Conn. GOP working on plan to help bars and restaurants as situation grows grimmer

Connecticut House Republicans are working on legislation that they say would offer further relief to the state”™s bars and restaurants, while Gov. Ned Lamont said he is considering adding another round of Covid-19 financial aid for small businesses.

“The bars and restaurants on our main streets are critical to local economies, drawing people to our communities and nearby businesses while providing vital income for thousands of residents,” said House Republican Leader-elect Vincent Candelora (R-North Branford).

“They”™re hanging on by a thread. Taking action as early as possible in the legislative session could be critical to the survival of many of these businesses, most of them desperate for the state to take action that will show them that we”™re partners in securing their future.”

According to the Connecticut Restaurant Association, more than 600 Connecticut restaurants have closed due to the pandemic.

House Republicans say their legislation, focused on bars and restaurants, will seek to:

• Establish a $50 million targeted pandemic relief grant fund for those with qualifying monetary losses;
• Install yearlong suspensions of liquor permitting fees, as well as food licensing fees for certain restaurants;
• Delay by 90 days the due date for municipal real and personal property tax payments; and
• Direct the state”™s Department of Economic & Community Development to partner with financial institutions to create a low-interest loan program.

“By and large, these businesses fortunate enough to remain open have followed the state”™s often cumbersome guidelines every step of this journey, in many cases spending significantly to reinvent how they operate, only to find that their government hasn”™t matched their effort,” said state Rep. Holly Cheeseman (R-East Lyme), Ranking Member of the Finance Committee.

“We can and should change that immediately ”¦This is an issue that should unite all of us, and I”™m hopeful for a bipartisan push toward recovery by a re-engaged legislature.”

Meanwhile, the governor is continuing to walk a fine line between keeping restaurants in the state open as Connecticut”™s Covid numbers continue to rise. New York City ordered all its restaurants to suspend indoor dining on Monday.

According to the latest figures from the state Department of Health, as of last night Connecticut had a 7.4% infection rate. While another 40 deaths were recorded to bring that total to 5,506, hospitalizations declined for the first time in weeks, by 15, to total 1,254.

Speaking yesterday to the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce, Lamont said he does not currently expect to close or further restrict restaurants here, where indoor dining is limited to 50% capacity. He said plans are underway to introduce at least another $25 million in CARES Act funding to small businesses, which could include some restaurants and bars.

As for Connecticut breweries, many have objected to Lamont”™s directive that they can remain open only if they serve “substantial meals,” as opposed to bar snacks. Many breweries do not operate kitchens and rely on food trucks, though usually only on weekends. (One brewery, Newtown”™s Reverie Brewing Co., has added a doppelbock called “Fries Aren”™t Food” in response to what it calls “Supreme Leader Ned””™s action.)

CT Brewers Guild Executive Director Phil Pappas has sent a letter to Lamont and General Assembly leaders protesting that the “substantial meals” decision “seems to be have been made arbitrarily.

“Before the pandemic, breweries were never legally required to offer food prepared on-premise,” Pappas wrote, “but we have adapted and altered our businesses entirely so that we can remain open to the public.

“While 95% of CT breweries do not have kitchens where they can prepare on-premise food,” he added, “they are required to apply and pay for additional food permits, in a time where every penny counts, add space where they can safely prepare food that was never planned for, purchase additional and expensive equipment, and on top of the already strict social distancing guidelines, add unnecessary responsibilities and burdens onto an already reduced staff.

The Guild, which says there are more than 116 operational breweries in the state that employ over 6,500 people and contribute more than $753 million to the state”™s economy, is seeking a rollback of the dining proviso as well as more financial aid from the state.

“Whether it”™s from part of the $1.4 billion sent by Congress through the CARES Act, or from the rainy day fund, those funds need to be opened up now to keep our industry afloat,” Pappas wrote. “We”™ve seen neighboring states like Massachusetts offer grants up to $75,000 and Rhode Island offering up to $30,000, and would appreciate similar increased financial support.

“We need CT to step up,” he added, “and provide more financial support in response to the massive rate of closures to our businesses, and we are requesting a solidified plan to accomplish that.”