By Ellis S.B. No. 681
74R5683 MI-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the creation of the small business environmental
1-3 compliance 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 ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE
1-8 FUNDING PROGRAM. (a) The commission, with the advice of the
1-9 compliance advisory panel provided for under Section 382.0365,
1-10 shall establish and operate the small business environmental
1-11 compliance funding program. The purpose of the program is to help
1-12 small businesses comply with state environmental pollution control
1-13 regulations governing solid waste and water and air pollution by
1-14 encouraging commercial lending to small businesses for the purchase
1-15 of environmental pollution control equipment through the provision
1-16 of loan guarantees for those purchases.
1-17 (b) The small business environmental compliance fund is an
1-18 account in the general revenue fund in the state treasury and is
1-19 exempted from Sections 403.094 and 403.095, Government Code. The
1-20 account consists of appropriations made to the commission for
1-21 purposes of this section, money received from the operation of the
1-22 program, gifts and grants from the federal government, local
1-23 governments, private corporations, or other persons for purposes of
1-24 the program, and interest earned on money in the account. Money in
2-1 the account may be used only for:
2-2 (1) loan guarantees to help small businesses purchase
2-3 or acquire additional financing for the purchase of environmental
2-4 pollution control equipment; and
2-5 (2) administrative expenses related to the account.
2-6 (c) Loan guarantees under this section shall be administered
2-7 by a contractor selected by the commission with the advice of the
2-8 compliance advisory panel. The commission shall conduct a
2-9 competition by request for proposals among interested public
2-10 agencies, nonprofit organizations, or financial institutions to
2-11 select the contractor.
2-12 (d) The commission may contract with the entity selected
2-13 under Subsection (c) to manage and administer loan guarantees
2-14 according to commission guidelines adopted under this section. The
2-15 contract shall require the use by the commission and the contractor
2-16 of any available administrative assistance of other public
2-17 agencies, nonprofit organizations, or financial institutions in
2-18 order to obtain the maximum use of money in the account and to
2-19 increase to the greatest extent possible the availability of
2-20 commercial loans to small businesses for the purchase of
2-21 environmental pollution control equipment.
2-22 (e) The commission shall adopt rules to carry out the
2-23 purposes of this section, including rules governing:
2-24 (1) amounts and terms of and procedures for loan
2-25 guarantees, repayment terms, security requirements, and default and
2-26 remedy provisions;
2-27 (2) procedures and criteria for selection of the
3-1 contractor;
3-2 (3) reporting requirements; and
3-3 (4) disbursement from and administration of the
3-4 account.
3-5 (f) The program shall be administered to achieve an
3-6 equitable distribution of credit availability in terms of type of
3-7 business, ethnicity and sex of persons with ownership interests,
3-8 and geographic distribution.
3-9 (g) The commission shall report not later than March 1 of
3-10 each year to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker
3-11 of the house regarding the activities of the program. The report
3-12 shall include, at a minimum:
3-13 (1) the status of the account;
3-14 (2) the number and size of loan guarantees made under
3-15 the program; and
3-16 (3) information about businesses receiving assistance
3-17 under the program, including the type of business, ethnicity and
3-18 sex of persons with ownership interests, and geographic
3-19 distribution.
3-20 (h) In this section:
3-21 (1) "Financial institution" means an organization
3-22 authorized to do business under state or federal laws relating to
3-23 financial institutions, including a bank or trust company, savings
3-24 bank, building and loan association, savings and loan company or
3-25 association, or credit union.
3-26 (2) "Program" means the small business environmental
3-27 compliance funding program.
4-1 (3) "Small business" means an independently owned and
4-2 operated business with not more than 100 employees and net earnings
4-3 of $1 million a year or less computed as an average of the
4-4 immediately preceding three years. The term includes a new
4-5 business that has been in existence less than three years if
4-6 anticipated net earnings do not exceed $1 million a year and an
4-7 agricultural cooperative.
4-8 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-14 passage, and it is so enacted.