By:  Romo                                             H.B. No. 2377
       73R4207 MI-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the creation of the small business air compliance
    1-3  funding program.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 382, Health and Safety
    1-6  Code, is amended by adding Section 382.0366 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 382.0366.  SMALL BUSINESS AIR COMPLIANCE FUNDING
    1-8  PROGRAM.  (a)  The board, with the advice of the compliance
    1-9  advisory panel, shall establish and operate the small business air
   1-10  compliance funding program.  The purpose of the program is to help
   1-11  small businesses comply with state air pollution control
   1-12  regulations by encouraging commercial lending to small businesses
   1-13  for the purchase of air pollution control equipment and to pay for
   1-14  environmental audits through the provision of loans and loan
   1-15  guarantees for those purchases and payments.
   1-16        (b)  The small business air compliance fund is in the state
   1-17  treasury.  The fund consists of appropriations made to the board
   1-18  for purposes of this section, money received from the operation of
   1-19  the program, gifts and grants from the federal government, local
   1-20  governments, private corporations, or other persons for purposes of
   1-21  the program, and interest earned on money in the fund.   Money in
   1-22  the fund may be used only for:
   1-23              (1)  loans to or loan guarantees for small businesses
   1-24  to help them purchase or acquire additional financing for the
    2-1  purchase of air pollution control equipment and to pay for
    2-2  environmental audits; and
    2-3              (2)  administrative expenses related to the fund.
    2-4        (c)  Loans and loan guarantees under this section shall be
    2-5  administered by a contractor selected by the board with the advice
    2-6  of the compliance advisory panel.  The board shall conduct a
    2-7  competition by request for proposals among interested public
    2-8  agencies, nonprofit organizations, or private lenders to select the
    2-9  contractor.
   2-10        (d)  The board may contract with the entity selected under
   2-11  Subsection (c) to manage and administer loans and loan guarantees
   2-12  according to board guidelines adopted under this section.  The
   2-13  contract shall require the use by the board and the contractor of
   2-14  any available administrative assistance of other public agencies,
   2-15  nonprofit organizations, or private lenders in order to obtain the
   2-16  maximum use of money in the fund and to increase to the greatest
   2-17  extent possible the availability of commercial loans to small
   2-18  businesses for the purchase of air pollution control equipment and
   2-19  to pay for environmental audits.
   2-20        (e)  The board shall adopt rules to carry out the purposes of
   2-21  this section, including rules governing:
   2-22              (1)  amounts and terms of and procedures for loans and
   2-23  loan guarantees, repayment terms, security requirements, and
   2-24  default and remedy provisions;
   2-25              (2)  procedures and criteria for selection of the
   2-26  contractor;
   2-27              (3)  reporting requirements; and
    3-1              (4)  disbursement from and administration of the fund.
    3-2        (f)  The board shall report not later than March 1 of each
    3-3  year to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of
    3-4  the house regarding the activities of the program.  The report
    3-5  shall include, at a minimum, the status of the fund, the number and
    3-6  size of loans and loan guarantees made under the program, and
    3-7  information regarding the type of business, ethnicity and gender of
    3-8  ownership, and geographic distribution of businesses receiving
    3-9  assistance under the program.
   3-10        (g)  In this section:
   3-11              (1)  "Program" means the small business air compliance
   3-12  funding program.
   3-13              (2)  "Small business" means an independently owned and
   3-14  operated business with not more than 100 employees and gross
   3-15  receipts of less than $1 million a year.
   3-16        SECTION 2.  (a)  A reference to the "board" in Section
   3-17  382.0366, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, is a
   3-18  reference to the Texas Air Control Board or its successor.
   3-19        (b)  This Act does not affect the transfer of the powers,
   3-20  rights, duties, and obligations of the Texas Air Control Board to
   3-21  the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission as provided by
   3-22  Sections 1.086 and 1.087, Chapter 3, Acts of the 72nd Legislature,
   3-23  1st Called Session, 1991.
   3-24        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-26  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-27  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    4-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    4-2  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    4-3  passage, and it is so enacted.