Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul on May 6 joined a group of 24 state attorneys general asking the federal government to strengthen the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The AGs sent a letter to Congressional leadership highlighting concerns about implementation of the program, which provides loans to small businesses struggling due to COVID-19.

Concerns from Kaul and the AG coalition include PPP loans made to large, publicly traded companies and lack of transparency. To address these concerns, the AGs suggest Congress adopt several measures before allocating additional PPP funding, such as:

• Providing stronger, explicit guidance to lenders and eligible businesses.
• Prohibiting lenders from giving preference to certain customers.
• Allocating a portion of future funding to minority owned small businesses.
• Providing more flexibility and technical support to businesses.

Also this month, AG Kaul joined a bipartisan coalition urging USTelecom to further develop robocall traceback and other tools to help law enforcement address illegal robocalls; a coalition urging Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (S. 2843/H.R. 1585); and a coalition expressing concern about President Trump’s executive order to keep meat and poultry processing plants open.