§12-6-9e. Legislative findings; loans for industrial development; availability of funds and interest rates.

(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the citizens of the state benefit from the creation of jobs and businesses within the state; that a business and industrial development loan program provides for economic growth and stimulation within the state; that loans from pools established in the consolidated fund will assist in providing the needed capital to assist business and industrial development; and that time constraints relating to business and industrial development projects prohibit duplicative review by both the board and the West Virginia economic development authority board. The Legislature further finds and declares that an investment in the West Virginia enterprise capital fund, LLC, of moneys in the consolidated fund as hereinafter provided will assist in creating jobs and businesses within the state and providing the needed risk capital to assist business and industrial development. This section is enacted in view of these findings.

(b) The board shall make available, subject to cash availability, in the form of a revolving loan, up to $175,000,000 from the consolidated fund to loan the West Virginia economic development authority for business or industrial development projects authorized by section seven, article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code and to consolidate existing loans authorized to be made to the West Virginia economic development authority pursuant to this section and pursuant to section twenty, article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code which authorizes a $150,000,000 revolving loan, and article eighteen-b, chapter thirty-one of this code which authorizes a $50,000,000 investment pool: Provided, That the West Virginia economic development authority may not loan more than $15,000,000 for any one business or industrial development project. The revolving loan authorized by this subsection must be secured by one note at a variable interest rate equal to the twelve-month average of the board's yield on its cash liquidity pool. The rate must be set on the first day of July and the rate must be adjusted annually on the same date. The maximum annual adjustment may not exceed one percent. Monthly payments made by the West Virginia economic development authority to the board must be calculated on a one hundred twenty-month amortization. The revolving loan must be secured by a security interest that pledges and assigns the cash proceeds of collateral from all loans under this revolving loan pool. The West Virginia economic development authority may also pledge as collateral certain revenue streams from other revolving loan pools which source of funds does not originate from federal sources or from the board.

The outstanding principal balance of the revolving loan from the board to the West Virginia economic development authority may at no time exceed one hundred three percent of the aggregate outstanding principal balance of the business and industrial loans from the West Virginia economic development authority to economic development projects funded from this revolving loan pool. This provision must be certified annually by an independent audit of the West Virginia economic development authority financial records.

(c) The interest rates and maturity dates on the loans made by the West Virginia economic development authority for business and industrial development projects authorized by section seven, article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code must be at competitive rates and maturities as determined by the West Virginia economic development authority board.

(d) Any and all outstanding loans made by the board, or any predecessor entity, to the West Virginia economic development authority must be refunded by proceeds of the revolving loan contained in this section and no loans may be made hereafter by the board to the West Virginia economic development authority pursuant to section twenty, article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code or article eighteen-b of said chapter.

(e) The trustees of the board bear no fiduciary responsibility as provided in section eleven of this article with specific regard to the revolving loan contemplated in this section.

(f) Subject to cash availability, the board shall make available to the West Virginia economic development authority from the consolidated fund a nonrecourse loan in an amount up to $25,000,000, for the purpose of the West Virginia economic development authority making a loan or loans from time to time to the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation, an affiliated nonprofit corporation of the West Virginia economic development authority. The respective loans authorized by this subsection by the board to the West Virginia economic development authority and by the West Virginia economic development authority to the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation must each be evidenced by one note and must each bear interest at the rate of three percent per annum. The proceeds of any and all loans made by the West Virginia economic development authority to the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation pursuant to this subsection must be invested by the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation in the West Virginia enterprise capital fund, LLC, the manager of which is the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation. The loan to West Virginia economic development authority authorized by this subsection must be nonrevolving, and advances thereunder must be made at times and in amounts as may be requested or directed by the West Virginia economic development authority, upon reasonable notice to the board, the loan authorized by this subsection is not subject to or included in the limitations set forth in subsection (b) of this section with respect to the $15,000,000 limitation for any one business or industrial development project and limitation of one hundred three percent of outstanding loans, and may not be included in the revolving fund loan principal balance for purposes of calculating the loan amortization in subsection (b) of this section. The loan authorized by this subsection to the West Virginia economic development authority must be classified by the board as a long-term, fixed income investment, must bear interest on the outstanding principal balance thereof at the rate of three percent per annum payable annually on or before the thirtieth day of June of each year, and the principal of which must be repaid no later than June 30, 2020, in annual installments due on or before June 30 of each year, which annual installments must commence no later than June 30, 2003, in annual principal amounts as may be agreed upon between the board and the West Virginia economic development authority, and which annual installments need not be equal. The loan authorized by this subsection must be nonrecourse and must be payable by the West Virginia economic development authority solely from amounts or returns received by the West Virginia economic development authority in respect of the loan authorized by this subsection to the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation, whether in the form of interest, dividends, realized capital gains, return of capital or otherwise, in all of which the board must have a security interest to secure repayment of the loan to the West Virginia economic development authority authorized by this subsection. Any and all loans from the West Virginia economic development authority to the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation made pursuant to this subsection must also bear interest on the outstanding principal balance thereof at the rate of three percent per annum payable annually on or before the thirtieth day of June of each year, must be nonrecourse and must be payable by the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation solely from amounts of returns received by the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation in respect of its investment in the West Virginia enterprise capital fund, LLC, whether in the form of interest, dividends, realized capital gains, return of capital or otherwise, in all of which the board must have a security interest to secure repayment of the loan to the West Virginia economic development authority authorized by this subsection. In the event the amounts or returns received by the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation in respect of its investment in the West Virginia enterprise capital fund, LLC, are not adequate to pay when due the principal or interest installments, or both, with respect to the loan from the West Virginia economic development authority and, as a result thereof, the West Virginia economic development authority is unable to pay the principal or interest installments, or both, with respect to the loan authorized by this subsection by the board to the West Virginia economic development authority, the principal or interest, or both, as the case may be due on the loan made to the West Virginia economic development authority pursuant to this subsection must be deferred, and any and all of these past-due principal and interest payments must promptly be paid to the fullest extent possible upon receipt by the West Virginia enterprise advancement corporation of moneys in respect of its investments in the West Virginia enterprise capital fund, LLC. The trustees or the board bear no fiduciary responsibility as provided in section eleven of this article with regard to the loan authorized by this subsection.