[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1788 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1788

 To amend the Small Business Act to promote lending to small business 
 concerns in States in which there are a declining number of federally 
                    insured financial institutions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 1993

Mr. Machtley (for himself and Mr. Neal of Massachusetts) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Small Business Act to promote lending to small business 
 concerns in States in which there are a declining number of federally 
                    insured financial institutions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Lending and Credit 
Availability Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. LOAN GUARANTEES IN QUALIFIED STATES.

    (a) Participation Authority.--Section 7(a) of the Small Business 
Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph:
            ``(22) Loan guarantees in qualified states.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Administration shall, in 
                accordance with the requirements of this paragraph, 
                participate on a guaranteed basis in loans under this 
                subsection to small business concerns in qualified 
                States.
                    ``(B) Guarantee amounts.--In agreements to 
                participate on a guaranteed basis in loans described in 
                subparagraph (A), such participation by the 
                Administration shall be--
                            ``(i) not less than 90 percent of the 
                        balance of the loan outstanding at the time of 
                        disbursement, if the loan is not less than 
                        $200,000, nor more than $500,000; and
                            ``(ii) not less than 95 percent of the 
                        balance of the loan outstanding at the time of 
                        disbursement, if the loan is less than 
                        $200,000.
                    ``(C) Temporary waiver of guarantee fees.--
                            ``(i) First 2 fiscal years.--In each of the 
                        first 2 fiscal years beginning after the date 
                        of the enactment of this paragraph, the 
                        Administration shall waive any guarantee fee in 
                        connection with a loan described in 
                        subparagraph (A).
                            ``(ii) Remaining fiscal years.--In the 3rd, 
                        4th, and 5th fiscal years beginning after the 
                        date of the enactment of this paragraph, the 
                        Administration may collect a guarantee fee in 
                        connection with a loan described in 
                        subparagraph (A) in an amount equal to not more 
                        than 1 percent of the outstanding balance of 
                        the guaranteed amount of the loan. Any such fee 
                        shall be payable by the participating lending 
                        institution and may be charged to the borrower.
                    ``(D) Retention of fee percentage by lenders.--In 
                order to encourage lending institutions to make loans 
                to small business concerns in qualified States, the 
                Administration shall permit lending institutions to 
                retain, on loans described in subparagraph (A) of 
                $200,000 or less, \1/2\ of any fee to be paid to the 
                Administration under subparagraph (C)(ii).
                    ``(E) Presumption.--For a loan described in 
                subparagraph (A), any reasonable doubt as to the 
                ability of an applicant to repay the loan shall be 
                resolved in favor of the applicant.
                    ``(F) Applicability.--The provisions of this 
                paragraph shall be in effect in each of the first 5 
                fiscal years beginning after the date of the enactment 
                of this paragraph. For such period, provisions of this 
                section which are inconsistent with this paragraph 
                shall not apply.
                    ``(G) Definitions.--For purposes of this paragraph, 
                the following definitions apply:
                            ``(i) Insured depository institution.--The 
                        term `insured depository institution'--
                                    ``(I) has the same meaning as in 
                                section 3 of the Federal Deposit 
                                Insurance Act; and
                                    ``(II) includes an insured credit 
                                union, as defined in section 101 of the 
                                Federal Credit Union Act.
                            ``(ii) State.--The term `State' means each 
                        of the several States and the District of 
                        Columbia.
                            ``(iii) Qualified state.--The term 
                        `qualified State' means any State in which--
                                    ``(I) during the 12-month period 
                                ending on the date of enactment of this 
                                paragraph, 1 or more insured depository 
                                institutions having combined total 
                                assets of not less than $100,000,000 
                                closed due to an inability to meet the 
                                demands of depositors; or
                                    ``(II) during the 12-month period 
                                ending on the date of enactment of this 
                                paragraph, 2 or more insured depository 
                                institutions having combined total 
                                assets of not less than $150,000,000 
                                closed due to an inability to meet the 
                                demands of depositors.''.

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