Legislature advances more small business grant funding

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Legislature moved one of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s budget priorities forward Wednesday night by approving a bill that would double the funding for a program aimed at helping small businesses and nonprofits affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assembly Bill 106 would put $50 million into the state’s Pandemic Emergency Technical Support Grant, doubling the amount of funding for the program that has provided grants — most of which are $10,000 — to roughly 4,600 businesses.

The Assembly passed the bill Wednesday night on a unanimous vote after it was heard in a joint meeting of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees. The bill still needs approval in the Senate before Sisolak can sign it, but little, if any, resistance to the legislation is expected.

“These businesses are not brick and mortars, they are people. People who make up a community, who make up a city, who make up our state.” Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, said on the Assembly floor before the vote. “By providing direct relief to business owners and nonprofits we can help our community businesses keep their rent paid, lights on and workers on the pay roll.”

The additional funding stands to help another 4,600 or so businesses or nonprofits, Treasurer Zach Conine said. He described the the bill as “absolutely necessary to ensuring that we can provide essential support to Nevada’s small businesses.”

The grant program was announced in October with $20 million in funding, and lawmakers added $31 million to that program in December. During a four-day application period in October, the state received more than 13,000 applications, Conine said. The program is administered through Conine’s office, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Department of Business and Industry.

The funding for the program, which comes from federal COVID-19 relief dollars, is one of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s major priorities for the legislative session. He announced the new funding in his State of the State address last month and called on the Legislature to pass the legislation early in the session.

“These grants have served as a lifeline, and we know so many more will benefit from this program as we continue to navigate our way through this pandemic towards economic recovery,” Sisolak said during Wednesday’s hearing.

Derek Stonebarger, owner of the downtown Las Vegas bars ReBAR and Davy’s, said that the reduced capacity limits that were put in place to stem the spread of the virus have made it “extremely difficult” for businesses, adding that it essentially has been the equivalent of trying to operate with a budget that had been slashed by 75 percent.

“The only way we’ve been able to survive is through grants like this PETS grant,” Stonebarger said.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.