In General

(1) Purpose. Chapter 830 of the Tennessee Public Acts of 2004 created within the Tennessee Treasury Department the Small and Minority-Owned Business Assistance Program. By rule, the Department is to develop an assistance program for small and minority-owned businesses, as defined in §65-5-112, which may include loans, technical assistance and services, and consulting and educational services. The Program is funded from the Small and Minority-Owned Business Assistance Program Fund. It is the legislative intent that the Department use the assistance provided by this program to support outreach to new, expanding, and existing businesses in Tennessee that do not have reasonable access to capital markets and traditional commercial lending facilities.