pollution control

pollution control Sec. 102. Part A of title IV of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sections: “Sec. 404. (a) For purposes of this section, the term— “(1) ‘pollution control facilities’ means such property (both real and personal) as the Administration in its discretion determines is likely to help prevent, reduce, abate, or control noise, air or water pollution or contamination by removing, altering, disposing or storing pollutants, contaminants, wastes, or heat, and such property (both real and personal) as the Administration determines will be used for the collection, storage, treatment, utilization, processing, or final disposal of solid or liquid waste. “(2) ‘person’ includes corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, joint stock companies, States, territories, and possessions of the United States, or subdivisions of any of the foregoing, and the District of Columbia, as well as individuals. “(3) ‘qualified contract’ means a lease, sublease, loan agreement, installment sales contract, or similar instrument, entered into between a small business concern and any person. “(b) The Administration may, whenever it determines that small business concerns are or are likely to be at an operational or financing disadvantage with other business concerns with respect to the planning, design, or installation of pollution control facilities, or the obtaining of financing therefor (including financing by means of revenue bonds issued by States, political subdivisions thereof, or other public bodies), guarantee the payment of rentals or other amounts due under qualified90 STAT. 664 contracts. Any such guarantee may be made or effected either directly or in cooperation with any qualified surety company or other qualified company through a participation agreement with such company. The foregoing powers shall be subject, however, to the following restrictions and limitations: “(1) Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation or fiscal policy to the contrary, the guarantee authorized in the case of pollution control facilities or property may be issued when such property is acquired by the use of proceeds from industrial revenue bonds which provide the holders interest which is exempt from Federal income tax. “(2) Amy such guarantee shall be for the full amount of the payments due under such qualified contract and shall be a full faith and credit obligation of the United States. “(3) No guarantee shall be issued by the Administration unless the Administration determines that there exists a reasonable expectation that the small business concern in behalf of which the guarantee is issued will perform the covenants and conditions of the qualified, contract. “(c) The Administration shall fix a uniform annual fee for any guarantee issued under this section which shall be payable at such time and under such conditions as may be prescribed by the Administrator. The fee shall be set at an amount which the Administration deems reasonable and necessary and shall be subject to periodic review in order that the lowest fee that experience under the program shows to be, justified will be placed into effect. In no case shall such amount exceed 3½ per centum per annum of the minimum annual guaranteed rental payable under any qualified contract guaranteed under this section. The Administration may also fix such uniform fees for the processing of applications for guarantees under this section as the Administrator determines are reasonable and necessary to pay the administrative expenses that are incurred in connection therewith. “(d) In connection with the guarantee of rentals under any qualified contract pursuant to authority conferred by this section, the Administrator may require, in order to minimize the financial risk assumed under such guarantee— “(1) that the lessee pay an amount, not to exceed one-fourth of the average annual payments for which a guarantee is issued under this section, which shall be held in escrow and shall be available (A) to meet rental charges accruing in any month for which the lessee is in default, or (B) if no default occurs during the term of the qualified contract, for application (with accrued interest) toward final payments of rental charges under the qualified contract; “(2) that upon occurrence of a default under the qualified contract, the lessor shall, as a condition precedent to enforcing any claim under the qualified contract guarantee, utilize the entire period, for which there are funds available in escrow for payment of rentals, in reasonable diligent efforts to eliminate or minimize losses, by releasing the property covered by the qualified contract to another qualified lessee, and no claim shall be made or paid under the guarantee until such effort has been made and such escrow funds have been exhausted; “(3) that any guarantor of the qualified contract will become a successor of the lessor for the purpose of collecting from a lessee in default rentals which are in arrears and with respect to which the lessor has received payment under a guarantee made pursuant to this section; and 90 STAT. 665 “(4) such other provisions, not inconsistent with the purposes of this section as the Administrator may in his discretion require. “(e) Any guarantee issued under this section may be assigned with the permission of the Administration by the person to whom the payments under qualified contracts are due. “(f) Section 402 shall apply to the administration of this section. “Sec. 405. There is hereby created within the Treasury a separate fund for guarantees which shall be available to the Administrator without fiscal year limitations as a revolving fund for the purposes of section 404. There are authorized to be appropriated to the fund from time to time such amounts not to exceed $15,000,000 to provide capital for the fund. All amounts received by the Administrator, including any moneys, property, or assets derived by him from his operations in connection with section 404 shall be deposited in the fund. All expenses and payments pursuant to operations of the Administrator under section 404 shall be paid from the fund. From time to time, and at least at the close of each fiscal year, the Administrator shall pay from the fund into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts interest at a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury on the cumulative amount of appropriations available as capital to the fund, less the average undisbursed cash balance in the fund during the year. The rate of such interest shall be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, and shall not be less than a rate determined by taking into consideration the average market yield during the month preceding each fiscal year on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity comparable to the average maturity of guarantees from the fund. Moneys in the fund not needed for the payment of current operating expenses or for the payment of claims arising under section 404 may be invested in bonds or other obligations of, or bonds or other obligations guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States; except that, moneys provided as capital for the fund shall not be so invested.”.