Hawaiʻi residents, companies, and contractors now have a free “one-stop shop” for local and national economic resources to help them survive COVID-19 — including employment, tax, finance and banking, health and other helpful information. This website, put together by the team of the state’s newly minted Economic and Community Recovery and Resiliency Navigator, Alan Oshima, is https://recoverynavigator.hawaii.gov/. Categories of resources offered in this “Hawaiʻi State Economic & Community Recovery Navigator” site include these (1) useful links for kamaʻaina:
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
• Direct cash payments to individuals — For those who have filed 2018 or 2019 tax returns;
• Individual health resources — For the uninsured;
• Non-filers: Economic impact payment — For U.S. citizens who could not be claimed as the dependent of another taxpayer; and
• Local Hawaiʻi bank resources — For those seeking loans or personal financial assistance.
UNEMPLOYMENT
• Emergency paid leave;
• Unemployment insurance; and
• USDA Relief Measures — For helping rural-area residents, businesses and communities affected by COVID-19.
RELIEF
• Individual tax relief— For those who personally have been infected with COVID-19 or have family that have been affected and have been economically harmed; and
• IRS tax relief — For US citizens.
FOR YOUR HEALTH
• Health and nutrition programs — For those struggling financially; and
• IRS health care plans — IRS guidance regarding high-deductible healthcare plans (HDHP) which can pay for COVID-19 testing and treatment without jeopardizing one’s status.
BILLS
• Hawaiian Electric Co. — For HECO customers; and
• Hawaiʻi Gas — For Hawaiʻi Gas customers. The kamaʻaina resource page is https://recoverynavigator.hawaii.gov/for-kama-aina/.
(2) The website also includes practical guides and information for businesses including
LOAN OPPORTUNITIES
• Guide to small business emergency loans (PPP) — For small business with 500 or fewer employees; and
• Debt relief for new and existing SBA borrowers — For small business with existing and eligible SBA borrowers.
TAX RELIEF
• Employee retention tax credit — For those who have been fully or partially suspended due to government orders;
• Payroll tax delay — For businesses and non-profits that are not receiving a loan under the SBA PPP;
• Advance payment of tax credits for paid leave — For businesses with 500 or fewer employees; and
• Business tax relief — For struggling businesses and non-profits.
EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE
• Coronavirus paid leave programs: Employer guide — For employers with sick employees;
• COVID-19 Rapid Crisis Response Checklist — For business leaders, owners and operators; and
• How to protect your workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic — For businesses of all sizes.
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
• Delay for single employer pension plans — For single employers.
INSURANCE
• Insurance information — For COVID-19 business insurance FAQs; and
• Struggling with insurers — For current policyholders experiencing difficulty with non-responsive insurers.
The site’s guides and information for businesses is https://recoverynavigator.hawaii.gov/for-businesses/.
The webpages include the contact info, as well as the phone/text/chat/email hours, for Aloha United Way’s “211” Information and Referral Specialists, for those who need info on specific COVID-19 resources or support. On April 8, Navigator Oshima was charged by Gov. Ige to draw up a “statewide economic and community recovery and resiliency plan”; the latest version is at https://recoverynavigator.hawaii.gov/future-of-hawaii/. Herald readers are encouraged to revisit all the links in this article regularly, for updates on where the state is headed.
