This morning the U.S. Congress is finalizing their $2-trillion economic relief package for businesses to address the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic on small businesses and their employees’ financial stability.

MRAA, along with NMMA, and Association of Marina Industries (AMI), actively engaged with leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate throughout their negotiations to ensure the collective voice of our industry was heard. Responding to feedback from our membership, MRAA worked with the Trump Administration and policymakers in Washington, DC to secure new funding streams for small businesses, ensuring public access to waterways, and support small business employees. The full letter MRAA sent to Congress is available here. A summary of our points is copied below.

Small Business Financial Certainty
Our industry is concerned with the drastic declines in new revenue now at the beginning of the season when recreational boat dealerships are holding their highest value in inventory, and when boat floor plan loan payments are coming due. Without additional income, dealers across the country will quickly find themselves in a bind trying to pay overhead costs. MRAA recommends Congress implement the following solutions:

• Approve a form of floor plan interest subsidies until 60 days past the expiration of the National Emergency to help major unit inventory retail locations make up for the economic losses from declining revenue in our industry, and allow them to continue to hold inventory that is actively depreciating, and continue to and take in new inventory.
• Approve the Treasury Department’s proposed Small Business interruption loans, to provide small businesses with the capital to support their employees who may need to utilize emergency PTO, and other liquidity issues.
• Implement an income tax holiday from April 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 for small businesses in order to provide much-needed liquidity to dealers in our industry, and reduce the strain on business owners and employees who are faced with potential layoffs. March 19, 2020
• Make available low or no interest loans for small businesses, and cut through red tape with the SBA to allow for speedy application and approval for companies with solid credit.

MRAA’s COVID-19 resource page for the recreational boating industry can be reached here. If you have any questions, please reach out to MRAA’s government relation manager Adam Fortier-Brown at adam@mraa.com.