HB 789 Summary

• Establishes a biofuel production facility loan guarantee program administered by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to support construction, conversion, expansion, and equipment acquisition for biofuel facilities.

• Sets a maximum aggregate cap of $1,000,000,000 in total loan guarantees available under the program.

• Requires loan guarantee applicants to have an unconditional offtake agreement with a qualified buyer, maintain earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization at minimum 1.5 times the loan's interest and amortization, and pay an annual fee of one percent of the guarantee value.

• Mandates insurance coverage for revenue losses from force majeure events or production failures, and requires transfer of the facility to the State in case of loan default.

• Requires the department to submit annual reports to the Governor and Legislature by February 1st detailing program progress and operations.