[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4032 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4032

     To establish a loan guarantee program under which the Federal 
      government shall guarantee payment of loans made by lending 
 institutions for capital projects for public charter schools, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 16, 2000

  Mrs. Wilson (for herself and Mr. Schaffer) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To establish a loan guarantee program under which the Federal 
      government shall guarantee payment of loans made by lending 
 institutions for capital projects for public charter schools, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Neighborhood Schools Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC CHARTER 
              SCHOOLS.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
``Administrator'') shall establish a program under which the 
Administrator shall award loan guarantees to eligible public charter 
schools to guarantee to lending institutions payment of principal and 
interest on loans made to such schools for capital projects.
    (b) Eligibility Requirements for Schools.--A public charter school 
is eligible to receive a loan guarantee under the program under this 
Act if the school submits to the Administrator (at such time and in 
such form as the Administrator may require) an application containing 
the following information and assurances:
            (1) A certification that the school is a public charter 
        school as defined by the jurisdiction in which the school is 
        located.
            (2) A certification that the school does not have access to 
        funding for the project involved through the financing methods 
        available to other public schools in the jurisdiction.
            (3) Assurances that the school will be unable to obtain 
        financing for the project at a reasonably affordable rate of 
        interest unless the school is awarded a loan guarantee under 
        the program.
            (4) A business plan for the school that includes reasonable 
        assurances that the school will repay the loan for which the 
        guarantee will be made.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON CUMULATIVE TOTAL OF PRINCIPAL OF OUTSTANDING 
              LOANS.

    The cumulative total of the principal of the loans outstanding at 
any time for which loan guarantees have been made under the program 
under this Act may not exceed $9,000,000,000.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) Capital Project.--(1) In this Act, a ``capital project'' for a 
public charter school means a project for--
            (A) the construction, acquisition, modernization, or 
        renovation of facilities for the school; or
            (B) the purchase or replacement of equipment for the 
        school.
    (2) For purposes of determining the costs which are to be incurred 
in carrying out any capital project for which a loan guarantee is made 
under the program under this Act, the project shall not be treated as a 
public work or building.
    (b) Public Charter School.--In this Act, the term ``public charter 
school'' means an institution defined as a public charter school by the 
State in which the institution is located.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated $600,000,000 for the 
program under this Act for fiscal year 2001.
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