BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 901
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          Date of Hearing:   April 25, 2011

                      ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND FINANCE
                                   Mike Eng, Chair
             AB 901 (V. Manuel Perez) - As Introduced:  February 17, 2011
          
          SUBJECT  :   Capital Access Loan Program for small business. 

           SUMMARY  :   Expands the definition of financial institutions in 
          the California Capital Access Program (CalCAP) and increases 
          CalCAP reporting requirements.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Adds small business financial development corporation or 
            microenterprise development organization that meets standards 
            established by the California Pollution Control Financing 
            Authority (CPCFA).  

          2)Requires that when a financial institution contracts with the 
            CPCFA to use North American Industry Classification System, in 
            addition, the number of jobs created and the number of jobs 
            retained. 

          3)Requires the CPCFA to include in their annual report to the 
            Governor and Legislature the programmatic results which shall 
            include: 

               a)     All outstanding loans on the date the report is 
                 issued;

               b)     New loans issued since the report from the prior 
                 year;

               c)     Total number of businesses served;

               d)     Jobs created;

               e)     Jobs retained;

               f)     The geographic distribution of the loans; and,

               g)     The breakdown of businesses served by the industry 
                 sector. 

           EXISTING FEDERAL LAW  enacted the Small Business Jobs Act (H.R. 
          5297) on Sept. 27, 2010 which creates the Small Business Lending 








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          Fund Program to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make 
          capitol investment in eligible institutions in order to increase 
          the availability of credit for small business and to amend the 
          Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for 
          small business job creation.  (15 U.S.C. Sec. 631 et seq.)
          
          EXISTING STATE LAW  

          1)Defines the "California Capital Access Fund" as a fund created 
            within the CPCFA to be used for purposes of the program. 
            (Health and Safety Code, Section 44559.1.)

          2)Defines "Financial Institution" as a federal- or 
            state-chartered bank, savings association, credit union, 
            not-for-profit community development financial institution 
            certified under Part 1805 (commencing with Section 1805.100) 
            of Chapter XVIII of Title 12 of the Code of Federal 
            Regulations, or a consortium of these entities. A consortium 
            of those entities may include a nonfinancial corporation, if 
            the percentage of capitalization by all nonfinancial 
            corporations in the consortium does not exceed 49 percent. 
            (Health and Safety Code, Section 44559.1)

          3)Also, defines, "Financial Institution" as a lending 
            institution that has executed a participation agreement with 
            the Small Business Administration under the guaranteed loan 
            program pursuant to Part 120 (commencing with Section 120.1) 
            of Chapter I of Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
            and meets the requirements of Section 120.410 of Chapter I of 
            Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and a small 
            business investment company licensed pursuant to Part 107 
            (commencing with Section 107.20) of Chapter I of Title 13 of 
            the Code of Federal Regulations. For loans where all or part 
            of the fees and matching contributions are paid by an entity 
            participating in the program pursuant to subdivision (e) of 
            Section 44559.2, "financial institution" also includes 
            financial lenders, as defined in Section 22009 of the 
            Financial Code, making commercial loans, as defined in Section 
            22502 of the Financial Code.  (Health and Safety Code, Section 
            44559.1)

          4)Requires the CPCFA to annually prepare a report to the 
            Governor and the Legislature that describes the financial 
            condition and programmatic results of the capital access loan 
            program for small businesses.  (Health and Safety Code, 








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            Section 44559.6) 

          5)Establishes the California Small Business Financial 
            Development Corporation Law.  (Corporations Code, Sections 
            14000-14091)

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown.

           COMMENTS  :   

          This measure is one of seven measures sponsored by the Assembly 
          Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy (JEDE).  
          AB 901 expands the definition of financial institutions to 
          include small business financial development corporation or 
          microenterprise development organization that meets the standard 
          established by the CPCFA.

