BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1230 (Gomez) - California Americans With Disabilities Small
Business Capital Access Loan Program.
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|Version: June 30, 2015 |Policy Vote: B., P. & E.D. 9 - |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 1230 would establish the California Americans With
Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program
within the California Pollution Control Financing Authority
(CPCFA), to create a self-sustaining loan program to assist
small businesses finance the costs of projects that alter or
retrofit existing facilities according to certain criteria, to
comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Fiscal
Impact:
The bill includes a one-time General Fund appropriation of $50
AB 1230 (Gomez) Page 1 of
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million.
CPCFA would incur annual administrative costs of $376,000
(special funds).
Background: Individuals with disabilities and medical conditions have legal
protections to ensure full and free access to and the use of
roadways, sidewalks, buildings and facilities open to the
public, hospitals and medical facilities, and housing. After
Congress enacted the ADA in 1990, the Legislature provided that
violations of the ADA are also violations of state legal
protections, which are comparatively higher and independent of
the ADA.
Additionally, under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, all persons,
regardless of sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national
origin, disability or medical condition, are entitled to the
full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities,
privileges, or services in all business establishments. A
violation of the ADA also constitutes a violation of the Act.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that lawsuits are filed each year
against small businesses for ADA violations. Many of these
lawsuits seek only statutory penalty damages, as opposed to the
injunctive relief that would improve conditions for disabled
persons. Consequently, small businesses can be forced to pay
for legal fees and costs instead of improving their properties.
Proposed Law:
This bill would, among other things, do the following:
Establish the Small Business ADA Program Fund in the
State Treasury to be administered by CPCFA.
Require CPFCA to adopt regulations implement the Small
Business ADA Program, including provisions to (1) establish
a new loss reserve account for each participating lender
enrolling loans in this program, (2) obtain a certification
from each participating lender and small business upon
AB 1230 (Gomez) Page 2 of
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enrollment of a qualified loan that the proceeds of the
loan will be used for the eligible costs of an eligible
project, (3) contribute an additional incentive from the
fund for each loan enrolled for a qualified business
located in severely affected communities, (4) restrict the
enrollment of a qualified loan in any other capital access
loan program for small business offered by the CPFCA as
long as funds are available for the Small Business ADA
program, (5) limit the term of loss coverage for each
qualified loan to no more than five years, and (6)
recapture CPFCA's contribution from the loss reserve
account for each enrolled loan upon the maturation of such
loan or after five years from the date of enrollment, which
ever happens first, to be deposited in the fund and applied
to future expenditures for contributions and administrative
costs.
Transfer $50 million from the General Fund to the Small
Business ADA Fund for the purposes of funding loss reserve
accounts and administering Small Business ADA Program.
Related
Legislation: AB 1393 (Burke) would expand the authority and
program focus of CPCFA from providing financial assistance to
address the control and remediation of pollution and the capital
access challenges of small businesses to offering unlimited
types of financial products to an expansive list of public and
private entities, as specified. The bill is currently pending in
this Committee.
Staff
Comments: This bill would create a financing mechanism within
CPCFA to provide affordable loans to small businesses to finance
the alterations and retrofits necessary to comply with ADA. The
bill would authorize CPCFA to issue revenue bonds to finance the
loans and would appropriate $50 million from the General Fund to
AB 1230 (Gomez) Page 3 of
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launch the program, but anticipates the program will be
self-sustaining thereafter, funding costs with interest
generated from the loans. CPCFA indicates that it would need
three additional positions at an ongoing cost of $376,000 to
administer the program.
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