(a) Establishment.--There is hereby established a separate account in the State Treasury, to be known as the Industrial Sites Cleanup Fund, which shall be a special fund administered by the Department of Commerce.¹ Within 60 days of the effective date of this act, the Department of Commerce shall finalize guidelines and issue application forms to administer this fund.

(b) Purpose.--The Industrial Sites Cleanup Fund is to provide financial assistance to persons who did not cause or contribute to the contamination on property used for industrial activity on or before the effective date of this act and who propose to undertake a voluntary cleanup of the property. The financial assistance shall be in an amount of up to 75% of the costs incurred for completing an environmental study and implementing a cleanup plan by an eligible applicant. Financial assistance may be in the form of grants as provided in this section or low-interest loans, to be lent at a rate not to exceed 2%.

(c) Grants.--Grants may be made to political subdivisions or their instrumentalities or local economic development agencies for the purposes of this section if the grantee owns the site on which the cleanup is being conducted and the grantee is overseeing the cleanup. The total amount of grants awarded under this section in any one fiscal year shall not exceed 20% of the total amount of the Industrial Sites Cleanup Fund.

(d) Loans.--Loans meeting the requirements of subsection (b) may be made to the following categories of applicants:

(e) Priority for financial assistance.--The Department of Commerce shall take all of the following factors into consideration when determining which applicants shall receive financial assistance under this section:

The Department of Commerce shall consult with the department when determining priorities for funding under this section.

(f) Terms and conditions.--The Department of Commerce shall have the power to set terms and conditions applicable to loans and grants it deems appropriate. The Department of Commerce may consider such factors as it deems relevant, including current market interest rates and the necessity to maintain the moneys in this fund in a financially sound manner. Loans may be made based upon the ability to repay from future revenue to be derived from the cleanup, by a mortgage or other collateral, or on any other fiscal matters which the Department of Commerce deems appropriate.

(g) Funds.--In addition to any funds appropriated by the General Assembly, $15,000,000 shall be transferred upon approval of the Governor from the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund established by the act of October 18, 1988 (P.L. 756, No. 108),² known as the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act, to the Industrial Sites Cleanup Fund for the purpose of implementing the program established in this section. Moneys received by the Department of Commerce as repayment of outstanding loans shall be deposited in the fund. Any interest earned by moneys in this fund shall remain in this fund. Moneys in the fund are hereby appropriated to the Department of Commerce for the purpose of implementing this section.

(h) Annual report.--The Department of Commerce shall on October 1 of each year report to the General Assembly on the grants, loans, expenditures and commitments made from this fund. The annual report shall include an evaluation of the effectiveness of this fund in recycling industrial and commercial sites. The evaluation shall include any recommendations for additional changes if necessary to improve the effectiveness of this fund in recycling such sites.