Amendment: Hiring Subsidies and SME Loans Act 651

Article 2: Business Loan Extensions

2.1 - Renames `The Business Competition Act (Inter)` to `The Business Competition Act (651)`

2.2 - Amends Article 2, 2.1.1 to 2.1.2 in `The Business Competition Act (651)` as per clause 2.2.1 to 2.2.3 below.

2.2.1 - Authorizes Government loans for medium businesses, with a threshold of 5,000,000 florins annual income in the last financial year.

2.2.2 - Authorizes Government loans for small businesses, with a threshold of 1,000,000 florins annual income in the last financial year.

2.2.3 - Authorizes Government loans for start-up or micro businesses with less than 100,000 florins of starting capital.

2.3 - Authorizes F200,000,000 Florins per quarter to the Better Business Council to release as grants to ailing businesses.

Article 3 - Short-term hiring subsidies for SMEs

3.1 - Authorises the Ministry of Commerce and Labour to manage, review, audit applications, and grant hiring subsidies.

3.2 - Hiring subsidies are short-term and will be enacted for a period of 3 years after passage in the General Assembly.

3.3 - The Ministry of Commerce and Labour will be allocated 10 billion florins per year as subsidy funding.

3.4 - Wage subsidies will be provided to SMEs as defined in Article 1 and based on reported average income over the past 5 years, as of the current financial year.

3.4.1 - SMEs with a reported average loss of up to 20% may apply for a subsidy of 20,000 florins per new hire.

3.4.2 - SMEs with a reported average loss of greater than 20% may apply for a subsidy of 40,000 florins per new hire.

3.5 - Hiring subsidies will only apply if an employee will work on average 20 or more hours per week.

3.6 - Businesses may not release an employee from employment and rehire the same employee, that is, the hiring subsidy must go towards genuine new hires.

Written and Proposed by Jack Williams, MGM, Party Leader of the KSDP.