LANSING – State-backed loans to farms would be separated from the grant program for horse racing under legislation approved Thursday by the Senate Agriculture Committee. The panel also approved a new fund to support alternative fuel research through an income tax checkoff.
The state already has a guaranteed loan program for farms, but under SB 1497 that would move from its current home in the Julian-Stille Value-Added Act to a new George A. McManus, Jr. Agriculture Innovation Loan Guarantee Act and have the loans overseen by the new Agriculture Innovation Finance Authority.
The authority would be allowed to issue bonds to cover any loans it had to cover for participating lenders. As reported, the new loan program would be capped at $5 million, down from $40 million in the original version.
SB 1244 removes the loan language from the Julina-Stille act and moves authority fro the grants under that act from the Commission of Agriculture to the department director.
The bill would also supplant the original sponsors, renaming the act the George A. McManus Jr. Agriculture Innovation Grant Act.
The committee also approved legislation (SB 1467 ) that would allow taxpayers to apply part of their refund to an alternative fuels fund created under HB 5750 . The fund would be used to promote use and development of alternative fuels.
The only change expected is that the bill would currently take immediate effect, but Treasury legislative liaison Larry Steckelberg asked that it be moved to the 2009 tax year to give the department time to prepare the forms. “We’re kind of late in the day for taxland,” he said.
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