On March 23, 2020, Governor Walz signed Emergency Executive Order 20-15 directing the Department of the Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to develop and emergency small business loans program. These loans will carry a 0% interest rate and can be partially forgivable. This is in addition to various federal emergency loan programs.

The borrower would have to demonstrate that it was directly and adversely affected by the COVID-19 peacetime emergency Executive Orders 20-04 and 20-08. In addition, small businesses would have to have claimed all applicable private insurance and utilized all other sources of applicable assistance available from other private and public sources.

There are many questions as to what the actual program will look like, what the criteria to qualify will be, and how soon the process will begin and be funded. We will continue to post updates as more information becomes available.