BILL REQ. #:  S-0909.1 

Read first time 01/29/09.   Referred to Committee on Economic Development, Trade & Innovation.

     AN ACT Relating to providing support for small business assistance; amending RCW 28B.30.530 and 30.60.010; adding a new section to chapter 82.32 RCW; and adding a new section to chapter 28B.30 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 28B.30.530 and 1984 c 77 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The board of regents of Washington State University shall establish the Washington State University small business development center and such satellite offices as the administrator of the center deems appropriate.
     (2) The center shall provide management and technical assistance including but not limited to training, counseling, and research services to small businesses throughout the state. The center shall work with ((public and private community development and economic assistance agencies and shall work towards the goal of coordinating activities with such agencies)) the Washington economic development commission, the department of community, trade, and economic development, the workforce training and education coordinating board, the employment security department, the higher education coordinating board, and the state board for community and technical colleges to:
     (a) Integrate small business development centers with other state economic development and workforce development programs;
     (b) Facilitate the development of interinstitutional entrepreneurial education, training, and assistance programs; and
     (c) Coordinate services to avoid duplication of services.
     (3) The administrator of the center may contract with other public or private entities for the provision of specialized services.
     (4) The small business ((and)) development center may accept and disburse federal grants or federal matching funds or other funds or donations from any source when made, granted, or donated to carry out the center's requirements and purposes. The center may use funds from the business assistance account created in section 4 of this act to support satellite offices, increase the assistance, including the number of small business plan workshops and business counselors, available to small and start-up businesses, and develop new assistance programs.

Sec. 2   RCW 30.60.010 and 2008 c 240 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In conducting an examination of a bank chartered under Title 30 RCW, the director shall investigate and assess the record of performance of the bank in meeting the credit needs of the bank's entire community, including low and moderate-income neighborhoods. The director shall accept, in lieu of an investigation or part of an investigation required by this section, any report or document that the bank is required to prepare or file with one or more federal agencies by the act of Congress entitled the "Community Reinvestment Act of 1977" and the regulations promulgated in accordance with that act, to the extent such reports or documents assist the director in making an assessment based upon the factors outlined in subsection (2) of this section.
     (2) In making an investigation required under subsection (1) of this section, the director shall consider, independent of any federal determination, the following factors in assessing the bank's record of performance:
     (a) Activities conducted by the institution to ascertain credit needs of its community, including the extent of the institution's efforts to communicate with members of its community regarding the credit services being provided by the institution;
     (b) The extent of the institution's marketing and special credit related programs to make members of the community aware of the credit services offered by the institution;
     (c) The extent of participation by the institution's board of directors in formulating the institution's policies and reviewing its performance with respect to the purposes of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977;
     (d) Any practices intended to discourage applications for types of credit set forth in the institution's community reinvestment act statement(s);
     (e) The geographic distribution of the institution's credit extensions, credit applications, and credit denials;
     (f) Evidence of prohibited discriminatory or other illegal credit practices;
     (g) The institution's record of opening and closing offices and providing services at offices;
     (h) The institution's participation, including investments, in local community and microenterprise development projects;
     (i) The institution's origination of residential mortgage loans, housing rehabilitation loans, home improvement loans, and small business or small farm loans within its community, or the purchase of such loans originated in its community;
     (j) The institution's participation in governmentally insured, guaranteed, or subsidized loan programs for housing, small businesses, or small farms;
     (k) The institution's ability to meet various community credit needs based on its financial condition, size, legal impediments, local economic condition, and other factors;
     (l) The institution's sponsorship of small business development center offices and their counseling, training, and other small business assistance services; and
     (m) Other factors that, in the judgment of the director, reasonably bear upon the extent to which an institution is helping to meet the credit needs of its entire community.
     (3) The director shall include as part of the examination report, a summary of the results of the assessment required under subsection (1) of this section and shall assign annually to each bank a numerical community reinvestment rating based on a one through five scoring system. Such numerical scores shall represent performance assessments as follows:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 82.32 RCW to read as follows:
     Upon issuing a registration certificate under RCW 82.32.030, the department must collect a business assistance fee of five dollars. The entire business assistance fee must be deposited in the business assistance account created in section 4 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 28B.30 RCW to read as follows:
     The business assistance account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the expansion of business assistance services delivered by the small business development center created in RCW 28B.30.530. Only the administrator of the center or the administrator's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.