Public Policy
ACA Government Relations Working to Support Camps
ACA government relations and advocacy efforts achieved the following for camps.
After reading through these activities, please consider using the benefits calculator to determine how much ACA has saved you over the past three years and then consider donating 5-10 percent of that amount to ensure ACA can continue to help camps into the future.
Inclusion of Summertime Dates in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
The original PPP program application did not allow the use of a summer date to calculate the loan, preventing camps from maximizing their loan amount. After significant advocacy and education from ACA, the Small Business Administration (SBA) agreed and added a summer date field on April 27, 2020.
Additionally, ACA successfully advocated for the 2020 federal COVID relief bill to include a provision that allows any business to modify their original loan one time to take advantage of a summer date field to calculate the loan amount.
Second PPP Draw
The 2020 relief bill also allowed businesses with fewer than 300 employees that had been significantly impacted by the pandemic an opportunity to have a second draw on the PPP program.
Overnight camps were also allowed to draw three months' worth of payroll instead of two. The organized camp was the only industry allowed to draw an additional month of funding.
Tax-Free PPP Relief
The original PPP program did not allow businesses to deduct any of the expenses covered by the loan. ACA successfully advocated for the original intent of the bill, which was to allow for the deduction of these expenses, essentially increasing the camp’s financial relief.
Separated Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and PPP
Initially, camps that received an EIDL grant of up to $10,000 were required to deduct that amount from the forgivable amount of their PPP loan. The new relief bill eliminated this requirement, so camps could keep their EIDL emergency grant dollars.
Free Covid Testing from CDC for 2022
ACA worked with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), state, local, and territorial health departments to allocate 5 million rapid, point-of-care, and over-the-counter tests per month to schools and camps serving students aged K-12 (up to 1.25 million tests per week) in the summer of 2022.
In addition, ACA successfully advocated prioritizing camp staff as emergency workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine along with other essential workers.
Camp-School Partnerships - Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER)
ACA is currently working with the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) to provide incentives for camps and school districts to engage in partnerships over the next two years. This initiative provides 10 camps with $50,000 per camp over 2 years and to date in 2022 has served 1,643 students across eight states.
We Need Your Support
Together, we are building the future by ensuring camps provide quality programs. ACA’s government relations work has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of support for camps. Our goals continue to be ambitious. We need your support. Donate to ACA’s Annual Fund Campaign.
We hope you will commit to making an annual donation to ACA for 5-10 percent of the amount you have benefited due to ACA’s public policy and government relations work. Use the benefits calculator to generate your savings.
Public Policy
To that end, ACA partners with other organizations to advocate for quality camp experiences, and to increase the understanding of and support for the value of the camp experience for all children and families. Access detailed information about all of our government relations and public policy initiatives in the following categories below:
- Legislative Information and Advocacy
- Regulatory Information and Advocacy
- Database of State Laws and Regulations Applicable to Camp
- Issues - Education and Information
- ACA's Public Policy Collaborators
- State Camp Associations
Search Federal and State Legislation
ACA Camp Hill Days
Please join the ACA Board of Directors, volunteer leaders, and staff as we gather in Washington, DC, May 8–10, to educate our elected officials on the important impact that camps have on communities across the country. Building our successes over the past years, we look forward to having a strong presence in Washington this year as we work to build a strong understanding of the impact we have on participants in every community.
Recent ACA Government Relations Updates
- Inviting Elected Officials to Your Camp Guide (May 2023)
- State Operating Guidance for Summer (June 2022)
- State-by-State Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Plans (December 2021)
- J-1 Visa Update and Toolkit (November 2021)
- Model State Guidelines for Overnight Camp (March 2021)
- Additional Financial Relief for Camps Included in Federal Relief Bill (December 2020)
- State-by-State Advocacy Coalitions 2021
- State Advocacy Toolkit for Camps (December 2020)
- State Advocacy Toolkit for Camps (December 2020) En Español
- EH&E Briefing Sheet (November 2020)
- State Financial Stabilization Toolkit for Camps (October 2020)
- ACA Advocating for Critical Financial Support for Camps (August 2020)
- Updates from ACA's Government Relations Committee (June 2020)
- Camp Meals Tax Relief (March 2020)