§ 40-9H-3 — Deposit of Ssbci Funding; Applications for Certification

(a) Upon receipt of an allocation of funds pursuant to Subtitle C of Title III of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the department shall cause the SSBCI funding to be deposited in the SSBCI fund.
(b) Within 30 days of the approval of the state’s application for federal funds pursuant to Subtitle C of Title III of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the department shall accept applications for certification as a growth fund on a form prescribed by the department. The application shall include all of the following:
(1) The total investment authority and SSBCI loan sought by the applicant not to exceed fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) and seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000), respectively.
(2) Evidence that the applicant, or an affiliate of the applicant, is licensed as a rural business investment company under 7 U.S.C. § 2009cc or as a small business investment company under 15 U.S.C. § 681, including a certificate executed by an executive officer of the applicant attesting that the license remains in effect and has not been revoked, and that at least one principal in a rural business investment company or a small business investment company is, and has been for at least five years, an officer or employee of the applicant or an affiliate of the applicant on the date the application is submitted.
(3) Evidence that as of the date the application is submitted, the applicant or affiliates of the applicant have invested at least fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in, or lent at least fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) to, nonpublic companies located in nonmetropolitan counties, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget within the Office of the President of the United States, on the basis of county or county-equivalent units and invested at least twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) in, or lent at least twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) to, minority owned businesses.
(4) An estimate of the number of aggregate new annual jobs that will be created and jobs retained in this state because of the applicant’s growth investments.
(5) A business plan that includes a revenue impact assessment projecting state and local tax revenue, as well as reduced state expenditures, to be generated by the applicant’s proposed growth investments prepared by a nationally recognized third-party independent economic forecasting firm using a dynamic economic forecasting model that analyzes the applicant’s business plan over the 10 years following the date the application is submitted to the department.
(6) A letter of credit issued to the applicant from a depository institution equal to at least 50 percent of the amount of investment authority requested or similar evidence that the applicant has secured matching capital equal to such amount.
(7) A nonrefundable application fee of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) payable to the department.
(8) An education and marketing plan to educate growth businesses regarding the availability of funds and requirements for participation pursuant to this chapter.
(c) Within 30 days after receipt of a completed application containing the information set forth in subsection (b), the department shall grant or deny the application. The department shall deem applications received on the same day to have been received simultaneously. The department shall approve investment authority up to an amount that would allow not more than fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) of investment authority and twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) of SSBCI loans. If requests for investment authority and SSBCI loans exceed this limitation, the department shall proportionally reduce the investment authority and SSBCI loan for each approved application as necessary to avoid exceeding the limit.
(d) The department shall deny an application if any of the following are true:
(1) The application is incomplete.
(2) The applicant does not satisfy all the criteria described in subdivisions (2), (3), (6), and (7) of subsection (b).
(3) The revenue impact assessment submitted under subdivision (b)(5) does not demonstrate that the applicant’s business plan will result in an economic impact on this state over a 10-year period that exceeds the growth fund’s SSBCI loan.
(4) The department has already approved the maximum amount of investment authority and SSBCI loans allowed under subsection (c).
(e) If the department denies an application, the applicant may provide additional information to the department to complete, clarify, or cure defects in the application identified by the department, except for failure to comply with subdivision (b)(6), within 15 days of the notice of denial for reconsideration and determination. The department shall review and reconsider the applications for which additional information is provided within the 15-day period within 30 days and, if approved, the application shall be considered complete as of its original submission date.
(f) The department may not reduce the requested investment authority or deny a growth fund application for reasons other than those described in subsections (c) and (d).
(g) Upon approval of an application, the department shall certify the applicant as a growth fund, specifying the amount of the applicant’s investment authority, SSBCI loan, aggregate required matching capital, and the number of new annual jobs and jobs retained that will be required of the growth fund, which shall match those projected in the growth fund’s application, prorated on the basis of the investment authority awarded to the growth fund.
(h) An approved growth fund may apply for additional investment authority and SSBCI loans once it has invested 100 percent of its outstanding investment authority.

Legislative History

(Act 2021-492, §3; Act 2024-403, §1.)