Senate Bill No. 265
(By Senators Boley and Blatnik)
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[Introduced February 6, 1995; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
seven-a, relating to creation of the revolving capital loan
fund for the promotion of West Virginians with disabilities
in the workplace.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
seven-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. WEST VIRGINIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.
§31-15-7a. Revolving capital loan fund for the promotion of West Virginians with disabilities in the
workplace; community rehabilitation centers;
sources of funding; establishment of rules by
authority; minimum fund amounts.
(a) There is hereby created the revolving capital loan fund
for the promotion of West Virginians with disabilities in the
workplace. The fund shall be comprised of two separate accounts
to be maintained and administered by the authority. One account,
is hereby designated the revolving capital loan account. It shall
be used to grant matching loans to community rehabilitation
projects in this state that offer services to train and employ
disabled persons, for the acquisition of contemporary equipment
used to train workers for the marketplace and for expansion of
facilities used to train disabled persons for future or current
employment opportunities. The other such account is hereby
designated the revolving cash flow loan account. It shall be
used to make secured, short-term loans to community
rehabilitation centers in order to enable such centers to
purchase materials or other support items to be used to initiate
or expand a new production or service program or to retain a
current program that has as its primary purpose for existence,
job creation or retention for disabled workers.
(b) For the purposes of this section, community
rehabilitation centers are those entities, formerly called
"sheltered workshops" which are nonprofit corporations that offer
vocational rehabilitation for disabled citizens. Such centers
belong as members to the West Virginia association of
rehabilitation facilities, a trade association representing
thirty-two such associations that cumulatively employ in excess
of one thousand five hundred persons with disabilities.
(c) The revolving capital loan account, as well as the
revolving cash flow loan account, shall receive a minimum sum of
two hundred fifty thousand dollars to be used for the purposes as
prescribed herein. As to both accounts authorized by this
section, the following minimum amounts from the following sources
or, if an excess in such minimum amounts exists, then excess
amounts from these sources, shall be divided equally and
deposited in each account as prescribed herein:
(1) One hundred fifty thousand dollars from private
donations from individuals and charitable organizations;
(2) One hundred thirty thousand dollars from contributions
from the business community which shall be administered through
the West Virginia chamber of commerce;
(3) Seventy thousand dollars from the West Virginia
association of rehabilitation services; and
(4) A single appropriation from the general revenue fund of
the state in an amount of one hundred fifty thousand dollars:
Provided, That the appropriation shall be deposited no earlier
than the fifteenth day of September, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-six: Provided, however, That unless all other minimum
amounts from all other designated sources are secured and
deposited in the accounts in appropriate proportional amounts, as
set forth herein, prior to the fifteenth day of September, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-six, the appropriation authorized
herein shall revert to the general revenue fund of the state into
which it shall be paid.
(d) The authority shall establish rules and procedures for
soliciting private contributions from various private sources.
The authority shall also establish rules and procedures to
determine eligibility requirements for making loans and to
determine terms and conditions, including adequate loan interest
and collateral requirements, that shall be implemented in making
loans: Provided, That the applicable interest rate to be applied
to any loan made under the provisions of this section shall not exceed a rate greater than one percent below the prime interest
rate that exists at the time a loan application is submitted for
approval. The authority in determining whether to grant any loan
application made hereunder shall, at a minimum, consider the
following criteria:
(1) Project viability;
(2) The number of disabled jobs projected to be created and
the projected pay rate for same;
(3) The demonstrated need for a project or equipment;
(4) Whether a viable marketing plan has been developed to
achieve projected goals relative to sales, output or the
dispensation of services;
(5) The likelihood or potential that disabled workers will
benefit from the intended project or equipment acquisition, by
acquiring skills that will afford them opportunities to become
more integrated within the business community at large in
contrast to being relegated to the traditional job status that
has, for the most part, assigned these persons more menial and
lower paying jobs than have been available to persons without
disabilities;
(6) The financial and economic solvency of the applicant, bearing in mind the proposed project or equipment acquisition and
the projected financial and economic benefits that can reasonably
be expected to flow therefrom;
(7) Whether the board of directors of the applicant has
passed a resolution authorizing the project; and
(8) In the event the proposed loan is intended, in whole or
in part, to purchase equipment, whether the applicant has
developed a training plan for integrating the equipment into the
community rehabilitation program while training clients to
operate the equipment.
(e) The revolving capital loan account and the revolving
cash flow account shall each attain respectively a depository of
funds in an amount no less than two hundred fifty thousand
dollars before any loan application may be considered. No
recipient of any loan made hereunder who has successfully
borrowed fifty thousand dollars or more may be eligible for an
additional loan until such time as the principal amount owed by
the recipient has been reduced to no more than twenty-five
thousand dollars: Provided, That the maximum loan that may be
made to any recipient is one hundred thousand dollars. In the
event any recipient, who is not in default and who has made all payments in a timely manner as required by any loan agreement
reached under the provisions of this section, owes twenty-five
thousand dollars or less, such recipient shall be eligible to
apply for additional moneys: Provided, however, That the
eligibility may not be considered an entitlement, but may only be
considered pursuant to the loan application process that exists
at the time any subsequent application for additional moneys is
made, subject to all reasonable requirements provided for
hereunder and by the authority in determining whether any
applicant has met applicable eligibility requirements.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish two
revolving loan accounts under the authority of the economic
development authority, to be used to finance proposed project
construction, expansion or equipment acquisition at the various
community rehabilitation programs within the state that serve the
disabled. One major purpose tied to the revolving funds is to
lend money for the aforesaid construction, expansion or equipment
acquisition which will, in turn be tied to training persons with
disabilities so that they can be more widely integrated in the
business community at large in contrast to depending almost
exclusively on community rehabilitation programs for employment,
while being able to function in other than the traditional menial
and low pay jobs that have heretofore been the nearly exclusive
source of employment opportunities available to them.
Section seven-a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.