Entrance to the Zeeco engineering and manufacturing facility in Broken Arrow. Zeeco was one of Oklahoma’s top recipients of federal Payroll Protection Program loan funds with between $5 million and $10 million. CLIFTON ADCOCK/The Frontier
Tens of thousands of Oklahoma businesses and nonprofit organizations received billions of dollars in federal business aid funds in response to the coronavirus epidemic, according to data released Sunday by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
In total, 64,278 Oklahoma businesses and organizations received between $4.2 billion and $7.8 billion in federal Payroll Protection Program funds between April 3 and June 30, according to the SBA data. The data states that more than 620,000 jobs in Oklahoma were retained as a result of the program’s federal relief funds.
The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) was one part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in late March. The idea behind PPP was to provide small businesses with funds to pay up to eight weeks of payroll costs including benefits, though some of the funds can also be used to pay interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities.
Under the program, a small business can apply for funds through a participating bank or other lending institution. If the business retains or quickly rehires its existing employees and keeps its payroll level, the loan is eventually forgiven. The program is also open to nonprofit organizations and faith-based nonprofits such as churches.
On Saturday, Trump signed legislation extending the deadline to file for PPP to Aug. 8, as $130 billion of the $660 allocated to the program remains in the fund.
The SBA data contains only ranges for amounts received by companies and organizations that got loans of more than $150,000, and excludes names and addresses of companies that got loans of less than $150,000.
A total of 44 Oklahoma companies and organizations received between $5 million and $10 million each, according to the data, including manufacturing companies, trucking companies, casinos, media companies and oil and natural gas support companies and Edmond mega-church Life Church.
Another 245 Oklahoma companies and organizations receiving between $2 million and $5 million in PPP funds.
The funds awarded included millions that went to high-profile Oklahomans and companies.
Four of Oklahoma Second District Congressman Markwayne Mullin’s businesses received between $150,000 and $350,000 and his Broken-Arrow based Mullin Plumbing received between $350,000 and $1 million in PPP funds. In total, Mullin’s companies received between $800,000 and $2.05 million, the data shows.
Tulsa Congressman Kevin Hern’s McDonalds franchise management company, KTAK Corporation, received between $1 million and $2 million in PPP assistance, according to the SBA. Hern was one of four legislators who, as the CARES Act was being crafted, asked the Senate authors to increase taxpayer funding available to franchises. The final version of the bill allowed franchises to receive the small business funds, regardless of the number of stores owned or employees. Hern, who voted against an earlier coronavirus relief bill, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which required some employers to provide paid sick leave for workers who got sick from COVID 19 or had a family member sick with the virus, later voted in favor of the CARES Act.
The Pawnee-based Pioneer Woman Mercantile, owned by food writer and television personality Ree Drummond, received between $1 million and $2 million in PPP funds, despite reporting zero in the “jobs retained” section of the application, while Oklahoma City-based Cattlemen’s Steakhouse received $350,000 to $1 million in PPP funds and reported 170 “jobs retained.”
Two of Oklahoma’s most prolific think-tanks also received PPP funds – the conservative Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, received between $150,000 and $350,000, while the more liberal Oklahoma Policy, Inc., also received between $150,000 and $350,000. Other nonprofit organizations receiving funds included the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, The Alliance for Economic Development in Oklahoma City, and the Oklahoma State School Board’s Association.
The Frontier was also a recipient of PPP funds, receiving around $48,500.
The data shows that between $90.2 million and $153.9 million went to churches in Oklahoma. One church, Edmond-based LiveChurch.TV, received between $5 million and $10 million, while five other churches — Crossings Community Church in Oklahoma City, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, the Baptist Convention of the State of Oklahoma, Victory Christian Center in Tulsa and Willie George Ministries in Tulsa — received between $2 million and $5 million, according to the data.
Top Oklahoma PPP recipients ($5 million to $10 million):
- A G Equipment Company
- Advantage Energy Services, LLC
- American Piping Inspection, Inc.
- AXH Holdings
- B & H Construction
- Becco Contractors, Inc.
- Bennett Construction, Inc.
- Berendesen Fluid Power, Inc.
- BOF’s Management LLC
- CHC Holdings
- Collision Works of Oklahoma, LLC
- Compsource Mutual Insurance Company
- Covercraft Industries, LLC
- D & M Carriers, LLC
- Delaware Resource Group of Oklahoma, LLC
- Fusion Industries, LLC
- GDH Consulting, Inc.
- Griffin Communications, LLC
- HAC, Inc.
- Imagenet Consulting, LLC
- Inceed, LLC
- Industrial Piping Specialists, Inc.
- Lathshaw Drilling Company, LLC
- Legend Energy Services, LLC
- Life Church Operations, LLC
- LSB Indusries, Inc.
- Mazzio’s LLC
- McAfee & Taft
- McBride Clinic Orthopedic Hospital
- McDaniel Technical Services, Inc.
- McElroy Manufacturing, Inc.
- McIntosh Corporation
- Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co.
- Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise
- Sage Net LLC
- T & W Tire LLC
- The Bama Companies, Inc.
- The Osage Nation
- The Rib Crib BBQ, Inc.
- United Petroleum Transports, Inc.
- Universal Field Services, Inc.
- Variety Care, Inc.
- Zeeco, Inc.
View all companies and organizations that received $150,000 and up in PPP here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S62lg_pw1CnQuz_sH8_7ZsN551ZYu_0w6jcJVHuEY-0/edit?usp=sharing
