0974 Pollution Control Financing Authority
Program Descriptions

0860 - POLLUTION CONTROL TAX-EXEMPT BOND PROGRAM

The objective of this program is to provide bond financing to California businesses, irrespective of company size, for the acquisition, construction, or installation of qualified pollution control, waste disposal, water furnishing, wastewater treatment, waste recovery facilities, and the acquisition and installation of new equipment. Tax-exempt financing issued by CPCFA assists municipalities in complying with waste diversion mandates of the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989. As of June 30, 2015, bonds totaling approximately $14.4 billion have been issued by CPCFA.

0865 - CALIFORNIA CAPITAL ACCESS PROGRAM (CalCAP) FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

The objective of this program is to encourage banks and other financial institutions to make loans to small businesses. CalCAP for Small Businesses is a form of loan portfolio insurance that may provide up to 100 percent coverage on certain loan defaults. By participating in CalCAP, lenders have available to them a proven financing mechanism to meet the financing needs of California's small businesses. The strength of CalCAP rests in its simplicity and its leverage of federal and state funds. The program works through the creation of a loan loss-reserve fund for each participating financial institution. The CPCFA funds this reserve together with the financial institution and the borrower. Additional incentives are provided to lend to businesses located in specified economically depressed areas. The reserve serves to reduce loan-loss risk, allowing banks to lend to targeted California small businesses. Chapter 731, Statutes of 2010, appropriated $6 million General Fund to CalCAP to increase lending efforts. As of June 30, 2015, approximately $2.6 million of the $6 million has been used to assist small businesses.

In addition, California was awarded an allocation of federal funds in the amount of $168.6 million from the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). CPCFA and the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-BIZ) equally share this allocation and have available $84.3 million each. These funds have enabled CPCFA to significantly expand the availability of its CalCAP program statewide. In addition, in the first quarter of 2013, CPCFA launched the Collateral Support Program to assist more small businesses and utilize the SSBCI Federal funds. The funds are allocated to California in three installments based on program progress, with CPCFA receiving approximately $27 million in March 2011, $27 million in December 2013, and $29 million in August 2015.

Utilizing the CalCAP model, CPCFA has partnered with the Air Resources Board (ARB) to assist diesel truck and equipment owners in meeting new clean air requirements by directing a total of $70 million in Air Quality Improvement Program funds towards the purchase or retrofit of diesel trucks to comply with ARB's Statewide Truck and Bus Rule. CPCFA has also partnered with the California Energy Commission to implement a $2 million pilot program to provide credit enhancements and rebates to small businesses borrowers who install electric vehicle charging stations. Similarly, CPCFA is partnering with the Department of Resources, Recycling, and Recovery to assist with the financing of important state recycling objectives.

0870 - CALIFORNIA RECYCLE UNDERUTILIZED SITES (CALReUSE) PROGRAM

The CALReUSE program assists with the reuse and redevelopment of underutilized properties with real or perceived contamination issues (brownfields). CALReUSE addresses a funding and information gap in the development of brownfields to help bring these properties into productive reuse. Beginning in 2000, the CALReUSE Assessment Program provided forgivable loans of up to $300,000 per brownfield site. The funds assisted with brownfield site assessment and characterization, technical assistance, remedial action plans and site access. Eligible projects included sites with potential beneficial reuse not currently redeveloped due to lack of information about real or perceived contamination, uncertainty about clean-up costs, or concerns regarding time frames and the regulatory process.

Additionally, Proposition 1C, the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006, included provisions to fund brownfield cleanup that resulted in the expansion of CALReUSE. The CALReUSE Remediation Program received $60 million in Proposition 1C funds and is providing up to $5 million per project in loans and grants for the purpose of brownfield cleanup that promotes infill residential and mixed-used development, including affordable housing, consistent with regional and local land use plans.

0875 - ALTERNATIVE FINANCING PROGRAMS

Under its authority to provide alternative methods of financing facilities for pollution control, clean water supply and alternative energy production, CPCFA is developing alternative financing models to assist sister agencies with achieving the state's environmental goals. CPCFA is authorized to receive and accept contributions from other sources including federal and state agencies to carry out the purposes of its statutory authority.

0876 - CALIFORNIA CAPITAL ACCESS PROGRAM (CalCAP) FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABLITIES ACT

The objective of this program, created by Chapter 787, Statutes of 2015 (AB 1230), is to help small businesses comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and increase access for their employees and customers by encouraging lenders and other financial institutions to make loans to very small businesses to finance tenant improvements. The Legislature provided CPCFA a continuous appropriation of $10 million effective January 1, 2016 to administer a credit enhancement program following the CalCAP model and create loan loss reserve accounts for lenders that enroll qualifying loans into the program.

0877 - CALIFORNIA SEISMIC SAFETY CAPITAL ACCESS LOAN PROGRAM

The California Seismic Safety Capital Access Loan Program provides an accessible loan program to qualified small businesses and residential property owners for costs related to seismic retrofitting. The Program encourages banks and other financial institutions to participate by creating loan loss reserve accounts for lenders that enroll qualifying loans into the program. The loans to small businesses and residential property owners are for financing seismic retrofits of real property to reduce losses and mitigate seismic damage.