I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4310

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to make noninterest bearing loans 

to State and local governments solely for the purpose of funding capital 

projects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2004

Mr. LAHOOD (for himself, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. JEFFERSON, 

Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. SHIMKUS, and Mrs. JONES of 

Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Government Reform 

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to make noninterest 

bearing loans to State and local governments solely for 

the purpose of funding capital projects, 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 ‘‘State and Local Gov5 ernment Economic Empowerment Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 

2 FOR INTEREST-FREE LOANS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), each 

4 State, county, incorporated municipality, and Indian tribe 

5 shall be entitled to obtain a loan under section 3, unless 

6 such unit of government is delinquent in repaying a prior 

7 loan. 

8 (b) MAXIMUM AMOUNT LIMITATION.—The total 

9 amount of money to which any entity described in sub10 section (a) is entitled to borrow under this section shall 

11 not exceed the amount equal to the product of—

12 (1) the resident population, as determined by 

13 the Secretary on the basis of the 2000 census, of the 

14 geographic territory over which the entity has juris15 diction; and 

16 (2) the amount equal to—

17 (A) in the case of a State, $200; 

18 (B) in the case of a county (as defined in 

19 section 2 of title 1, United States Code), $200; 

20 (C) in the case of an incorporated munici21 pality, $600; and 

22 (D) in the case of an Indian tribe, $1,000. 

23 SEC. 3. INTEREST-FREE LOANS. 

24 Subject to sections 2(b) and 4, the Secretary shall 

25 issue an interest-free loan to any government unit de26 scribed in section 2(a) if the Secretary obtains such assur-
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1 ances as the Secretary determines to be appropriate from 

2 the unit that the proceeds of such loan will be used solely 

3 for the purpose of funding capital projects of the govern4 mental unit, including the construction of or improve5 ments to—

6 (1) streets, highways, bridges, and tunnels; 

7 (2) water and sewer systems; 

8 (3) waste disposal systems; and 

9 (4) public buildings and other public facilities. 

10 SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS. 

11 (a) DISBURSEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—Loans made 

12 under section 3 shall be disbursed by the Secretary—

13 (1) in a lump sum for the full amount of the 

14 loan; or 

15 (2) if the Secretary determines that partial dis16 bursements are appropriate in the case of loans for 

17 construction projects in order to accommodate a 

18 greater number of loan requests, over the construc19 tion period of the project. 

20 (b) MINIMUM PHASE-IN PERIOD.—Disbursements on 

21 all eligible loans made under section 3 shall begin before 

22 the end of the 5-year period beginning on the date of en23 actment of this Act. 

24 (c) PERIOD TO MATURITY.—The period to maturity 

25 of any loan made under section 3 shall be the estimated 
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1 number of years of the useful life of the infrastructure 

2 installation (if any) which is financed by the loan, but, 

3 in any case, shall be a minimum of 10 years and a max4 imum of 30 years. 

5 (d) APPLICABILITY OF STATE LAW.—The number or 

6 the principal amounts of interest-free loans made under 

7 section 3 to any governmental unit established by a State, 

8 or the period to maturity of any such loan, may not exceed 

9 the maximum number, amount, or period to maturity es10 tablished under the law of such State, unless the State 

11 provides a waiver from any such limitation with respect 

12 to any such governmental unit. 

13 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE FEES.—The Secretary shall im14 pose an administrative fee on each recipient of a loan 

15 under section 3 in an amount not to exceed the lesser of—

16 (1) 0.25 percent of the total amount of the 

17 loan; or 

18 (2) an amount sufficient to cover all adminis19 trative costs incurred by the Secretary, including 

20 overhead, for making and administering the loan. 

21 (f) TERMS OF REPAYMENT.—The repayment terms 

22 of any loan made under section 3 shall require quarterly 

23 payments by the recipient in equal amounts determined 

24 by dividing—
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1 (1) the sum of the principal and the adminis2 trative fees applicable with respect to such loan; by 

3 (2) the number of calendar quarters any por4 tion of which falls within the period to maturity of 

5 the loan. 

6 (g) COLLECTIONS OF PAST DUE AMOUNTS AND COL7 LECTION FEES.—

8 (1) ENFORCED COLLECTIONS.—The Secretary 

9 shall take action to enforce collection of past due 

10 amounts of any loan on which 4 or more quarterly 

11 payments are due and payable. 

12 (2) IMPOUNDMENT OF DELINQUENT

13 AMOUNT.—In the case of any delinquent loan de14 scribed in paragraph (1), the Secretary may seek an 

15 order from a district court of the United States of 

16 appropriate jurisdiction directing a United States 

17 Marshall to impound, under authority of this sub18 section, any available funds of the debtor in an 

19 amount equal to the amount currently due as of the 

20 date of such action to reduce or eliminate the delin21 quency. 

22 (3) WAIVER OF DEBTOR’S RIGHT TO DEFEND

23 AGAINST COLLECTION.—As a condition for receiving 

24 any loan under section 3, the recipient shall waive 

25 any right to take any legal action to prevent or de-
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1 fend against the collection by the Secretary of any 

2 amount which the parties agree is past due. 

3 (4) COST OF COLLECTION.—The costs incurred 

4 by the Secretary in collecting any amount under this 

5 subsection with respect to any loan shall be added 

6 to and treated as a part of the principal amount of 

7 the loan. 

8 (5) BALANCE OF LOAN PRINCIPAL AND FEES

9 PAYABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH TERMS OF LOAN.—

10 A debtor who is subject to collection proceedings 

11 under this subsection for any delinquent portion of 

12 a loan under section 3 shall continue to meet the re13 payment schedule applicable to such loan for the re14 maining amount of principal and fees. 

15 (h) REPAYMENT OF LOANS.—Loans made under sec16 tion 3 shall be repaid to the Secretary in accordance with 

17 the terms established under this Act and shall be deposited 

18 into the Treasury of the United States. 

19 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

20 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

21 apply: 

22 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

23 the Secretary of Commerce. 

24 (2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 

25 means any Indian tribe, band, pueblo, nation, or 
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1 other organized group or community, including any 

2 Alaska Native village or regional or village corpora3 tion as defined in or established pursuant to the 

4 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which is rec5 ognized as eligible for the special programs and serv6 ices provided by the United States to Indians be7 cause of their status as Indians. 

8 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the 

9 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

10 Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States 

11 Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. 

12 SEC. 6. PROGRAM AUTHORITY. 

13 In accordance with the provisions of this Act, there 

14 are hereby made available, out of any money in the Treas15 ury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be nec16 essary to make loans to all entities described in section 

17 2(a).

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