Safely Opening Texas for Business

Gov. Greg Abbott stated in a news conference yesterday he will allow the current stay-at-home Executive Order to expire on April 30 and announced his strategy to reopen the state for business. Texas will reopen in phases, with the first phase beginning on May 1. Businesses including restaurants, malls, retail stores, movie theaters, libraries and museums will be able to reopen this Friday but will be limited to 25% occupancy. This order supercedes all local orders. Some businesses, such as bars, salons, gyms and childcare providers for non-essential workers, are still ordered to remain closed, but could open in the next phase which could begin as early as May 18.

The Governor’s Report to Open Texas has set Minimum Standard Health Protocols for businesses and individuals that include continuing to self-screen before going out in public, maintaining at least 6 feet separation from another person not in the individuals household, washing or disinfecting hands and strongly recommends wearing a face mask, although there is no penalty for not wearing a mask.

TACCA hopes to have our in-person continuing education classes pick back up in mid-May with our new course "Manual J Outcomes & Humidity Mgmt". More information to come.

Continuing Education Update

At this time, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has not extended the waiver of required continuing education past May renewals. TACCA is working to make online options available and hopes to have our in-person continuing education classes pick back up in mid-May with our new course "Manual J Outcomes & Humidity Mgmt". See course details here and be looking for information on classes soon.

Do You Need Face Masks?

TACCA associate member, Tex-Air Filters, has been putting their MERV 13 filter media to good use turning them into reusable face masks. This started as a partnership with the UNT Health Science Center and Tex-Air has producedthousands of masks in their factory that have been donated to clinics, hospitals, and EMTs, and HVAC contractors for their technicians that are working in commercial buildings and residences. This week, Tex-Air donated 550 masks to TACCA to distribute to our members who are struggling to locate PPE. If you need face masks for your technicians, please contact us and we will be happy to send 20 out for each request until we run out of supply. Please note, these masks use the MERV 13 filter media. They should last 3-7 days, depending on the environment in which they are used, and are not washable.

Governor's Small Business Webinar Series

The Governor’s Small Business WebinarSeries, hosted in partnership with the Texas Workforce Commission and local chambers of commerce, provides small business owners and entrepreneurs with timely, relevant, actionable information on COVID-19 recovery resources. Businesses will also get the chance to connect with local experts and support systems. They have already held webinars for North and Central Texas. The next one is tomorrow, April 29 from 1:00-2:00pm for South Texas.

Save the date for these upcoming webinars in the series:

East Texas - Wednesday, May 6 from 1:00-2:00pm

West Texas - Wednesday, May 13 from 1:00-2:00pm

Registration details will be posted here.

Have You Received Funding?

Whether you applied or not, received funds or not, TACCA would love to hear from Texas contractors about their experience with emergency funding through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Emergency Injury Disaster Loans. Would you take 40 seconds to complete this short 5 question poll?