                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS (§ 2.2-2279)

A. This article shall be known and may be cited as the &#8220;Virginia Small
Business Financing Act.&#8221;

B. As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
			&#8220;Business enterprise&#8221; means any (i) industry for the
manufacturing, processing, assembling, storing, warehousing, servicing,
distributing, or selling of any products of agriculture, mining, or industry or
professional services; (ii) commercial enterprise making sales or providing
services to industries described in clause (i); (iii) enterprise for research
and development, including scientific laboratories; (iv) not-for-profit entity
operating in the Commonwealth; (v) entity acquiring, constructing, improving,
maintaining, or operating a qualified transportation facility under the
Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 33.2-1800 et seq.); (vi) entity
acquiring, constructing, improving, maintaining, or operating a qualified energy
project; (vii) entity acquiring, constructing, improving, maintaining, or
operating a qualified pollution control project; (viii) entity that modernizes
public school buildings or facilities pursuant to Article 3 (§ 22.1-141.1 et
seq.) of Chapter 9 of Title 22.1; or (ix) other business as will be in
furtherance of the public purposes of this article.
			&#8220;Cost,&#8221; as applied to the eligible business, means the cost of
construction; the cost of acquisition of all lands, structures, rights-of-way,
franchises, easements, and other property rights and interests; the cost of
demolishing, removing, rehabilitating, or relocating any buildings or structures
on lands acquired, including the cost of acquiring any such lands to which such
buildings or structures may be moved, rehabilitated, or relocated; the cost of
all labor, materials, machinery and equipment, financing charges, letter of
credit or other credit enhancement fees, insurance premiums, interest on all
bonds prior to and during construction or acquisition and, if deemed advisable
by the Authority, for a period not exceeding one year after completion of such
construction or acquisition, cost of engineering, financial and legal services,
plans, specifications, studies, surveys, estimates of cost and of revenues,
commissions, guaranty fees, other expenses necessary or incident to determining
the feasibility or practicality of constructing, financing, or operating a
project of an eligible business; administrative expenses, provisions for working
capital, reserves for interest and for extensions, enlargements, additions,
improvements and replacements, and such other expenses as may be necessary or
incidental to the construction or acquisition of a project of an eligible
business or the financing of such construction, acquisition, or expansion and
the placing of a project of an eligible business in operation. Any obligation or
expense incurred by the Commonwealth or any agency thereof, with the approval of
the Authority for studies, surveys, borings, preparation of plans and
specifications, or other work or materials in connection with the construction
or acquisition of a project of an eligible business may be regarded as a part of
the cost of a project of an eligible business and may be reimbursed to the
Commonwealth or any agency thereof out of the proceeds of the bonds issued
therefor.
			&#8220;Eligible business&#8221; means any person engaged in one or more
business enterprises in the Commonwealth that satisfies one or more of the
following requirements: (i) is a for-profit enterprise that (a) has received $10
million or less in annual gross income under generally accepted accounting
principles for each of its last three fiscal years or lesser time period if it
has been in existence less than three years, (b) has fewer than 250 employees,
(c) has a net worth of $2 million or less, (d) exists for the sole purpose of
developing or operating a qualified transportation facility under the
Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 33.2-1800 et seq.), (e) exists for
the primary purpose of developing or operating a qualified energy project, (f)
is required by state or federal law to develop or operate a qualified pollution
control project, or (g) meets such other satisfactory requirements as the Board
shall determine from time to time if it finds and determines such person is in
need of its assistance or (ii) is a not-for-profit entity granted tax-exempt
status under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and operating in the
Commonwealth.
			&#8220;Federal Act&#8221; means the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, 15
U.S.C. § 661 et seq., as amended from time to time.
			&#8220;Indenture&#8221; means any trust agreement, deed of trust, mortgage,
or other security agreement under which bonds authorized pursuant to this
article shall be issued or secured.
			&#8220;Internal Revenue Code&#8221; means the federal Internal Revenue Code
of 1986, as amended.
			&#8220;Lender&#8221; means any federal- or state-chartered bank, federal land
bank, production credit association, bank for cooperatives, federal- or
state-chartered savings institution, building and loan association, small
business investment company, or any other financial institution qualified within
the Commonwealth to originate and service loans, including insurance companies,
credit unions, investment banking or brokerage companies, and mortgage loan
companies.
			&#8220;Loan&#8221; means any lease, loan agreement, or sales contract defined
as follows:

