State senator-elect Dan Stec speaks about road salt legislation at Berkeley Green in Saranac Lake Dec. 4, 2020. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

ALBANY — State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, and colleagues announced a package of bills aimed at providing relief to business owners affected by the COVID-19 pandemic Tuesday.

“The impact on our hospitality businesses, in terms of jobs and revenue lost, due to the COVID shutdown and restrictions has just been enormous,” Stec said in a statement.

“Long-time, successful small businesses, fixtures in our communities, have been closed. Many others are just barely hanging on.

“These businesses are in need of a lifeline and a show of support from state government that we get it and that we will do all we can to help.”

Stec joined a group of Republican senators in Albany led by State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, a restaurant owner, to announce measures that would:

¯ Exempt small businesses from being penalized with higher unemployment insurance rates due to layoffs resulting from COVID-related, government-mandated closures. The exemption would extend for a period of one year from when they are permitted to return to full capacity.

¯ Provide small businesses additional time to pay monthly sales and payroll taxes as well as business and property taxes.

¯ Provide a one-year extension for the renewal of liquor licenses.

¯ Direct State Liquor Authority fines into a business relief fund.

¯ Create an employee retention tax credit, modeled after the federal Employee Retention Credit, to help employers keep workers on payroll.

“Taking action on these and other measures would help businesses stay open, which we very much need to make an economic recovery possible,” Stec said.