(a) There is established a child care facilities loan guarantee program for the purpose of guaranteeing loans for the expansion or development of child care and child development centers in the state. The program shall contain any moneys required by law to be deposited in the program, including, but not limited to, any moneys appropriated by the state, premiums and fees for guaranteeing loans, and proceeds from the sale, disposition, lease or rental of collateral relating to loan guarantees. Any balance remaining in the program at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward in the program for the fiscal year next succeeding. The program shall be used to guarantee loans pursuant to subsection (b) of this section and to pay reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for administration under this section. The Commissioner of Early Childhood may enter into a contract with a quasi-public agency, banking institution or nonprofit corporation to provide for the administration of the program, provided no loan guarantee shall be made from the program without the authorization of the commissioner as provided in subsection (b) of this section. The total aggregate amount of guarantees from the program, with respect to the insured portions of the loan, may not exceed at any one time an amount equal to three times the balance in the guarantee program.

(b) The state, acting by and in the discretion of the commissioner, may guarantee the repayment of loans, including, but not limited to, principal and interest, to a lending institution that has provided funding for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of child care and child development facilities. The total aggregate of any loan guarantee under this section shall be not less than twenty per cent and shall not exceed fifty per cent of the principal amount of the obligation, as determined by approved underwriting standards approved by the commissioner, and upon such terms and conditions as the commissioner may prescribe. The term of any loan guarantee shall be determined by the useful life of the improvement but in no event shall exceed thirty years. The commissioner shall arrange by contract with each lending institution or the borrower to safeguard the interests of the program in the event of a default by the borrower, including, at the discretion of the commissioner, provision for notice to the program of default by the borrower, for foreclosure or other realization upon any security for the loan, for the time and conditions for payment to the lending institution by the program of the amount of any loss to the lending institution guaranteed by the program and for the disposition of the proceeds realized from any security for the loan guaranteed. When it appears desirable for a temporary period upon default or threatened default by the borrower, the commissioner may authorize payments of installments of principal or interest, or both, from the program to the lending institution, and of taxes and insurance, which payments shall be repaid under such conditions as the program may prescribe and the program may also agree to revise terms of financing when such appears pertinent. Upon request of the lending institution, the commissioner may at any time, under such equitable terms and conditions as it may prescribe, consent to the release of the borrower from his liability under the loan or consent to the release of parts of any secured property from the lien of the lending institution.

(c) Priority for loan guarantees shall be given to financing child care centers and child development centers that (1) have obtained accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children or have an application pending for such accreditation, and (2) are included in a local school readiness plan, and (3) shall promote the colocation of programs endorsed by the commissioner pursuant to section 4b-31. School readiness programs, licensed child care providers or nonprofit developers of a child care center operating under a legally enforceable agreement with child care providers are eligible for such guaranteed loans.

(d) The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to establish procedures and qualifications for application for guarantees under this section.

(P.A. 97-259, S. 14, 41; P.A. 11-44, S. 98; P.A. 14-39, S. 38.)

History: P.A. 97-259 effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 11-44 amended Subsecs. (a), (b) and (d) by replacing “Commissioner of Social Services” with “Commissioner of Education”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 14-39 replaced references to Commissioner of Education with references to Commissioner of Early Childhood and amended Subsec. (c) by replacing “Commissioners of Education and Social Services” with “commissioner”, effective July 1, 2014.