SB 168: "An Act relating to loans made by the commercial fishing loan program."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 168 01 "An Act relating to loans made by the commercial fishing loan program." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 16.10.310(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) The department may 05 (1) make loans 06 (A) to individual commercial fishermen who have been state 07 residents for a continuous period of two years immediately preceding the date 08 of application for a loan under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370, who have had a 09 crewmember or commercial fishing license under AS 16.05.480 or a permit 10 under AS 16.43 for the year immediately preceding the date of application and 11 any other two of the past five years, [AND] who actively participated in the 12 fishery during those periods, and whose application for identical financing 13 has been declined by the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture 14 Bank 15 (i) for the purchase of entry permits;
01 (ii) to upgrade existing vessels and gear for the purpose 02 of improving the quality of Alaska seafood products; or 03 (iii) to satisfy past due federal tax obligations that may 04 result in the execution on and involuntary transfer of the individual 05 commercial fishermen's entry permits, to the extent allowed under (e) 06 of this section; 07 (B) to an individual for the repair, restoration, or upgrading of 08 existing vessels and gear, for the purchase of entry permits and gear, for the 09 construction and purchase of vessels, or, to the extent allowed under (e) of this 10 section, to satisfy past due federal tax obligations that may result in the 11 execution on and involuntary transfer of the individual's entry permits, if the 12 individual has been a state resident for a continuous period of two years 13 immediately preceding the date of application for a loan under AS 16.10.300 - 14 16.10.370, and either 15 (i) because of lack of training or lack of employment 16 opportunities in the area of residence, does not have occupational 17 opportunities available other than commercial fishing; or 18 (ii) is economically dependent on commercial fishing 19 for a livelihood and for whom commercial fishing has been a traditional 20 way of life in Alaska; 21 (C) for the purchase of quota shares for fisheries in or off the 22 state by individual commercial fishermen [WHO] 23 (i) who have been state residents for a continuous 24 period of two years immediately preceding the date of application for a 25 loan under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370; 26 (ii) who for any two of the past five years, possessed a 27 crewmember or commercial fishing license under AS 16.05.480 or a 28 permit under AS 16.43 and actively participated in a fishery for which 29 the license or permit was issued; 30 (iii) who qualify as transferees for quota shares under 31 applicable law; and
01 (iv) whose application [ARE NOT ELIGIBLE] for 02 identical financing [FROM OTHER RECOGNIZED COMMERCIAL 03 LENDING INSTITUTIONS] to purchase quota shares has been 04 declined by the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank; 05 (2) designate agents and delegate its powers to them as necessary; 06 (3) adopt regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of 07 AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370, including regulations to establish reasonable fees for 08 services provided; 09 (4) establish amortization plans for repayment of loans, which may 10 include extensions for poor fishing seasons or for adverse market conditions for 11 Alaska products; 12 (5) enter into agreements with private lending institutions, other state 13 agencies, or agencies of the federal government to carry out the purposes of 14 AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370; 15 (6) enter into agreements with other agencies or organizations to create 16 an outreach program to make loans under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370 in rural areas of 17 the state; 18 (7) allow an assumption of a loan if 19 (A) the applicant has been a state resident for a continuous 20 period of two years immediately preceding the date of the request for an 21 assumption; and 22 (B) approval of the assumption would be consistent with the 23 purposes of AS 16.10.300; an applicant for a loan assumption may not be 24 disqualified because the applicant does not meet the loan eligibility 25 requirements of (1) of this subsection; 26 (8) prequalify loan applicants for a limited entry permit loan or a quota 27 shares loan and charge a fee not to exceed $200 for prequalification; 28 (9) charge and collect the fees established under this subsection; 29 (10) refinance a debt obligation incurred by a borrower or borrowers 30 under this section if the borrower or borrowers otherwise qualify for a loan under 31 AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370 and if the borrower's or borrowers' application for
01 identical refinancing of the debt obligation has been declined by the Alaska 02 Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank; the department shall collect a 03 refinancing loan origination charge of one-half percent of the amount of the debt 04 obligation that has been refinanced when the first refinancing payment is due; 05 (11) refinance debt obligations, not to exceed $300,000, incurred by a 06 borrower or borrowers for the purchase of a commercial fishing vessel or gear if the 07 borrower or borrowers otherwise qualify for a loan under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370 08 and if the borrower's or borrowers' application for identical refinancing of the 09 debt obligations has been declined by the Alaska Commercial Fishing and 10 Agriculture Bank; the department may collect a refinancing loan origination charge 11 as provided by regulation. 12 * Sec. 2. