State Representative Rhonda Butler took park in a virtual meeting of the Evangeline Chamber of Commerce and gave an update on legislation designed to help businesses during the pandemic.
Legislation during the past sessions in Baton Rouge created the Main Street Recovery Program which provides grants to businesses in the state.
Other legislation will provide “tax incentives for business who employ under 15 people,” Representative Butler said.
She went on to say, “We worked really hard in the House and the Senate together to fund that gap as much as we could.”
On the federal level, Representative Butler said there will be another round of the payroll protection plan. This round will be more geared to small businesses.
Representative Butler updated the chamber on other areas such as money for broadband access that is coming down the pipe in October. As vice chair of the rural caucus, she said, “I will definitely make sure the rural areas are going to get what they need to get and make sure these funds are allocated where they need to go.”
Also coming down the pipe are meetings of Representative Butler’s economic task force which she created before the start of COVID-19. The task force will be meeting with Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser this coming Tuesday to discuss options Evangeline Parish has to offer in economic development such as tourism.
The representative is also working on creating a drug court here in Evangeline Parish. She said, “I’m very excited about that in getting people off of drugs and back into the workforce to produce more productive human beings rather than keeping them in jail.
Regarding where we are with COVID-19, Representative Butler said Governor John Bel Edwards is looking to go to a more parish-by-parish level in a way to move forward instead of going back to Phase One.
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Tony Marks
Editor