§ 7 — Massachusetts export development program; insurance, co-insurance and loan guarantees

Section 7. (a) There is hereby established within the Agency the Massachusetts export development program, successor to the Massachusetts export finance program, to expand employment and income opportunities through increased exports of Massachusetts goods and services by providing actual and potential Massachusetts exporters, including in particular small and medium-sized exporters, with insurance, co-insurance, loan guarantees, and information and technical assistance on export opportunities and exporting techniques in support of increased export transactions.(b) The Agency shall utilize the Massachusetts Export Development Fund, other than as permitted in subsection (c) of section 6, solely to insure, co- insure and guarantee loans related to export transactions, and to make extensions of the same, made pursuant to the provisions of this section and detailed regulations adopted by the board; provided, however, that the Agency shall make no reservation, encumbrance, or disbursement from the fund unless and until said regulations have been reviewed and approved in writing by the secretary of economic affairs. Any determination to insure, co- insure and guarantee loans, or to make an extension of the same pursuant to this section, shall be made by the board.(c) The Agency may charge fees to defray the operating expenses of the export finance program. The amount of the fees shall be determined by the board.(d) Loan guarantees and insured export transactions shall be secured by no less than a 30 per cent reserve in the fund. The board may elect to require a higher reserve. The regulations adopted by the board as provided in subsection (b) shall include provisions regarding the terms and limits for loan guarantees to be secured by the fund; provided, however, that in no instance shall a loan guarantee secured by the fund exceed either of the following: (1) 70 per cent of the required financing or (2) $1,000,000.(e) The Agency shall make no affirmative determination to insure, co-insure or guarantee any loan or any extension of the same to be secured by the fund unless and until the board has made the following findings of fact, to be incorporated in the formal records of its proceedings:(1) that borrowers have a minimum equity interest in the business as determined by the board;(2) that the proposed loan guarantees, insurance and coinsurance will be extended to companies that export goods and services produced primarily in Massachusetts or to companies which export goods and services and which have their principal place of business in Massachusetts;(3) there exists adequate collateral or security agreements to ensure the full repayment of loan guarantees and solvency of any insurance or co-insurance program extended under this chapter and to assist in evaluating the program;(4) that, to the extent possible, said loan guarantee or insurance or coinsurance is such that a definite benefit to the economy of the commonwealth may reasonably be expected therefrom; and(5) that financing assistance secured by the fund shall only be extended in one or both of the following circumstances:(i) as part of a governmental match which may be required to secure participation of Massachusetts firms in federal, state, or private financing programs;(ii) if adequate financing assistance is not readily available from public or private sources in a timely manner.(f) In administering the fund and the export finance program, the Agency shall coordinate to the maximum extent possible with the programs and goals of the United States Export-Import Bank, the International Trade Administration of the United States Department of Commerce, the Foreign Credit Insurance Association, the Massachusetts trade office and other private and public programs, designed to provide export assistance and export-related financing; and assemble, publish, and disseminate information to Massachusetts exporters on export opportunities, techniques of exporting, sources of public and private export assistance, and sources of export-related financing.(g) No company shall be eligible for a loan guarantee under this section until it complies with the terms of this section.(h) The Agency shall, prior to making any loan guarantee pursuant to this section comply with the following requirements: (1) develop or distribute written materials and other information it believes appropriate to familiarize any company interested in exporting with how to enter the export market; (2) to distribute said materials and information, the Agency shall present a series of seminars throughout the commonwealth; and, (3) a loan guarantee may only be offered to a company which has attended at least one seminar within one year prior to its application.(i) Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to be a pledge of the credit of the commonwealth.