Regional Destination Marketing Organization grants, encouraging collaboration of marketing tourism in regional areas of the state.
• $3 million in additional tourism Co-Op Marketing Program Grants for DMO’s, to offset their loss of room tax revenues.

• As in recent surveys participants were an even split between franchise and independent properties
• Also as in the past, participants were an almost equal split between 1-50 rooms/units; 51-100; and 100+
• Northern and Central parts of the state had the highest participation, although combining Milwaukee and Madison gave us equal counts
• The strong majority describe their properties as hotel, followed by Resort, then Motel, however we also had a number of Condo and Bed & Breakfasts in too.
• 64% of single properties remain currently open, however 29% are closed during the pandemic with another 5% planning to close in a week or two. 1% stated they are closed now and this may be permanent
• Of multiple property owners/operators, 27% said all are currently open, 11% said some are open, 6% said all are closed, and an interesting 55% did not reply to this question
• As of this week, 72% said they have had to lay-off or furlough employees, with another 7% planning to do so in 1-2 weeks
• Of those who said they have done so, 26% said it has been 75-89% of their workforce, 18% said 90-99% of their workforce, 12% said 25-49% of their workforce, and 9% said 1-24%
• 26% of respondents have their properties registered for AH&LA’s Hospitality for Hope program, which matches up properties interested in making their properties available for government, patient, or quarantined purposes, and 39% said they will consider it if they see a link to the program (see in a later segment of this edition), 30% said they are not interested
• A total of 70 properties were specifically listed as closed, however some chose not to provide this information. For future reference, as a reminder, individual replies are kept confidential – only aggregate information such as what appears here, is reported.