Bill Text: CT SB00461 | 2016 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: An Act Concerning A Small Minority Business Revolving Loan Fund.
Spectrum: Committee Bill
Status: (Passed) 2016-06-09 - Signed by the Governor [SB00461 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2016-SB00461-Introduced.html
General Assembly |
Raised Bill No. 461 | ||
February Session, 2016 |
LCO No. 3270 | ||
*03270_______FIN* | |||
Referred to Committee on FINANCE, REVENUE AND BONDING |
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Introduced by: |
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(FIN) |
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AN ACT CONCERNING A SMALL MINORITY BUSINESS REVOLVING LOAN FUND.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) For the purposes of this section:
(1) "Eligible small business" means a business (A) meeting the eligibility criteria in subsection (a) of section 32-7g of the general statutes, and (B) that is owned by one or more members of a minority;
(2) "Minority business development entity" means a nonprofit organization (A) having a lending portfolio on or before the effective date of this act from which at least seventy-five per cent of lending is provided to minority-owned businesses state-wide; and (B) that provided technical assistance on or before the effective date of this act, provided at least seventy-five per cent of such assistance was provided to minority-owned businesses state-wide; and
(3) "Minority" means: (A) Black Americans, including all persons having origins in any of the Black African racial groups not of Hispanic origin; (B) Hispanic Americans, including all persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race; (C) all persons having origins in the Iberian Peninsula, including Portugal, regardless of race; (D) women; (E) Asian Pacific Americans and Pacific islanders; or (F) American Indians and persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and maintaining identifiable tribal affiliations through membership and participation or community identification.
(b) (1) The Commissioner of Economic and Community Development shall provide grants to not more than two minority business development entities for the purpose of establishing minority business revolving loan funds. Any such grant to establish a minority business revolving loan fund shall be used by the minority business development entity to establish and administer a minority business revolving loan fund. Moneys from such funds shall be used to (A) provide loans to eligible small businesses. Such loans shall be used for acquisition or purchase of machinery and equipment, construction or leasehold improvements, relocation expenses, working capital or other business-related expenses, as authorized by the minority business development entity, and (B) fund the administrative costs associated with the provision of such loans by a minority business development entity, provided a minority business development entity may not use more than ten per cent of the amount received as a grant under this section to fund such costs.
(2) Loans from the revolving loan fund may be in amounts from ten thousand dollars to a maximum of one hundred thousand dollars, shall carry a maximum repayment rate of four per cent and shall be for a term of not more than ten years. The minority business development entity shall review and approve loan terms, conditions and collateral requirements in a manner that prioritizes job growth and retention.
(3) Any eligible small business may apply for assistance from the revolving loan fund, but the minority business development entity shall give priority to applicants that, as part of their business plan, are creating new jobs that will be maintained for not less than twelve consecutive months.
(c) Loans from a revolving fund established pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall be provided in such a manner that on or before five years of the date such fund is established, the annual funds or revenues derived from investment income, loan repayments or any other sources received by the minority business development entity in connection with its program to provide loans to eligible small businesses is sufficient to fund the administrative costs associated with providing such loans.
(d) A minority business development entity receiving a grant pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall annually submit a financial audit of grant expenditures to the commissioner until all grant moneys have been expended by such entity. Any such audit shall be prepared by an independent auditor and if the commissioner finds that any such grant is being used for purposes that are not in conformity with uses set forth in subsection (b) of this section, the commissioner may require repayment of the grant.
Sec. 2. (Effective from passage) The proceeds of the sale of the bonds described in sections 12 to 19, inclusive, of [this act] public act 15-1 of the June special session shall be used for the purpose of providing grants-in-aid and other financing for the projects, programs and purposes hereinafter stated:
(a) For the Office of Policy and Management:
(1) Grants-in-aid to private, nonprofit health and human service organizations that are exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and that receive funds from the state to provide direct health or human services to state agency clients, for alterations, renovations, improvements, additions and new construction, including health, safety, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and energy conservation improvements, information technology systems, technology for independence, purchase of vehicles and acquisition of property, not exceeding $10,000,000;
(2) For the Responsible Growth Incentive Fund, not exceeding $5,000,000;
(3) Grants-in-aid for the purchase of body-worn recording equipment and digital data storage devices or services for law enforcement officers, not exceeding $15,000,000, provided $2,000,000 shall be made available to the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection for members of the state police and $13,000,000 shall be made available to municipalities for local law enforcement officers.
(b) For the Department of Administrative Services: Grants-in-aid to alliance districts to assist in paying for general improvements to school buildings, not exceeding $50,000,000.
