Finance Committee hears plan to raise Business Finance Authority contingent credit cap to $450 million

Representative Dan McGuire introduced House Bill 10 42 to the House Finance Committee, saying the measure would raise the state's unified contingent credit limit to allow the Business Finance Authority (BFA) to back larger loan guarantees for recruiting employers. "I would like to introduce House Bill 10 42, raising the unified contingent credit limit," McGuire told members.

Sponsor Representative Sweeney, who provided written testimony, told the committee the authority's contingent credit cap functions as a state-backed line of credit used to guarantee loans to established companies that bring large numbers of jobs to New Hampshire. "This is not for startups," he said; "this is more of, like, the line of credit that the state's going back it." He added the cap covers principal and that statutory language allows interest to be…