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April 5, 2016
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Lampitt, Mosquera & Green Bill to Boost Creation of
Small, Women- & Minority-Owned Businesses Clears Assembly Panel
(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by
Assembly Democrats Pamela Lampitt, Gabriela Mosquera and Jerry Green that to
expand the scope and reach of small, women and minority-owned businesses
throughout New Jersey by providing loans through the New Jersey Economic
Development Authority was released Monday by an Assembly panel.
“Loans and investment capital are harder
to come by for women- and minority-owned businesses, which puts these
businesses at a disadvantage from the start,” said Lampitt
(D-Camden/Burlington). “This helps level the playing field and allows small,
women- and minority-owned businesses to take advantage of loans that can help
them sustain and build up their businesses.”
“Small businesses are critical to the
strength of local economies,” said Green (D-Middlesex/Somerset/Union). “Expanding
opportunities for small, women- and minority owned businesses not only helps
these businesses thrive, but contributes to the stability of the communities
where they operate.”
“Businesses owned by women and
minorities lag behind in revenue, which means these businesses do not have
enough to invest and grown their businesses,” said Mosquera
(D-Camden/Gloucester). “Expanding the loans that women and minority business
owners can apply for can help reverse this.”
Under the bill (A-1451), in the event
that the Economic Development Authority begins making direct loans to small,
women- and minority-owned businesses, manufacturers, redevelopers or nonprofit
organizations in areas designated by the State Development and Redevelopment
Plan as urban centers, it must also include such businesses located in “regional
centers” surrounding these urban areas.
Accordingly, qualified businesses in
regional centers or metropolitan planning areas would be permitted to receive
direct loans under a program by the EDA entitled the “Urban Plus Program.”
The Urban Plus Program provides
financial support in the form of loans from the EDA with a below-market
interest rate to qualified community and economic development projects,
manufacturers, redevelopers and not-for-profit organizations in the following endorsed
New Jersey municipalities: Camden, Trenton, Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, New
Brunswick, Asbury Park and Atlantic City.
Under this bill, small, women – and
minority- owned businesses in the following surrounding regional centers would
now qualify for loans: North Wildwood City, West Wildwood Borough, Wildwood
City, Millville City, Vineland City, Princeton Borough, Princeton Twp., Long
Branch City, Red Bank Borough, Dover Town, Morristown, Stafford Twp., Salem
City, Bridgewater Twp., Somerville, Raritan Borough, Newton, Cape May Court
House, Ocean City, Middle Twp. Bridgeton City, and Woolwich.
A “qualified business” is defined in the
bill as a business that is established by the EDA as a small, woman-owned, or
minority-owned New Jersey-based business, manufacturer, redeveloper, or
non-profit organization that is unable to obtain funding from conventional
sources, notwithstanding the assistance of an EDA guarantee.
The bill was advanced by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