          This measure will give small business financial development 
          corporations and microenterprise development organizations 
          access to the $6 million allocated in AB 1632 (Chapter 731, 
          Statutes of 2010).  Neither of these entities will have access 
          to funding allocated in the federal Small Business Jobs Act 
          since this act does not apply to these entities.  

          According to the California Association for Micro Enterprise 
          Opportunity (CAMEO), a microenterprise development organization 
          is defined as a small business with 5 or fewer employees, 
          including businesses with no employees.  However, businesses 
          with 10 or fewer employees or manufacturing firms with up to 25 
          employees may be defined as microenterprise for the purposes of 
          specific services and programs.  A microenterprise is a business 
          that generally requires $35,000 or less in start-up capital and 
          often does not have access to the traditional commercial banking 
          sector.  CAMEO reports that 85% of all businesses in the US are 
          micro.  These very small firms generate close to 25% of all jobs 
          in our economy. 

          Under California law, a small business financial development 
          corporation is a nonprofit corporation.  When this code section 
          was enacted it was the intent of the legislature "to promote the 
          economic development of small businesses by making available 
          capital, general management assistance, and other resources, 
          including loan services, personnel, and business education to 
          small business entrepreneurs, including women and minority owned 
          businesses, for the purpose of promoting the health, safety, and 








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          social welfare of the citizens of California, to eliminate 
          unemployment of the economically disadvantaged of the state, and 
          to stimulate economic development, employment, minority group, 
          women, and disabled persons entrepreneurship." (Corporations 
          Code, Section 14002)

          AB 901 deletes the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and 
          replaces it with the North American Industry Classification 
          System (NAICS).  This is a necessary change since SIC was 
          replaced by the NAICS in 1997, but several data sets are still 
          available with SIC-based data.  Both SIC and NAICS classify 
          establishments by their primary type of activity.  NAICS is the 
          standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying 
          business establishments for the purpose of collecting, 
          analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. 
          business economy.

          NAICS was developed under the auspices of the Office of 
          Management and Budget (OMB).  It was developed jointly by the 
          U.S. Economic Classification Policy Committee (ECPC), Statistics 
          Canada, and Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y 
          Geografia, to allow for a high level of comparability in 
          business statistics among the North American countries.
           
          This measure also expands reporting requirements placed on the 
          CPCFA.  The CPCFA already is required to report to the Governor 
          and Legislature annually regarding CalCAP but this measure 
          provides more detailed information that needs to be required in 
          the report.  

          As noted below, this measure has similarities to AB 981 which is 
          sponsored by the California State Treasurer.  Both these 
          measures stem from the federal Small Business Jobs Act.  The 
          committee believes it is imperative that legislation enacted 
          compliments the federal act and provides California the ability 
          to obtain and use the federal and state funds efficiently.  

          The California Association for Local Economic Development would 
          like to see the financial institution definition expanded even 
          further by including local revolving fund organizations.  This 
          measure is double-referred to the JEDE committee where they will 
          consider this amendment.  

           RELATED LEGISLATION
           








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          AB 981 (Hueso) (2011 Legislative Session) Makes various changes 
          to the California Capitol Access Loan Program with the intention 
          of making it easier to implement the Federal Small Business Jobs 
          Act.  To be heard in Assembly Banking and Finance Committee on 
          April 25, 2010. 

           PREVIOUS LEGISLATION
           
          AB 1632 (Blumenfield) (Chapter 731, Statutes of 2010) 
          transferred $32.4 million from the General Fund to support four 
          small-business and jobs programs that exist in current law.  
          More importantly, this bill appropriated $6 million to triple 
          the size of CalCAP and provide statutory flexibility to access 
          federal funding in the Small Business Jobs Act.  According to 
          the State Treasurer's office, who administers this program, this 
          appropriation potentially leverages over $135 million in loans, 
          serving 1,000 businesses and creating or retailing 3, 200 jobs.  


           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED)
          CDC Small Business Finance (CDCSBF)

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Kathleen O'Malley / B. & F. / (916) 
          319-3081