Sponsored by:
Senator VIN GOPAL
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Appropriates $125 million to EDA from federal funds for small- and medium-sized business and nonprofit assistance.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act allocating federal funding for small- and medium-sized business and nonprofit assistance, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority the sum of $125,000,000 from a portion of those federal block grant funds allocated to the State from the federal “Coronavirus Relief Fund,” established pursuant to the federal “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act,” Pub.L.116-136, for use by the authority to provide financial support, such as loans or grants, to small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit entities for the costs associated with operational interruptions caused by any State-required closures and mitigation requirements imposed due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the monies appropriated pursuant to this section, the authority shall allocate at least $25,000,000 to providing financial support to targeted small- and medium-sized businesses.
b. If the federal government allocates additional federal block grant funds to the State to provide for the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Legislature finds and declares that it is the policy of the State that not less than 20 percent of such federal block grant funds that are not encumbered to be used for other specified purposes should be appropriated to the authority to provide financial support to small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit entities.
c. As used in this section:
"Authority" means the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1974, c.80 (C.34:1B-4).
"COVID-19" means the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus.
"COVID-19 pandemic" means the outbreak of COVID-19 throughout the world, recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020.
"Small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit entities" includes any business enterprise or nonprofit entity, which has its principal place of business or operations in this State, and that is defined by the authority as a small- or medium-sized business or nonprofit entity.
"Targeted small- and medium-sized business" means a business that qualifies, under criteria established by the authority, as a small- or medium-sized woman-owned, minority-owned, or veteran-owned New Jersey-based business or nonprofit entity.
2. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill makes a $125 million appropriation to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) from a portion of those federal block grant funds allocated to the State from the federal “Coronavirus Relief Fund,” established pursuant to the federal “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act,” Pub.L.116-136, for use by the EDA to provide financial support, such as loans or grants, to small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit entities for the costs associated with operational interruptions caused by any State-required closures and mitigation requirements imposed due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill requires the EDA to allocate at least $25 million to provide financial support to targeted small- and medium-sized businesses, including woman-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned New Jersey-based businesses and nonprofit entities.
Additionally, the bill declares that it is the policy of the State that if the federal government allocates additional federal block grant funds to the State to provide for the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, that not less than 20 percent of those federal block grant funds that are not encumbered to be used for other specified purposes should be appropriated to the EDA to provide financial support to small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit entities.