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska enacted in sec. 3, ch. 127, SLA 2000, is 13 repealed and reenacted to read: 14 Sec. 3. AS 16.10.310(a) is amended to read: 15 (a) The department may 16 (1) make loans 17 (A) to individual commercial fishermen who have been state 18 residents for a continuous period of two years immediately preceding the date 19 of application for a loan under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370, who have had a 20 crewmember or commercial fishing license under AS 16.05.480 or a permit 21 under AS 16.43 for the year immediately preceding the date of application and 22 any other two of the past five years, who actively participated in the fishery 23 during those periods, and whose application for identical financing has been 24 declined by the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank 25 (i) for the purchase of entry permits; or 26 (ii) to upgrade existing vessels and gear for the purpose 27 of improving the quality of Alaska seafood products; [OR 28 (iii) TO SATISFY PAST DUE FEDERAL TAX 29 OBLIGATIONS THAT MAY RESULT IN THE EXECUTION ON 30 AND INVOLUNTARY TRANSFER OF THE INDIVIDUAL 31 COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN'S ENTRY PERMITS, TO THE
01 EXTENT ALLOWED UNDER (e) OF THIS SECTION;] 02 (B) to an individual for the repair, restoration, or upgrading of 03 existing vessels and gear, for the purchase of entry permits and gear, and for 04 the construction and purchase of vessels [, OR, TO THE EXTENT 05 ALLOWED UNDER (e) OF THIS SECTION, TO SATISFY PAST DUE 06 FEDERAL TAX OBLIGATIONS THAT MAY RESULT IN THE 07 EXECUTION ON AND INVOLUNTARY TRANSFER OF THE 08 INDIVIDUAL'S ENTRY PERMITS], if the individual has been a state 09 resident for a continuous period of two years immediately preceding the date 10 of application for a loan under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370, and either 11 (i) because of lack of training or lack of employment 12 opportunities in the area of residence, does not have occupational 13 opportunities available other than commercial fishing; or 14 (ii) is economically dependent on commercial fishing 15 for a livelihood and for whom commercial fishing has been a traditional 16 way of life in Alaska; 17 (C) for the purchase of quota shares for fisheries in or off the 18 state by individual commercial fishermen 19 (i) who have been state residents for a continuous 20 period of two years immediately preceding the date of application for a 21 loan under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370; 22 (ii) who for any two of the past five years, possessed a 23 crewmember or commercial fishing license under AS 16.05.480 or a 24 permit under AS 16.43 and actively participated in a fishery for which 25 the license or permit was issued; 26 (iii) who qualify as transferees for quota shares under 27 applicable law; and 28 (iv) whose application for identical financing to 29 purchase quota shares has been declined by the Alaska Commercial 30 Fishing and Agriculture Bank; 31 (2) designate agents and delegate its powers to them as necessary;
01 (3) adopt regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of 02 AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370, including regulations to establish reasonable fees for 03 services provided; 04 (4) establish amortization plans for repayment of loans, which may 05 include extensions for poor fishing seasons or for adverse market conditions for 06 Alaska products; 07 (5) enter into agreements with private lending institutions, other state 08 agencies, or agencies of the federal government to carry out the purposes of 09 AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370; 10 (6) enter into agreements with other agencies or organizations to create 11 an outreach program to make loans under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370 in rural areas of 12 the state; 13 (7) allow an assumption of a loan if 14 (A) the applicant has been a state resident for a continuous 15 period of two years immediately preceding the date of the request for an 16 assumption; and 17 (B) approval of the assumption would be consistent with the 18 purposes of AS 16.10.300; an applicant for a loan assumption may not be 19 disqualified because the applicant does not meet the loan eligibility 20 requirements of (1) of this subsection; 21 (8) prequalify loan applicants for a limited entry permit loan or a quota 22 shares loan and charge a fee not to exceed $200 for prequalification; 23 (9) charge and collect the fees established under this subsection; 24 (10) refinance a debt obligation incurred by a borrower or borrowers 25 under this section if the borrower or borrowers otherwise qualify for a loan under 26 AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370 and if the borrower's or borrowers' application for identical 27 refinancing of the debt obligation has been declined by the Alaska Commercial 28 Fishing and Agriculture Bank; the department shall collect a refinancing loan 29 origination charge of one-half percent of the amount of the debt obligation that has 30 been refinanced when the first refinancing payment is due; 31 (11) refinance debt obligations, not to exceed $300,000, incurred by a
01 borrower or borrowers for the purchase of a commercial fishing vessel or gear if the 02 borrower or borrowers otherwise qualify for a loan under AS 16.10.300 - 16.10.370 03 and if the borrower's or borrowers' application for identical refinancing of the debt 04 obligations has been declined by the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture 05 Bank; the department may collect a refinancing loan origination charge as provided by 06 regulation. 07 * Sec. 3. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 08 read: 09 APPLICABILITY. AS 16.10.310(a), as amended by sec. 1 of this Act, applies to 10 persons who apply for a loan or for debt refinancing under the Commercial Fishing Loan Act 11 on or after the effective date of this Act.