(a) There is a Capital Access Program in the Neighborhood Business Development Program.
(b) The purposes of the Capital Access Program are to:
(1) stimulate private sector lending to small businesses throughout the State; and
(2) encourage private lenders to provide for a reserve of money as additional security for private sector loans made under this section.
(c) The Department may enter into a Capital Access Program participation agreement with each lender eligible to participate in the Capital Access Program.
(d) To be eligible to participate in the Capital Access Program, a lender:
(1) shall be a federally insured financial institution, as defined in § 1-101 of the Financial Institutions Article, or another institution regulated by the Commissioner of Financial Regulation; and
(2) shall enter into a participation agreement with the Department that:
(i) requires the lender to agree to:
1. enroll in the Capital Access Program loans that the lender makes to an eligible small business;
2. establish a loan reserve account with a federally insured financial institution as additional security to cover losses of the lender on loans that the lender enrolls; and
3. contribute money to the loan reserve account for each loan that the lender enrolls; and
(ii) allows the lender to commingle in the reserve account contributions made for loans that the lender enrolls.
(e) To be eligible for a loan under the Capital Access Program, a borrower:
(1) shall be a small business that meets the eligibility requirements set out in the Capital Access Program participation agreement between the borrower’s lender and the Department; and
(2) shall agree with the lender to contribute money to the loan reserve account that the lender establishes.
(f) (1) The Department may use the Fund to contribute up to $1,000,000 per fiscal year to loan reserve accounts established under subsection (d) of this section.
(2) The contributions by the Department are exempt from the requirements of Title 6, Subtitle 2, and Titles 11 through 17, of the State Finance and Procurement Article.
(g) (1) Enrolling a loan in the Capital Access Program does not pledge the faith, credit, or taxing power of the State, the Department, the Neighborhood Business Development Program, or the Fund.
(2) The State, the Department, the Neighborhood Business Development Program, and the Fund are not liable for losses of a lender on an enrolled loan, except to the extent of the loan reserve account that the lender establishes under the Capital Access Program.
(h) A project financed by a loan enrolled in the Capital Access Program shall be in a priority funding area as required by Title 5, Subtitle 7B of the State Finance and Procurement Article.
(i) A lender shall treat a default on a loan enrolled in the Capital Access Program in the same way that the lender treats defaults on other loans.
(j) The Department may require that, before a lender withdraws money from a reserve account to cover losses on a defaulted enrolled loan, the lender agree that, if the reserve account fully covers the losses, the lender will assign to the Department or subrogate the Department to the right, title, and interest of the lender in and to:
(1) the loan;
(2) collateral and security for the loan; and
(3) every other right of recovery in connection with the loan.
(k) (1) After a default on a loan enrolled in the Capital Access Program, the Department may acquire, hold, improve, operate pending sale or other disposition, sell, assign, exchange, transfer, convey, lease, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of or encumber property that secures or is collateral for all or part of the loan, including:
(i) real property;
(ii) personal property; and
(iii) evidence of indebtedness.
(2) The Department may act under this subsection:
(i) in its name or in the name of the Neighborhood Business Development Program; and
(ii) notwithstanding Titles 10 through 17 of the State Finance and Procurement Article.
(l) The Department shall adopt regulations to carry out the Capital Access Program.