47 U.S.C. § 614 — Telecommunications Development Fund

(a) The purposes are to help small businesses get capital so competition in the telecommunications industry can increase; stimulate development of new technology and promote employment and training; and support universal service and the delivery of telecommunications services to underserved rural and urban areas. (b) A corporate body called the Telecommunications Development Fund is established. It continues until it is dissolved. Its main office must be in the District of Columbia. For venue and jurisdiction in civil lawsuits, the Fund is treated as a resident and citizen of the District of Columbia. (c) The Fund must have a Board of Directors with five people who have experience in areas such as finance, investment banking, government banking, communications law and administrative practice, and public policy. Each year, the directors must choose one director as Chair. A nominating committee made up of the Chair and two other directors chosen by the Chair must appoint additional directors. The Fund’s bylaws must govern the other parts of the Board’s work, including meetings, quorums, committees, and other matters normally included in the bylaws of a similar private investment fund. (d) The Fund must keep its accounts at a financial institution designated for this section by the Chair of the Board. The accounts must contain: (1) amounts appropriated to the Commission for advances to the Fund; (2) contributions or donations that the Fund accepts; and (3) repayments of, or other payments concerning, loans, equity, or other credit extensions made by the Fund. (e) Money deposited into the Fund’s accounts may be used only for: (1) making loans, investments, or other credit extensions to eligible small businesses under subsection (f); (2) giving financial advice to eligible small businesses; (3) administering and managing the Fund, including salaries, expenses, and renting or buying office space for the Fund; (4) preparing research, studies, or financial analyses; and (5) other services consistent with this section’s purposes. (f) The Fund must make loans or other credit extensions available to an eligible small business based on: (1) an analysis of the business’s business plan; (2) the reasonable availability of collateral to secure the loan or credit extension; (3) how much the loan or credit extension advances this section’s purposes; and (4) other lending policies defined by the Board. (g) Advances appropriated under subsection (d)(1) must be paid out on the terms and conditions stated in the appropriations Act that provides the advances, including any conditions about when repayment must occur. (h) The Fund has these general corporate powers: (1) It may sue and be sued, and may make or defend a complaint in its corporate name through its own lawyer. (2) It may adopt, change, and use a corporate seal, and courts must take judicial notice of that seal. (3) Its Board of Directors may adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws, rules, and regulations needed to conduct the Fund’s business. (4) It may conduct business, operate, have officers, and use the powers granted by this section in any State without having to satisfy that State’s qualification law or a similar law. (5) For the Fund’s purposes, it may lease, buy, or otherwise acquire; own, hold, improve, use, or otherwise deal with; any real property, personal property, mixed property, or interest in property, wherever located. (6) It may accept gifts or donations of services or of real, personal, or mixed property, whether tangible or intangible, to help any of the Fund’s purposes. (7) It may sell, convey, mortgage, pledge, lease, exchange, or otherwise dispose of its property and assets. (8) It may appoint the officers, lawyers, employees, and agents it needs; decide their qualifications; define their duties; set their salaries; require them to provide bonds; and set the penalty for those bonds. (9) It may enter into contracts, sign instruments, incur liabilities, make loans and equity investments, and do everything necessary or incidental to properly manage its affairs and conduct its business. (i) The Fund’s accounts must be audited every year. Independent certified public accountants must conduct the audits under “generally accepted auditing standards”; this section does not define that term. A report of each audit must be given to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commission. Representatives of the Secretary and the Commission must be allowed access to all books, accounts, financial records, reports, files, and other papers, things, or property belonging to or being used by the Fund when that access is needed to make the audit. (j) For each fiscal year, the Secretary of the Treasury must report on the audit to the President and Congress no later than six months after that fiscal year ends. The report must state the audit’s scope and include: a statement of assets and liabilities and of capital and surplus or deficit; a statement analyzing surplus or deficit; a statement of income and expenses; a statement of the sources and uses of funds; and any comments and information the Secretary considers necessary to keep the President and Congress informed about the Fund’s operations and financial condition, together with any recommendations the Secretary considers advisable. (k) In this section: (1) “Eligible small business” means a business enterprise in the telecommunications industry with annual revenue of $50,000,000 or less, averaged over the three years before it submits its application under this section. (2) “Fund” means the Telecommunications Development Fund established by this section. (3) “Telecommunications industry” means communications businesses that use regulated or unregulated facilities or services. It includes broadcasting, telecommunications, cable, computer, data transmission, software, programming, advanced messaging, and electronics businesses.