15 U.S.C. § 695 — State development companies

(a) Congress states that this subchapter’s purpose is to promote economic development and create or preserve jobs in urban and rural areas through long-term financing for small businesses under the development-company program. (b) The Administration may lend to State development companies for this chapter’s purposes. Each advance must be exchanged for the company’s obligation bearing the interest rate and other terms the Administration sets. The advance need not depend on how the company uses or invests money from other sources. (c) At any time, the Administration may not have outstanding obligations purchased from one State development company exceeding the amount that company borrowed from all other sources. Advances rank equally with the company’s highest-priority money borrowed after August 21, 1958, unless the Administrator waives that requirement. (d) To qualify, the company must show that its project pursues at least one objective: (1) create jobs within two years after completion or preserve jobs attributable to the project; (2) improve the local economy by, for example, encouraging other businesses, bringing income into the area, or diversifying and stabilizing it; or (3) achieve one or more listed policies: revitalize business districts; expand exports; expand minority- or women-owned businesses; develop rural areas; expand veteran-owned businesses, especially service-disabled-veteran businesses; increase competition through technology, retooling, robotics, or competing with imports; respond to Federal budget cuts, including in defense industries; restructure businesses because of Federal environmental or employee-safety standards; cut energy use by at least 10 percent; increase sustainable or low-impact design; upgrade renewable-energy plants, equipment, or processes, including micropower and biodiesel or ethanol production; or reduce unemployment in labor-surplus areas. The terms in (J) and (K) have the meanings given under the LEED green-building standard as determined by the Administrator. A project relying on (2) or (3) need not meet project-level job criteria if the company’s overall portfolio meets or exceeds the job-creation or retention criteria. (e) (1) A project meets (d)(1) if it creates or retains one job for each $65,000 guaranteed, or each $100,000 for a small manufacturer. (2) This project test does not apply when eligibility rests on (d)(2) or (3), if the portfolio creates or retains one job per $65,000 guaranteed. (3) In Alaska, Hawaii, State enterprise zones, empowerment zones and enterprise communities, labor-surplus areas, and other Administrator-designated areas, the portfolio may average no more than $75,000 per job. (4) Small-manufacturer loans are excluded from the calculations in (2) and (3). (5) The Administrator may waive these requirements case by case or by regulation, except (4), but may not set a lower dollar amount than in (1), (2), or (3). (6) “Small manufacturer” means a small business whose primary business is in sector 31, 32, or 33 of the North American Industry Classification System and whose production facilities are all in the United States.