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03/28/2024 08:27 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20190&cosponId=27780
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 16, 2019 10:19 AM
From: Senator James R. Brewster and Sen. Vincent J. Hughes, Sen. John T. Yudichak
To: All Senate members
Subject: Maximizing the use of the Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund
 
In the near future, we plan to re-introduce Senate Bill 924 which supports the manufacturing sector by maximizing the use of the Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund. This legislation is part of a package of legislation designed to aid our manufacturers, workers, and small businesses, or as well as rebuild our manufacturing base.

A thriving manufacturing sector is vital to the Commonwealth’s economic health. According to the Center for Manufacturing Research, manufacturing accounts for 12 percent of the total gross domestic product output and over $85.15 billion in economic output. More than 9 percent of our workforce is employed in the manufacturing sector.

The Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund (MELF) is a revolving loan fund that provides low-interest loans to business enterprises in industrial processes, mining, manufacturing, production agriculture, information technology, biotechnology, service as a medical facility and other industrial or technology sectors to finance machinery and equipment purchases.

Since its creation in 2004, MELF’s maximum loan amount has been capped at $5 million, even though the cost of machinery and equipment, etc. has increased substantially over the past decade. This legislation proposes to increase the maximum loan amount to $7.5 million to provide businesses with greater access to cheap capital.

In addition, our bill proposes to allocate up to $5 million of any ending year balance in the Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund to a grant program to assist community colleges, career and technical schools and vocational programs with machinery and equipment purchases. This amount would be in addition to the annual appropriation in the General Fund budget and would ensure that our students have access to the proper resources to pursue their career training.

We believe it’s important to improve our manufacturing sector through enhanced vocational training and adapting facilities to new modern technology. We hope that you will join us in in sponsoring this legislation.

If you have any questions please contact Senator Brewster’s office at 717-787-5580.




Introduced as SB265