Nearly 6,300 Texas companies received PPP loans of more than $ 1 million

Nearly 6,300 Texas-based companies received loans from the federal government valued at more than $ 1 million this spring, representing a significant injection of government money into the state as the federal government struggled to keep the economy afloat.

Within that sum, nearly 400 Texas companies received loans in the range of $ 5 million to $ 10 million, according to data released by the Trump administration on Monday.

Companies that participated in what government officials called the Paycheck Protection Program included a host of well-known restaurant groups: Luby’s troubled coffee shop chain; Pappas Restaurants, which is the parent company of Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen and Pappasito’s Cantina; Pei Wei Asian Diner; Rosa’s Cafe and Tortilla Factory; and TGI Friday’s. Each of those restaurants stated that the loans allowed them to retain 500 jobs.

Other notable recipients included the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema network and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Authorities canceled the rodeo midway through this year’s event in March in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak.

But the spectrum of loan companies crossed virtually every segment of the Texas economy. The data included car dealerships, hundreds of nonprofits, churches, oil and gas industry support companies, doctors’ offices, zoos, law firms, and universities.

Many notable Texas institutions were also in the mix. Companies that received at least $ 1 million in PPP loans included the cowboy boot company Lucchese of El Paso, the Mexican restaurant Mi Tierra of San Antonio, Billy Bob’s Texas of Fort Worth, Camp Longhorn of Burnet, the First Baptist Church of Dallas and the Fort Worth Colonial Country Club, which was the site of a hotly debated PGA tournament last month.

Monday’s release is the most comprehensive list yet of companies and nonprofits that received money from the Paycheck Protection Program. Businesses were allowed to apply for the loans if they were adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. If business owners comply with federal mandates – that is, withhold staff – taxpayer-financed loans will be converted into grants and will not need to be repaid.

In total, the federal government revealed the names of 52,150 Texas companies and nonprofits that received the loans. Almost 46,000 of those loans went to companies or organizations that received less than $ 1 million.

Many current and former politicians and incumbents also obtained PPP loans.

As previously reported by The Dallas Morning News, US Republican Rep. Roger Williams, who represents the 25th Congressional District, received a PPP loan for his car dealership. The new information clarified that the sum was within the range of $ 1 million to $ 2 million.

Kathaleen Wall, who is locked in a Republican runoff for Texas District 22, has a $ 5 million to $ 25 million stake in the biopharmaceutical company Hope Biosciences, according to her candidate financial statement. That company received between $ 150,000 and $ 350,000 in PPP money.

Dallas Republican candidate Genevieve Collins, who is running to impeach US Representative Colin Allred in District 32 of Congress, stated in her candidate financial statement that she is an employee of her family’s company, IStation, a technology company. educational. That company raised between $ 2 million and $ 5 million in PPP funds.

US Representative Chip Roy, an Austin Republican representing the 21st Congressional District, reported that his spouse owns between $ 50,000 and $ 100,000 in the Atlas Atlas frac sand company. That company received between $ 2 million and $ 5 million from the government.

There is also Farouk Systems, maker of the Chi hair straightener. The founder of the company, Dr. Farouk Shami, made an unsuccessful offer for the 2010 Texas Democratic Governor’s nomination. That company received $ 5 million to $ 10 million in government support.

Two Planned Parenthood branches, the Houston-based Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast and the Dallas-based Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas received between $ 2 and $ 5 million each.

However, the data is not complete. The Small Business Administration, the branch of the Treasury Department that administers the program, did not release information for loans under $ 150,000. Only about 15% of the loans were for $ 150,000 or more.

On Twitter, Jovita Carranza, administrator of the US Small Business Administration, said the data “shows that small businesses of all types and in all industries benefited from this unprecedented program.”

The data includes privately controlled companies. In the early spring, many publicly listed companies submitted their PPP loan information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following those disclosures, many questions were raised about the spirit of the law.

Large companies like Texas-based Pizza Inn and Taco Cabana were able to obtain loans for small businesses, thanks to the language of the CARES Act, the bill that created the program. That language defined a small business as any business that has fewer than 500 employees in any location.

Smaller business owners have expressed frustration with the process in recent months. To avoid a new government bureaucracy, banks became the clearing houses. Lower-priority customers and business owners who do little banking expressed frustration at being relegated to the end of the line throughout the distribution process.

Chris Essig contributed to this report.

The Texas Tribune will continue to update this story throughout the day.

Disclosure: The Texas Tribune, as a local nonprofit newsroom and small business, applied for and received a loan through the Payment Check Protection Program in the amount of $ 1,116,626.

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