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<section article="ghs" article_name="Housing and Community Development" number="6-309" title_number="6" title_name="Division of Neighborhood Revitalization" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Neighborhood Business Development Program">
  <level label="a">
    <text>There is a Capital Access Program in the Neighborhood Business Development Program.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>The purposes of the Capital Access Program are to:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>stimulate private sector lending to small businesses throughout the State; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>encourage private lenders to provide for a reserve of money as additional security for private sector loans made under this section.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>The Department may enter into a Capital Access Program participation agreement with each lender eligible to participate in the Capital Access Program.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <text>To be eligible to participate in the Capital Access Program, a lender:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>shall be a federally insured financial institution, as defined in § 1-101 of the Financial Institutions Article, or another institution regulated by the Commissioner of Financial Regulation; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>shall enter into a participation agreement with the Department that:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>requires the lender to agree to:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>enroll in the Capital Access Program loans that the lender makes to an eligible small business;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>establish a loan reserve account with a federally insured financial institution as additional security to cover losses of the lender on loans that the lender enrolls; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="3">
          <text>contribute money to the loan reserve account for each loan that the lender enrolls; and</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>allows the lender to commingle in the reserve account contributions made for loans that the lender enrolls.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>To be eligible for a loan under the Capital Access Program, a borrower:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>shall be a small business that meets the eligibility requirements set out in the Capital Access Program participation agreement between the borrower’s lender and the Department; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>shall agree with the lender to contribute money to the loan reserve account that the lender establishes.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="f">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The Department may use the Fund to contribute up to $1,000,000 per fiscal year to loan reserve accounts established under subsection (d) of this section.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The contributions by the Department are exempt from the requirements of Title 6, Subtitle 2, and Titles 11 through 17, of the State Finance and Procurement Article.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="g">
    <level label="1">
      <text>Enrolling a loan in the Capital Access Program does not pledge the faith, credit, or taxing power of the State, the Department, the Neighborhood Business Development Program, or the Fund.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The State, the Department, the Neighborhood Business Development Program, and the Fund are not liable for losses of a lender on an enrolled loan, except to the extent of the loan reserve account that the lender establishes under the Capital Access Program.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="h">
    <text>A project financed by a loan enrolled in the Capital Access Program shall be in a priority funding area as required by Title 5, Subtitle 7B of the State Finance and Procurement Article.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="i">
    <text>A lender shall treat a default on a loan enrolled in the Capital Access Program in the same way that the lender treats defaults on other loans.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="j">
    <text>The Department may require that, before a lender withdraws money from a reserve account to cover losses on a defaulted enrolled loan, the lender agree that, if the reserve account fully covers the losses, the lender will assign to the Department or subrogate the Department to the right, title, and interest of the lender in and to:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>the loan;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>collateral and security for the loan; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>every other right of recovery in connection with the loan.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="k">
    <level label="1">
      <text>After a default on a loan enrolled in the Capital Access Program, the Department may acquire, hold, improve, operate pending sale or other disposition, sell, assign, exchange, transfer, convey, lease, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of or encumber property that secures or is collateral for all or part of the loan, including:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>real property;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>personal property; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>evidence of indebtedness.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The Department may act under this subsection:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>in its name or in the name of the Neighborhood Business Development Program; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>notwithstanding Titles 10 through 17 of the State Finance and Procurement Article.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="l">
    <text>The Department shall adopt regulations to carry out the Capital Access Program.</text>
  </level>
</section>
