Governor John Bel Edwards has vetoed a bill that would have provided companies impacted by COVID-19 a rebate for hiring or rehiring employees. Covington Representative Mark Wright says businesses would be eligible for the program if they hired at least five people and added 40-thousand dollars in total payroll.
“We are trying to provide as many tools as possible for these small businesses to reopen and commit to sticking it out,” says Wright.
In the governor’s veto letter, Edwards said the program would create a large pool of eligible businesses and the potential cost to the state could be substantial, but Wright disagrees.
“It was a small percentage of what we have in the budget and it was simply an attempt to try to give incentive for these smaller businesses. Most people were very receptive to it,” says Wright.
Governor Edwards signs legislation barring residents from suing restaurants for allegedly giving them coronavirus outside of instances of documented gross negligence. Covington Senator Patrick McMath brought the legislation. He says it may be tough to definitively prove where someone contracted COVID-19, but that wouldn’t stop some lawyers from trying.
“This was a way to hopefully prevent that and save these companies some money to where they can allocate these resources to bringing back their employees, bringing back their jobs,” says McMath.
But McMath notes that if restaurants refuse to follow COVID guidelines like mandatory mask wearing for employees they could still get sued.
“We narrowly tailored it and really chose our words wisely that would exclude acts of gross negligence and willful and wanton misconduct,” says McMath.
Take-out, drive-thru, and delivery food services are covered under the new law which is retroactive to March 11th.
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