FL S1480

Establishes the Florida Microfinance Act creating two programs: the Microfinance Loan Program and the Microfinance Guarantee Program to expand access to credit for entrepreneurs and small businesses in Florida.

Microfinance Loan Program: Department of Economic Opportunity contracts with 1-3 loan administrators by December 1, 2014 to provide short-term, fixed-rate microloans up to $50,000 with maximum interest rate of prime rate plus 1000 basis points, paired with business management training and technical assistance.

Microfinance Guarantee Program: Department contracts with Enterprise Florida, Inc. to guarantee loans of $50,000-$250,000 with guarantee not exceeding 50 percent of total loan amount, with leverage ratio not exceeding 3 to 1.

Loan administrators and Enterprise Florida, Inc. must meet annual reporting requirements including loan performance data, job creation numbers, and financial results; Department of Economic Opportunity must submit annual reports to legislature on both programs.

Appropriates $10 million in nonrecurring General Revenue Fund for 2014-2015 fiscal year to implement the act, with up to $100,000 authorized for marketing and promotional purposes; requires Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to evaluate program effectiveness by January 1, 2018.