   1. &#8220;Lease&#8221; means any lease containing an option to purchase the
   project or projects of the eligible business being financed for a nominal sum
   upon payment in full, or provision thereof, of all bonds issued in connection
   with the eligible business and all interest thereon and principal of and
   premium, if any, thereon and all other expenses in connection therewith.

   2. &#8220;Loan agreement&#8221; means an agreement providing for a loan of
   proceeds from the sale and issuance of bonds by the Authority or by a lender
   with which the Authority has contracted to loan such proceeds to one or more
   contracting parties to be used to pay the cost of one or more projects of an
   eligible business and providing for the repayment of such loan including all
   interest thereon, and principal of and premium, if any, thereon and all other
   expenses in connection therewith, by such contracting party or parties and
   which may provide for such loans to be secured or evidenced by one or more
   notes, debentures, bonds, or other secured or unsecured debt obligations of
   such contracting party or parties, delivered to the Authority or to a trustee
   under an indenture pursuant to which the bonds were issued.

   3. &#8220;Sales contract&#8221; means a contract providing for the sale of one
   or more projects of an eligible business to one or more contracting parties
   and includes a contract providing for payment of the purchase price including
   all interest thereon, and principal of and premium, if any, thereon and all
   other expenses in connection therewith, in one or more installments. If the
   sales contract permits title to a project being sold to an eligible business
   to pass to such contracting party or parties prior to payment in full of the
   entire purchase price, it also shall provide for such contracting party or
   parties to deliver to the Authority or to the trustee under the indenture
   pursuant to which the bonds were issued, one or more notes, debentures, bonds,
   or other secured or unsecured debt obligations of such contracting party or
   parties providing for timely payments of the purchase price thereof.
   				&#8220;Municipality&#8221; means any county or incorporated city or town
   in the Commonwealth.
   				&#8220;Preferred lender&#8221; means a bank that is subject to continuing
   supervision and examination by state or federal chartering, licensing, or
   similar regulatory authority satisfactory to the Authority and that meets the
   eligibility requirements established by the Authority.
   				&#8220;Qualified energy project&#8221; means a solar-powered or
   wind-powered electricity generation facility located in the Commonwealth on
   premises owned or leased by an eligible customer-generator, as defined in
   &#xA7; 56-594, the electricity generated from which is sold exclusively to the
   eligible customer-generator under a power purchase agreement used to provide
   third party financing of the costs of such a renewable generation facility
   (third party power purchase agreement) pursuant to a pilot program established
   under Chapter 382 of the Acts of Assembly of 2013.
   				&#8220;Qualified pollution control project&#8221; means environmental
   pollution control and prevention equipment certified by the business
   enterprise or eligible business as being needed to comply with the federal
   Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. &#xA7; 7401 et seq.), the federal Clean Water Act (33
   U.S.C. &#xA7; 1251 et seq.), or the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42
   U.S.C. &#xA7; 6901 et seq.).
   				&#8220;Revenues&#8221; means any and all fees, rates, rentals, profits,
   and receipts collected by, payable to, or otherwise derived by, the Authority,
   and all other moneys and income of whatsoever kind or character collected by,
   payable to, or otherwise derived by, the Authority in connection with loans to
   any eligible business in furtherance of the purposes of this article.
   				&#8220;Statewide Development Company&#8221; means the corporation
   chartered under this article for purposes of qualification as a state
   development company as such term is defined in the Federal Act.

HISTORY: 1984, c. 749, §§ 9-197, 9-199; 1996, c. 77; 2001, c. 844; 2003, c.
339; 2008, c. 744; 2009, c. 565; 2014, c. 732; 2019, cc. 818, 819.