SD31 - Report of the Virginia Small Business Commission Concerning the Capital Access Needs of Rural Small Business Enterprises


    Executive Summary:
    House Joint Resolution 34 (1996) directed the Virginia Small Business Commission to study the capital access needs of small businesses engaged in agribusiness, agriculture and aquaculture (Appendix A). The resolution called for an examination of the current sufficiency of financing for new and expanding business operations in these principally rural markets. A Commission subcommittee chaired by Delegate A. Victor Thomas of Roanoke was established to receive testimony on these issues from representatives of Virginia's agriculture, banking, academic, and regulatory communities. Commission members appointed to the subcommittee were as follows: Delegates I. Vincent Behm, Jr., of Hampton and Glenn R. Croshaw of Virginia Beach; and Senators Charles R. Hawkins of Chatham and Edward L. Schrock of Virginia Beach. Bernice Travers of Richmond, a commission citizen member, was also appointed to serve.

    By way of background, the HJR 34 study was a recommendation of a 1995 joint subcommittee studying alternative strategies for assisting the Commonwealth's tobacco farmers. That subcommittee determined that Virginia lacks a strategy for attracting privately managed investment and working capital to its agricultural communities. The subcommittee also concluded that the lending criteria and capital limits for Virginia's current economic development financial assistance programs currently favor manufacturing and industrial business. Consequently, this study was recommended by the joint subcommittee.