(c) For the Labor Department: For the Subsidized Training and Employment program established pursuant to section 31-3pp of the general statutes, not exceeding $5,000,000.
(d) For the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection:
(1) For a Long Island Sound stewardship and resiliency program for protection of costal marshes and other natural buffer areas and for grants-in-aid to increase the resiliency of wastewater treatment facilities, not exceeding $20,000,000;
(2) Grants-in-aid to municipalities, in consultation with the Office of Policy and Management, to encourage low impact design of green municipal infrastructure to reduce nonpoint source pollution, not exceeding $20,000,000;
(3) Grants-in-aid to municipalities for open space land acquisition and development for conservation or recreational purposes, not exceeding $8,000,000.
(e) For the Department of Economic and Community Development:
(1) For the Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund established by section 32-7o of the general statutes, not exceeding $20,000,000, provided not more than $3,500,000 shall be used as a grant-in-aid to the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology for research and development of the machining of high rate laser-engineered additive manufacturing;
(2) For the Small Business Express program established by section 32-7g of the general statutes, not exceeding $50,000,000, provided twenty-five million dollars shall be used by said department for the purpose of making grants to minority business development entities pursuant to section 1 of this act, provided (A) five million dollars of said twenty-five million dollar authorization shall be effective July 1, 2016; (B) five million dollars of said twenty-five million dollar authorization shall be effective July 1, 2017; (C) five million dollars of said twenty-five million dollar authorization shall be effective July 1, 2018; (D) five million dollars of said twenty-five million dollar authorization shall be effective July 1, 2019; and (E) five million dollars of said twenty-five million dollar authorization shall be effective July 1, 2020;
(3) For the Brownfield Remediation and Revitalization program, not exceeding $20,000,000;
(4) For the Implementation of a minority business enterprise assistance program to assist such businesses in obtaining surety bonds, including bid, performance and payment bonds, for capital construction projects, which program may be run by a nonprofit entity with which said department shall contract, not exceeding $2,000,000.
(f) For the Department of Housing: For the Main Street Investment Fund established by section 4-66h of the general statutes, not exceeding $5,000,000.
(g) For the Capital Region Development Authority:
(1) For the purposes and uses provided in section 32-602 of the general statutes, not exceeding $50,000,000, provided not more than $20,000,000 shall be made available to finance projects, including grants-in-aid for public infrastructure, in Hartford outside the boundaries of the capital city economic development district and of which $10,000,000 of such $20,000,000 shall be made available for projects in the federally designated Promise Zone.
(2) Grants-in-aid to the Tennis Foundation of Connecticut for capital improvements, not exceeding $1,500,000.
(h) For the Department of Transportation:
(1) Grants-in-aid for improvements to ports, harbors and marinas, including dredging and navigational improvements, not exceeding $17,500,000, provided not less than $5,000,000 shall be made available to the ports, harbors and marinas in the state other than the deep water ports in the cities of Bridgeport, New Haven and New London;
(2) Grants-in-aid to municipalities for use in the manner set forth in, and in accordance with the provisions of, sections 13a-175a to 13a-175k, inclusive, of the general statutes, not exceeding $60,000,000.
(i) For the Department of Education:
(1) Grants-in-aid for the purpose of capital start-up costs related to the development of new interdistrict magnet school programs to assist the state in meeting the goals of the current stipulation and order for Milo Sheff, et al. v. William A. O'Neill, et al., for the purpose of purchasing a building or portable classrooms, subject to the reversion provisions in subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of section 10-264h of the general statutes, leasing space and purchasing equipment, including, but not limited to, computers and classroom furniture, not exceeding $20,000,000;
(2) Grants-in-aid to assist targeted local and regional school districts for alterations, repairs, improvements, technology and equipment in low-performing schools, not exceeding $6,000,000;
(3) Grants-in-aid to the American School for the Deaf for alterations, renovations and improvements to the buildings and grounds, not exceeding $5,000,000.
(j) For the State Library:
(1) Grants-in-aid to public libraries for construction, renovations, expansions, energy conservation and handicapped accessibility, not exceeding $5,000,000;
(2) Grants-in-aid to public libraries for high-speed connections to the Connecticut Education Network, not exceeding $3,600,000.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
from passage |
New section |
Sec. 2 |
from passage |
New section |
Statement of Purpose:
To require that twenty-five million dollars of the Small Business Express program bond authorization be used for the provision of grants to minority business development entities for the purpose of establishing revolving loan funds for loans to minority-owned businesses.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]