§ 5705 — Approving Collateral Support And Other Innovative Credit Access And Guarantee Initiatives For Small Businesses And Manufacturers

(a) A participating State that establishes a new, or has an existing, credit support program that meets the eligibility criteria in subsection (c) may apply to the Secretary to have the State other credit support program approved as eligible for Federal contributions to, or for the account of, the State program. (b) The Secretary shall approve such State other credit support program as eligible for Federal contributions to, or for the account of, the program if— (1) the Secretary determines that the State satisfies the requirements of paragraphs (1) through (3) of section 5704(b) of this title; (2) the Secretary determines that the State other credit support program meets the eligibility criteria in subsection (c); (3) the Secretary determines the State other credit support program to be eligible based on the additional considerations in subsection (d); and (4) within 9 months after March 11, 2021, the State has filed with Treasury a complete application for Treasury approval. (c) For a State other credit support program to be approved under this section, that program shall be required to be a program of the State that— (1) can demonstrate that, at a minimum, $1 of public investment by the State program will cause and result in $1 of new private credit; (2) can demonstrate a reasonable expectation that, when considered with all other State programs of the State, such State programs together have the ability to use amounts of new Federal contributions to, or for the account of, all such programs in the State to cause and result in amounts of new small business lending at least 10 times the new Federal contribution amount; (3) for those State other credit support programs that provide their credit support through 1 or more financial institution lenders, requires the financial institution lenders to have a meaningful amount of their own capital resources at risk in their small business lending; and (4) uses Federal funds allocated under this chapter to extend credit support that— (A) targets an average borrower size of 500 employees or less; (B) does not extend credit support to borrowers that have more than 750 employees; (C) targets support towards loans with an average principal amount of $5,000,000 or less; and (D) does not extend credit support to loans that exceed a principal amount of $20,000,000. (d) In making a determination that a State other credit support program is eligible for Federal contributions to, or for the account of, the State program, the Secretary shall take into account the following additional considerations: (1) The anticipated benefits to the State, its businesses, and its residents to be derived from the Federal contributions to, or for the account of, the approved State other credit support program, including the extent to which resulting small business lending will expand economic opportunities. (2) The operational capacity, skills, and experience of the management team of the State other credit support program. (3) The capacity of the State other credit support program to manage increases in the volume of its small business lending. (4) The internal accounting and administrative controls systems of the State other credit support program, and the extent to which they can provide reasonable assurance that funds of the State program are safeguarded against waste, loss, unauthorized use, or misappropriation. (5) The soundness of the program design and implementation plan of the State other credit support program. (e) A State other credit support program approved under this section will be eligible for receiving Federal contributions to, or for the account of, the State program in an amount consistent with the schedule describing the apportionment of allocated Federal funds among State programs delivered by the State to the Secretary under the allocation agreement. (1) The Secretary shall, by regulation or other guidance, prescribe Program requirements for approved State other credit support programs. (2) In prescribing minimum Program requirements for approved State other credit support programs, the Secretary shall take into consideration, to the extent the Secretary determines applicable and appropriate, the minimum Program requirements for approved State capital access programs in section 5704(e) of this title.