BILL NUMBER: AB 1230 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 30, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 24, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gomez
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to add Part 7.1 (commencing with Section 15427) to
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, relating to state
government, Section 44559.13 to the Health and Safety
Code, relating to small business, and making an appropriation
therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1230, as amended, Gomez. California Americans with
Disabilities Act Small Business Compliance Financing Act.
California Americans With Disabilities Small Business Capital
Access Loan Program.
Existing law provides various programs to expand access to persons
with disabilities and promote compliance with the federal Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990. Existing law authorizes a
specified authority to make loans, funded by bonds issuances, to
health facilities to assist those participating health facilities
lower the costs of financing certain kinds of projects in order to
pass along those savings to the public paying for healthcare at those
facilities.
Existing law establishes the Capital Access Loan Program, which is
administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority
(authority) to assist small businesses to finance the costs of
complying with environmental mandates and the remediation of
contamination on their properties.
This bill would enact establish the
California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business
Compliance Financing Authority Act to establish
Capital Access Loan Program within the Capital Access Loan Program,
to create a self-sustaining program to provide loans to assist
small businesses finance the costs of projects that alter or retrofit
existing small business facilities
facilities, meeting specified criteria, to comply with the
federal American with Disabilities Act.
This bill would establish in state government the
California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Compliance
Financing Authority, composed of seven specified members. This bill
would require the Treasurer, as chair of the authority, to appoint an
executive director who serves at the pleasure of the authority. This
bill would require the authority to comply with existing open
meeting and public record disclosure laws, authorize
the authority to administer the program, including adopting
regulations, and controlling funds appropriated for the program,
as specified.
This bill would establish the California Americans with
Disabilities Act Small Business Compliance Financing Authority Fund,
as a continuously appropriated fund, and require the authority to use
the fund for all its purposes. This bill would also transfer
$50,000,000 from the General Fund to the California Americans with
Disabilities Act Small Business Compliance Financing Authority Fund.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 44559.13 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
44559.13. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in this act to
create and fund the California Americans with Disabilities Small
Business Capital Access Loan Program to assist small businesses in
complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is not the
intent of the Legislature to assist the physical expansion of small
businesses that includes modifications that comply with the Americans
with Disabilities Act. The program shall be administered by the
California Pollution Control Financing Authority and follow the terms
and conditions for the Capital Access Loan Program for Small
Businesses in this article with the additional program requirements
specified under this section.
(b) For purposes of this section, unless the context requires
otherwise, the following words and terms shall have the following
meanings:
(1) "Americans with Disabilities Act" means the federal Americans
with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.) and amendments
thereto.
(2) "California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business
Capital Access Loan Program Fund" or "fund" means a fund established
and administered by the authority pursuant to Sections 44548 and
44549 to be used for purposes of this program.
(3) "Eligible cost" means and includes all or any part of the
price of construction, purchase price of real or personal property,
the price of demolishing or removing any buildings or structures, the
price of all machinery and equipment, the amount of financing
charges and interest prior to, during, and for a period not to exceed
the later of one year or one year following completion of
construction, as determined by the authority, the price of insurance
during construction, the amount of funding or financing noncapital
expenses, the amount of reserves for principal and interest and for
extensions, enlargements, additions, replacements, renovations and
improvements, the price of engineering, financial and legal services
and other service contracts, the price of plans, specifications,
studies, surveys, estimates, administrative expenses, and any other
expenses of funding or financing, that are necessary and allocable to
the eligible project, and shall not include costs not directly
related to physical alterations necessary for compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
(4) "Eligible project" means the physical alterations or retrofits
to an existing small business facility of less than 10,000 square
feet necessary to ensure that facility is in compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act, and the financing necessary to pay
eligible costs of the project.
(5) "Qualified loan" means a loan or portion of loan as defined in
subdivision (j) of Section 44559.1, where the proceeds of the loan
or portion of loan are limited to the eligible costs for an eligible
project under this program, and where the loan or portion of loan
does not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).
(6) "Small business" or "qualified business" means a business
referred to in subdivisions (i) and (m) of Section 44559.1, that
meets the following additional criteria:
(A) Fewer than 15 full-time equivalent employees.
(B) Less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) in total gross
annual income from all sources.
(C) Does not provide overnight accommodations.
(c) (1) The California Americans with Disabilities Act Small
Business Capital Access Loan Program Fund is established in the State
Treasury for, and shall be administered by the authority pursuant to
Sections 44548 and 44549 for, this program. Notwithstanding Section
13340 of the Government Code, all money in the fund is continuously
appropriated to the authority for carrying out the purposes of this
section. The authority may divide the fund into separate accounts.
All moneys accruing to the authority pursuant to this section from
any source shall be deposited into the fund.
(2) Subject to contributions paid by the authority in support of
qualified loans and subject further to any reasonable costs that may
be incurred by the authority in administering this section, all
moneys in the fund derived from any source shall be held in trust for
the life of this program.
(3) The authority may direct the Treasurer to invest moneys in the
fund that are not required for its current needs in the eligible
securities specified in Section 16430 of the Government Code as the
authority shall designate. The authority may direct the Treasurer to
deposit moneys in interest-bearing accounts in state or national
banks or other financial institutions having principal offices
located in the state. The authority may alternatively require the
transfer of moneys in the fund to the Surplus Money Investment Fund
for investment pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 16470)
of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Government Code. All
interest or other increment resulting from an investment or deposit
shall be deposited into the fund, notwithstanding Section 16305.7 of
the Government Code. Moneys in the fund shall not be subject to
transfer to any other fund pursuant to any provision of Part 2
(commencing with Section 16300) of Division 4 of the Government Code,
excepting the Surplus Money Investment Fund.
(d) The authority shall adopt regulations pursuant to subdivision
(c) of Section 44520 to implement the program, including provisions
specific to this program as described in this section and further
including provisions to:
(1) Establish a new loss reserve account for each participating
lender enrolling loans in this program.
(2) Obtain a certification from each participating lender and
small business upon enrollment of a qualified loan that the proceeds
of the loan will be used for the eligible costs of an eligible
project.
(3) Contribute an additional incentive from the fund for each loan
enrolled for a qualified business located in a severely affected
community.
(4) Restrict the enrollment of a qualified loan in any other
Capital Access Loan Program for small business offered by the
authority as long as funds are available for this program.
(5) Limit the term of loss coverage for each qualified loan to no
more than five years.
(6) Recapture from the loss reserve account the authority's
contribution for each enrolled loan upon the maturation of such loan
or after five years from the date of enrollment, which ever happens
first, to be deposited in the fund and applied to future expenditures
for contributions and administrative costs.
SEC. 2. The sum of fifty million dollars
($50,000,000) is hereby transferred from the General Fund to the
California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital
Access Loan Program Fund for the purposes of funding loss reserve
accounts and administering the program pursuant to the California
Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan
Program. All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears
in the bill as introduced|amended in the Assembly, May 28, 2015.
(JR11)