Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Section 5-1002

      (a)      The General Assembly finds that:

            (1)      The inability of socially or economically disadvantaged persons to obtain working capital is a major limitation on their opportunity to win and perform government and other contracts;

            (2)      In many instances on record, a socially or economically disadvantaged person has been awarded a government or other contract, but has lacked the working capital to post a performance bond, buy supplies needed to begin the work, or pay employees and, therefore, has been unable to accept the contract;

            (3)      Certain persons are unable to obtain government and other contracts for reasons other than the cost to the owner or the ability of the person to perform the contract work competently;

            (4)      In many instances on record, socially or economically disadvantaged persons lack adequate capital to sustain and expand their businesses and to hire and train employees;

            (5)      High risk, problem, or uncollectible loans are not in the interest of a financial institution and, therefore, financial institutions generally are reluctant to lend money to socially or economically disadvantaged persons with insufficient records of performance;

            (6)      The inability of businesses owned by socially or economically disadvantaged persons to obtain long-term financing is a major limitation upon their opportunity to survive and expand; and

            (7)      It is in the interest of the public welfare and purpose to promote the viability and expansion of businesses owned by economically or socially disadvantaged persons, to retain or increase the employment of economically or socially disadvantaged persons, and to provide a larger taxable base for the economy of this State.

      (b)      The purposes of the Authority are:

            (1)      To assist socially or economically disadvantaged persons to obtain working capital that is adequate to begin, continue, and complete projects, the majority of funding for which is provided by government entities or utilities;

            (2)      To encourage socially or economically disadvantaged persons to seek government and other contracts;

            (3)      To encourage financial institutions to make loans to these persons; and

            (4)      To assist small businesses that, because they do not meet the established credit criteria of financial institutions, are unable to obtain adequate business financing on reasonable terms through normal financing channels.