HB147 Summary

• Establishes the Alabama Disaster Small Business Bridge Loan Act to provide short-term loans of $1,000 to $25,000 to small businesses suffering physical damage from declared disasters.

• Designates the Alabama Department of Commerce as administrator with the State Industrial Development Authority authorized to obtain a line of credit up to $25 million per disaster from commercial lenders or investment banking groups.

• Requires eligible businesses to be located in disaster-declared areas, established at least one year prior, employ 2-100 persons, be at least 51% Alabama-owned, and have directly suffered physical damage.

• Establishes loan terms of 90 or 180 days as determined by the department, with proceeds used only for maintaining or restarting business operations in the disaster area.

• Pledges the full faith, credit, and resources of the state as security for repayment of the line of credit, with the department required to seek legislation for funding loan defaults and interest costs.