STBTC/SB 175
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AN ACT
RELATING TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; AMENDING THE CHILD CARE
FACILITY REVOLVING LOAN FUND; ALLOWING THE EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION AND CARE DEPARTMENT AND THE NEW MEXICO FINANCE
AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT FOR SERVICES WITH PROVIDERS OR
EMPLOYERS SEEKING TO CREATE OR EXPAND CHILD CARE PROGRAMS FOR
AN EMPLOYER'S EMPLOYEES; PROVIDING CONDITIONS; EXPANDING USES
OF THE LOANS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 24-24-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003,
Chapter 316, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"24-24-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Child Care
Facility Loan Act:
A. "authority" means the New Mexico finance
authority;
B. "department" means the early childhood
education and care department;
C. "facility" means a child care facility operated
by a provider, including both family home-based and
center-based programs, licensed by the department to provide
care to infants, toddlers and children;
D. "fund" means the child care facility revolving
loan fund;
E. "operating capital" means funds needed to meet STBTC/SB 175
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short-term obligations, such as accounts payable, wages,
debt servicing, lease and income tax payments; and
F. "provider" means a person, entity or employer
licensed by the department to provide child care to infants,
toddlers and children pursuant to Section 9-2A-8 NMSA 1978."
SECTION 2. Section 24-24-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003,
Chapter 316, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"24-24-4. FUND CREATED--ADMINISTRATION.--
A. The "child care facility revolving loan fund"
is created in the authority to provide low-interest,
long-term loans to providers to make health and safety
improvements in their facilities, expand their facilities,
create new facilities and for operating capital. The fund
shall consist of appropriations, gifts, grants and donations
to the fund, which shall be invested as provided in the
New Mexico Finance Authority Act. Money in the fund shall
not revert. Administrative costs of the authority may be
paid from the fund.
B. Money in the fund shall be used to make loans
to providers or to contract for services with providers that
demonstrate the need for operating capital or to make health
and safety improvements, including space expansion, in order
to maintain an adequate and appropriate environment for their
clients; to providers seeking to expand child care
facilities; and to providers seeking to create new child care STBTC/SB 175
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facilities, including for employers to create child care
facilities for the employer's employees. Loans from the fund
are to be made at an interest rate greater than zero percent
for a term that does not exceed the useful life of the
project being financed.
C. The department and the authority may contract
for services with an eligible provider to provide child care
for child care assistance eligible families as reasonably
adequate legal consideration for money from the fund;
provided that within a period of time prescribed in the
contract of disbursement of the loan, the provider:
(1) is located in a designated child care
desert;
(2) provides care during non-traditional
hours;
(3) demonstrates that at least fifty percent
of the children that the provider or employer serves are
recipients of a child care assistance program expanded or
created by the provider;
(4) demonstrates that the number of children
served by the provider increased by at least ten percent; and
(5) satisfies other qualifications as
determined by the department and the authority.
D. No more than twenty percent of the fund may be
loaned for a single provider in a single project. The STBTC/SB 175
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department shall give priority for loans to providers that
serve proportionately high numbers of state-subsidized
clients and low-income families that are located in
communities with high poverty rates and that provide
nontraditional-hour child care.
E. The department, in conjunction with the
authority, shall adopt rules to administer and implement
the Child Care Facility Loan Act, including providing
for eligibility requirements and for the selection of
applicants based on department-defined priority. The rules
shall become effective when filed in accordance with the State
Rules Act."