The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) Economic revitalization, future development, and a healthy climate for jobs in California will depend upon a well-conceived system of public improvements that are essential to the economic well-being of the citizens of the state and are necessary to maintain, as well as create, employment within the state for business.
(b) It is necessary for public policy to support the efforts of businesses attempting to expand, businesses seeking to locate in California, and local economic development organizations, public agencies, and new entrepreneurs by dedicating public fiscal resources to confront obstacles and barriers that impede economic growth.
(c) Existing mechanisms that coordinate federal, state, local, and private financial resources are inadequate to attract and sustain that level of private investment that is essential to a growth economy.
(d) In order to secure and enhance the economic well-being of Californians, promote economic development in the state, and provide a healthy climate for the creation of jobs, it is necessary for public policy to support the efforts of expanding businesses, businesses seeking to locate in California, local development organizations, public bodies, and new entrepreneurs to gain access to capital through current and potential operations of financial markets.
(e) The high cost and the lack of availability of industrial loans for small- and medium-size businesses is making it difficult for thousands of these enterprises to get established, to maintain their present employment levels, or to expand employment.
(f) The problem of access to capital is acute in the high technology industry clusters because companies must often finance large capital expenditures early in their development cycle, and cannot obtain financing sufficient to cover the cost of those expenditures. Consideration should be given to industry clusters that may include the following:
(1) Health care technology.
(2) Multimedia.
(3) Environmental technology.
(4) Information technology.
(g) The high cost and limited availability of loans and capital has led a number of states to take action to remedy these conditions through concerted public and private investment programs that include efforts to do the following:
(1) Use the state’s access to capital markets more effectively for economic development.
(2) Create financing pools to access national capital markets or help government sponsors and public-private economic development organizations obtain credit enhancement on their own.
(3) Facilitate credit enhancement for selected specific projects.
(4) Provide or arrange for loan insurance.
(5) Create and support secondary markets for loan portfolios of urban and rural economic development corporations and others.
(6) Improve access to international capital markets.
(7) Provide opportunities for public pension funds and other institutional investors to play a larger role in state economic development.
(8) Arrange for or provide subordinated debt for selected projects.
(9) Increase support for local infrastructure development.
(h) Local governments in California bear a primary responsibility for the business of promoting job creation and economic development efforts. California’s continued reliance on autonomous local entities often fails to adequately consider regional impacts of business expansion. Projects of a regional nature need the benefit of a state coordinating function to augment and enhance local economic development and environmental efforts.
(i) The State of California has not embarked on a major infrastructure financing effort since the decade of the 1960’s, despite persistent unemployment and soaring population growth.
(j) California’s ability to compete in a global economy depends upon its capacity to implement policies that take maximum advantage of public and private resources at the local, regional, state, and national levels. These policies should be coordinated with any future legislative plan involving growth management strategies designed to make economic growth compatible with environmental protections. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to create a mechanism to finance projects needed to implement economic development and job creation and growth management strategies, and to provide a secure and stable funding source for implementation of this act in order to meet critical economic, social, and environmental concerns.
(k) The State of California needs a financing entity structured with broad authority to issue bonds, provide guarantees, and leverage state and federal funds using techniques that will target public investment to facilitate economic development. The goal is to produce more private sector jobs with less public sector investment.
(l) The mechanisms for financing public improvements and private job creation strategies provided for in this act are in the public interest, serve a public purpose, and will promote the health, welfare, and safety of the citizens of the state.
(m) The public policies and responsibilities of the state, including all of the above purposes and functions, cannot be fully obtained without the use of financing assistance and can be most effectively furthered by the creation of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank.
(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 31, Sec. 13. (AB 119) Effective June 29, 2011. Operative January 1, 2012, by Sec. 20 of Ch. 31.)