The Florida Senate

¹290.0075  Enterprise zone linked deposit program.--

(1)  The Department of Banking and Finance, in consultation with the interagency coordinating council, is authorized to create an enterprise zone linked deposit program to encourage financial institutions to increase the volume of loans made to small businesses in enterprise zones.

(2)(a)  The Department of Banking and Finance, in consultation with the interagency coordinating council, may select designated state enterprise zones from each of the categories established by s. 290.0065(3)(a) for participation in this program.

(b)  Participating enterprise zones shall provide a 100-percent match of any state treasury funds deposited pursuant to subsection (3). Participating enterprise zones shall select financial institutions for receipt of such funds by a competitive bid process based upon guidelines developed by the Department of Banking and Finance and the competitive selection process employed by the Office of the Treasurer for deposit of certificates of deposit. The participating enterprise zones may select more than one financial institution. The Treasurer may reject any financial institution selected for participation in this program and request that another financial institution be selected.

(3)  Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 18.10, the Treasurer may designate, for the length of this program, up to $10 million of the state's short-term treasury deposits for deposit in financial institutions selected pursuant to paragraph (2)(b), except that the Treasurer must designate for deposit an equal amount of state short-term treasury deposits for each category established by s. 290.0065(3)(a). State funds designated for deposit for a category must be made available for deposit in the following manner. First, such funds must be made available to enterprise zones on a ranked basis, as determined by the Department of Banking and Finance in consultation with the interagency coordinating council, within each respective category. Thereafter, any funds that have not been deposited after being made available to the enterprise zones within that category must be made available to any enterprise zone within any category.

(4)  The Treasurer may not approve the deposit of state funds under this act until the receipt of written documentation from the Comptroller noting the financial institutions approved for deposit under this act. Such selected financial institutions must be qualified public depositories pursuant to chapter 280.

(5)  Selected financial institutions shall provide a 100-percent match of any state treasury funds and local funds that are deposited within the financial institution pursuant to subsections (2) and (3). The selected financial institution's share of matching funds shall be used to provide loans or lines of credit to individuals for small business startup or expansion, working capital, or inventory financing. Loans shall be made to individuals for small businesses located in enterprise zones.

(6)  The Department of Banking and Finance shall provide an annual report to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development prior to February 1 of each year which contains:

(a)  The number and amount of loans made to small businesses under this program during the previous calendar year.

(b)  The average interest rate for small business loans made by each selected financial institution under this program during the previous calendar year.

(c)  The number of completed small business loan applications that were denied or disapproved during the previous calendar year by each selected financial institution under this program.

(d)  Recommendations concerning the continuation, expansion, improvement, or termination of this program.

(7)  This section shall stand repealed on June 30, 2000, and upon such repeal, the designated short-term treasury deposits shall be returned to the Treasurer.

History.--ss. 29, 37, ch. 94-136; s. 127, ch. 96-320.

¹Note.--Repealed December 31, 2005, by s. 37, ch. 94-136.