Governor O'Malley Joins President Obama for Signing of Small Business Jobs Act of 2010

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley today joined President Barack Obama, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, U.S. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills, Congressional leaders and three small business owners from Maryland at The White House East Room for the signing of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297). Governor O'Malley was invited to attend the signing in recognition of the leadership role the O'Malley-Brown Administration played in helping craft an important provision in H.R. 5297 – the $1.5 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), which will expand the capacity of small business loan guarantee programs that 34 states and U.S. territories have currently. The SSBCI is based in part on Maryland's MIDFA loan guarantee program, which has helped to leverage more than $2.2 billion of private sector financing over the years for Maryland businesses.

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"It was an honor to join President Obama and three Maryland small business owners – Synergy Enterprises, Tactical Network Solutions and K. Neal International Truck – for the signing of the Small Business Jobs Act, which will make significant progress toward restoring the flow of credit to our small businesses that have been crippled by tougher lending standards and devalued collateral," said Governor O'Malley. "Maryland was pleased to play a role in helping to craft this legislation and working with our federal partners to move it forward, allowing our small businesses to once again focus on growing and creating jobs."    

"In Maryland, we have been able to help a number of small businesses already by backing a portion of  their loans, in many cases enabling them to expand and add jobs," said Christian S. Johansson, Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary, who also joined Governor O'Malley at the signing today. "We look forward to using these funds to expand the capacity of Maryland's program, which currently has more than $150 million in potential loans in the pipeline."

At a National Governor's Association meeting in February, Governor O'Malley rallied the bi-partisan support of 28 Governors to put forth a request to President Obama to help close the credit gap for small businesses, which paved the way for the establishment of the SSBCI. Governor O'Malley based his proposal on Maryland's Small Business Credit Recovery Program, a version of the State's MIDFA program which was launched in 2009 to connect small businesses with lenders. The O'Malley-Brown Administration also worked with U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner and his team to craft the bill. In addition, at Governor O'Malley's request, Secretary Johansson testified before the House Financial Services Committee earlier this year to make the case for the potential of loan guaranty programs like MIDFA and help move the Small Business Jobs Act forward.

Working with a number of local banks, including The Harbor Bank of Maryland, M & T Bank and others, the Maryland Small Business Credit Recovery Program has already been able to back $5.7 million in loans for a number of Maryland's small businesses. For more information on what the Small Business Jobs Act means for small businesses, visit http://www.sba.gov/jobsandcapital/

"The Harbor Bank of Maryland was pleased to work with our State partners to help craft the Small Business Credit Recovery Program and assist our small businesses in gaining access to credit," said Joseph Haskins, President and CEO of The Harbor Bank of Maryland. "The State guarantee provides an additional source of support that has encouraged The Harbor Bank to increase lending to small businesses during these challenging economic times and we look forward to continuing to use the program."

"Governor O'Malley understands that small businesses are major drivers of our economy," said Donald C. Fry, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee. "Crafting state and federal policies that enable sustainable access to credit for small business owners addresses a core issue that relates directly to our future business growth."

In the past year, the O'Malley-Brown Administration has implemented an aggressive agenda of new and expanded programs to create jobs, retain jobs and improve the conditions that allow businesses large and small to create and save jobs, including: 

• Pioneering the Jobs Creation and Recovery Tax Credit;
• Modernizing the State's unemployment insurance trust fund, and maintaining its solvency by leveraging federal funds.
• Creating InvestMaryland, an administrative and legislative proposal designed to support the growth of the state's knowledge based industries by stimulating investment in the Maryland Venture Fund.

On Wednesday, the O'Malley-Brown Administration will kick off a series of credit workshops statewide to ensure our local lenders are aware of all of the State and federal finance programs available to help small businesses access credit. For more information, or to register for the workshops, please visit www.choosemaryland.org

SOURCE Office of Governor O'Malley