40 CFR § 35.3530 - Limitations on uses of the Fund.

§ 35.3530 Limitations on uses of the Fund.

(a) Earn interest. A State may earn interest on monies deposited into the Fund prior to disbursement of assistance (e.g., on reserve accounts used as security or guarantees). Monies deposited must not remain in the Fund primarily to earn interest. Amounts not required for current obligation or expenditure must be invested in interest bearing obligations.

(b) Program administration. A State may not use monies deposited into the Fund to cover its program administration costs. In addition to using the funds available from the administration and technical assistance set-aside under § 35.3535(b), a State may use the following methods to cover its program administration and other program costs.

(1) A State may use the proceeds of bonds guaranteed by the Fund to absorb expenses incurred issuing the bonds. The net proceeds of the bonds must be deposited into the Fund.

(2) A State may assess fees on an assistance recipient which are paid directly by the recipient and are not included as principal in a loan as allowed in paragraph (b)(3) of this section. These fees, which include interest earned on fees, must be deposited into the Fund or into an account outside of the Fund. If the fees are deposited into the Fund, they are subject to the authorized uses of the Fund. If the fees are deposited into an account outside of the Fund, they must be used for program administration, other purposes for which capitalization grants can be awarded under section 1452, State match under sections 1452(e) and (g)(2) of the Act, or combined financial administration of the DWSRF program and CWSRF program Funds where the programs are administered by the same State agency.

(3) A State may assess fees on an assistance recipient which are included as principal in a loan. These fees, which include interest earned on fees, must be deposited into the Fund or into an account outside of the Fund. If the fees are deposited into the Fund, they are subject to the authorized uses of the Fund. If the fees are deposited into an account outside of the Fund, they must be used for program administration or other purposes for which capitalization grants can be awarded under section 1452. Fees included as principal in a loan cannot be used for State match under sections 1452(e) and (g)(2) of the Act or combined financial administration of the DWSRF program and CWSRF program Funds. Additionally, fees included as principal in a loan:

(i) Cannot be assessed on a disadvantaged community which receives a loan subsidy provided from the 30 percent allowance in § 35.3525(b)(2);

(ii) Cannot cause the effective rate of a loan (which includes both interest and fees) to exceed the market rate; and

(iii) Cannot be assessed if the effective rate of a loan could reasonably be expected to cause a system to fail to meet the technical, financial, and managerial capability requirements under section 1452 of the Act.

(c) Transfers. The Governor of a State, or a State official acting pursuant to authorization from the Governor, may transfer an amount equal to 33 percent of a fiscal year's DWSRF program capitalization grant to the CWSRF program or an equivalent amount from the CWSRF program to the DWSRF program. The following conditions apply:

(1) When a State initially decides to transfer funds:

(i) The State's Attorney General, or someone designated by the Attorney General, must sign or concur in a certification for the DWSRF program and the CWSRF program that State law permits the State to transfer funds; and

(ii) The Operating Agreements or other parts of the capitalization grant agreements for the DWSRF program and the CWSRF program must be amended to detail the method the State will use to transfer funds.

(2) A State may not use the transfer provision to acquire State match for either program or use transferred funds to secure or repay State match bonds.

(3) Funds may be transferred after one year has elapsed since a State established its Fund (i.e., one year after the State has received its first DWSRF program capitalization grant for projects), and may include an amount equal to the allowance associated with its fiscal year 1997 capitalization grant.

(4) A State may reserve the authority to transfer funds in future years.

(5) Funds may be transferred on a net basis between the DWSRF program and CWSRF program, provided that the 33 percent transfer allowance associated with DWSRF program capitalization grants received is not exceeded.

(6) Funds may not be transferred or reserved after September 30, 2001.

(d) Cross-collateralization. A State may combine the Fund assets of the DWSRF program and CWSRF program as security for bond issues to enhance the lending capacity of one or both of the programs. The following conditions apply:

(1) When a State initially decides to cross-collateralize:

(2) The proceeds generated by the issuance of bonds must be allocated to the purposes of the DWSRF program and CWSRF program in the same proportion as the assets from the Funds that are used as security for the bonds. A State must demonstrate at the time of bond issuance that the proportionality requirements have been or will be met. If a default should occur, and the Fund assets from one program are used for debt service in the other program to cure the default, the security would no longer need to be proportional.

(3) A State may not combine the Fund assets of the DWSRF program and the CWSRF program as security for bond issues to acquire State match for either program or use the assets of one program to secure match bonds for the other program.

(4) The debt service reserves for the DWSRF program and the CWSRF program must be accounted for separately.

(5) Loan repayments must be made to the respective program from which the loan was made.