In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. “Borrower” means a business that: qualifies as a small business under the U.S. Small Business Administration size standards; applies to a lender for business financing; and has fewer than 50 employees. “Lender” means: a credit union, as defined in § 1–101 of the Financial Institutions Article; a financial institution, as defined in § 1–101 of the Financial Institutions Article; or a community development financial institution as defined in 12 U.S.C. § 4702(5). “Program” means the Capital Access Program established under § 5–1802 of this subtitle.

There is a Capital Access Program in the Department.

The purpose of the Program is to stimulate opportunities for small businesses that may have difficulty in obtaining business financing to have access to credit by establishing a loan loss reserve program.

A loan qualifies under the Program if the loan: satisfies the lending criteria of the financial institution; has a term not exceeding 10 years; may be short or long term, have fixed or variable rates, and be secured or unsecured; and does not exceed $250,000.

A lender shall enroll a qualifying loan in the Program not more than 30 days after the date of the first disbursement of the loan. A lender may enroll all or a portion of a qualifying loan in an amount not more than $250,000.

The Department shall establish a loan loss reserve account for a lender when a lender enrolls its first loan under the Program. At the time of enrollment: the borrower shall make a payment to the account of between 0% and 7% of the enrolled loan amount; the lender shall make a payment to the account of at least 2% of the enrolled amount; and the Department shall make a matching payment to the account in an amount equal to the borrower and lender’s aggregate payment under items (1) and (2) of this subsection. The loan loss reserve account of a lender shall be available for the lender to withdraw if a borrower defaults on a qualifying loan. The Department shall establish procedures for a lender to withdraw from the Program.

The Department may adopt regulations to carry out this subtitle.