SECTIONS 63000-63002 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 63000-63002

63000. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) Economic revitalization, future development, and a healthy
climate for jobs in California will depend upon a well-conceived
system of public improvements that are essential to the economic
well-being of the citizens of the state and are necessary to
maintain, as well as create, employment within the state for
business.
(b) It is necessary for public policy to support the efforts of
businesses attempting to expand, businesses seeking to locate in
California, and local economic development organizations, public
agencies, and new entrepreneurs by dedicating public fiscal resources
to confront obstacles and barriers that impede economic growth.
(c) Existing mechanisms that coordinate federal, state, local, and
private financial resources are inadequate to attract and sustain
that level of private investment that is essential to a growth
economy.
(d) In order to secure and enhance the economic well-being of
Californians, promote economic development in the state, and provide
a healthy climate for the creation of jobs, it is necessary for
public policy to support the efforts of expanding businesses,
businesses seeking to locate in California, local development
organizations, public bodies, and new entrepreneurs to gain access to
capital through current and potential operations of financial
markets.
(e) The high cost and the lack of availability of industrial loans
for small- and medium-size businesses is making it difficult for
thousands of these enterprises to get established, to maintain their
present employment levels, or to expand employment.
(f) The problem of access to capital is acute in the high
technology industry clusters because companies must often finance
large capital expenditures early in their development cycle, and
cannot obtain financing sufficient to cover the cost of those
expenditures. Consideration should be given to industry clusters
identified by the Economic Strategy Panel that may include the
following:
(1) Health care technology.
(2) Multimedia.
(3) Environmental technology.
(4) Information technology.
(g) The high cost and limited availability of loans and capital
has led a number of states to take action to remedy these conditions
through concerted public and private investment programs that include
efforts to do the following:
(1) Use the state's access to capital markets more effectively for
economic development.
(2) Create financing pools to access national capital markets or
help government sponsors and public-private economic development
organizations obtain credit enhancement on their own.
(3) Facilitate credit enhancement for selected specific projects.
(4) Provide or arrange for loan insurance.
(5) Create and support secondary markets for loan portfolios of
urban and rural economic development corporations and others.
(6) Improve access to international capital markets.
(7) Provide opportunities for public pension funds and other
institutional investors to play a larger role in state economic
development.
(8) Arrange for or provide subordinated debt for selected
projects.
(9) Increase support for local infrastructure development.
(h) Local governments in California bear a primary responsibility
for the business of promoting job creation and economic development
efforts. California's continued reliance on autonomous local entities
often fails to adequately consider regional impacts of business
expansion. Projects of a regional nature need the benefit of a state
coordinating function to augment and enhance local economic
development and environmental efforts.
(i) The State of California has not embarked on a major
infrastructure financing effort since the decade of the 1960's,
despite persistent unemployment and soaring population growth.
(j) California's ability to compete in a global economy depends
upon its capacity to implement policies that take maximum advantage
of public and private resources at the local, regional, state, and
national levels. These policies should be coordinated with any future
legislative plan involving growth management strategies designed to
make economic growth compatible with environmental protections. It is
the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to create a
mechanism to finance projects needed to implement economic
development and job creation and growth management strategies, and to
provide a secure and stable funding source for implementation of
this act in order to meet critical economic, social, and
environmental concerns.
(k) The State of California needs a financing entity structured
with broad authority to issue bonds, provide guarantees, and leverage
state and federal funds using techniques that will target public
investment to facilitate economic development. The goal is to produce
more private sector jobs with less public sector investment.
(l) The mechanisms for financing public improvements and private
job creation strategies provided for in this act are in the public
interest, serve a public purpose, and will promote the health,
welfare, and safety of the citizens of the state.
(m) The public policies and responsibilities of the state,
including all of the above purposes and functions, cannot be fully
obtained without the use of financing assistance and can be most
effectively furthered by the creation of the California
Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank.

63002. This division shall be known and may be cited as the
Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act.