II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1408

To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to promote the cleanup

of abandoned, idled, or underused commercial or industrial facilities,

the expansion or redevelopment of which are complicated by real or

perceived environmental contamination, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 21, 1999

Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself, Mr. MOYNIHAN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to

promote the cleanup of abandoned, idled, or underused

commercial or industrial facilities, the expansion or redevelopment of which are complicated by real or perceived

environmental contamination, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business

5 Brownfields Redevelopment Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PRO2 GRAM SET-ASIDE FOR BROWNFIELD PREVEN3 TION AND REDEVELOPMENT.

4 Section 504 of the Small Business Investment Act

5 of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 697a) is amended by adding at the

6 end the following:

7 ‘‘(c) SET-ASIDE FOR BROWNFIELD PREVENTION

8 AND REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount authorized

10 for financings under this section in each fiscal year,

11 the Administration shall set aside the lesser of

12 $50,000,000 or 10 percent, which shall be used by

13 qualified State and local development companies to

14 finance projects that assist qualified small busi15 nesses (or prospective owners or operators of quali16 fied small businesses) in—

17 ‘‘(A) carrying out site assessment and

18 cleanup activities at brownfield sites or at sites

19 contaminated with petroleum; and

20 ‘‘(B) acquiring new, clean technologies and

21 production equipment.

22 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection—

23 ‘‘(A) the term ‘brownfield site’ has the

24 meaning given that term in section 321(d);

25 ‘‘(B) the term ‘site assessment’ means any

26 investigation of a site determined to be appro-
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1 priate by the President and undertaken pursu2 ant to section 104(b) of the Comprehensive En3 vironmental Response, Compensation, and Li4 ability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(b));

5 ‘‘(C) the term ‘qualified small business’

6 means a small business—

7 ‘‘(i) that—

8 ‘‘(I) has acquired a brownfield

9 site; or

10 ‘‘(II) uses, in the course of doing

11 business, any hazardous substance (as

12 defined in section 101(14) of such Act

13 (42 U.S.C. 9601(14)); and

14 ‘‘(ii) that has limited or no access to

15 capital from conventional sources, as deter16 mined by the Administration; and

17 ‘‘(D) the term ‘qualified State or local de18 velopment company’ has the meaning given that

19 term in section 503(e).’’.

20 SEC. 3. PROMOTION OF SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT

21 COMPANIES FOR BROWNFIELD ACTIVITIES.

22 Title III of the Small Business Investment Act of

23 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681 et seq.) is amended by adding at

24 the end the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 321. SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT COMPANIES FOR

2 BROWNFIELD ACTIVITIES.

3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS

4 INVESTMENT COMPANIES.—The Administration shall pro5 mote the establishment of 1 or more small business invest6 ment companies, the primary purpose of which is to

7 finance—

8 ‘‘(1) cleanup activities for brownfield sites or

9 sites contaminated with petroleum, including those

10 that use innovative or experimental cleanup tech11 nologies; or

12 ‘‘(2) projects that assist small businesses in

13 cleaning up the facilities owned or operated by those

14 small businesses and adopting new, clean tech15 nologies.

16 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO WAIVE CERTAIN FEE.—The

17 Administration may waive any filing fee otherwise re18 quired by the Administration under this title with respect

19 to any small business investment company described in

20 subsection (a).

21 ‘‘(c) SET-ASIDE.—Notwithstanding any other provi22 sion of this title, of the amount authorized for purchases

23 of participating securities and guarantees of debentures

24 under this title in each fiscal year, the Administration

25 shall set aside the lesser of $2,000,000 or 10 percent,
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1 which shall be used to provide leverage to any small busi2 ness investment company described in subsection (a).

3 ‘‘(d) BROWNFIELD SITE DEFINED.—In this section,

4 the term ‘brownfield site’ means an abandoned, idled, or

5 underused commercial or industrial facility, the expansion

6 or redevelopment of which is complicated by real or per7 ceived environmental contamination.’’.

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