HF 3722

2nd Committee Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/22/2009 12:39pm

A bill for an act
relating to economic development; providing military reservist economic injury
loans; defining terms; appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2007
Supplement, section 116L.17, subdivision 1; proposing coding for new law in
Minnesota Statutes, chapter 116J.

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

Section 1.

new text begin [116J.996] MILITARY RESERVIST ECONOMIC INJURY LOANS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin (a) The definitions in this subdivision apply to this
section.
new text end

new text begin (b) "Active service" has the meaning given in section 190.05.
new text end

new text begin (c) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of employment and economic
development.
new text end

new text begin (d) "Eligible business" means a small business, as defined in section 645.445, that
was operating in Minnesota on the date a military reservist received orders for active
service.
new text end

new text begin (e) "Essential employee" means a military reservist who is an owner or employee
of an eligible business and whose managerial or technical expertise is critical to the
day-to-day operation of the eligible business.
new text end

new text begin (f) "Military reservist" means a member of the reserve component of the armed
forces.
new text end

new text begin (g) "Reserve component of the armed forces" has the meaning given it in United
States Code, title 10, section 101(c).
new text end

new text begin (h) "Substantial economic injury" means an economic harm to an eligible business
that results in the inability of the eligible business to:
new text end

new text begin (1) meet its obligations as they mature;
new text end

new text begin (2) pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses; or
new text end

new text begin (3) manufacture, produce, market, or provide a product or service ordinarily
manufactured, produced, marketed, or provided by the eligible business.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Loan program. new text end

new text begin The commissioner may make onetime, interest-free loans
of up to $20,000 per borrower to eligible businesses that have sustained or are likely to
sustain substantial economic injury as a result of the call to active service for 180 days
or more of an essential employee. Loans must be made for the purpose of preventing,
remedying, or ameliorating the substantial economic injury.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Revolving loan account. new text end

new text begin The commissioner shall use money appropriated
for the purpose to establish a revolving loan account. All repayments of loans made
under this section must be deposited into this account. Interest earned on money in the
account accrues to the account. Money in the account is appropriated to the commissioner
for purposes of the loan program created in this section, including costs incurred by the
commissioner to establish and administer the program.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Rules. new text end

new text begin Using the expedited rulemaking procedures of section 14.389, the
commissioner shall develop and publish expedited rules for loan applications, use of
funds, needed collateral, terms of loans, and other details of military reservist economic
injury loans.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, section 116L.17, subdivision 1, is
amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Definitions.

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms
have the meanings given them in this subdivision.

(b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of employment and economic
development.

(c) "Dislocated worker" means an individual who is a resident of Minnesota at the
time employment ceased or was working in the state at the time employment ceased and:

(1) has been permanently separated or has received a notice of permanent separation
from public or private sector employment and is eligible for or has exhausted entitlement
to unemployment benefits, and is unlikely to return to the previous industry or occupation;

(2) has been long-term unemployed and has limited opportunities for employment
or reemployment in the same or a similar occupation in the area in which the individual
resides, including older individuals who may have substantial barriers to employment by
reason of age;

(3) has been terminated or has received a notice of termination of employment as a
result of a plant closing or a substantial layoff at a plant, facility, or enterprise;

(4) has been self-employed, including farmers and ranchers, and is unemployed as a
result of general economic conditions in the community in which the individual resides
or because of natural disasters;

(5) has been permanently separated from employment in a restaurant, bar, or
lawful gambling organization from October 1, 2007, to October 1, 2009, due to the
implementation of any state law prohibiting smoking; deleted text begin or deleted text end

new text begin (6) is a veteran as defined by section 197.447, has been discharged or released from
active duty under honorable conditions within the last 36 months, and (i) is unemployed or
(ii) is employed in a job which pays less than what the veteran could verifiably earn; or
new text end

deleted text begin (6) deleted text end new text begin (7) new text end is a displaced homemaker. A "displaced homemaker" is an individual who
has spent a substantial number of years in the home providing homemaking service and
(i) has been dependent upon the financial support of another; and now due to divorce,
separation, death, or disability of that person, must find employment to self support; or (ii)
derived the substantial share of support from public assistance on account of dependents
in the home and no longer receives such support.

To be eligible under this clause, the support must have ceased while the worker
resided in Minnesota.

(d) "Eligible organization" means a state or local government unit, nonprofit
organization, community action agency, business organization or association, or labor
organization.

(e) "Plant closing" means the announced or actual permanent shutdown of a single
site of employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site of
employment.

(f) "Substantial layoff" means a permanent reduction in the workforce, which is
not a result of a plant closing, and which results in an employment loss at a single site
of employment during any 30-day period for at least 50 employees excluding those
employees that work less than 20 hours per week.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 3. new text begin APPROPRIATION; MILITARY RESERVIST ECONOMIC INJURY
LOANS.
new text end

new text begin $500,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of employment
and economic development in fiscal year 2009 for military reservist economic injury loans
under Minnesota Statutes, section 116J.996.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 4. new text begin APPROPRIATION; DISLOCATED WORKERS.
new text end

new text begin $500,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of employment
and economic development in fiscal year 2009 for expenditures related to dislocated
workers who are eligible veterans under Minnesota Statutes, section 116L.17, subdivision
1, paragraph (c), clause (6).
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 5. new text begin DUPLICATE APPROPRIATIONS.
new text end

new text begin Unless another act explicitly provides otherwise, appropriations made in this act
and other acts must be implemented only once even if the provision or a similar provision
with the same fiscal effect in the same fiscal year is included in another act. This section
applies to laws enacted in the 2008 regular session.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end