Gov. Mike DeWine has signed an executive orderrequesting commercial lenders to press pause on collecting payments from businesses.
The order from DeWine requests a 90-day deferral on commercial loans, asking lenders to collect the payments on the backend of the loan.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted says this will help avoid an economic disruption to the "financial chain" between the companies that rent space, companies that own that space and the commercial lender that services the loan.
"So if you don't take care of all three of those phases of the linkage in the financial chain, then it collapses, it collapses down, and usually it's the people at the bottom who are hurt the most," Husted says. "If we do this right, if we hit that pause button, then everybody in the process will have a chance to get through this."
DeWine said there are other protections in place for residential renters who fear an eviction because they can no longer pay their rent. Courts have been asked to hold off on eviction and foreclosure proceedings. However, DeWine has said local courts need to have the ability to evict people for purposes not related to not paying the rent, such as domestic violence cases.
Husted says the administration believes the order on commercial lenders will hold up in court if a lender doesn't follow it.
