15-5-702. Legislative findings and declaration of public necessity.

15-5-702. Legislative findings and declaration of public necessity. (a) The General Assembly finds: (1) That there exists severe economic instability in traditional national and international markets for goods and services produced by the citizens of the State of Arkansas. This instability has caused serious economic distress among the citizens of the state and is manifest in the increasing number of business failures and bankruptcies, both personal and corporate, and the extraordinarily high levels of unemployment. The continued existence of these conditions is inimical to the public health, welfare, safety, morals, and economic security of the citizens and inhabitants of the state; (2) That the economic well-being of the citizens of the State of Arkansas will be enhanced by providing affordable financing to small business enterprises in Arkansas; (3) That there exists a need to leverage private capital, to import capital into Arkansas, and to expand the permanent presence of investment talent in Arkansas; (4) That the state needs to forge strong coinvestment relationships with regional and national investors that best address market inefficiencies in Arkansas; and (5) There exists a need to attract venture capital pools, companies, or partnerships and to expand the range and variety of capital products available through these entities to Arkansas small businesses. (b) For these reasons, the General Assembly finds that there exists in the state an immediate and urgent need to provide the means and methods for providing financing and enhancing and supporting the credit of that financing to: (1) Promote and develop the expansion of existing and the establishment of new small business enterprises for the purpose of further alleviating unemployment within the state and for providing additional employment; (2) Promote and target the resources of the state by leveraging available loan funds through participation with local financial institutions in Arkansas and with agencies of the United States Government; (3) Promote and target resources of the state to further the development of export trade of Arkansas products for the purpose of the economic development of the state and for providing additional employment therefrom; and (4) Target resources of the state toward the development and expansion, especially in rural areas, of technology-oriented small business enterprises, minority-owned small business enterprises, and agriculture-related small business enterprises. (c) It is declared to be the public policy and responsibility of this state to promote the health, welfare, safety, morals, and economic security of its inhabitants through the retention of existing employment and alleviation of unemployment in all phases of agricultural business and industrial enterprises. (d) The General Assembly finds that the public policies and responsibilities of the state as set forth in this section cannot be fully attained without the use of public financing and that the public financing can best be provided by the creation of a Small Business Revolving Loan Fund. (e) It is the purpose of this subchapter to establish programs under which the State of Arkansas, through the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, will provide fiscal resources to assist small business capital development and to assist Arkansas financial institutions to overcome obstacles and constraints in meeting the full range of economically sound financing needs of Arkansas small businesses.